Alright so we're not going to be doing any stairblasting right off, lets ease into it. I propose some "builtinblasting" instead, to the tune of a closet system and a desk. This is actually a pretty neat system for built in shelving that I learned from my esteemed colleague Max McGuiness, who is an animal at this sort of thing. "Wait a minute" you say, "I thought this thing was all about stairs and stuff", well my friend (enter economic downturn diatribe here) there you have it.

Seriously, there's some useful stuff here. The process of templating is almost identical to what you would do to fit treads in an overlay application. Actually, I would hazard to suggest that in any difficult installation that involves critical scribing or fitting- when the pressure's on, taking the time to template is not only going to make your finished product prettier, it will save your ass. "Hmm" you think, "Thats firm language with re-" hold on, hear me out. Every time I've ever really buggered a process in the the installation of something, and I have, there's always been a moment, after the initial hammer throwing, but before the reality of how the fix is going to happen becomes apparent, when I just want to go back.
Well that's what you get, when you take the extra time to template, you get to go back. You get to make your miscut, or the flaw in your numbers shows up, burned inches come back. You'll hedge against a wasteful mistake, and it'll cost you time, but not as much time as making a new piece. Enough said.

Today I made a small desktop from some leftover
butcherblock countertop. As it would figure the
offcut piece I had was basically upside and backwards from what I need, plus it had been sitting in my woodshed for a few years, and could use a plane. so I cut it up and planed about an eighth off. The pieces are shown up above. Being manufactured this stuff is sort of all over the road, cutting it up allowed me to get rid of some flaws, and fit it through the planer. Now I'll biscuit and glue up the constituent pieces in the configuration I'm after.

Tomorrow, I'll unclamp and shape the front edge
of the desk. My plan is to leave the whole piece
big by an inch or two on the three sides that will scribe to the wall so I have support for my jigsaw when I cut to the lines taken from the templates that I plan to make. I know I'm writing this all backwards, with runons and such, bear with me, it will all make sense in the end.

until then.

Well, here goes...
I have this thing for building stairs- and while there are few who know or care to know the subtleties of the craft, I know you're out there, listening. This is a beacon (or a cry for help) for anyone up against the fussy apparatus we use to get around our multi-levelled world.