With a maiden voyage and registration achieved, the weather turned cool and I was able to do some yard work I'd been putting off for a long while. The hot dry summers we had from '10 to '13 killed 3 trees in my yard that I wanted to replace. Two of 4 new trees are now done. Also, When I put up the shop, I had them scrape some dirt away so I could put in a walkwsy. That was over two years ago, and every time I go out to the shop, that unfinished project stares at me. I got out my trusty shovel and started digging a drainage ditch. Thank Goodness for cool weather. Fifty feet of ditch, a cubic yard of dirt out and similar amount of crushed rock in, Phase One is complete.
Then it got rainy, as well as cold, and I got to spend some time on the Tear. The maiden voyage showed up a few minor problems that I got taken care of. One bigger item was the cooler tray where the Ecuadorian ply failed after getting wet. Time to make another.
This time, instead of plywood, I took a stick of good ol' HD whitewood and the marine ply from one of the door cutouts. The whitewood had a sticker that said "Product of Sweden." I'm assuming that is a small town in Wisconsin. I've been to Luxemburg, WI, and some really good cheese comes from Denmark, WI, so Sweden, WI must be somewhere nearby. Anyway, I didn't want to use any more wood from furriners.
The marine ply piece has my jigsaw joint running down the middle. It turned out like this:
I used a fairly simple method to cut the box joints on the table saw. All it takes is a stop on your miter fence, some spacer blocks, and an ordinary saw blade. No layout, no marking, no hand sawing, usually no tears.
First make the parts that will have the "pins" on the top and bottom.
This step is critical to the fit of the joint. Set the stop on the miter fence so the edge of the piece is even with the near side of the saw blade. (i.e. so it just misses making a cut by a hair) Set the saw blade height to just a little more than the board thickness.
Put a spacer block between the workpiece and miter stop.
Don't let this pic confuse you, it shows the mating part. Note the stop (red) and the wooden spacer block. Move along, nothing else to see here.
1. Stand the board on end, and make a cut:
2. Turn the board around and repeat.
3. Flip the board end for end and repeat the first two cuts.
4. Add a spacer block and repeat the first three steps.
5. Repeat as many times as necessary. Your board will look like the bottom one in this photo:
The numbers reflect the order of the cuts, and the X's will get wasted.
Do the same on the other side/end while you are still set up.
Next up are the mating pieces.
This step is critical to the fit of the joint. Using one of the first pieces as a guide, set the stop so the saw blade is even with the inside of the outside pin.
Confuse-us say: picture worth more than confusing explanation.
Proceed as before, only this time the first cut uses no spacer block.
Mark the areas to waste with an "X". Just like in the pix. Cut away the bits marked with the X's on all boards.
Clean up with a chisel and do a dry fit. Marvel at the fine quality of your work.
Glue and clamp:
by KCStudly » Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:14 am 
I took my shiny new VTR-68a form to the DMV, waited for the nice lady to type all the info from the forms into the computer, forked over two bucks and left with my VIN Number!
Frank
With the "re-organization" by my former employer leaving me without an income, I certainly have the time. 
