The drive to Saluda, SC. on Saturday was a bust. The van looked okay in the pictures. The ad stated a manual transmission. I have driven with a manual transmission most of my life. I liked the idea. As I walked up to the van with the owner, he told me it had an automatic. My shit detector went into the red zone. What else would not be the same as ad?
It was a conversion van. The outside looked okay. I opened the drivers door and saw chunks of wiring laying on the floor and the captain seats were all but destroyed. Turns out the two captain seats in the rear were half decent. That was the interior pictures in ad. The door panels were carpeted a long time before the windows had leaked and destroyed them. It was parked in a mud hole and needed jump started. Bald tires. I was surprised when it started and ran well. But I can buy a good van for what he wanted.

It was a 3 and 1\2 hour drive up from Myrtle Beach. We tried to contact other people with vans for sale in the area. Easter weekend. No luck. We returned home.

So that was not my van. One will show up.

Meanwhile....back at the ranch(so to speak).
I have been busy getting geared up for boat work. I have a booth and table to build for Mary Lee(amongst other things) and a nester dinghy to build. Neither project is very difficult but I am putting all other projects on hold until finished with them.

First was practice runs with edge banding bits in router table and horizontal router jig I built a short time ago (see...it was for a reason).
 This is a look at the project.

Plywood edges shaped on the verticle and solid wood for edges on the horizontal.

Then put together with edging stained.

More surface area to glue. Stronger than tongue and groove. Will do table and cabinet doors on Mary Lee this way.
That piece is actually very similar to what I will be doing in Mary Lee to brighten it up and add contrast. I will be using maple countertop laminate on marine plywood and wrapping the edges in mahogany hardwood. So similar, as in light wood with dark trim.

I made a shooting board. Dovetailing and fitting corners tightly requires very straight cuts so the edges have no gaps. I needed a way to absolutely have this on every edge.
Top picture is with piece I made(yellow paint)to do 45° corners.
Of course the bottom is for square ends. The hand plane slides on the edge just how you see it. 60 grit sandpaper glued on top keeps everything from slipping. I made a practice corner piece the way I will do table.

 The stain makes the corner look like there is a gap. I assure you. It feels smooth when you run your fingernail over it.

I also squared the other practice piece perfectly.

You notice the chisels? I spent some time in my 20's working as a meat cutter. I  worked kill floors, grocery stores and meat packing houses. I know very well how to sharpen a knife. I needed a good way to do chisels. Got one.

That is a diamond sharpening stone with the standard stones.
It is a fine grade. Still feels rough to me. But it is great for squaring up the edge of whatever you are sharpening before polishing it out on a good stone.

The white stone is a very good stone. I can make anything razor sharp on it.

The coolest thing about the diamond stone is lapping the real stones with it to keep the surfaces flat.
Just like picture of grey stone on top of diamond. I do it in a sink of soapy water. I draw pencil lines on stone. When it takes all lines off. Stone is flat and perfect for lapping chisels. I never use oil. Just soapy water. Oil can get on meat, clothes, whatever. Soap is a great lubricant and contaminates nothing.

Yes...the grey stone is my cheap throwaway stone for fixing edges before I will touch them on the good stone. The chisels are very sharp.

The diamond stone works so well, it may eliminate the need for the cheap grey stone.

Yesterday morning I decided the rose bush needed moved in the courtyard. We were going to plant two. This one has no thorns. We went back to get a second one last year and they were out of them everywhere. Now this one is so much bigger that a second one will always look small.

It was on left. I centered it under windows. It blooms all summer and is really growing fast. Vivian will be able to see the flowers from inside the house as well as out.

The Live Oak tree we rescued(supposed to be a dwarf) is really taking off this spring.

When we got it, it had been pulled out of the ground, drug off near the woods and left to fend for itself. The water running by it from the rain kept it alive. It had very few leaves on it when we planted it. I reluctantly pruned it this winter. I was afraid of killing it as it had shown no growth last summer.

It is doing well now. These are all new leaves coming out. Should make a nice looking tree after all.

So Vivian cooked a nice Easter dinner for us. Later...it got quiet. You know how it gets quiet when kids get into things?

There she was putting photo albums together. What a sweetheart!

This month we start  getting rid of unused "THINGS". Both of us are beginning to adopt a more minimalist lifestyle. We will still have things. I will not part with any tools again. She has keepsakes she will not part with. I admit to some of that myself.

But we can sure thin out some other stuff. I did a lot of that when I moved out to work on Mary Lee that first summer in Baltimore. I have to do more.
 It should be interesting