Thread: I am a woodwork failure.

Hey Duke, don't give up


Seriously.
I think the problems that you face might have something to do with the boards you are using as well as the using of a circular saw. I would highly recommend a accurate table saw with a solid fence. But if the boards are warped or cup or twisted, then your bevel joints wouldn't be a neat joint. Mitre joints or bevel joints could be strengthened with a spline but I suggest that this would be too difficult for you at this point.

For now, until you get a table saw, I'd suggest you give up the idea of a mitre joint for now. perhaps use butt joints with dowels in its place.
Learn how to use hand tools - That's learning how to saw straight and learn how to use a shooting board to correct minor misalignment. Paul seller's video and his master class is a great place to start.
Learn how to choose your timber and detect cupping or warping and use a winding stick to help to see the twist in choosing your timber so you can avoid a lot of your problem.

Hey Duke, don't give up mate, you're on that same learning curve like me and the rest of us. Every failure, every mistake is a lesson.

Table saw is the answer to getting good 45 degree accurate cuts. But, stock needs to be straight and square all round too. i've been there myself working with stock that wasn't and like you, banging my head against a brick wall. Find a local men's shed, will cost you about $50 a year to join, and use their table saw, jointer, thicknesser then take the stock home to finish it off Duke, that's a great way to start with larger equipment.

Use backing pieces on your drop saw/table saw/circular saw, that cuts out the blow out factor.

But don't give up, you're not a failure any more than Thomas Edison was when he was trying out his 999th light bulb mate!

We all screw things up regardless of how much experience we have. I have spent the last couple of weeks bashing my head against a brick wall making one mistake after another another...and I should have known better on them all and yet I still managed to make all the mistakes.

In the example you are trying to recreate, the maker did not use mitre joins. They are actually finger/box joints with only the front ~35mm as being mitered. This will make a very strong joint whilst giving the appearance of a miter joint, atleast in photos, in real life it will clear as day how they did it.

Making big box joints using lamimated panels as they did makes box jointing very easy. You just need to thickness your boards to the same width, and glue them up in panels with the ends stepped just like a box joint would. The ~35mm mitered end adds in a little complexity to the job, but a handsaw and some chisels is all that is really needed.

Duke, whatever you do don't give up.
We are all guilty of over extending our capabilities when starting out. Take it one step at a time, try just making joints for the exercise only without the pressure of a completed project. When you are satisfied with your joint making, then go ahead and make your project.
As Bendigo Bob said, a men's shed may be a great benefit as you will learn from the experience of others.

Keep it up, you will get there
Keith

As all the guys have said don't give up,you are no different than us all who are self taught,I used to worry like you until I got it that's it only a bit of wood,stuff it up,learn,get another bit
Then you're on your way

Thanks everyone for the comments!

The mens shed idea is cool. I just had a look and there are 3 near my house.
I am in North East of Adelaide.

The board I used was this https://www.bunnings.com.au/porta-90...e-dar_p0088751
Can anyone see any issues with trying with this again?

Originally Posted by Kuffy

In the example you are trying to recreate, the maker did not use mitre joins. They are actually finger/box joints with only the front ~35mm as being mitered. This will make a very strong joint whilst giving the appearance of a miter joint, atleast in photos, in real life it will clear as day how they did it.

There is my first mistake then!
I just looked up the finger joints. They could add a nice touch to it rather than being mitred.
I think I will buy myself another board and try again with those style joints.

Luke I have made some really beautiful objects, including kitchens and all manner of decorative items, boxes, cupboards, toys etc etc. And for every item I have been truly happy with I have made two that were not fit for public display. That is the nature of learning. When I first made a dovetailed box, many years ago before the internet in fact, I suppose I made 6 or 10 of them before I was satisfied with the result. If we just make what we already can do, what we are comfortable with then we never progress. Not in woodworking or anything else for that matter. And do not be deceived by the beautiful pictures and posts on this forum or in the magazines or on the internet. The people who post these things make stuff ups, mistakes and horrors just like the rest of us. I could show you my scrap bin. It is littered like a graveyard with the corpses of failed attempts. One thing which might help you to avoid frustration. It is a good idea to consider what tools you have available when you plan your projects. I subscribe to an internet site called "Paul Sellers Masterclass". I think it costs me about $20 a month. The concept behind the site is to show you how to make beautiful items with the bare minimum of tools. It has a whole range of project videos all in full detail. And it is not assumed that you have much more than a few simple hand tools. Making some of the simple items there might be a good place to start.

duke, the design you sought to copy is actually more complicated than it might appear in the photo.

What type of joinery do you think is required? This is the nub of all.

I suspect you were trying to use butt joints, glued and reinforced with the dowels. The actual design used what looked like mitred through dovetails. If it did not, then it used something similar. An alternative would be through mortice-and-tenon joints.

The point is, copying a design requires first learning a little about joinery. The above are more advanced types. Starting off one can use a biscuit- or domino machine .... these are easier than dowels, which are actually quite difficult to do correctly (blind). Biscuit machines at available new at around $50. Dominos are very expensive ($1500). However, you have a router, and this can be used to create loose tenons. That would work well. It's a nice design. Stick with it.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Duke,

working at my local Men's Shed I see guys making exactly the same mistake I made for ages. Thay was to try to make something good first time. Someone may be able to do that, but most of us need to do stuff a few times to learn the best way to do a job.

My suggestion is to find some bis of scrap timber and practice joints etc a lot. That way you won't be much out of pocket and you'll be amazed how quickly you get good at various tasks. Then you'll so SOOO glad you didn't give up.

Hi Duke,

yep as others said, don't give up you're only a failure when you give up.

A few pointers that you may already know:
- A circular saw is a tool that unless you've got a fence or something like a straight edge is really difficult to get accurate cuts from and something i don't think even many seasoned wood workers would attempt to do. Reserve the circular saw for ripping and really rough cuts.
- If investing in a table saw isn't something for you, look at mitre boxes these can be purchased relatively cheaply and will give you reasonable mitres which you could then refine, eg attach it to a protractor and sand down to 45.
- Any board can be salvaged just depends how much patience you have, but without something like a jointer/thicknesser it might be easier to just buy new boards
- Not everything you make needs to look like in the photo, as IMO most stuff that looks good isn't necessarily functional/long lasting. So feel free to cheat (unless you're entering the peice into a fine wood working journal/show), eg i may be blaspheming here, but feel free to hide metal brackets to strengthen the joints etc.

Upon closer inspection of the diagram, it looks like the piece uses a combination of butt joints and miters, the edge pieces are mitered whilst the middle pieces are butt joints with the top and side panels creating a finger joint. Alternatively you could remove the mitered end strips and create the entire unit with but joints. Looks like every second strip is slightly shorter to accommodate the thickness of the top piece.

Make each panel separately and use loads of clamps.

Bookshelf.png

Sorry about the dodgy paint drawing, but this is what i meant by the different length strips of wood to make up the panels.

The gaps should be the thickness of timber used, just make each panel separately, and do dry fits and refine as needed. The resulting joint should be reasonably strong. Just make sure your lumber is reasonably square let us know how you go.

Homey's right. Up to my 6th hand cut dovetail set and still crap

Not gonna give up though! Each one is a wee bit better than the last. ANd hey, someone mentioned Paul Sellars, he's the bomb in teaching how to cut dovetails, that set me on the right track for sure.

All the replies have given me renewed motivation. I went and purchased a table saw which should help a lot.
This one actually has proper guides and angles
I will have another try at the table project and see how I go.

Thanks again everyone.

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

Bookshelf.png

Sorry about the dodgy paint drawing, but this is what i meant by the different length strips of wood to make up the panels.

The gaps should be the thickness of timber used, just make each panel separately, and do dry fits and refine as needed. The resulting joint should be reasonably strong. Just make sure your lumber is reasonably square let us know how you go.

If/when you use this style make sure that EACH piece of timber is the same width/thickness, don't take it for granted that it is. I've had pieces .5mm difference in thickness and up to 2mm difference in width, from the same pack!!!! This will be where the Men's Shed will come in handy, bringing all the pieces to the same sizes.
When you glue the pieces up, allow .5mm extra length on the legs, it'll be better to sand/plane a bit off rather than trying to fill the gaps.
To make you feel better I failed woodwork and metalwork at school, spent 40 plus years doing metal work and last 8 years doing woodwork so keep at it
Kryn