Math Sucks! – or I should always make more molding than I "Need"

[Mike Allen1010]

I'm currently building a Pennsylvania Spice Box like the one by Steve Latta in the February, 2008 FWW.

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It seemed like just the right size project to use up a small amount of walnut I had left in the shop, however I would need to measure carefully to squeeze the needed parts out of the available supply of lumber (first mistake -- assuming I could "carefully measure"!).


Things were moving right along;

Nest of internal dividers installed and carcass glued up - check.


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Components for door and feet dimensioned -- check.
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Recovery complete from psychological trauma of covering up the carcass dovetails with molding- check.


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I was particularly excited about the moldings because this is my second attempt to hand "stick" moldings with hollow and round planes (thanks David Weaver!). Although it still took me forever, they turned out okay and I am getting faster.


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Everything was going swell that is, until this:



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I made 1” inch less bottom molding that I actually needed – :eek: Argh!!!


The moral of the story for me -- always make "extra" molding because I sure can't rely on my math to calculate the correct amount!

Now, where did I put that wood stretcher...

All the best, Mike

[Bruce Page]

Ouch, that's gotta hurt! It looks like you forgot to add the length of the 45* protrusion, a mistake I have made a few times..

[Steve Voigt]

The first one was just a practice piece, to hone your technique. You planned it that way. :cool:
Anyway, the project looks great, so you can't be too bummed…

[John W Johnson]

Mike,

If it makes you feel better, I made that project, and also came up short on the exact molding. That was five years ago. Now I measure and make 50% more than I think I need, including at least two pieces for the longest section (don't ask). My shop at home has a 5 gallon bucket half full of spare moldings. One day maybe I can find a project that requires a bunch of varied molding offcuts.