I left off in my last post with a few boards in the process of acclimatizing to my work area and to relieve any built up stress in the wood. A few days have elapsed and as expected, there is a little tendency of cupping and bowing in some of the individual boards. This is minimal, but nonetheless needs to be addressed. One face of each of the boards needs to be perfectly flat in both width and length. I continued to process each of the boards today to make certain this one face also known as the reference face of the boards, is true and flat. The thickness of the individual boards is slightly greater than I need for a final thickness and this will allow me to plane the opposite face to the exact final thickness I need. In the photo I have a few of the boards after some more preparation along with some of the tools I use to measure any cup or bow in each board. At the left, there is also a solid steel straight edge which I use to check bow along the length of the board. The combination square at right serves to any cupping of the boards along their width. The small steel engineers square is used to measure the long edge of the board to confirm it is square to the reference face.
These past few days have also allowed me to temporarily switch my focus to another endeavor. My wife has slowly been ramping her small business up, and over a week ago we decided to take some concrete steps to get it established. The business is now set up, and I have also set up her web site. This past Saturday, Linda had her very first showing at the grand opening of a small tea house and shop in our area. This is a very heady and exciting period for her, it sort of reminds me of myself when I began my original business a few years ago. I'll post her web site if anyone is interested in having a look: http://www.fusionjewelrydesign.com/
