Kneeler ***UPDATE***

So, everything has been going good with my kneeler. I have finished the kneeler pad, I have all of the parts cut out and everything is assembled except for the top. (My goal for tomorrow.) After that I will have to attach the folding kneeler to the main frame. Yes, I made it so the it will fold up and not use all of the space that it would otherwise. 

Now, I said that everything has been going good, up until today. I knew that I would mess up sooner or later and it just happened to fall on today. I was mounting the base of the kneeler pad base to the sides of the folding kneeler and I had to change my design, so that it would look a little better. So with Duvall’s help I ended up having to measure, rip, and cut two blocks to mount as braces for the top, or rather bottom of the kneeler pad. And when the part I needed to be 5 7/8″ long turned out to be 4 7/8″ I had to go grab Duvall again to help me catch the piece while we ripped it on the table saw. AHHHHHHH!!! I wish I hadn’t done that. But as Duvall said, I do have a surplus of scrap oak. (I think that I am using only six oak bookshelves. Yeah thats right 6!! Way to be eco-friendly, thanks to Mrs. West and Duvall.) But after fixing that mistake, I knew that it was only a matter of time before something else happened.

Cue, about an hour later: I had just finished mounting everything for the kneeler base (minus the pad, because I still have to stain and varnish before I mount it) and I went to try folding it up…scrape, scratch, won’t budge. Uh-Oh! Thanks to the 50+ year old Oak deciding to warp slightly over a three day period, after I built the frame the kneeler will not fit inside it without scraping and stopping. Thankfully though after talking it over with Duvall, I just had to take the kneeler pad base off and make it a 1/4″ shorter. Which will enable me to have a 1/8″ space washer in between the kneeler and the frame, so it doesn’t scrape at all. YAY!! 

Cue about 20 minutes later.  Yes, it would seem that the evil woodworking gnomes have struck again. I had decided to modify my plan yet again, so that my kneeler didn’t wobble and would be stronger by adding a brace on the underside. And then when I was drilling a countersink for a screw to go into the brace, everything was making me really happy. I was just pushing in, pulling out the oak pieces, then in again. (This is 50+ year old oak and VERY HARD, every time I drill it seems to burn the wood) and then, crack, eeck, clip, snap. OH CRAP! Thankfully though, Duvall had another bit to replace the one in the countersink bit. So now my kneeler has about 1 1/4″ bit stuck somewhere in it. Whoops! 

But now that the whole thing is going together well and I am very pleased and happy, we will see what tomorrow brings!

Keep fighting the good fight and have a blessed night!

+JM,

Corey