What a summer. A major family vacation swing through the northeast, including some awesome woodworking destination stops. Followed by a quick trip off to the Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach. Followed by a quick weekend getaway with my good friend Bob and his family to enjoy a little sand, surf and boating.

This has been a total blast.

Of course, this has also meant that there hasn’t been a lot of progress on things in the shop. Which means, my shop is now broken into two distinct zones of activity, and I have to make some quick progress on both of them…

In one half of the shop, it’s strictly tile. Remember that bathroom project? Yeah… I thought you might. After I ripped out the old tile, moldy drywall and rusty old tub, we changed out the drain and supply plumbing, replaced the tub and surrounded the area with cement board. I used thinset mortar to seal up the joints, and then painted the area with a red waterproofing membrane.

But, I’m quickly discovering that tile is not wood … not in the least. It’s not that cutting isn’t something unfamiliar. Heck the tool I am using is a table saw… yes, a table saw for tile. It’s just that when I get close to finishing my cuts, the tile usually breaks. Plus, I’m working with super-hard porcelain tile – which means I need to take some extra care during the cutting.

Why the hurry? Well, school starts again in a few weeks here in Florida… wouldn’t it be nice to have two working bathrooms in the house again?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, I have a few woodworking projects taking up some space. The santos mahogany step stool is approaching its finale as Rhonda flexes her sanding muscles. She’s got another post in the works, and from there – I think she’s ready to become an expert finisher.

While this would be exciting on its own, I have created a challenge for myself. You see, in about a week, I’m headed to some emergency management training near where my next niece lives who is about to turn 16. Granted, her birthday isn’t until November, but I will be flying and landing at an airport close to her house. So, I thought, why not bring her hope chest to her now as part of my checked on luggage? You remember that I built a hope chest for my oldest niece a few years ago, right?

So, I have been milling like a madman the past few nights after work.  Spent a little time yesterday afternoon getting all of the pieces planed, cut to size and ready to roll for the plan. The plan, by the way, is the simple blanket chest built by Norm, but with some Mayan walnut I got from Bell Forest Products… and the panels from another piece of I wood I’ll have to write about…

Meanwhile, it was great to get some time at the table saw I was a lot more familiar with. It was also great using my miter bench to cut things to the right size – nice and square. I’m just hoping I can get the piece ready to go before the big trip…