Thread: Somedays I should stay in bed.

Derek: With your skills, the mistake looks like a bit of quite subtle ornamental edge trim. If you say nothing, it will go unquestioned. You planned that, correct?????

I know how you feel Derek!! I had a similar experience with some fencing work a week or so ago!!

Absolute PITA. When I finished I saw exactly the product that would have made the job a snap!.. Ah well.

Don't ya just hate when that happens, and I thought I was bad for doing that sort of thing, there must be something happens in the head where we go...righto, next step...cut two left and cut two right, but then that "something" happens and after cutting the pieces and after looking at them I've cut 4 lefts What happened there? now I need to cut 4 rights and so it goes on.....

Pete

what a royal pita

but good recovery

did similiar the other day
cut all the backs and fronts to some drawers (5) for a 500 mm wide cabinet where the carcus was 600 mm. I'm sure you could hear the language in the next postcode.

Well, Derek, it's comforting (sort of!) to see very competent people make silly mistakes, too. I think there's something in the air, at the moment, because I have been doing more than my usual quota of dumb things of late, myself. These include cutting on the wrong side of scribe lines, cutting out the pins instead of the waste on a set of through dovetails (no, I have no idea what I was thinking - I had even marked the waste, which I rarely bother to do!) & cutting bottom grooves on the wrong side of two pairs of drawer sides. At least when you plough grooves by hand, you only stuff em up one at a time!

And let's not get into clumsiness - I dropped the door, AND a drawer, on this piece:
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f187/c...e-unit-137998/
The door received some minor bruising on a corner, which was almost completely removed by wetting the squashed fibres, but the drawer needed about a mm planed off the face because a corner chipped. Bad enough to have accidents or stuff-ups during making, but a real pest when the pieces are finished & ready to go, as these were.

I've found the best way to handle these sorts of issues is to close the shed & take the dogs for a long walk while I ponder how to fix it....

Cheers,

Double post?

There is an old saying:
..the difference between an amateur and a professional boils down to how well they hide their mistakes.
An excellent recovery Derek.
I am encouraged that even the best have days like I have.
Thanks for sharing - it is appreciated.
Cheers from Tele Point
SG


PS:
I was hand cutting some dovetails for the sides of a serving tray back before mothers day. I was working on the ends and had cut the pins on all four edges. I then cut the tails on one end of one side - perfect fit. I then cut the tails on the end of the other side and it was also a perfect fit. The only problem was that instead of forming three sides of a rectangular tray, I had three pieces assembled in the shape of an "S".
I just stood there and laughed at myself.
Should have taken a photo I suppose.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

Derek: With your skills, the mistake looks like a bit of quite subtle ornamental edge trim. If you say nothing, it will go unquestioned. You planned that, correct?????

My skills are always questionnable, so I like the bit about mistakes .. uh .. late design changes ... being deliberate!

Regards from Perth

Derek

The door received some minor bruising on a corner, which was almost completely removed by wetting the squashed fibres, but the drawer needed about a mm planed off the face because a corner chipped. Bad enough to have accidents or stuff-ups during making, but a real pest when the pieces are finished & ready to go, as these were.

Gad Ian, I did this as well on the current build. In fact I did a few like this ..

The edge of the one side dropped on the floor and dented ... flattened ... the corner. It would be seen as a rounded corner if left as was. I had to plane the corner off and glue in a fillet, then plane to original shape.

The Jarrah is hard and brittle. Moving the dovetails in-and-out caused two to chip at the leading edge. Again I had to chisel out and replace wood. No one will know. I just consider these run-of-the-mill repairs ... expect them ...

By-the-way, that is a stunning cabinet!!

Regards from Perth

Derek

PS:
I was hand cutting some dovetails for the sides of a serving tray back before mothers day. I was working on the ends and had cut the pins on all four edges. I then cut the tails on one end of one side - perfect fit. I then cut the tails on the end of the other side and it was also a perfect fit. The only problem was that instead of forming three sides of a rectangular tray, I had three pieces assembled in the shape of an "S".
I just stood there and laughed at myself.

Should have taken a photo I suppose.

Hi Tom

This chest of drawers was built several years ago for my son. Spot the mistake ...



Here's another view ..



It was one of the first larger pieces I built only with handtools:



Regards from Perth

Derek

The only 'mistake' I can see is that the pins & tails look like they are reversed, but who knows? You could easily have decided to do them that way for fun & as a future talking-point.

But I would probably have cut those pith lines out of the side wood, or at least turned them round so they were out of sight, inside.......

Cheers,

I'm like Ian - I can't see too much to complain about.
Third drawer down looks like it might have turned into through dovetails at some point.
Of course if you set out to make a serving tray, then you have got real problems.
I re-told my dovetails experience at the Woodworkers Guild and there was much mirth at my expense.
Cheers
SG

The tails and pins are reversed. This makes for a weak joint ... in theory. However I built this chest of drawers about 7 years ago and it has easily stood up to my son's rough handling. Still going strong and not showing any signs of wear or weakness.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Ha ha yer bloody big wally!

Yep we all suffer from it