I spent the last couple days working on the project, and though Miss T thought she had pulled a couple slabs of walnut from the barn, once I cleaned the dust and grime of ten years or so of storage... it turned out to be nicely grained spaulted maple.
Since I was going to do the end panels first, I used a square to mark a reference on one end with the nicest grain, and trimmed that off, then cut off a piece 19 inches long.
- 01 first cut.jpg (158.96 KiB) Viewed 4123 times
Checking it carefully, i determined it was badly bowed, and would need some correction. More than I thought my shoulders were up to with a hand plane. Sadly. So, I ripped it in half.
- 02 rip cut.jpg (148.04 KiB) Viewed 4123 times
This would make it much easier to bookmatch on the bandsaw. (Or so I thought... I later ended up ripping each half again.)
Look at the grain in this piece... beautiful.
- 03 nice spaulting.jpg (145.33 KiB) Viewed 4123 times
Prepping each piece for gluing into an end panel was a journey. The first step was to run them all thru the planer to make sure they were of similar thickness and smooth.
Then, I had to rip them into quarters, then run them carefully thru the bandsaw to bookmatch them. Each was marked to insure matched pairs stayed together.
That left pieces approximately 3/8" to 1/2" thick, with irregular edges on one side. That was addressed by carefully marking a reference line then running them across the table saw, checking the fit, cutting again, or planing as needed, until they fit.
Here are the end panels awaiting glue up. They are approximately 16" x 20" at this point.
- 04 end one.jpg (166.83 KiB) Viewed 4123 times
- 05 end two.jpg (152.33 KiB) Viewed 4123 times
After they are glued up, they will be cut to shape and set aside for sanding.
Next step will be the forming of the side rails and panels.
I'll have pics up and a detailed processing narrative later today. 
