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View Full Version : The lessons we learn...the hard way....



Ken Fitzgerald
12-21-2020, 1:13 PM
I have been working on an endtable for my wife. The rear 6" of the top is hinged to open to reveal a interior pocket with a surge protector that contains both USB and ac jacks. The hinge portion of the top by my design is overhangs the sub-top by about 3/8" and the mating portion of the subtop is cut at a 7º angle so the hinged portion will angle back slightly to prevent gravity from punishing the user while plugging and unplugging a device.

I had never done fully inset hinges before but watched videos at FWW and having a newly acquired marking knife I held the hinge in place on the subtop, layed out the hinge area using the marking knife. Using a trim router I routed out the area leaving a small amount near the layout lines and chisled the remaining waste. Worked great! Using a special centering bit, I drilled and mounted the hinge to the subtop.

Using spacers I layed the hinged portion over the subtop and hinge, penciling the area around the barrel of the hinge. My trim router with an edge guide took care of routing the barell area for the hinge on the top. Then I positioned the hinged portion back onto the subtop and hinge. Using my marking knife, I layed out the edge of the hinge onto the edge of the routed barrel area of the top. Using a square and the marks I positioned the hinge over the top and penciled in the outine of the remaining portioin of the hinge in the top. There in lies my big mistake. I didn't using my marking knife to lay out the remaiining portion of the hinge. Routing to the lines went well but when I went to chisel the remaining waste out, not having the layout lines cut with the marking knife, my chisel work left something to be desire. It's not my worst mistake but I certainly learned the value of using the marking knife I purchased this fall.

Mark Rainey
12-21-2020, 8:36 PM
Ken, it happens to us all... chiseling out for a hinge cleanly is always a challenge, even with layout lines knifed.

Mel Fulks
12-21-2020, 8:57 PM
Ken, it happens to us all... chiseling out for a hinge cleanly is always a challenge, even with layout lines knifed.
Yep, I've always been considered especially good at doing diamond shaped "patches" ,even large patches requiring
multiple "points" to avoid butt joints. But I have never done better than just okay on doing a hinge.

Mike Kees
12-21-2020, 11:30 PM
Ken ,I feel like I learn almost everything myself "the hard way". It has been a long time since anyone has showed me how to do anything. I pretty well have to figure out stuff from a book or youtube and go from there. I think that I learn faster this way ,I know I never forget mistakes that I have made.

Ronald Blue
12-22-2020, 6:59 AM
What? Is there an easy way? We remember the hard way so much better though. You'd feel so cheated if you learned it easily. What would you do with the extra time? For me every project has learning opportunities. Some are a surprise.:rolleyes:

Todd Trebuna
12-22-2020, 9:07 AM
I've used a pencil for the past 30 years. Recently purchased a marking knife. What an amazing tool. :) Also, working on the same thing for my wife. It's been preempted by Christmas projects, but is about 80% done. I used full length drawer slides, so the top slides instead of hinges.
Currently my wife uses an Oak end table, which has no drawers or storage, other than the table top. Since she embroiders, colors and cross stitches, it's a little tight. :) I'm self taught over the past 30 years, so yeah, everything has been the hard way.

Be well.

Jim Matthews
12-23-2020, 3:31 PM
Pictures or it didn't happen.

(The one that got away was MUCH bigger.)

Mark Rainey
12-24-2020, 10:25 AM
Pictures or it didn't happen.

(The one that got away was MUCH bigger.)

Jim, you are asking for us to show our mistakes! Oh no!!. Sort of edgy, but I like the idea. So I will come clean, and show my most recent. Drilled holes in the wrong place, and used plugs to cover up the mistake. ( And if you look right below on the next slat, there is a small hole I filled with sawdust and glue )447823
447824

Dwayne Watt
01-02-2021, 8:18 PM
Jim, you are asking for us to show our mistakes! Oh no!!. Sort of edgy, but I like the idea. So I will come clean, and show my most recent. Drilled holes in the wrong place, and used plugs to cover up the mistake. ( And if you look right below on the next slat, there is a small hole I filled with sawdust and glue )447823
447824
Me being me, I would have probably added dummy plugs to every board and called it a design element.

Mark Rainey
01-02-2021, 8:38 PM
Dwayne, I was tempted to do two plugs on the left end of the slat :)

Ken Fitzgerald
01-02-2021, 9:37 PM
Dwayne, I was tempted to do two plugs on the left end of the slat :)

It would make it looked planned, wouldn't it?:D