I just got a $50.00+ reminder of a fundamental rule. (longish)

[Larry Fox]

One lesson that I have DEFINITELY extracted from my current project is that I am not as smart as I thought I was when I first started it. Here is just one example of how I arrived at that conclusion.

I am building an "end panel" for a run of cabinets for my kitchen. It is about 70" wide and made up of 6 raised panels and is, perhaps, THE showiest piece in the whole project. As such I used the best stock from my pile. Milled it perfectly, every detail attended to etc - you get the picture here. Going to look georgeous.

I had been thinking of the glue-up for days as it is a bit complicated (for me anyway). Glue-up plan completed and I fabricated a flat surface with reference boards, cauls, etc fastened to it to keep it square and give me something non-maring to clamp against etc. Everything labeled clearly, etc. Looking great. I determined the proper spacing for the vertical elements and stepped it off 3 times to make sure that it was perfect.

I glued on the side element - flawless. Man, am I smart and this clamping station is cool - great idea and making life easy. Take a break to pat myself on the back. Put in the first panel, and glue in the second vertical element. Panel a little loose but I allowed a bit of room - recall that I am really smart. Put in the second panel and slide in the third vertical. This one is a LOT tight and I am not going to be able to pull this in. Humm - how can this be I measured three times AND I am really smart. It CAN'T be a mistake.

Well, I forgot to take into consideration the width of the internal verticals being wider than the outside verticals. Forgetting to take it into consideration was not the mistake. NOT laying it out before applying glue was the mistake. Had I done this, the error would have shown up immediately and I would have been able to correct it right away with no harm done.

Instead, I trusted my reasoning skills without auditing my decision-making process and wasted a $50.00+ piece of cherry. I can use it elsewhere but now I have to buy another one and re-mill all the elements.

Lessons learned;

1) I am not really all that smart afterall. A smart person verifies decisions and audits the decision-making process.
2) Not laying the pieces out and doing a dry-fit.
3) Rushing. My son and I were going to a ball-game and time was getting short so I had a time constraint. I should have let it lay and returned to it and re-verified assumptions after.

Tried to convey my frustration with the wife but she does not understand so I thought I would share with people who I know do.

Thanks for looking and lettime me rant.

L :(

[tod evans]

larry, the fellow who doesn`t make mistakes ain`t doing much....02 tod

[Mike Weaver]

Larry,
Sorry to hear that!

If it makes you feel any better, I've done similar stuff, but on a bit smaller scale...

I was cobbling together a tool box that was to house a bunch of planes out of some nice shop grade birch plywood and forgot to add the thickness of the plywood when measuring the spacing between the bottom shelf and the next one up.

Suddenly the bottom shelf was relegated to block planes instead of bench planes.:(

What hurt the most was that I had picked through my stock of birch ply and chosen the best looking stuff for that project!

And, I wasn't even rushing so I had no excuse. :eek:

-Mike

[Allen Bookout]

Quote by tod: "larry, the fellow who doesn`t make mistakes ain`t doing much....02 tod"


That's just like a guy that never looses a fish hook really isn't fishing.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Ya, what Tod said :D

Been there done that......a few times.... :rolleyes: :o

The "Rush" thing is my biggest problem, I remember guy I used to work with used the saying "Smell the finish"..... He meant that when you get to a point in the project where you are just about done, or are doing the "Show" piece, it is time to slow the heck down, as the mistakes you make now, cost, dearly.

I try, but even so, I sometimes forget this, and rush to get it done.....:p

At least you are learning from it, expensive lesson, but hey, those are the ones you remember and truly learn!

Cheers!

[Ron Blaise]

Been there, done that Larry; hate that for you and I know how you feel!

[Tim Clark]

No mistakes=no lesson learned.

At least you didn't have to rebuy for the whole thing. DAMHIKT:confused: :eek: :mad:

[Bob Childress]

I realy hate that for you:( But as Tod and others said basically No Pain No Gain. :rolleyes: But oh, the pain!

First bookshelves I built (nice birch ply) I cut the dados and the shelf pin holes then realized they were supposed to be MIRROR IMAGES right and left. I had four rights and no lefts:eek: Did I learn? Not really. When I built my wife's garden bench I cut some dados for the back legs and did the same *&^* thing:mad:

I now have a small mirror hung in my shop to remind me to slow down and think things through. You are not alone.:D

[John Lucas]

Larry, doing it once is a cost of learning.

Here is a sugegstion for the future. Do not measure. You know those tapes with number of them, they are made to mislead you. The steel straight edges also. FOlding rule, even more so.

Story poles and sticks to the rescue. You dont really care if an opening is 23 7/8 or a skosh under. When you have an opening, get a stick out and mark the width on the stick. Do that for every opening and you rails and stiles will fit way better...as will the doors, the drawers...etc.

[glenn bradley]

I make plenty of mistakes but, I am almost assuredly going to make one when I try to squeeze in that last step or "go ahead and do this real quick". I have mostly broken the habit due to painful lessons but . . . like a sleeping dog that likes to bite, my next "just real quick" is out there laying for me. thanks for shring and reminding us all.

Take your time and enjoy the work, it;s easier to do it right than to do it over . . . all that stuff.

[Bill White]

that's NEVER happened to me. (BALONEY). Sometimes I think that I will never learn to slow down.
Bill

[Bob Noles]

Larry.....

Great story and I'm sure there is no one here that cannot relate to it. I won't tell you about my drawer full of "been there done that" T-Shirts I have earned over time :eek: