# Weird breadbox build



## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

You know, maybe it was the legos my parents gave me as a kid. Maybe it was having a mother who worked on minuteman missiles, or a dad who has built so much military tech, watching transformers 1,2, or 3 is like looking at his resume, besides killing most of your brain cells from Micheal bay crap, however the "base" of my ability to pull crap off.........I decided to share this one, start to finish.

Back story helps.....
We have been in this rental house 5 years. Seems the thing to do was put 1 small drawer in a 15"w cabinet. Silverware storage has always been an issue.

Truth be told, a lot of the stuff I do make, for kids, house, is because it is a small house and I gotta get creative on how to put 10lbs of sand in a 2lb bag.

OK, enough, meat and potatoes time 

The idea, straight from top level corporate brass (wife) is that she wants a breadbox that fits the 16"w sliver of counter between the stove and fridge. She doesn't want it to cover the whole depth of the counter, and wants a drawer incorporated into it, and enough room for no less than 4 loaves of bread.

She also wants it made from walnut and Birdseye maple, no plywood of any kind, and wants me to duplicate the slat inserts I did for her cedar chest.

And...she wants a custom silverware tray made for the drawer as well.

Demanding, I know. However why does she always get worried when I say "Jen, gotta run up to the sawmill" followed by the sound of the checkbook and card getting hidden.....


Why??? WHYYYYYY?????
View attachment 37128



SO, ha ha

Resawed some walnut and ash, cause really....who pays retail?










Anyway, so it was cut, chop, cut, breaktime, coffee, cut, coffee, etc etc.


What I'm having to do, cause my drawing skill pretty much suck, and I need a brain to pencil filter, is make this up as I go along.
I know the size of the finished product, and how she wants it to look, rest is best guess.

Outer frame and rough cut maple slats, rough placement of proximity of drawer location, bread jail facility..
































So, I gotta get peeled off Amazon, newegg, and engadget, stop looking for a new tablet, gotta stop ordering tools on woodcraft, and get out to shop and destroy more walnut. Updates as they happen, or as the tablet permits...

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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Dude, I like the way your mind works...:blink::laughing:


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## bigcouger (Jan 4, 2012)

sawdustfactory said:


> Dude, I like the way your mind works...:blink::laughing:


 
I agree with ya there :laughing: cool an looking good to I be watching to see the final :thumbsup:


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Okay, I'm glued to this one. I love your "fly by the seat of your pants" builds. They are awesome.
:thumbsup:


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## Brink (Nov 22, 2010)

sawdustfactory said:


> Dude, I like the way your mind works...:blink::laughing:


+1 here...I'll be watching this one, too


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Looking good old Mac. You always seize to amaze me. Eyes are peeled.


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## Heath (Jan 29, 2012)

Looking great. Excited about following this.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Kenbo said:


> Okay, I'm glued to this one. I love your "fly by the seat of your pants" builds. They are awesome.
> :thumbsup:


It's an A.D.D thing.

LOL

Gonna try to bust some more out tomorrow, hand is still pretty sore from that planer kickback Saturday.

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Okay dokay.

Found some time this morning to evaluate the slats I cut the dados in wrong, cut some more, I'm 1 shy now, but still need to run another dado down those 4 pieces.





















Even though I am making this up as I go along, I managed to wake up long enough to figure out that little problem, and when kids take a nap, no doubt ill need to pullbsome walnut down to resaw, need some more 1/2" material. 

So ill do that, and probably resaw some more Birdseye as well. I need to hit each of those maple slats with a roundover on thebrouter table, hoping that router bit is not going to work, so I have an excuse to buy a new one.

Here it is right now, held together like any government assembly....with tape and clamps..

Oh, if you haven't, go to rockler and get some of those clamping squares, they rock, get it...rockler+rock?, oh sh!t nevermind..











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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Coming along just lovely. I like to build as I go. Makes it one of a kind in my opinion.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Coming along just lovely. I like to build as I go. Makes it one of a kind in my opinion.


I like, no LOVE following plans. The cedar chest, lamps, construction toys and a few other things were from old issues of wood magazine, but....making it up as you go along, can be fun, or frustrating. 

However, I always modify the plans if that is what I am using, even the clocks I did for kids, I modded just a little tiny bit.

So, work commencing in about 20 min

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

That's cool. I've never made anything with a plan. I usually visualize in my head (what I have left) lol. I don't do all that fine joinery that most do here, mostly rustic, so when it's rustic......it's rustic. :laughing:


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## AJS (Jan 29, 2012)

Build is looking great, 

Working out the problems is half the fun. :thumbsup:


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Nice little update.

I got the dividers worked out, and the back panel roughed, though I'm not to hip on how it sits back there.

Had a rough fit without the maple inserts, then broke it down so I can finish milling all the pieces, I did label everything.

So next step is final dimensions, and sanding, and another dry fit before I start gluing panels up.































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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Can't wait for the finish on it. It's going to have a nice contrast with the walnut & birds eye maple. Wish I had some of that.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Don't you have a sawmill near you at all?, that's the only place I buy material, sheet goods included

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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

I sure don't have one near me, not cutting walnut or maple anyways. I can get poplar, and cedar, and oak.Looking good man!!!


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

oldmacnut said:


> Don't you have a sawmill near you at all?, that's the only place I buy material, sheet goods included
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Tab using Woodworking Talk


I have a few sawmills in my area where I pick up lumber. Just don't think they have any Birdseye maple. I'll have to ask.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> I have a few sawmills in my area where I pick up lumber. Just don't think they have any Birdseye maple. I'll have to ask.


I don't like working with it. Chips easy, hates the planer, sometimes will have unseen plith more than any other wood. But it looks better than regular maple for stuff.

My local sawmill carries
Walnut, cherry, ash, maple(sugar, hard rock, and the other one I forgot), hickory, poplar, white/red oak, birch, alder, sycamore, mahogany, pine, cedar, and sometimes apple.
They also have the majority of those in plywood as well.

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

During the glue up of the frame today, a switch over......to a long lost forgotten pasttime......












Figured I'd have some fun today....

For the fellow nerds...
1080p full rastor 8 camera shoot using EX1 cameras. 

Its a project for a friend of mine I shot, John Easdale. I've shot 2 of his concerts. If you actually know who he is, ill be shocked.

"I'll give you candy, give you diamonds, give you pills, give you anything you want....100 dollar bills, I'll even let you watch the shows you wanna see...I'll give you anything anything anything"

That should change it up today, just for kicks.

Build update pics coming today.

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Stay focused old Mac. Lol


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## cabomhn (Jan 14, 2012)

This is a pretty cool build. I'll definitely be checking back up on this one! I envy your ability to design as you go.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Stay focused old Mac. Lol


LOL, I am, just cutting some film whole waiting on glue to dry, vs watching it dry.

So last night I glued up a side frame, managed to get nice tight clean joints, happy about that.





















I'm block sanding this as I don't like how any power sander rounds the edges of smaller pieces, it sucks cause my thumb is still really sore from this past weekends kickback, and on top of that its hard to sand with all my arm gear on anyway.

So, while the other panel cures, I need to jump online, and buy a new router bit, so I can round over every edge of those maple slats. Wife wants me to duplicate this...











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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Nice glue joints. Well since your thumb hurts, just send it over my way and I'll be more than happier to finish it for you. Lol
I just can't guarantee it will look as nice as the way your doing it. 
Keep up the good work.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Well, just had a meeting with corporate level management (wife), and was delivered bad news.

She want a solid walnut divider, floor, and top. Which means that 13"w 3" thick 10' long piece I was holding onto needs to have a piece cut, and some 1/2" slices taken off.

So I guess I now know what the next step is, I still haven't ordered any router bits, been researching for a new tablet (I have 2 7" galaxy tabs, want to move to a 10-12"), so maybe ill order the bits, drawer glides, and hinges tonight.

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

:laughing: I guess you gotta make momma proud. Tell her you don't have it anymore, that you already shipped it to me. Lol


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Hey, how about an update?. Yes?. OK.

Wasn't able to do anything for a couple days, planer was acting funny so I took it apart, and made it a happy, and clean tool.

Was going to get in the shop last night, then this..

Yup, now my truck looks like a golf ball








So, I did get the divider and top resawed, and in did get the maple slats cut and ran through the router.




















And got some sanding, and glue ups done, viola... the sides.





















Tomorrow, hoping to work out and install base and divider, and the ball bearing drawer glides.

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Looks like the golf ball is in your hand. 
Hope there wasn't to much damage. 
Bread box is coming along just fine. Can't wait for some more.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Looks like the golf ball is in your hand.
> Hope there wasn't to much damage.
> Bread box is coming along just fine. Can't wait for some more.


Lots of damage, its texas, I'm on the dry line, nasty storms and big hail happen. Wife is mad about all 3 cars, who cares, that's what insurance is for.

I'll get a lot done today I think.

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Gotta make time for the super bowl.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

What's taking so long?  :laughing: Looking great.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Gotta make time for the super bowl.


What's the super bowl?.

I don't watch sports at all, in fact, didn't realize it was super bowl Sunday, until you said something. 

I've gotta dress warm for shop day, cold today, plan on kicking some butt on this today. I figured this build out and now know exactly what I am going to do with it while laying in bed last night. 

Odd part if all this is the solid wood build, normally I'd use plywood for certain parts to help with stability for wood movement, but she wants solid. Gotta break out my box joint jig today, set it up, I figured box joints on drawer would be cool.

A lot of this is major overkill for a bread box, my uncle was asking why so complicated, my answer is experience, all these builds I'm posting build experience.

However, man its gonna look wicked when done I think.

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Sure is going to look wicked. And yes I'm the same way, i don't watch a whole lot of sports either. I just found out yesterday who was playing in the super bowl. :laughing:


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Big progress today, and I'm wore out.

Got middle divider done, drawer, interior, bottom and top supports.

Went with a box joint for drawer, why not?, considering I've had that freud box joint dado for a year, and never used it for box joints.


Right now, its a dry fit, waiting for my new brad and pin nailer to show up and I'll start final assembly.









































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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Drawer and middle panel.

I need to edit first post today with all pics, trim it up, so here is a quicky.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

That finish looks nice. Has a rich look to it.whats the finish so far?


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> That finish looks nice. Has a rich look to it.whats the finish so far?



3 coats walnut watco, each coat applied to thick, allowed to soak, and get gummy and tacky, then wiped down with denatured alcohol before each coat, then final wipe with alcohol before spraying semi gloss poly


Doing that process for the side panel outside pieces, with the maple slats not getting any walnut watco, is going to be tough.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Like I said. Rich in color. That Danish oil adds depth when finished with a clear coat.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I feel like I'm the only one following this build of yours Mac. That's ok more for me. Lol


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Looking pretty good so far. I love the grain on the front of the drawer. Very cool.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Got a little done today.

Now, the plan was to make the drawer front and upper door the same style as the sides, I double side taped a piece of scrap to drawer just to see if I would like a solid walnut drawer front, I'm still on the fence about this.

Wife wants flush fit drawer front, and upper door,


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## Eric13 (Jan 15, 2012)

Beautiful finish on the walnut, it has great depth. I've always enjoyed looking at contrasting woods on someones project.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I'm Lovin it Mac.....Just like the Mac Donald's commercial. Lol


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Oh no. I'm sad to see that cool grain get hidden. Oh well, do what ya gotta do. It still looks nice.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> Oh no. I'm sad to see that cool grain get hidden. Oh well, do what ya gotta do. It still looks nice.



Oh I cut that off of what I call the "big dog", the 13"w x 3" thick 12'l piece of walnut I have, so getting the same grain and color will happen, that piece on the drawer front is just a crappy scrap piece, infact, look at the lower left corner, you can still see the saw marks from the sawmill.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

oldmacnut said:


> Oh I cut that off of what I call the "big dog", the 13"w x 3" thick 12'l piece of walnut I have, so getting the same grain and color will happen, that piece on the drawer front is just a crappy scrap piece, infact, look at the lower left corner, you can still see the saw marks from the sawmill.


Wow! That is one monster piece of walnut. If the question were to be "jealous much?" my answer would most certainly be a resounding "heck yeah!"


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> Wow! That is one monster piece of walnut. If the question were to be "jealous much?" my answer would most certainly be a resounding "heck yeah!"


Enjoy this....


My quartersawn white oak









My walnut piles, scattered everywhere, never in one spot




























Miscellaneous piles of ash, cherry,




























I'm heading to sawmill this week to get some more cherry, ash, a few pieces of hickory, and 47 sheets of 3/4" maple plywood, just need to get my dads trailer first.

I always have material.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Alright Mac, no time for talk get back to the bread box. Lol


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## Heath (Jan 29, 2012)

This thing is going to hold a ton of bread. How many loaves are you expecting to keep in here at a time?

Love the way it's looking so far, been following since day one. Great work


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Heath said:


> This thing is going to hold a ton of bread. How many loaves are you expecting to keep in here at a time?
> 
> Love the way it's looking so far, been following since day one. Great work


Oh you didn't know.... Over at the Mac nut house they eat like 5 loafs a week.lol


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Oh you didn't know.... Over at the Mac nut house they eat like 5 loafs a week.lol


Yeah, we go through a lot, damn kids love peanut butter and jelly like no other.

It should hold 6 full loaves of bread


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

oldmacnut said:


> Yeah, we go through a lot, damn kids love peanut butter and jelly like no other.
> 
> It should hold 6 full loaves of bread


:laughing: OMG. Hahahahaha


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Crackheads.

No update for yesterday, or today. Had a presurgery appt yesterday for disc replacement on L1-L5, and today I'm just tired and lazy, plus I bought a new tablet and I'm waiting on the fedex guy to show up with it.

Tomorrow, is my birthday, and I'm hoping that I can spend all day in the shop, wrapping that up, and getting ready for the next build....a crafsman toolbox, solid walnut.


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## Heath (Jan 29, 2012)

oldmacnut said:


> Crackheads.
> 
> No update for yesterday, or today. Had a presurgery appt yesterday for disc replacement on L1-L5, and today I'm just tired and lazy, plus I bought a new tablet and I'm waiting on the fedex guy to show up with it.
> 
> Tomorrow, is my birthday, and I'm hoping that I can spend all day in the shop, wrapping that up, and getting ready for the next build....a crafsman toolbox, solid walnut.


Hope you have a great bday and if you aren't too busy playing with the new tablet I hope to see some updates. What tablet did you get? I've been really happy with my Transformer, wish I would have waited for the Transformer Prime.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Heath said:


> Hope you have a great bday and if you aren't too busy playing with the new tablet I hope to see some updates. What tablet did you get? I've been really happy with my Transformer, wish I would have waited for the Transformer Prime.


I got the xoom. I have a 3g account and got the xoom for 200
I'm still getting use to how big it is, going from 7" to 10, harder to type now

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Happy b-day old Mac. Quit playing and back to work. Lol. Just kidding you take all the time you want. Because when your done with this. I'll be happy, but sad. Lol


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Happy b-day old Mac. Quit playing and back to work. Lol. Just kidding you take all the time you want. Because when your done with this. I'll be happy, but sad. Lol


No worries, the tool box will trump this. You will love that more. Lol.

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

OK, small update.


Its damn cold today.

Got a final face frame cut out, and got the door, and drawer front frame roughed out. Need to cut the maple inserts.

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Well I did manage to not only get some work done, but a lot of work done.

Saturday should see a final finished product, so here is what I got done today.

Got some material resawed and glued up for a top











I took the face frame off I made the other day, and made a new one, also did the frames for door, and drawer front.











And cut the maple for the insert, and trimmed to size and did a test location and fitting































So since all that was done, I can sand everything, finish, attach, make the few remaining 1/4 round moulding pieces, by this time tomorrow, I'm hoping it is in the kitchen being used.

I also started on the maple silverware tray to put in the drawer, might finish that Sunday.

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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Man that's looking beautiful. Love the figure on that walnut. Coming down to the wire on this build. Can't wait for a finish. It's gonna shine. Good work.


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## Heath (Jan 29, 2012)

oldmacnut said:


> I got the xoom. I have a 3g account and got the xoom for 200
> I'm still getting use to how big it is, going from 7" to 10, harder to type now
> 
> Sent from my Xoom using Woodworking Talk


Great choice for the price for sure.


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

besides being sick with the flu for 4 days, my left arm is agitated again and can hardly move it.

I did manage to get the face frame, and top on the bread box, door and drawer are in the booth drying from another clear coat, those will take the longest as I have to flip them and clear both sides.

Today was the first day I've been able to spend more than 15 minutes in the shop, and stuff is starting to pile up now.











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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Old Mac, you are a trooper. Thanks for the update. It's beautiful. Fits perfectly on that counter. Color is also nice. I bet miss Mac is very pleased. Take care of yourself and your arm. We need you. 
:thumbsup:


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

OK, here she is prior to taking apart, and doing any touch ups before getting a few coats of poly.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

You and kenbo been trading ideas?


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Nice job old Mac. I like the wood pulls. Came out gorgeous. Thanks for sharing this wonderful build.


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