First "Commisioned" Project Done - Lessons Learned

[Mike W.]

OK... so it was for SWMBO, but it was still a 'pay for play' (no, not that kind of play) type of job. As part of a deal we made, I could buy some new tools to start a decent amateur woodworking shop in the basement. Her payout was my first few projects have to be stuff she wants for the house. Suits me... I just wanted to build stuff.

Her hobbies are scrapbooking and stamping. So the first thing she wanted was a cabinet for all of her scrapbooking and stamping stuff. I took a look at all the 'stuff' she had and together we came up with a rough design. I used Visio and drew up some plans that were as complete as I thought anyone could get them. She liked the design so I went to making saw dust.

It came out pretty nice. There are pics on alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking if you care to see them. During the project, basically my 2nd _real_ project, I learned a ton! So in the interest of giving a little back to those who have helped me learn so much posted below are some of the lessons this newbie learned:

1. Trust the tape measure/ruler more than any plan... especially any plan I created.

1. It does take white wood glue a pretty good amount of time to dry... enough time to frantically put a Forrest WWII blade on your saw to cut a piece of 3/4" Red Oak plywood, change over to a Frued stacked dado blade, cut 3 dados and 2 rabbets, and then reset the new piece in place of the old (damn it looked ok during the dry test fit phase ) top and still have time to clamp and square everything.

2. A clean shop is a lot easier to work in than a messy shop... not sure I learned this one or just observed it and let it pass.

1. There has to be a better way to tell if you're done sanding. I haven't learned the way yet, as you'll see by the, um, 'figure' on the left door which wasnt recognizable until I stained it. Good thing SWMBO thinks it 'Tiger Oak Plywood' since one of my new tools was a ROS specifically for this purpose.

2. I now know why Norm has such a big assembly table.

1. One stupid, and never to be forgotten, mistake later... A 12" x 1/2" x

1/2" piece of wood being shot out of a blade guard at ??? MPH and drilling you in the gut hurts like a sonofagun. I credit this lesson to ripping 20+ pieces of pine for the shelf cleats and getting a little lazy towards the end and letting one of the trimmed edge pieces remain on the table, seemingly behind the blade. Somehow that little sucker made its way back and shot outta there like a bullet. It left a temporary nasty welt on my belly and a permanent mark in my brain. Thank the Lord I had the blade guard on... can't imagine that thing hittin me in the face like that.

1. Glue covered Oak doesn't stain the same color as non-glue covered Oak.

2. When using plywood, you may have to think Edge Banding if you're not careful in planning - see #1.

1. A 3 year old with 9 Care Bear Stuffed animals has a hard time understanding that this cabinet is for mommy's stuff and not her Care Bears.

2. WOW! This is fun! (But you guys make it look easier than it is)

There were quite a few more lessons learned along the way, but those were the ones that came to mind as wrote this.

Any constructive critiques gladly accepted.

Thanks. Mike W.

[Henry Q. Bibb]

Man, dude, only the 2nd project! I thought you'd been doing it for years.

Way to go, Henry Bibb

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Heard about this, but have not tried it very often.

To put more "stuff" on?

Important thing is that you are having fun.

[Peter Ashby]

So go make more sawdust and have two women in your life pleased with you. My eldest assures me she will take her CD rack/bookshelf when she gets a proper flat (at university).

Peter

[Mark and Kim Smith]

I try to stick with one measuring device per project. Usually my favorite is the 60" straight edge. Especially compared to a worn tape measure with an end that will vary between a "pull" measure and a "Push" measure ( loose rivets.)

[Jim Wheeler]

I usually use denatured alcohol to clean the items before i start to finish them - both cleans and when the alcohol is still wet, shows pretty well what the final piece looks like - will often show up glue and other imperfections that need cleaned up before applying finish. And, no, stale beer doesn't work like denatured alcohol.

[Schroeder]

1. Once you start building for SWMBO...it will never end....(lol)

Schroeder

[gandalf]

----------------- I'm sure that wear and tear will get them in the end. But the 'loose' rivets are loose for good reason. They ensure that a measured 'push' or 'pull' is the same as the movement equals exactly the thickness of the end tab.

[Mike in Mystic]

Mike, I took a look at your cabinet and it looks great. Awesome job!

Glad your kick-back experience wasn't any worse. You might want to use a splitter, as well as the guard, as this will have a large impact on reducing the chance of kickback.

Keep at it!

Mike

[Larry Jaques]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:24:24 GMT, the inscrutable Jim Wheeler spake:

Ditto here. I use either alcohol, lacquer thinner, or acetone (now that I have some) to clean every piece which will be finished. The solvent removes dust, oil, and most contaminants which would otherwise ruin the finish, and it shows you where more work needs to be done, such as scratches, scuffs, and splinters/hard edges.

OTOH, it WOULD be better tasting. ;)

-- Life's a Frisbee: When you die, your soul goes up on the roof. ----

Comprehensive Website Development

[arw01]

Mike you did a great job. Although you wanted Oak for this project, you might consider 5x5 Baltic Birch of other projects. I have found the per foot cost to be less than 4x8 plywood often. Also 1/2" is plenty strong enough with good joints:

current project is to make cubes with dividers, drawers, and cubbies for my wife's birthday in her scrapbook room. aka like:

projects included these hacks:

especially like the middle cabinet where the lesson was don't trust the vendors measurement for the size of 12x12 hanging folders. Hence the need to widen the drawer and dado the sides to clear the drawer slides. Need to remake that box soon.

Alan

[Australopithecus scobis]

Unless the project has dimensions in feet for the bulk, and 64ths for the joints. Hard to find one rule to ring them all.

[mac davis]

Mike.. very well written... It's hard to admit your mistakes and harder to make them amusing... I'm sure that anyone who doesn't learn from your post will remember something that they might not have thought about for a while.. thanks! (and the organizer is fantastic)

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[mac davis]

now that you mention that, I realized that I have an OLD habit that my dad taught me years ago..

I always start at the 1" mark of the tape and subtract an inch from my total... I don't think he ever explained the loose rivet thing to me, but it makes sense... seems like he just said that the 1" mark was a line across the tape that was square, or something like that.. (maybe 50 years ago)

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Lee Michaels]

What is this clean shop you speak of??

I did that once, just once.

I learned my lesson. It hit me just under the rib cage a couple inches right of center. The bruise took almost a month to go away. It hurts just to remember it.

It was a particularly cold day and I had on several layers of thick clothing. And still, the pain and resulting bruise were extensive. I can only imagine what would have happened if I was working in a t shirt.

Try this.

The family cats taking up residence in anything that you build. And getting very offended if you evict them from their new digs.

[cyberzl1]

That's what I usuall do as well. Of course a few of my tapes are so worn I can't read the first 2 inches, so I have to start at the 3" mark. :)

I've learned to measure both directions as a sanity check and to avoid the inevitable math error. :)

JW

[Vic Baron]

My beer doesn't last long enough to get stale.

Vic

[Dave Mundt]

While I have no problem with starting the measurement at the

1" mark (and do it myself off and on), I want to point out that the fact that the hook on the end of a tape measure is SUPPOSED to be loose! It is designed so that when you hook over a panel, the distance from the INNER surface of the hook to the 1" mark is "exactly" 1". When you are measuring INSIDE dimensions, the hook slides back so that the measurement from the OUTSIDE surface of the hook to the 1" mark is "exactly" 1". DAMHIKT, but, it is a REALLY bad idea to peen the rivets down, so the hook is nice and solid. Of course, there is a certain amount of slop there, and, I suspect that the cheaper the tape, the more approximate that measurement will be...but that is how it is supposed to work. Regards Dave Mundt

[Eric Tonks]

I have always found that to start measuring at the 1" mark can result in easy to make mistakes because on longer measurements it is hard to tell if the 1" has been added or not. This resulted in things being cut 1" too short. I take my middle measurements starting at the 10" spot. A 21 5/8" length starts at 10" and runs to the 31 5/8" spot, if I forget to add the

10" it is quite noticeable, and easy to correct before cutting.

I prefer an 18" stainless steel rigid ruler for small measurements, they are more accurate to use than a tape.

[Dave Mundt]

Hey, I have heard of this sort of thing myself...and even recall a time (for about 20 minutes) when MY shop was neat...so it can happen.

The "good" news, I suppose, is that a kickback like this is unlikely to gain much altitude..so will tend to hit somewhere between just below the belly button, up to mid-chest. Now a lathe...that WILL throw chunks DIRECTLY at that little ridge between your eyes... and with amazing accuracy.

Yea...my last bad one is detailed in the archive, but, in short, I was cutting 3/8" plywood squares for bird-house floors. I was on the last floor, which was the last piece of ALL the wood needed to build about a dozen of the things...and as I pushed it off the back of the saw, the square rotated slightly, caught the blade, and was propelled at about 100 MPH into my abdomen, about 2" below my belly-button (I was VERY appreciative that I am only 6' tall... any more and it would have recut the family jewels!). I was left with a VERY impressive, oval bruise about 2" tall and more than 3" wide, that persisted for weeks.

Yea...cats will do that. I had one cat a while ago that kept pulling enough books off the bookshelf to make a "kitty cave" for her to sit in. She was VERY persistent. Good thing they are cute, social creatures! Regards Dave Mundt