I left the original plans for the crib some time ago when I deviated from their guided trough and filler block route. I did not see how that could be a very good design for a sturdy and hopefully long lasting crib (not to mention how bad it would have looked). I decided to use only mortise and tenon joints and I believe the added time needed to mill out the mortise and tenon joints is really paying off. It took about four hours on Saturday morning to mill all of the mortise joints on both sets of the upper and lower end rails (2-3 of those hours were spent building my jigs). I then used a 3/8" and 1/2" chisel to square off the corners. All of these mortises are 3/4" deep and 3/8" x 1-3/8" wide. I used a spiral mortising router bit, which worked really well.

I finished squaring off the mortises for the other end rails when I got home today. I still need to tweak a few of the joints, but these are very sturdy at this point and nothing is glued yet! So the pieces you see in these pictures are all constructed with mortise and tenon joints!

I am going to try to finish the side rails this week and begin sanding all of these pieces next week. I also need to round over the edges of the end caps, but that should not take much time. I will then seal everything using a General Finishes wipe-on gel Urethane that is non-toxic once dry. Finally I will assembly and glue everything up and then install the hardware! Should be done in the next 2 weeks!

Now that Kate is here I now need to get very busy with the crib that I am building for her! I have my workbench about 95% complete and just need to finish assembling the base. I needed this finished before I can begin dimensioning all of the beautiful hard maple that has been sitting for the past three weeks. I have a nice new surface planer that needed a sturdy table top.

I will post pictures of the finished project later this week after I have had time to finish the base, belt-sand the top, and then finally smooth plane the top. This weekend is the Twin Cities Code Camp so I will probably not get much done on my woodworking projects.

I am really enjoying the 36" Bessey Tradesmen Bar Clamps that I picked up for this project. I almost bought their K Body Clamps instead, but I am glad that I went with the Tradesmen model. I also picked up 4 Jet 12" bar clamps that were on sale 4 for $19.95.

I would like to eventually build a European style workbench, but I neither have the time nor want to spend the money at this point. I decided to use 2x4s to build a similar workbench after talking to my dad, who just finished building a similar workbench by ripping 2x6s in half. I already had a stack of 2x4s laying around, so I decided to do the following:

European Style Workbench

1. Rip the 2x4s down to 2" x 3-1/4".

2. Glue two of the ripped 2x4s together.

3. Screw the two 2x4s together using 3-1/2" screws to secure the bond during the drying process.

4. Repeat the process with a third 2x4 and use the 3-1/2" screws from the opposite side. This way, after the glue has dried, I will be able to remove the screws.

5. Clamp the three 2x4s together and let it set-up for 24 hours.

I will repeat this process by adding two more 2x4s to the outside of the table each day. Eventually, as the table becomes wider, I will use more temporary screws and only my larger 36" clamps. I am currently planning on using 16 2x4s to complete the table top. I will then use a belt sander to even off the table top and then add legs.

The Baby Crib
I am going to build a crib for our baby out of Maple. I bought the plans and hardware for the crib from Rockler. The plans meet the requirements set by the National Safety Counsel. We had been really unsatisifed when originally shopping around for cribs, so as I always say, "I'll just build it".

We had been planning on using Walnut as an accent piece for the crib's end caps (would sit under the top Maple end cap). We were at Rockler store this weekend picking up some clamps and decided instead to use Cocobolo for the accent pieces. We had fallen in love with this type of wood a few months ago while at the same Rockler store. This wood is absolutely beautiful. It is imported from South America and is twice as dense as Walnut. It will sink if placed in water! Cocobolo is very popular in gun and knife handles. I talked to a few experienced woodworkers who recommended using Gorilla Glue or sealing the wood before gluing to other types of woods, because of its oiliness. It is also advised to wear a dust mask because a lot of people will develop allergies when breathing in the Cocobolo saw dust.