Thursday:  I spent about a half-hour in the 'room' today.  I sanded the first 2 pieces of the top rail, realized that I needed to tidy up the place or kill myself from a fall.  There was a lot of sawdust on the floor and it was very slippery.  Still is, actually, but not so much stuff to fall over.

I am still frustrated by the disgusting mess of my Fibre-Op installation which will eventually have to be placed in some sort of cabinet, but will need some protection from the sanding dust in the meantime.  I also have to do the battery replacement when I settle down to it.

The sanding is pretty simple - Tomorrow might be a good day to finish that.  done

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Step 2 will be drill, nail and glue these pieces on.  I hope I figure that out correctly.  I don't really want to screw and countersink and fill.    done

Step 3 will be to figure out if I have enough narrow pieces to make a border along the top.  This may require some saw work on the leftover pieces.

Step 4 will be to measure, cut, sand and fasten the 2 pieces along the bottom.  This will be fussy.

Step 5 will be varnish and filling the nail holes

============================================== Tools of the Day

Friday:  I am impressed with myself.  Today I gathered my tools and set to work and the top rail regardless of my intimidation with figuring out drill and nail sizes to make it work.  I just took a wild shot and it seems ok.  I am disappointed in my joints - I need a better tool or a better strategy.  However, a little filler will help I hope, and who's going to examine them anyway.

These play pads make my physical joints quite happy as I kneel on the floor to do the drilling.

Drilling a Lot of Holes

Drilling the holes was an easy job.  I put a piece of softwood underneath and drilled until I felt the drill go through the top piece.  Sometimes the drill continued past the bottom, and past the foam sheet.  I now have several small holes in my hardwood floor. Duh.  I thought of this about 3/4 of the way through the job, and put a second board under the softwood.  Dumb.

Glue Glue.  It is possible to use too much glue. This I discovered on the first glueing, and added a wet cloth to my tool supply.

The first 1 pieces are on.  I think this will go ok.  By the end of the day, with several stops to follow the inauguration, I was done....except for a tiny piece between the windows which I forgot about, and which I think ended up in the basement earlier for a sample piece.  Tomorrow.

First 2 are done!