It got late early.

The title of this post was first uttered by the great philosopher Yogi Berra, but is was extremely applicable to my night.  As always lately, I got out of work late last night.  Just before I left, my wife let me know that my brother and sister in law would be visiting.  We only live half an hour away, but life often gets in the way of the things that matter most, and it had been too long since we had been able to visit.  As it turned out, we had a great conversation as always, and a really enjoyable visit.  I should also note that they brought a fantastic cheesecake for dessert.  A sincere thank you is due for that wonderful treat.  Long story short, after a ten hour work day, a pleasant visit, and an unusually high caloric intake, I was more prepared for a good night's sleep than a visit to my shop.

I did however, push myself down the stairs knowing that the longer I waited to repair the chest of drawers holding my tool chest, the better I would get at procrastinating.  And besides, it seemed like it would be a simple fix.  Famous last words.  I removed all the drawers, dry fit the tenon back into its mortise and clamped it.  And lo and behold, the case was out of square.  After an intricate dance with the carcass lasting what seemed to be an eternity, I finally got everything lined up, glued, and clamped.  This morning, I took off the clamp and piled all the drawers back in.  Success, even if it was slightly delayed by fatigue last evening.

  

All fixed, and hopefully ready for another 40+ years of service.

By the time I got the clamp tightened, I decided to forego the second part of my plan for the evening.

For about ten years, I've used a very inexpensive Ryobi bench grinder in my shop.  The tool rests on the unit are fixed.  It never really bothered me, my grinding was confined to lawn mower blades and turning tools.  While I am sure that both practices would have benefited from better rests, I was always able to manage well enough freehand.  But as I've been progressing more and more toward predominately hand tools, I knew my plane blades were going to require a little more.  About a month ago, I picked up an equally inexpensive Ryobi model, but this time with adjustable tool rests.  And since then, it has languished in it's box in front of my grinder stand.  Enter my plans for this weekend: to finally get back to the bedside table I am building for my wife.  The top and the bottom of the drawer box will be half inch boards, and so it is finally time to grind a cambered blade for my Stanley #5.  In a perfect world, I would have the plane ready to go so that I can get right to work Saturday morning.  I have an appointment tonight, but hopefully I can at least get the grinder set up tonight.  Then if I don't get to the blade, at least I will still have tomorrow.  Wish me luck.