Thread: The Wrong Box

You can hear the radio as well. And if your quiet no-one knows where you are..

"2. It is harder to cut joints neatly "wrong" than to cut them correctly."

You have learnt by your experience now you are trying to do something which is against what you know is correct.

Should be nice to see images when you are finished.

Originally Posted by Handyjack

"2. It is harder to cut joints neatly "wrong" than to cut them correctly."

You have learnt by your experience now you are trying to do something which is against what you know is correct.

Should be nice to see images when you are finished.

It is true. When I cut the dovetails with the tails the wrong way, I did the correctly TWICE by mistake before I could get my mind and hands to cut them wrong.

As for pictures I will have to learn how to do that. Also the version I am making now is a bit of a suck it and see. I suspect it will be a few weeks and tries before I get it right (or in this case wrong).

Originally Posted by _fly_

You can hear the radio as well. And if your quiet no-one knows where you are..

You are right about that. The thing about using hand tools is that the whole process proceeds at a quieter and slower pace. If the product is the goal and I was paying the wages I would not want to use hand tools. But if the process is what matters then a quiet shed with the sun coming in through the open door and a few nice rolls of planed shavings on the floor is good medicine. All week I have to rush here and there and get things done before somebody else's deadline. But in my shed there are no deadlines and no standards to meet but mine. Don't get me wrong, I love my table saw and routers etc. I have a shed full of the stuff and I enjoy using them. But the enjoyment is of a different kind than the pleasure I get from using a well sharpened plane or chisel. I suppose this is all a bit philosophical for a wood forum.

Chook.......I fully understand how you feel. There are no deadlines so if it takes a few days more just to complete a simple project then so be it!
It is another world when you are in the shed...........................

I agree. I find the simple joy of using a hand plane is hard to beat, and extremely satisfying.

Originally Posted by Ruddy

Chook.......I fully understand how you feel. There are no deadlines so if it takes a few days more just to complete a simple project then so be it!
It is another world when you are in the shed...........................

What are men in future generations going to do? The average suburban block is getting so small that any short of workshop is going to be impossible. Town houses and units are becoming the only thing younger people can afford. Whatever the week throws up I know that I can get some rest and relaxation that is healthy and creative and which grows with my skill year by year. But what will my grandchildren do?

Originally Posted by 3 toed sloth

I agree. I find the simple joy of using a hand plane is hard to beat, and extremely satisfying.

It is but I cannot think why. I know that when I had tuned my old jointer and took a single shaving about a meter long of the edge of a bit of pine the pleasure was totally out of proportion to the performance.

Originally Posted by chook

The average suburban block is getting so small that any short of workshop is going to be impossible.
But what will my grandchildren do?

Chook, wood is also getting so expensive (and scarce) they won't be able to afford it anyway.

Originally Posted by chook

What are men in future generations going to do? The average suburban block is getting so small that any short of workshop is going to be impossible. Town houses and units are becoming the only thing younger people can afford. Whatever the week throws up I know that I can get some rest and relaxation that is healthy and creative and which grows with my skill year by year. But what will my grandchildren do?

It is difficult, my shed is about 3.5m wide and 3m deep, not much room left after the spare fridge and a workbench is in there. Especially for someone who is 6 ' 2"

I think its worse than that. Most schools don't bother teaching woodwork any more. If you want to learn you get sent to a tafe somewhere.
I only did 3 years of woodwork in high school and of course basically stopped until I retired but I remembered what I learnt in school and even kept my old wood learning books from then. Not trowing them out.
So if you never got any experience in high school, what are you meant to go back to in retirement? Maybe they'll make computer games with saw sounds and hammers hitting nails. Got to get those farty sounds squeezing glue bottles as well.

I did 6 months of woodwork at high school and am going through the learning curves at the moment again.

From memory I made a wooden pencil case that was a rectangle box with a routed groove to accomodate a 3mm mdf lid and made with finger joints and a door sign that we used a wood burner on.

Somehow that took 6 months, the other half of the year was metal class