Bullnose Edge

The house site was buzzing again today — almost every piece of equipment was making its characteristic buzz, whir, screech, and groan.  Dave and Kyle were cranking out bookshelves and stair treads with an efficiency which is genuinely startling.  Aside from lunch and a couple coffee breaks, they were in continuous motion, a well-oiled and seemingly tireless machine!

By late afternoon Kyle was finishing up the 70+ shelves needed for the bookcases.  As noted yesterday, two boards had to be cut in order to make a shelf 11-3/4 inches wide.  As with the stair treads, these must be joined with biscuits and glue.  Sometimes the material you start with doesn't look all that promising, as the photos below illustrate.  Yet with clever use of his table saw Kyle could slice away the chaff and leave just the wheat.  With the treads now ready for shaping and sanding, Dave has begun glueing and clamping the shelves.

This board doesn't seem a likely candidate for a shelf...

...but Kyle rips off its bark, mates it with a narrower board...

...and marks where the biscuit mouths will go.

Then that shelf-to-be goes on the shelf stack.

A few shelves have been biscuit jointed and glued,
and now are drying in the bedroom.

While Kyle worked on the shelves, Dave was making progress on stair treads.  With the glue dry, Dave uses a chisel to scrape off excess glue, and then gives the tread a first going-over with a belt sander.  Then he uses the router table to shape a bullnose for the leading edge.  The router is set up with a 3/8-inch bit.  One edge is rounded on the first pass, the board is flipped over, and the second edge is rounded.  This process does not yield a full half-round bullnose, but rather two rounded edges separated by a narrow flat surface.  The effect quite attractive.  Dave then completes the sanding with an orbital hand sander.

First, excess glue is removed...

...and then the tread is sanded.

The router table rounds the edges...

...producing the nose's finished profile.

Finally, Dave goes over the tread with the hand sander.
One down, several more to go!

My contribution to the cause today was taking water samples for Presque Isle County.  The county sanitarian must certify my well water as potable, based on lab results.  So, as instructed, I let the water run for about 15 minutes to flush the system, and then took two samples.  One will be checked for biological contamination — e. coli, for example — while the second will provide information on hardness and any chemical contaminants, such as arsenic.  I mailed the samples at Rogers City, and the lab in Gaylord should have the results by week's end.

Water samples ready for the mail.

As soon as the treads and shelving are finished, Dave and Kyle will begin constructing the bookcases.  When these are completed Kyle will have the painters return to finish staining and painting. •••