My day in the shop didn’t go as I has planned.  It’s not that anything went wrong, but I had gotten the order of operations a little out of order.  Originally I was going to cleanup the uprights and chop the mortises for the rail wedges.  As I was about to plane off all of my layout lines it dawned on me that I had better cut and fit the pivot arm first.

The pivot arm installs in a slot in the taller upright and rides on a 1/2″ diameter steel axle.  I also installed a bronze bushing to protect the soft wood of the pivot arm.  I purchased both the steel rod and the bronze bushing from the big box store.  Both needed to be cut to length

Since I was in metal working mode I thought I would have a go at fashioning a strap that will eventually connect the, yet to be made, spring poles.  In his book, “By Wedge and Edge“, Roy says the strap can be fashioned from a copper pipe that is cut in half along its length.  Ideally I would have a metal cutting blade for my turning saw, but I don’t.  So I was left to use my hacksaw with a fixed blade.  By loosening the blade I was able to twist the blade enough to cut away about a quarter of the 12” long piece of copper pipe.  Then I worked the remainder flat.  Just like that, I had a copper strap.

The pivot arm is fashioned from a piece of clear pine that I bought specifically for the purpose.  When I went to the big box I culled through the pile until I found a piece that had the grain running in the same direction as the taper of the arm.  I was really lucky and found an almost perfect match.

The axle partially installed.

The rest of my day in the shop was spent planing the uprights clean and chamfering every exposed edge.  I then reassembled what I have so far and manged to actually mark out for the wedge mortises.  The chopping of those will have to wait until tomorrow.

Part 2 Greg Merritt Part 4