Joinery work and dry fitting

This past week, the shop has had a soundtrack.

Jazz from artists who were new to me has been filling the space, keeping me company and providing a welcome bit of motivation as I settle into full production mode. There’s something about having good music in the background while working with your hands—it gives the day its own rhythm.

With the music playing, I’ve been laying out the areas where the tenons will be placed, along with the grooves that will eventually be routed for the sliding doors. At this stage, the project is still mostly a collection of lines, measurements, and individual pieces, but slowly, the details are beginning to reveal themselves.

The playlist has been a long one, but a few albums have stood out enough to deserve a quick mention: Kind of Grunge by Ulysses Owens Jr., Monk'D by Dayna Stephens, Whirlwind — Live at Sam First by Max Haymer, and The Big Room by Joe Farnsworth. Each brought something different to the shop, and together they made for a pretty great soundtrack to the work.

 Once all the joinery was established, it was time for the dry fit.

This is one of those stages where the project starts to feel real. Piece by piece, everything is brought together, almost like putting together a very large and very precise jigsaw puzzle. Nothing is glued yet, which is exactly the point. This is the opportunity to step back and look closely—to check alignment, make sure everything moves as it should, and find any areas that need a little more attention.

It’s a slow process, but an important one. Before the glue comes out and the pieces become one, there’s still time to make adjustments, refine the fit, and make sure everything is exactly where it needs to be.

And with the jazz still playing in the background, the project is slowly beginning to come together.