The Cradle Project-Final Notes and Completion Photos

Hi Everyone,

It's finished. It took several people and a couple of cats but we did it. Here's the final notes and photos:

I've had the cradle inside so that the polyurethane I used would dry. It suddenly got cooler outside and the finished would never have dried under those conditions. I used Minwax Wipe On Polyurethane for this project. It's easy to apply, provides a durable finish, and is easy to repair should the finish become damaged from flying toys, cat scratches, etc.

My husband and I then brought the cradle and the rocker upstairs for assembly and placed it upside down on some dining room chairs. And of course the inspection team immediately sprang into action:

I placed the rocker assembly on the underside of the cradle and centered it:

And drew an outline around it. Then I drilled some pilot holes for the screws:

I didn't want the rocker to move while I was drilling so my husband got underneath the cradle and drilled in two 2 1/2" wood screws from the underside to attach the assembly to the cradle. This was really funny as Rhubarb got underneath with my husband and was playing with Jim's head and glasses:

More assistance and inspection:

And here is the cradle completely assembled. You can see the screw heads clearly in the photo:

The last part of the project was to attach the handles on the end panels and for this we used this screw driver. We've had this particular tool for decades and it's been used on all sorts of projects so it seemed appropriate to use it now for the next generation of children in our family:

I was about to attach the handles when my husband and son and Biscuit decided to do this themselves so I stepped aside and did the photographs:

Here is a photograph of  one of the handles in place. And with this the project is concluded:

Finish photographs

And yes, it rocks back and forth!

We brought it back inside and the Ginger Majesties got a well earned Party Mix treat for their help:

Here is a photo of it with all the baby stuff-I bought the bear:

I don't usually run around signing things but I thought it was appropriate this time:

When the baby is born I'll create a small wooden plaque indicating that the cradle was originally made for him, his name and birthdate, and the names of his mom and dad, and the names of everyone who helped out. I hope the cradle will last many, many generations.

Ok, I'm done with this project.

What's next?

I have to clean out my shop and organize it-I'm up to my eyebrows in wood dust and other assorted junk.

I'm not sure if I'll have the time to do a Mother's Day  Turn O Rama this year as the baby will be newly born by that point so I'll see if I can get away from just holding him long enough for a project.

I also have a lot of dried tree trunks to turn so this summer I will be doing bowls and placing some of them for sale on the sales blog. More about this later.

So stay tuned and grab some coffee and drop by the wood shop. There's always something going on here.

Well, I'm going to have a cup of tea. See you all soon.
VW