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To begin the project we take our parts list and decide what boards will be used to make which parts. The way the grain runs through a board will affect it's behavior in the future, for even though long 'dead' wood never stops moving. Once we've laid out the parts, we cut them to rough size -- slightly over-size so we have some extra for trimming and straightening should it bow a little as the tensions within the wood are released.
 As the parts are roughed out, they are labeled to avoid confusion later on. Some of the parts for casework used in this Island are similar in size and shape, but confusing them will create problems later.
 The first step in the construction is to build the corner posts. Rather than milling the posts from 8/4 (2") solid squares, I join two 4/4 boards with a splined miter joint. I find this yields a post that is less inclined to split or bend as time passes. But to get it right, the two outside surfaces must be perpendicular to one another, and that means a perfect 45° cut on the inside edge of each part. After carefully setting the blade angle, I run a couple of scrap pieces through, test the joint produced with an engineer's square, tweak the blade setting, and run the test pieces through again until it's perfect. Only then do I mill the parts for the posts.
 The parts for each post were cut from a single board and marked for orientation so that the grain in the wood will flow around the post, giving the impression of being a solid piece of wood. I sneak up on the final cut, taking only a few thousandths of an inch off with a fine tooth blade on the final pass, this gives me nice smooth mating surfaces for a perfect glue joint.
 After the bevels are cut on the boards, I flip them over and cut the slot for the spline without changing the saw blade setting. The splines were cut previously, so now we're ready to make posts.
 The first step is to dry-fit the joints and make sure everything fits properly before we apply any glue -- it's much easier to make adjustments now than it would be if we discovered a problem after joining the pieces with glue.
 We pull the joints together snugly with clamps placed in both directions ever few inches so that there are no gaps. The goal here is for an invisible joint at the outside corner. Because there is no tension on this joint, once the glue tacks up (about an hour in weather like today) the clamps can be removed and used on the next post. Somehow, woodworkers *never* have all the clamps they want.
 While we wait for posts to tack up, I begin cutting the tenons on the ends of the rails and center posts. I use a jig I built myself a couple of years ago; it isn't pretty, but it does a nice job.
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