Last night I glued up the two 6x6" posts for the top. First I jointed the two mating faces, they weren't too bad but needed a little straightening and squaring. I wetted the mating faces and slathered on plenty of Gorilla Glue, then clamped up with my four clamps. Then I flipped it up on edge, and drilled three pilot holes from the back for 10" Timerlock bolts, then drove the bolts in. I was just gifted an awesome new Makita impact driver, so I used that to drive the bolts so I could try it out, but I've used my brace plenty of times before, so I know it works fine (and applies so much torque that I could drive these things all the way through the wood). I put them 4" in from each edge and one in the center. I'll just have to keep them in mind when I'm drilling my dog holes. I also was unable to remove two giant nails from one of the posts that are indicators of their previous life as a retainer wall, so I'll have to watch out for those.
While the glue was setting up, I marked and cut the legs to length. Next step is cutting the joints. After watching the episode of The Woodwright's Shop where Roy talks about the rising dovetail a few times, as well as a video on youtube where a different person goes through the joint, I am starting to feel confident enough to tackle them. I will admit that I am not looking forward to dealing with the angled mortise and tenons on the back legs. I also find myself wishing for a 6" deep backsaw to cut the joints accurately. Roy's top is only 3" or 4" thick, but he still cut the leg joints with a handsaw. I may go this route.
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