Two become one

We’ve both been waiting a rather long while for the proper start of Brian building the bibliothèque shelves. There’s been a lot of stages to go through, a lot of talk, and a lot of planning, but this morning Brian said to me “Today I will start cutting the wood for the shelves”. I think that was a relief for both of us.

I know it’s a really big thing for him, because he’s already put so much thought and work into making sure it goes right, but actually starting to chop the wood is the point of no return for him and it makes it feel more real. My only tip was to not rush anything, and use that well used motto that dad taught us many moons ago - measure twice, cut once.

He chose the piece he wanted to start with and marked it up so that he knew where it was going to be used. He has a rather complex diagram to work to, and I know there is little wood that won’t get used for something.

I noticed, he has printed the diagram and put it on the wall in the workshop. That’s very organised for him.

He carried the first piece of wood out to his workshop and set about cutting it to the approximate length.

Then it was time to use the new jointing tool: his biscuit cutter. He carefully marked the two planks and set about cutting the holes for the biscuits. I was quite intrigued on how this was all going to work.

I could soon see how simple it was, and how it was all going to piece together. It was just a case of applying glue to the surfaces and clamping it. Well, that sounds simple, but there was a lot of clamps needed, and a very steady process of pressure, to ensure the pieces fitted perfectly together.

All done, two become one. This is the first upright for the shelves glued together, and clamped tightly. Quite a time consuming job, but a great piece of carpentry, and very accurate.

Now only 9 more uprights and 16 shelves to fix together and he can start making it into a book shelf.