Jigged

Another early start, courtesy of Jasper. It's the Gorse Fox's own fault for not looking at the time, however. He 'felt' it was around seven-ish so got up when Jasper started wandering over the bed. In fact it was only just after six. Oh well, must learn to check the time (or teach Jasper to check the clock).

The Silver Vixen is out for the day with her friend Kathie. They are making the most of their membership of West Dean gardens. This gives them free entry and an opportunity to wander round taking photos, chatting, and stopping to drink tea.

The Gorse Fox used the time to play in the garage. He read the instructions (yes really) for the dovetail jig and finished putting it together and mounting it on a base. Then he tried the profile follower in his old router. This fitted, but the screws - though in the right place - were the wrong size and he didn't have any alternatives. This meant detaching the new router from the router table. He knew this would fit as it was made by the same company as the jig and mentioned in the instructions.

There were several interrupts as neighbours dropped by for a chat - but he was able to potter on once they had gone. It became clear that the jig is a little fiddly and will obviously become easier with practice.

Firstly you have to align the horizontal piece of wood through the top clamp. Then the vertical piece of wood through the front clamp. The latter has to align with the top of the horizontal wood... but needs to be offset from the left hand side. There are some guides to get the offset right - but they are only ok if the wood is the right size and exactly covers a fixed number of slots in the comb. The comb, which sits atop the two pieces of wood, acts a template which the router will follow. This too needs adjusting so the depth of the cut is exactly right. It felt a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy.

Fortunately, the Gorse Fox had several pieces of scrap wood. It was the fourth attempt before he got the process right. He suspects that this will be something that always needs practise and several attempts before trying on a project component itself.