Tapering the pieces...

A few shots from today.  First, one leg in the tapering jig I built.  This holds the piece at a very precise incline as it runs through the thickness planer, which results in a piece that has more wood removed on one end.  Flip it over, adjust the incline (double the angle), run through the planer again, and voila, a tapered piece!  (Working out the fine points took some time, like getting the angles just right for the different lengths, adding the sacrificial blocks at the ends so that the machine's start and stop dips did not ruin the piece, and so forth.)