Onto the Rails
I actually pondered for some time on a good way to come up with some reasonably looking rails for Ned’s pump-car. I had some good suggestions given to me along the lines of hobby shop rails, making some castings, etc. As I considered these methods, each was abandoned for one reason or another.
I really didn’t want to start shaping a small piece of wood with chisels and I couldn’t get my head around holding a thin piece of wood up to a router bit safely.
At about the same time, I started thinking about approximating the shape of a rail. I had put some moulding along our kitchen cabinets a little while ago and when I picked up some scraps that I still had laying around, I realized that if I glued them back-to-back, it started to look a bit like a rail.
As it still needed some shaping, I temporarily glued the flat section ( bottom ) of the rail to a larger piece of wood that I could use to hold while routing on the router table and that would keep my fingers well away from the router bit. After a few passes with a couple of router bits, the rail is looking pretty respectable. I little bit of sanding and some shaping and I think that I have the start of a base.
tributesinwood 