Embarassing & perhaps dumb question

[Sam Yerardi]

I was wondering how many of you guys ever change plans midstream or attempt to re-do a part of a piece after you've completed it? I've done woodworking for some time and I'm not a seasoned expert by any account. I did a hope chest in cherry for my daughter which turned out great. I haven't finished it yet. I used frame and panel construction, with the panels being raised but not a sharp definition on the transition from the raised panel to the angled edge. I've done standard raised panels both with machines and hand tools (I prefer hand tools) but on this I thought a smooth transition from the frame edge to the raised panel would look good. Now I'm not so sure after looking at it for a while. I am considering trying to do a well-defined raised panel in-place but I am afraid of botching it up (has usually been my experience). I'm too far along to teardown and re-do the panels outside of the frames. Any suggestions? At the very least I would like to achieve a more uniform look at the transition point. I used hand planes and in a few places the transition is a bit off. Perhaps a bead or groove cut around the panel at the transition to define it more clearly?

[Wade Lippman]

I was wondering how many of you guys ever change plans midstream or attempt to re-do a part of a piece after you've completed it?

I often don't know what I am making until it is done. Well, I know it is a cabinet for the bathroom, but not how it will be made or what it will look like; that just comes about.

[Dennis Jackson]

Could you route a small v groove at the tranition or route a groove and put in an inlay?

[Billy Chambless]

I often don't know what I am making until it is done.

Sometimes I don't quite know what I've made even after I'm done!

[Sam Yerardi]

Dennis -
I like that idea. If I can do a setup jig so I feel good I won't destroy my work I will strongly consider that. I am planning on doing the chest in a natural or slightly darker cherry finish. I think maple would make a nice contrast. What do you think?

[Brian Kent]

Go for it. If it doesn't work you have another tool cabinet.

[Jim Becker]

It happens. Sometimes, no matter how far along you are or what you envisioned, it "just doesn't work". So you re-do or abandon. That could be just a component or a whole project. It happens... ;)

[Charlie Barnes]

My .02 is take the time now to "fix" the chest and you'll probably not regret it. If there's an easy solution, as has been proposed, use it. If there's not, bite the bullet and get it right. That's one of the great things about woodworking is that there are so many ways to get your desired end result. How you get there is a matter of time, budget and patience. You also need to know your "anal factor" - will you spend the next 10 years staring at the minor defect in the door of your entertainment center or watching the new plasma TV on top of it?

[George Bregar]

I have no solutions because I'm really not sure what you are describing. But dry fitting an assembly first allows for mistakes...or even rethinking design and proportion...to be tackled. I can see how over some time opinions on design can change. For me that's a "next time" moment. But things like "a bit off" are different. That being said I have glued up pieces that have issues...knowingly. Funny thing is that the only person that ever notices is me, and then just at first. Others look at the whole.

[David G Baker]

I am learning to abandon projects that I eventually (usually late in the project) decide will never work the way I want or need. Most of the time it is made of steel and usually after lots of machining, welding and grinding. With wood if the project doesn't flow, my basement and shop needs items to store things in.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Often enough. I almost never use plans. Those I do use I made. I have an image in my head of what I want and I'll use a CAD package to suss out any tricky geometries or fits.

[Kurt Bird]

Sam,
If I understood your description, you'd like to replace the raised panels with some that have more definition. If that is correct, here's a possible solution. Drill a hole in the current raised panels, and using a jig saw, cut out as much as possible of the raised panels. When you can finally remove all of the panel (you may have to work at this a little), cut away the back half of the groove with a router, if possible, or a chisel if you have to, so that it looks like a door intended to accept a glass panel. Then, make your new raised panels, install from the back, and finish off with a small quarter round using headless brads, or predrilled holes and wire brads. I realize all of this may not be as easy as it sounds, depending on the project!
Kurt Bird:)

[Peter M. Spirito]

It's called a hope chest because she hopes that some day I will get it finished. I know the feeling. I started a walnut and cedar chest for Judy a year and a half ago. I've got a bunch of walnut cut and milled, the cedar panels glued up and ready to be raised. I have changed the plan a dozen times, but each time it gets better.

Check out; In the wood shop at my web site. www.peterspirito.com

[Sam Yerardi]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I think I'm going to round over the transition and not worry about making it a standard raised panel. I'm too afraid of butchering it up. The reason the issue came up was my daughter asked me to make some end tables for their living room. She didn't know at the time I was making the chest. It would look good as a coffee table or just as a chest in the room. My first thought was I'll do raised panels but then I realized when viewed side-by-side with the chest the question would always come up why they're different. I'll do the same on the end tables.

I did a dry fit and thought I had settled on the looks of it but again this is one of those cases (as described in another post) where I rushed and didn't take my time. It actually looks good but it's one of those things where after the fact you wish you had done this or that.