Making a pen assembly tray

Just a quick update.  I have a large order I am working on, and I wanted a way to keep things from rolling around on my desk, and to keep things straight while assembling them.  I grabbed my trusty Stanly #45 that had a grooving setup already from a previous project.  I cut a straight groove, moved the fence, cut another, etc.  I just did this in a piece of scrap pine I had lying around.

I had also been working on my sharpening skills with a oil stone, so I used the chisel I had just been working on to cut the corners off to make it easier to get things out of the troughs.  I was pretty impressed, I actually got a decent edge on it, and it worked pretty well.

I snapped a picture to show what I’m talking about.

I also learned what the knob on the fence is for.

Avoiding splinters.  Ouch!

Lesson learned, don’t do that again.  I was riding my hand along the wood to hold it steady.  Actually, to be honest I wasn’t really paying attention where my hand was.  I was focused of the cutting, and I was reminded with a nice deep splinter to keep my focus a little more on all aspects.

Anyway, once the kiddo goes to be tonight I’ll be back down there.  I’ve got 16 Cigar pens to make in 2-3 weeks.  Which is why today was get organized and clean my work space.

— badger