stupid, bonehead mistake

[Scott Thornton]

I must have been tired tonight while working on the base to my new coffee table...

I had about a 1/16 of an apron sticking up over the legs on one side. I thought, hmmm...I can just run it through the jointer...

The lack of support and stupid idea led to me blowing out the second leg, tore about 6 inches off the back side...

Genius! I almost cried, it's my first big project after lots of other misc woodworking...

[glenn bradley]

Bless you for reminding us were all human.

[Don Baer]

We all make mistakes. I am reminded of the time last fall when Sam Maloof made a major mistake while demoing how to make a chair arm. Were all human

(I still wish I had half his talent)

[Doug Shepard]

Mistakes are much like gloats here - No pics means it didn't happen.:D

I wont tell if you dont.

[Al Willits]

Gotta suck, but it happens to us all, nothing like gluing panels together to make two large cabinet doors, sanding them smooth and then cutting them 2" to short...ya gotta just keep going...
Well, maybe have a beer and brood for just a bit... :)

Al

[scott spencer]

BTDT! Not to worry...it's just wood, and it grows on trees. :rolleyes:

Reminder....Murphy was a woodworker before he went into lawmaking! :eek:

Don't be too hard on yourself. Some of my finest wwing moments were the result of successfully overcoming a goof up. You'll find a way.

[lou sansone]

sorry to hear of your loss scott, but you bring up a good point IRT woodworking in the shop. many of us are part time woodworkers that usually have a day job. that means we are trying to squeeze in some time at the end or the beginning of the day. I have had similar problems when I try to stay up late to finish a project. My rule has been that if I am tired I don't try working in the shop.
lou

[Roy Hatch]

Scott, I believe it was Abe Lincoln who was credited with saying something like, "The man who makes no mistakes is a man who does nothing". And I often think of Pat Warner who dispayed one of his errors with the router, with the caption, "Even monkeys fall out of trees".
So, frustrating as these mistakes may be, there will be more. Let's just hope that we don't make the same ones again!
Roy

[Mark Singer]

These are actually the things that make you a better woodworker....you learn from them...I think you can still save the piece if you redoce the leg a bit

[Bob Childress]

Scott, I feel your pain. But keep in mind that it is an immutable Law of Nature that every project undertaken by a hobbiest WW will have a minimum of one cock-up and often more. You have some choices, you can:

Start over
Hide it somehow
Tell everyone it was an intentional design element :D

[Hans Braul]

If it's what I picture from your description, can't you just glue the piece that was torn off back on? It would be visible, but not obvious. I remember seeing a picture of an old and very valuable violin (I think it was a Stradavarius) that had been smashed to smithereens. A violinmaker painstakingly glued it back together so perfectly it was almost impossible to tell it had been damaged.

Cheers
Hans

[Don Morris]

So...what's new? Happens to me about one out of thirty or fourty times. I just don't tell my wife about it and tell her I'm going to the lumber yard for a little more wood and there may be a delay in the finish date. In other words I'm with the other guys...been there, done that, feel your pain, learned a lot of lessons the hard way, and what hurts most is I'm still getting smarter because I seem to still be learning.

[Dan Lee]

Been there. If I read it right sounds like a nice sharp block plane would have been your friend.
Dan

[Scott Thornton]

After some time to think about my mistake and some thoughts on my alternatives, I went back out to the shop.

I found the piece that broke off the leg, it was about 6 inches long, 2 inches wide and 1/4 inch deep. It seemed like a clean (rough, but fit back together) break...I decided it would be worth a shot to try and glue it up...

As of today, I pulled the clamps off, sanded the piece and it seems to look okay. The only questionable part is the mortise, not sure if this has been compromised...

I can still see the spot, but I showed the table legs to a few others, not telling them what happened...they didn't notice...so hopefully all will be okay...

Tanks for the responses!

[Bob Reda]

Scott,

that wasn't a mistake, its gaining experience.

[Kent Fitzgerald]

You has me scared there, Scott. The subject line didn't bode well, and "I must have been tired" and "I can just run it through the jointer" are ominous phrases.

I know a setback on a project is always disappointing, but I'm glad to hear there was no harm to flesh and bone.

[Scott Thornton]

Thanks Kent...actually that was my first inclination as well...the noise it made the fact the board grabbed and left my hands...the first thing I looked at were my hands...

[Brad Kimbrell]

My experience with a jointer was much uglier!

I was 20yo (46 now) and needed to clip off about 1/16" from the end of a 2x2 piece of oak that was only 6" long. The Radial Arm was piled up with junk (we didn't have cutoff saws then) and I thought rather than unstack the tools / lumber off of the saw, I could just hand-hold the 2x2 and carefully slide it across the jointer while standing it on end.

Needless to say, after it got over the knives, it "fell" into the slot and was propelled through my fathers garage roof! In the mean time, my thumb was laying back against my wrist and refused to come back forward!

I didn't make it to church that morning...but I did get to visit the emergency room and make my family miss church as well. Lesson learned! :(

Looking back now it really seems stupid, but I was totally self-taught and didn't understand what I was doing with that jointer. :confused:

Reminds me of the time that I was going to try out my new router table and that 2" plus lock miter bit with that "soft" piece of 2x4 pine. No so soft when they hit you upside the head! :eek:

Better luck in the future! Like Marc said, it's a really good way to learn what NOT to do! At least you didn't get hurt this time.

[Jerry Olexa]

Proves you're human and normal, like the rest of us...:)