This thing drives like it’s on rails…

Mid-way update beings (at least so far) my fairy mancave godmother is looking over the project! 🙂

I pulled the trigger a couple of weeks ago and ordered bar rail from Baird Brothers.  I ordered two long sections and two 45deg corners.  Also picked up a biscuit joiner as sooner or later I’ll have other uses some day beyond the 6-8 I needed to put in for this project 🙂

Earlier this week I joined one 45 to the long leg of rail and the other to the short end.  Today was the day to bridge the gap!  I mounted the long and short section in place with liquid nails and some 2″ lag bolts then set out making the template for the middle piece.

See, the bar isn’t two perfect 45deg angles, it’s more like a 45 and 47.48734398..  I measured and re-measured and cut several template pieces out of scrap and transferred the measurements to a scrap piece of particle board.  To have it perfect, the outside edge needed to be 1/16″ longer than the inside edge at the left end.  I transfered the measurements to the only piece of bar rail I had left I could get the piece out of and made the cut, threw it on the bar, probably 1/16 to long, expletives flowed, but it’s better to be too long than too short (that’s what she said!) so it was back to the saw to shave it ever so slightly.

Perfect fit!

So everything is in place, liquid nails curing, sanded the two already-dry joints and sections, I’ll finish sanding and do the stain tomorrow!  Then I get to make the call whether I’ll do a few coats of poly or if I’ll get gutsy and go for the deep finish of a thick epoxy.

Enough yapping, here’s the slightly distorted panorama