True Colors (Rainbow Waves of Grain and "Butt" Joining)

Ah, innuendo and double entendre used to scare off the weak stomached in the audience! And you know, it is completely descriptive of carpentry techniques on this project and not at all what you are thinking!  Your response should be something like: "Whew!"

I took some pics today of the cedar with my other camera and they turned out semi-good.  For some reason I just can't capture the true colors (1980's allusion for my friend Foul Weather) of the wood.

I probably am not using the camera on the right settings and in the right light, in which I should spend some time learning to do so, but too much technology can be overwhelming, and even though I am an overwhelming kind of guy, right now I'm content with this.  However, it's frustrating to not be able show you what I mean.

Below is my cell fone picture which actually captures the color better!

This pic below is from my camera, indoors and not close up of the same spot, but the planks on the bottom towards the right are the same planks.  But you can notice the detail of some of the grain!  It's just wicked awesome!

My only complaint is that after these pass through the joiner, they are going to be a half inch narrower and we are going to lose some of this nice grain!  I'm going to have to go easy on the joiner and make fewer passes.  My Uncle and I did two planks on the joiner today.

Here, the first plank went fine:

But we were wobbling the plank all over the place on the second one and rigged up the two following contraptions. 

 I think we may have been over complicating the process...

The purpose of joining the wood planks is to give that side surface, the one that is facing down on the joiner/planer, a completely 90 degree flat surface because these planks are going to be butted up against each other, glued and clamped making a "butt joint".  Of course I will be clamping the heck out of them so the surface can have imperfections.  There is no real need to be overly cautious about the job we are doing.  Now aren't you glad that this post is about carpentry!

So, hey, if you are reading this, drop me a line, let me know if you have ideas or like what I am doing.  Please feel free to contribute by asking questions!  It not only helps you, but me as well!

Have a groovy day!