Short Strokes

 During photo school days in Santa Barbara, I worked for a construction company part time.  All cash under the table stuff but we were working on these big old school mansions in the town of Montecito.  We were at the end of remodeling a 11 or 13 bedroom villa (I can't remember) that had had a major fire in it.  The owner of the construction company, Rick, was thick in an affair with the wife of a heavy hitter Hollywood producer as well as trying to land an extensive remodel of another huge place.  A two time Oscar winning actor's place (but that's another story for another time).  So Rick was not paying attention to our current job whatsoever.

The owner of the 11 or 13 bedroom place was pissed off and pulled me aside at the end of one day and said,  "Paul, we're down to the short strokes on this and I want you to take it over and direct the crew so we can finish my house."

And that was the first time I had ever heard that phrase.

Well, I'm back on the winery table after a lengthy time that I had to set it down.  It's been a period of trying to figure out what I was thinking and how I had planned on doing what I was thinking.

But we're close now.  Tomorrow, I fit the pedestal legs to the top.  I'll take you up to a photo from about 30 minutes ago.

The stretcher needed to have a mortise chopped into the what I've been calling the lower urn shape and so I had to glue up only three sides first in order to fit that mortise.

After making sure the stretcher mortise was correct I glued up the fourth side so I could finish sanding the lower urn shape.  Here it is sitting on the Ash sub-structure.

And another use for the Monster Squares.  I dado-ed out the miter joint by running the miter flat to the table saw.  Worked real well.

There was the upper urn shape to make now.  Laying it out and bandsawing out the curve.

I attached the wood to that fixture to make sure it stayed at 90 degrees to the blade.

Mitered and glued up.

I had to cut a place for the upper outriggers.  I chose this method which was a stupid way to do it but anyway, that's how I did it.

And the final glue up of the project!!!!

A bit of the outriggers, a bit of the stretcher.

8 long lags hold the outriggers to the Ash.

Tomorrow I (along with some help) flip this upside down so I can fit it to the underside of the tabletop.

Almost there.