Sore hands from latest project

My hands are sore today (Monday) as I spent the weekend in my wood shop beginning a new project which is made almost entirely of red oak.
Beginning Saturday, on the coldest day of the year, I began planing the four oak boards and two ash boards to thickness.
My wife kidded me that I had waited so long to begin this project as I went out to the freezing side of the garage to set up my planer and equipment. Your breath just hung in the air as you exhaled in that side of the garage.
The wood, which had been kiln dried and stored inside a cold building, was too cold to handle with bare hands. My hands are really soft and by Monday morning, they felt like pin cushions as I picked out small slivers from my fingers and hands.
I wore four layers of clothing Saturday morning, as well as my warmest felt-lined boots, yet even that was not nearly warm enough.
The wood was resilient to planing and seemed to almost polish as I took a 32nd off each time it passed through the planer. The wood was a either a rough one-inch thickness or a rough two-inch thickness. The material called for a full one-inch thickness for several pieces and for the base a full two-inch thickness.
The pieces now are slightly under-sized.
It has been a while since I worked at fabricating furniture, and this particular project has required learning many new skills. The plans call for several specialized jigs for doweling and joining the pieces. It took time to fabricate those jigs.
The old adage “measure twice, cut once,” and checking to make sure the cut is on the right side of the wood before you cut, was never more in play. More than once, I changed the side that the wood was being dadoed or made sure the angle was being cut in the right direction.
The table saw got a full workout cutting boards to width. Oak is a hardwood but not as hard as ash. Oak might not be as easy to cut through as pine, but ash calls for really sharp blades or you literally can burn the wood as it moves through the blade.
While I was busy in the woodshop, my wife had a roaring fire going in the family room fireplace and many of the off-cuts were added to the fire or have been kept for kindling for future fires.
By Saturday evening, all 16 pieces of the project either had been cut or laid out to begin creating the project. Then Sunday morning was spent making dado cuts to the base and pieces to form flush lap joints, which will be reinforced with dowels.
Some joints were easy 90-degree angles while others were created at 30 degrees. I have a huge vacuum that is connected to my saws to catch the dust and shavings and by noon, that 20-gallon container was packed and the filter thick with fines.
The project will continue all week as all the pieces have to be routed with different bits. The rails have to be drilled for 3/8th doweling using the jig and the shelf must be doweled with a different jig.
Working at night, I may have it ready for assembly by this weekend. And then will come the sanding, staining, and final finishing.