Hello the camp! ILOGILNG, I originally posted this shortly after discovering the forum--nearly first post, I think. I threw this in cuz it was still shiny:
gratuitous display of my--only in over 24 yr, thank ya--state champeen buckle. OK, a few years old now, but I got it, and am still trying.
OG, go for it. This started as a pile of on-sale studs at Lowe's--$1.19 or so. I think it was 25 of them. While I tried to half-lap the joints, results were fairly pathetic. I then learned the highly coveted and hard-to-beat art of faceframe. While you can make your own drill jig, my f-in-l had one. It made the rest of the frame construction a snap. I sawed the round edges off the matl, leaving ~1 3/8 thk. I then planed flat and smooth to ~1 1/4 thk. I glued it up in 2, then 4 then 8 sections, to fit the planer after each glueup. Final 3 sections were glued up with the beejeesus clamped outta them, and beltsanded. If I did it over, I'd use dowels to align the boards to ease glueup. I'd also make more of an overhang in front, for clamping. But, cuz I have the loading bench for clamping, the bench is just right for sitting and makin' like gun mechanic. Here's what I did this winter:
. Let me know if you'd like more info. See ya round the campfire. mm
