Bookcase-Cam - Day Four

Another mistake: When test-fitting the toekick, we discover that we have failed to account for the miter on the toekick's outside corner, and thus two days ago cut 3/4" too much for the toekick off of the north cabinet partition! It's too late to re-cut the partition; it has been glued and biscuited to the top. After yesterday's delays, I find this discovery quite demoralizing -- is the project doomed to be a series of amateurish mistakes and time wasted in catching up?

But all is not lost. We cut an extension out of scrap to replace the missing material, an extruded rhomboid that extends the miter on the partition. Against all odds, the patch is cut & glues in flush with little trouble. The seam is visible but ends up looking simply like a non-mitered joint rather than the major cutting error that it represents. With some luck, a little putty & paint will make it virtually invisible.

It's late at night, after the Olympics evening broadcast. I had to go to work for part of the day, and we lost time to the toekick error. We're working on the wiring for the south cabinet. On the short wall into which the south end of the bookcases will run, the existing receptacle is to be removed, the box grounded, and the circuit extended to one receptacle inside the base cabinet (for plugging in a stereo or some such article on top of the cabinet), and another on the toe-kick (for plugging in a floor lamp in front of the bookcases).



The south cabinet carcase is completely and permanently installed, and wired for electricity (you can see the receptacle tester as an orange blob at the bottom of the carcase; its two glowing orange lights indicate correct wiring) -- no more website shutdowns. We removed the plans from the wall (see previous picture), signed & dated them, and put them under the carcase for someone to find in the event this project is ever removed (which I am proud to say would only require a small amount of putty & paint afterward). With the workspace neatened up for the next day's activity, the project starts to look like a part of the house.



At 11:00 Tuesday night, the air is electric with suspense: four out of six days have elapsed, and the project is about 25% complete. Not counting the face frames. Or the trim. Or the part that goes from the upper cases to the ceiling, if we decide to do it after the upper cases are in. We have high hopes for good progress tomorrow, as the painstaking scribe cuts to old, irregular walls and floors gives way to a hyper-efficient assembly of the upper carcase.

Initial week of daily activity: | Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7,8 | 9 |
Long-term weekend progress: | 10 | 11 | 12,13 | 14,15 | 16-18 | 19 |
Intermittent bursts of effort: | 20-22 | 23-31 | 32-35 |
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