My son Logan came to me a while back wanting to make a lap desk so he could have a place to read, do homework, or draw, write, etc.. I told him what was involved and how you had to dovetail the box together. He picked out a piece he found in a shaker furniture book. After I cut out everything and set up to dovetail the sides I decided to get Logan involved and before I new it he was chopping away and with great success.
I don't know who was happier, me or him!
I'll post the completed piece later. It turned out nice and he uses it every day.
The stairs and loft came together fast and has proven very useful. I now have the band saw upstairs hooked to a shop vac. I ran lights and plugs everywhere and have another shop vac hooked to the lathe downstairs. All I have to do when sanding on the lathe is hit the switch and all the dust is sucked away and the noise is upstairs. Notice the brace has been cut away going up the stairs. I guess people watch their feet when climbing stairs because everyone seemed to smack there head on it so it had to go.
About a year ago I ordered bench vises from "Benchcrafted" and a couple weeks ago I finally started building the bench. I reduced the length to 6 feet from the plans. I walk around the bench a lot when carving seats and 8 feet seemed too long. I think it went really well and this bench should not dance around when I carve tough seat blanks (elm).
I still need to wipe on some oil finish and make some dogs. The vises are very strong and seat blanks do not slip in the face vise. I have several classes coming up and look forward to breaking her in right.
