Thread: Why is it

I find myself in the tradesman position alot when watching amateur turners. Except "The right way" really is the only way to do it, otherwise the turner just scrapes away taking off way too much and leaving a really dodgy finish.


I also find myself in your position alot, especially in school woodwork. - I have a brilliant idea, teacher says to do it his way... ugh..

In most cases the traditional tradies way is the best way.

But

The impossible is usually done by an amatuer who doesn't know its impossible.

As for skinning cats, you soon learn about sharp claws.

A free tradies tip for you - A quick spin in a microwave on high pacifies cats

And as often as not, it's a case of "do as I say, not as I do..."

Wolffie,
in most cases there's no one "right" way to do it, but there may also be many wrong ways to do things. If you can find someone who will tell you why things are or aren't done a certain way that will help you decide on your own approach. Often though, things are done a certain way in the trade because it's the most time/cost effective method of achieving an acceptable result.

Mick

ok, here is the scenario that got my goat:
I wanted to put up 1200mm tall adjustable cornershelves from the ceiling down in my kitchen.
I wanted to screw the backs to the walls, then attach the rails to the walls and screw the bottom shelf to the rails.
quote " That is the wrong way to do it, you have to build the carcase on the benchtop then lift it up and screw it to the walls"
"why?"
"Because that is the way it is done, you are trying to make the house fit the cabinet instead of fitting the cabinet to the house"
"ok, I am a 69 year old female, I simply do not have the strength to lift up the complete cabinet, hang on to it and screw it to the wall"
"Then get someone to do it for you"
Problem is, I like to do things myself, I have not got the patience to wait for someone to get down here and do it and, mind you, the house is absolutely and completely out of square.
Being as stubborn as a mule I did it my way OF COURSE and it worked out very well.
Wolffie

BTW
Doors will be fitted once all the cabinets have been built and I have sourced the timber I want.
Wolffie

Wollfie,
I probably would have said the same, but more diplomatically. The trouble will come when you go to hang the doors. If the corner wasn't dead square and plumb then the cabinet will be twisted and the door won't want to hang correctly. What I would have suggested would be to build a temporary support on the benchtop at the right height and build your cabinet on top of it. Then it would just be a matter of sliding it back into position, packing it out from the wall to get it plumb and then fixing it in place.

Mick

Weeelll,
I did use a plumb line, a tape measure and a spirit level
Wolffie

You might go okay, but trust me, it's better to build and then fix in place as it's much easier to ensure everything is just right.

Mick

Working as a trim (finish) carpenter I've done both ways, build then put up and build on the wall. It all depends on how bad the walls are. Unless the walls are really out of whack, building it the putting it up tends to give better results unless you are willing to spend a lot of time checking, double checking and triple checking everything. For the professional that takes too much time but what is time to someone doing work for himself.

ron

Because the corners are so out of square and the walls bowed as well, it, to me, made more sense to cut one backing to shape, making sure the front edge was square and plumb, fitting it, cutting the next one to shape, fitting it and then fitting the rails. I would have needed a lot of shims to fit the finished cabinet to the wall.
I am not that stubborn that I do not listen to reason, I just cannot accept thing "just because".
Wolffie

Came across this just recently. It does have real relevance to this discussion. Believe me
Does the statement,"We've always done it like that ring any bells? Please read this to the end. It may help you understand.
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is four feet eight and a half inches.
That is an exceedingly odd number. Why use it?
Because that's the way they built them in England and English expatriates built the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways and they used that gauge.

Why did they use that gauge?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools they used for building wagons which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons use that odd spacing?
If they used any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on the old long distance roads in England because that was the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old roadss and wore the ruts in them?
Imperial Rome built the roads for it's legions and the roads have been used ever since.

The ruts were caused by Roman war chariots which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying heir wagons. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in wheel spacing.

The United States standard railroad gauge of 4ft 8.5in is derived from the specifications for an Imperial war chariot. The bureaucratic mind lives forever

So the next time you are told "we always do it that way" and wonder what horse's a**e came up with that idea in the first place, you may be right, because Imperial chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back end of two war horses.

But read on, there's more.

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on it's launching pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs

The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs have to be shipped by rail from the factory to the launch site.

The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains.

The SRBs had to fit through the tunnel.

The tunnel is just slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably one of the world's most advanced transport systems was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's a**e."



Jerry

Everyone is entitled to my opinion

G'Day Wolffie,

Many years ago my wife and I purchased an old farmhouse, nothing was square, level or straight.
Over a period of years we renovated, extended and increased the value of our home the problems we encountered and overcame we did probably not as a tradie would do them but we overcame every problem as it arose and there was a new problem every time we started something.
Think outside the square, look at things from a diferent perspective and do it your way if it doesn't work try a different way.
Cheers Andrew

That's a rippa Jerry