8/14/2010 - Back in Silverton

I'm back at Cody's with Lulu to help get ready for Cody's wedding at the end of the month. It was a little bit of a shock since it was about 63 degrees in Charleston when I left and about 90 degrees here when I arrived.

Spent this morning out in my shop continuing on the bench building project.

It's great when the weather is such that I can throw open the big double doors and practically be working outside. In case you're new or weren't paying attention, Cody & Scott will be getting married in a little wooded clearing behind our old house (now Cody's house). Not wanting everyone to have to lug along their camp chairs, they asked if I'd make some benches for the guests to sit on. I said "certainly". Scott managed to score a bunch of 2X6 cedar from someone's dismantled deck. Some of it was rotten but a lot of it was serviceable. Last trip up here I ran as much as I thought I'd need through my (oops, not mine anymore) Dewalt surface planer. That got it looking pretty good. Rustic, for sure, but good nonetheless.

Today I cut out all the pieces for fourteen 8' long benches.

Naturally I didn't have quite enough wood milled so I had to go through the leftovers and see what I could find that I could plane down and use. Fortunately, I had no trouble finding what I needed. The reason I ran short was because, after I got to looking at how long an 8' bench is and then pictured it full of butts, it seemed inevitable to me that it was going to sag in the middle. So I had to cut some pieces that I could mount on edge directly under the seat to prevent the embarrassing sag and the irresistible photo op it would present.

But, all the pieces are cut now. I still have to rout the dadoes in the bottom of the benches to accept the legs but I built a little jig for that so it'll go fast. The only other thing left is assembly.

One down, thirteen to go. BTW, I'm not sure why my face looks like I'm disgusted. I'm not. Maybe that's just the face I get waiting for the camera's timer to finish.

Tomorrow, besides putting more benches together, I'll start smoking the pork shoulders for the reception. Every batch takes 12 hours or so so I have to start fairly early. So, if you smell smoke, don't panic. It's just me and my BBQ pit.