I'm sure I'm the only one who's ever done this

[John TenEyck]

I built two cabinets for a built in project in an alcove. Take everything to the site today, get the site prepped and go to lay the base in place and it doesn't quite fit. Hmm, that's strange. OK, I'll take off the 1/2" spacer I had on one end, still wondering why that was necessary. I leveled the base and set the first cabinet in place then measured the remaining gap, then compared that to the second cabinet. Huh? The cabinet was 1" too wide. How the heck? Later, checking my drawings, I found one instance where the total length was 82-3/4" and all the others, including the ones I used to build off of, were 83-3/4". No clue how that happened other than I goofed.

There wasn't much to be done other than bring one cabinet back to the shop. So I choose the one that's pretty much a simple box with face frame. No way to cut down the other one; that would be a complete rebuild and I didn't want to do that. With some careful work, I was able to cut an inch out of the face frame rails, then the bottom. The top stretchers I did by hand and that freed that side. I removed the cut off stubs of the rails and stretchers from the sides with a handsaw and pared them flush with a chisel. To reattach the face frame rails to the stile I drilled dowels holes then glued and screwed it back together. Nearly perfect.

I think it will fit OK now.

John

[Van Huskey]

More likely you are just the only one to ever admit it...

When I come up short it is usually because I cut the "signature" board or veneer 1" short which causes me to have to redesign the whole piece. The last "smart" move I made was cutting 4 panels for an entertainment center with the grain running the opposite way of the matching piece that was already finished. I just finished it as I had cut it, nobody will notice right... first thing my wife said when she saw it finished was why is the grain running the opposite direction.

[Jerome Sidley]

Built an 8' X 20' for over an entry walkway in the shop loaded it onto the truck took it to the site and lifted it into place, unfortunately, the measurement was the inside of the posts not the outside for some reason the air turned blue.

[Bruce Page]

As a one time machinist I've transposed numbers more than once. In my case it was usually to the negative..
Glad you could save it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Were you talking about today? Today? No I haven't done it today.

[Mike Cutler]

John

Yep, you're right, I've never done that in my life.
( So uhhh, what's the penalty for ah, lying'.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

John

Yep, you're right, I've never done that in my life.

Yep me neither........
I'm thinking EXACTLY that. So I'm technically not lying.........

[Nick Decker]

Actually, when all of my measurements prove to be correct, I feel like, "Whoa. How did that happen?"

[Jim Becker]

Actually, when all of my measurements prove to be correct, I feel like, "Whoa. How did that happen?"

True dat!

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I'm guessing that "luck" also makes it that a measurement mistake for a built-in tends to be "too big" just because it makes it harder to, um...adjust...things. Too small would be too easy!

[Andrew Hughes]

I’ve done that and made the mistake of measuring a space shaped like a parallelogram as if it were square.
I also have another confession I bought sandpaper on Saturday

[Jeff Duncan]

I built an L-shaped desk out of SA Mahogany many years ago. It had 3 drawer boxes and a top recessed for granite to be inlaid plus a fair amount of decorative molding. Was a real nice piece from an Interior Designer. He happened to come by to see the desk "in progress" and looked at it in a funny way. Then after a minute he asked why was it so high? I pulled the tape out and it was something like 4" taller than it was supposed to be I almost cried right then and there. I told him I'd fix it and have it ready in such and such time and then just walked away for the time being. Next day I looked at it fresh, found my mistake, and set about fixing it. Don't remember exactly what it was but it wasn't nearly as bad as I first thought, only took about an extra day to re-work the parts. Stuff happens, nobody perfect, just got to try and learn from it so you don't make the same mistake twice. Doing that is frustrating.... much more fun making different mistakes

good luck,
JeffD

[Ron Hampe]

Sure glad I'm not the only one. Built a cabinet today that was off an inch each way and considering how many times I measured it, I have no clue how I did it.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

My mistake is that I measure it and don't make up a story stick on the spot.
Had to rebuild my show rack for my closet last night because I made it the correct size but couldn't get it to pass through the doorway that was 4" smaller.
Doh!

[Mike Kees]

Ok so they say confession is good for the soul.. A carpenter I know well was building a set of stairs for a deck. We were using trex for the treads and deck . This requires risers every 12'' so for this set of stairs that was seven. First one cut,good copy it six more times,good. All of them wrong. Who says 30 years of experience is foolproof. Mike.

[Todd Bender]

Those awful sneaky skinny doors are the worst. Once had to tear a door out in a finished house to get a table into a kitchen - needed that extra 1-1/2," whoops!!