I'm getting ready to glue the top together and when I started getting my clamps ready, I quickly found out that I needed more of the same kind of clamps because I already have a nice variety as you can see. And believe it or not, I used all of these for this glue-up. However, when it came time to do the bottom, I had to improvise because I needed larger clamps for that one. So guess what I did when I finished gluing these pieces? Can you say...Internet!
 

What I'm doing here is removing a warped area on one side. This was unexpected but was quickly fixed.
 

I sanded all of the outside surfaces starting with 150 and finishing with 320.
 

Here is a sneak peak at what I've made. I separated the different types of blocks with thin cardboard as a temporary solution. I'll explain later.
 

I'll be using a Polyurethane on this project because I want it to last for awhile. And using this oil based product made by Zar should do just that. Now I've used this semi-gloss on many different projects and it's always worked great. In fact, this is my second can. Just for the record, I don't use a good brush for this, I use the cheap ones and then throw them out after every coat. And I know I'm sacrificing a better finish by doing this but I tried cleaning a good brush once and it just took too long.

I'm using my high-dollar finishing room to apply the clear finish as you can see. I coated the inside and sides of both pieces to start with. After waiting two hours I applied another coat and let it dry. A few days later I set aside the top piece and coated the back surface of the bottom only...for now. I'll show you why soon.