Shavings from planing down the door to the Catio.

Stanley is old (1940's), rough around the edges, and a bit rusty, but very patient — he has been waiting in the shed for years for me to find a job for him and put him to work. Yesterday Stanley, the hard plane who sits in a Bailey No. 4 base, was put to use planing down the French door and frame that leads to the catio.  Last summer with all the rain, the door swelled and wouldn't shut properly. Months later, after all the other doors had dried up and went back to their normal size, the catio door still wouldn't shut properly. On further investigation, I discovered the problem is the trunk of the trumpet vine growing up and over the arch we have over the doorway in the catio has grown large enough to push on the trim around the outside of the door and has pushed the door frame in about 1/8 of an inch so the door could not close properly. I really need to take the trim off the outside of the door, but in order to do that I need to take down the arch, which is overgrown with the trumpet vine, so I would have to remove the trumpet vine canopy that we use for shade. If I remove the trumpet vine canopy, all that will be left is the trunk causing the problem, so at that point I could take out the trunk, which would do away the trumpet vine.  I really don't want to kill the trumpet vine which provides good shade, and flowers that the honey bees and hummingbirds love. Until I can see if I find a better permanent solution to the problem, I put Stanley to work and planed down the door and the door jamb so it closes properly again.

Stanley where he has sat patiently for years in the shed for me to put him to work.

Stanley sizing up the edge of the door, helping me decide if we could plane  the door in on its hinges.

Stanley making shavings as we plane the edge of the door.

Stanley sits happily among the wood shavings from our labor.