The End of the Week......

Evening sunlight helped give these coneflowers. a special lighting effect. The bright light to gradual shade is viewed across the natural bouquet.

I was 14 years old taking a shop class my freshmen year.  My mom ordered the plan from the newspaper of a plant stand she could use for her African violets. A grow light was installed under the top piece to project light down on that shelf.  I should of probably used plywood but the instructor allowed me to pick out a hardwood, birds eye maple, to use for the project. I think back now that Mr. Coleman  wanted it to be made as a fine wood piece of furniture.

Because it was made by the maple boards I had to glue boards, side to side, to make up the width that was needed when I followed the directions.  The three main long pieces were glued boards and the end pieces were glued boards.  No wonder I almost didn't get done with the project in that semester.  Today, when you glue to boards together, side by side, you would have a planner that allows you to even out the surface.  I had an electric sander that I used for hours to even out the faces of each piece.

The top was complicated as the top table part fit into slots all around the top. The front pieces had to fit up against the side pieces. You can see that I didn't get it glued together tightly and 40 years later the glue failed and it has opened up.
The good thing with this corner is that all of the slots were cut correctly and everything almost fits into the right places. I didn't have any help at the glue up time. Now 40 years later, I know that I should have done a dry fit first before I put glue to the joints. If I had I would have know the table top piece should have been cut about a fourth of an inch smaller.

The Gorilla glue did not hold it as I squeeze this end all back into place with my twelve dollar clamp.  I had to reglue it a second time and I set a finishing nail to get it to stay together.  I did sink the nail in and wood filler covered up the hole made by the nail.

It looks better now.  I never had that right back when I was 14 years old and until I became the owner of this piece I didn't think about repairing. The whole stand seemed to be like a "white elephant" as my mom got older.  My dad was jealous that she was so successful raising violets and it was a center of contention for years. When my parent moved from the farm it became less used for plants and eventually my mom just wanted to get it out of the house.

I have one more corner like this to fix but wood clamps are not going to fix it. I am going to have to cut a slim piece of wood to fit into the gap and then glue it back together. That will happen in the next few days. If you don't remember in the story that I was going to take my skill saw to this piece and use the wood to remake something new.  I am glad that I didn't do that.

A folk art piece that I saved from a box in the basement was this stagecoach and horses. I like the hand carved horses that were in the kit. The block was sort of sawn into a good shape so I could round out by carving the legs and head with ears. My blogger friends who carve beautiful pieces can laugh at what this 12 year old kid did for his first and last time carving job.

We had a good rain last night and I didn't have to water flowers this morning. The rain is harder on some of the flowers than my garden hose watering process. I need to plant a new rose somewhere on the property.

I have to fix leaks today under the windows in the other bedroom. I am disgusted that the siding that was applied 13 years ago when the house was built, was improperly  installed under the
windows. Being the third owner since it was built makes it harder to get back to the siding company. I do think that I will talk to the original contractors first as there is sheeting damage under those windows.

The day is not going to be much better today.  The temps may be a slight bit cooler but a heat index of 103 degrees F. is not good. I am hearing my friends everywhere are having similar hot weather.  I wish everyone to stay safe and cool.  Thanks for stopping by today.