Should I stop and start over?

[Seth Terndrup]

I’m pretty new (about a year and a half in). I’m making a couple of boxes for Xmas gifts.

I made an initial mistake (I know now) and bought a 3’ section of 3/4” x 6” zebra wood that had twist. I thought I could plane the twist out. However I had to resaw it in half to make the lid and base of the box. Consequenntly there just isn’t much material left to “unwind”.

The lid seems fine but the base is still twisted and it’s down to 3/16” thick (I planned for it to be 5/16”).

I’m trying to decide whether to plow forward or just scrap it. I’ve spent a lot of time milling the components by hand and therefore struggling to be objective, i.e, don’t want to start over. I’m also running out of time.

What would you do: Scrap it or keep going and see what happens?

[Pete Taran]

Not sure how you are constructing your box, but if you plow a groove around the inside, won't matter how twisted your bottom piece is, the groove will straighten it out.

[Dave Parkis]

I think I would try Pete ' s suggestion and see if that worked. If that doesn't work, salvage what you can and buy another piece of wood to finish with.

[Bill McDermott]

Even if your 3' board is not straight, when you cut short pieces out of it, you may be happy with them. If not too severe, dovetailed corners can hold boards straight.

[bridger berdel]

Take it down to 1/16 and use it as veneer?

[Noah Magnuson]

Pete's suggestion strikes at a bigger point here in that as long as your sides are square and the same width, you can attach the base however you want, and the twist will conform. If it sits in a groove, it is guaranteed to not go anywhere. Even if you just glue and clamp it directly, it will also stay there. At 3/16", you could probably make it do most anything as far as conforming.

[glenn bradley]

The OP stated that the base is twisted. I interpreted this to mean the bottom part of the box but, could be wrong. To the fundamental question, you will learn over time when a fix can be applied or when a re-do is the smarter move. If these are for Christmas gifts I would grab some good stock and start again.

That being said, I would return to these after the holidays and see how far you can get. If we don't go through this exercise we don't hone our "start-over" switch that will save time in the future. Certainly one of my skills is having learned how to paint myself OUT of a corner. Part of this skill is learning when to cut your losses and re-do and when to spend time on the fix.

Do not let these things discourage you, it is part of the learning process. None of us like to hit that aw-shoot point where we realize it just isn't going to happen but, we do learn to see that point coming sooner in the process. This allows us to, at best, avoid it completely or, at least not, waste a day in a fruitless effort.

[Seth Terndrup]

The OP stated that the base is twisted. I interpreted this to mean the bottom part of the box but, could be wrong. To the fundamental question, you will learn over time when a fix can be applied or when a re-do is the smarter move. If these are for Christmas gifts I would grab some good stock and start again.

That being said, I would return to these after the holidays and see how far you can get. If we don't go through this exercise we don't hone our "start-over" switch that will save time in the future. Certainly one of my skills is having learned how to paint myself OUT of a corner. Part of this skill is learning when to cut your losses and re-do and when to spend time on the fix.

Do not let these things discourage you, it is part of the learning process. None of us like to hit that aw-shoot point where we realize it just isn't going to happen but, we do learn to see that point coming sooner in the process. This allows us to, at best, avoid it completely or, at least not, waste a day in a fruitless effort.

Thank you for all the replies.

Glenn - I think I’m going to take your suggestion and start over but return to these to see if I can make them work at a later date.

I needed a good night’s sleep to think this one through. I was way to wrapped up in this last night! LOL.

[lowell holmes]

I would start over if I didn't like the results to now.

[Barney Markunas]

I think Lowell and Greg have given you good advice. Limited time and uncooperative stock are a good recipe for frustration, particularly if your skill set is just developing (DAMHIKT). Find some flat stock and proceed from there. You can revisit the twisted material when you have a little more time. In my limited experience, although boxes tend to be small projects, they are not particularly forgiving with respect to stock prep and joinery.