re: HOW DO YOU CARRY OUT YOUR PROJECTS?

Mike,

This is a pretty typical break-down of my working style.

1. Spend a few years of sleepless night thinking about projects and planning the joinery and building it in my head. (This sometimes includes years of convincing my husband to let me do it.)
2. Start to work on a SketchUp for it. That generally ends up being a few more years.
3. Dig through the pile of lumber to try to find the best pieces for the project. This step is my most disliked one.
4. Plane what I hope will be more than enough board feet to finish the project.
5. Sort through the planed lumber repeatedly while reviewing my cut list to try to get the least waste, then rough cut the lengths and widths. This is another forever step.
6. Attempt to do all similar set-ups at the same time, if possible. . . planing, sanding, sawing, routing, drilling, etc.
7. Build the carcass first.
8. When making drawers:
a. Plane all the lumber for the boxes.
b. Cut it to exact dimensions.
c. Stack drawer sides in sets and complete each one before going on to the next.
d. Dovetail one set at a time.
e. Route the grooves for the bottom.
f. Cut the bottom plywood to size.
g. Dry fit.
h. Glue up.
9. If the project is large, I often do the finishing in sections.

In between each of these steps, is more planning and building in my head during sleepless nights. I’m always rethinking how to achieve the end result.

These steps get jumbled when life gets in the way and I forget where I was by the time I get back to the project.

I try to somewhat keep up with organizing the shop throughout the project, but often fail. When I finally finish the project, I try to do a thorough cleaning/organizing of the shop for the next project.

L/W