It’s Going To be Close

I’m measuring the wood on an almost hourly basis now. I’ve come up with an idea that involves an internet-cam and a helper monkey so I can get a status of the wood while I’m at work. Nothing firm yet. The idea is that with a mild electrical stimulus the monkey would hold a measuring tape up to the remaining wood and I could watch on the web cam. Even if I could find a monkey with those skills on such short notice, I’m not sure the people at PETA would approve.

I woke up at 5:00AM this morning and spent the next two hours laying in bed going over what to do with the center section on the upper cabinets. It all comes back to the wood supply. I cut up those two slabs of curly redwood and I’m bound and determined to use it as much as possible without buying more wood. Part of it is – as I’ve said time and time again – is that I Am One Cheap Bastard. I don’t want to buy more wood.

Beyond that, though, is the wood itself. The pieces I cut out of the slabs are unique in color and grain patterns. I was forced to do the center section of the lower cabinets with different wood and the variation in color is noticeable. Naturally, after seeing this, I began to think about the uppers.

The uppers will have an inset center section that mimics the lowers. Depending on the design of the uppers there may or may not be enough of the slab wood left to do everything I want. Hence the constant measuring and re-measuring.

The plans have changed so many times over the last 48 hours I sometimes forget exactly which plan I’m obsessing about. Some have glass panels. Some have burl panels. Other designs have shelves. And then today I came up with a herringbone pattern of curly redwood.

The glass panel design actually requires the least amount of wood but it requires the same lengths and dimensions of the other sections of the upper cabinets. This is the problem. If I go with shelves or smaller solid panels I can utilize smaller pieces of wood, of which, there are many. Each piece I cut for the face-frame of the lower cabinets yielded short pieces which will be waste if I don’t use them for something else.

The ideas are spinning….

I think by Friday I will be ready to start assembling the lower cabinets and attach the middle counter section. After that it will be crunch time. Just as with the lowers, I need to design and build the center section first. A decision needs to be made by early next week.