It's just good to have one

Chisels. Check.
Bevel square. Check.
Japanese back saws. Check.
Combination square. Check.
Rosewood marking gauge. Check.
Very sharp marking knife. Check.
Workbench-mounted vice and bench dogs. Check.
Two pieces of Pacific Coast Maple, four inches wide, 3/4" thick, and random lengths. Check.

I surface and size my two pieces of wood. A zip across the jointer. Cut to width on the table saw. Quickly worked down to thickness by the planer.

Then, the all important. Enter the iPod. Hmm...need to set the mood...yes, a newly purchased album...here we are.

Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. The simple mellow piano chords of Mr. Monk begin to quietly remove me from surroundings and allow me to focus on the task at hand. As I begin my measuring and scoring of my marks on the soft hardwood, Coltrane drifts into the environment. I don't remember much of the music after that point, I had achieved my focus.

Carefully, my marks were made. Even more carefully, I placed X's on bits of wood I wanted to remove, avoiding my removal of the wrong bits with a few simple swipes of graphite.

Now, the hard part, my saw swishes back and forth smoothly through the wood, riding within millimeters of the lines just cut there with my knife. Made it. 14 cuts, no mistakes yet.

Moving around the table, picking up my chisels and honing them to a razors edge, I begin to warm up as I am intent upon following my lines. I can feel moisture trying to cool my back, but my hooded sweatshirt keeps the sweat from evaporating. Why am I thinking about it? Where has my music gone? Have I listened to an entire album of music already? What time is it? I've only got one piece done. All right, hmm...Nick Drake...yeah, that's good stuff. A little Pink Moon.

My chisel also swishes through the soft wood. Paper thin curls drift to the floor.

The moment of truth. The wood creaks together like oars in the oarlocks of an old wooden rowboat. The pipe clamp, with all it's torque ignores the protests of the pieces as they slide tighter and tighter.

And go play the game that you learnt
From the morning

Nick Drake breathes the final lyrics and the guitar plays the outro as I stand with my creation. And hour and half of time well spent. Can only get better from here. My first dovetail joint.