I'm Late! I'm Late!

I sometimes feel like the White Rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland" on Wednesdays. I didn't get a chance to do anything mini before the meeting. It was here today and I had to cook and all that stuff you do before company. So.....Well at least I am getting to the mini part of the day at last.

After everyone left I pulled out the cottage and got to work. I couldn't mess up the table as much as I would like to because the leaf has to be taken out and it has to be returned to the corner by the window so that I can have my natural light.

The first thing that I did was put the U channel on the back side edges and floor edges. some people wait til they have the floors finished to do this. I don't because of the stability it lends to the structure while I am building. Let's face it. The tab and slot houses are pretty thin wood. It is a blessing and an irritant all at the same time. I like them because they are light weight and no matter what you add to them you can still move them without help. The irritating part is that they can easily warp if you aren't careful. Thus the U channel comes first.

I wanted to show you a valuable tip that I learned from a real sized woodworker. That is, his furniture was real sized.....I guess he was pretty normal sized too....Anyway, when you go to put a long narrow strip like the half timber on a house, instead of running a long line of glue on the back, put the glue on in dots. Here's a piece that is about to be put over the two slots above it. The glue is about 3/4 to 1" apart on the board. I find that this technique keeps the board from warping and also it doesn't tend to slip down the side like it does if you have the whole back covered with glue. I did the whole side of half timber work in less than 20 minutes, cutting and all. I didn't have to tape anything but the two beams under the eaves.

Here's the finished end. I simply slid in the wood where I wanted to put the next piece. Then I marked it where I had to cut. I cut it and then dry fitted it. I took it back out and put the dots of white glue on the back and stuck each piece in place.

Generally I start with the longest pieces and fill in with shorter pieces until I think it looks right. Actually, I went back in and added two more verticals on the center section after the photo was taken. One in the center of each side panel. I left the center one under the window as is.

I could show you the other side, but I am afraid that you would just think that I flipped this photo. It looks the same.

Now I am about ready to start plastering the panels. I am saving that for tomorrow. See you then.