Saw dust and more sawdust .....

The last few days have been spent making sawdust. I've taken three large bags to the dump, and have one more to get rid of after today's work. Today Charlie came over and helped me work the oak lumber into tongue an groove boards for the floor of the bed and the sideboards. That took all day, but now the boards are ready to go.

Here's a picture of the setup we used. The poor little Makita table saw was overworked pretty badly, but made it through. Charlie's help was critical, as I couldn't have worked the eight foot boards by myself. This pile of sawdust is in addition to three bags that came from the thickness planer. I'll also have a sizable pile of oak scraps for kindling next winter, as well as several larger pieces for future projects. I also have a lifetime supply of beautiful sticks for making kites if anyone's interested.

Here're the boards we produced. The narrower ones on the far left and the narrow stack further right are for the sideboards. The three short boards are for the end gate, and the glued up short wide board is for the front of the bed. The double stack of wider boards on the right are the floor boards. The old bed makes a great work surface.

The next step will be to lay out the floor boards, bottom side up, and apply three coats of finish to them. After that I can start screwing them to the frame of the bed. Of course, the side boards and end gate have to be glued up, the cut to their final size before finishing. I'm also continuing to work on sandblasting and painting the metal parts, and still have to build the battery box.