This is the snasty joint issue that gave us so many headaches; turns out, he ended up using a dovetail after-all, just one that is 3 times larger in every way.
This is the set-up for the bearings, you can see he even made two wooden jackets, so that a bare minimum of metal was visible. These rocker bearings, along with the screws and giant washers on the base of the uprights (helps to stabalize the uprights) are the only metal used in the entire piece.
Here you can see ( sorta ) the dovetail work on the ribs.
Here you can see the spreader bar, finials, and upright.
And here is a dinky shot of the unfinished finished cradle!
TaDahhhhh!!! Now, notice the legs off to the left, how they dangle from the workbench, almost as if ~ yes ~
as if somebody just couldn't stay up any longer!
Well, afterall, 200+ hours IS a long time to be working away on something, he earned it! ( check out how even in the absolute deepest throes of sleep, he manages to maintain a death-like state, so very still, that his glasses are still perched atop his non-moving chest ~ and he wonders why I tried to rescusitate him ever so forcefully once, early on in the marriage, ~ actually ~ I really thought he was dead, so I balled my two fists together and slammed them down on his chest to re-start that unmoving heart ~ actually scared the livin' daylights out of him, woke him up with a start, he said "What, what'd I do to you?" ~ We can laugh about it now :-D )
Sorta looks like he's on a coroner's table to me ~
Hubby and I worked for hours, rubbing this hard paste wax in, buffing, rebuffing, another coat, another coat, another coat ~ argh~
Here's that joint again, looks better, eh? can you see where he actually *grew* another dovetail?
Here you can see how nicely many many coats of paste wax shine up, looks almost high-gloss, only without the ugliness of highgloss. Well, to me high gloss usually looks a little gauche. There are situations where it's the right application, but not many.
Check out those dovetailed ribs, spoke-shaved rim, and hand-rubbed finish!
And finally ~ VOILA ~
here it is ~
Still debating whether to hang the curtains from little loops, with the fabric hanging beneath the spreader bar ( thus the spreader bar is visible, for the most part) or somewhat like it's pinned, with the fabric hanging over the top of the spreader bar ( hangs better, but can't see the bar, and the bar IS gorgeous.)
~ UPDATE ~
Well, the loopy's won out, and I think it turned out all right ~ what do you think?
