Really looking great!

14 minutes ago, John Morris said:

So, how about a knuckle head mistake!

Taking lessons from me John? 

1 minute ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Taking lessons from me John? 

You know, I like posting my mistakes too, hoping others can sympathize, and relate, I can always count on you Larry!

5 minutes ago, John Morris said:

hoping others can sympathize, and relate,

Neighbor was cutting some trim at his place.  Asked me for a tape measure.  Seems he thought something was wrong with his. 

 

3 times he made a cut to 6 ft 6 inches and all three times it was short.  So I went to help, with my tape measure in hand. 

He lays the tape down goes to 66 inches and makes his mark.  With a straight face I showed him his mistake.

 

6ft 6 inches is 78 inches  

 

66 inches would be 12 inches short.

3 minutes ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Neighbor was cutting some trim at his place.  Asked me for a tape measure.  Seems he thought something was wrong with his. 

 

3 times he made a cut to 6 ft 6 inches and all three times it was short.  So I went to help, with my tape measure in hand. 

He lays the tape down goes to 66 inches and makes his mark.  With a straight face I showed him his mistake.

 

6ft 6 inches is 78 inches  

 

66 inches would be 12 inches short.

I feel better.

I think reading about mistakes is good for all of us.  Takes the pressure off to be perfect the first time, and I think that lets our own mistakes come less frequently.  If the really skilled craftsmen can mess up, we mortals can forgive ourselves too.

10 minutes ago, PostalTom said:

I think reading about mistakes is good for all of us.  Takes the pressure off to be perfect the first time, and I think that lets our own mistakes come less frequently.  If the really skilled craftsmen can mess up, we mortals can forgive ourselves too.

So true Tom. Also, you know what they say, the sign of a good woodworker is knowing how to cover those mistakes up, if that's the case, I must be approaching Zen, cuz I make a ton of mistakes!

 

On 8/16/2019 at 6:17 PM, John Morris said:

You know, I like posting my mistakes too, hoping others can sympathize, and relate, I can always count on you Larry!

I've done the same thing more than once John, and can totally relate.  

On 8/16/2019 at 6:36 PM, PostalTom said:

I think reading about mistakes is good for all of us.

Hopefully when others read what we admit to they won't do a repeat performance without laughing at themselves. 

On 8/16/2019 at 6:48 PM, John Morris said:

you know what they say, the sign of a good woodworker is knowing how to cover those mistakes up, if that's the case, I must be approaching Zen, cuz I make a ton of mistakes!

And you showed a good cover up!

Zen ... Was that two or three universes back?...

A mistake?  I thought you were doing this in part to help Jeroid learn a few skills.  On "must-have" for me is the ability to recognize and recover from the goof up without going back to the lumber yard.  You did good there John.

Friday I was able to get in the shop and get a few things done. I have projects piling up on me right now, mama is making noises, and I put this desk in front of everything else around our home as far as improvements go. So while son was in school Friday, I took to the shop early morning and made as much progress as I could with the time I had.

 

So starting with the horizontal dividers for the drawer and the top mount strip, I cut a board to length, fascinating the ends were not square, even though I cut them with my SCMS, so needless to say, my saw needs adjustment. It's been a long time since I built flat work, I've been involved with my chair(s) and things just don't need to be square, so sizing material without checking for square has been my forte lately, and as a consequence things in my shop have gotten out of square, I just don't worry about square anymore, my work has really taken a lax philosophy lately, since I am really getting into work that is not flat.

 

So I have two boards that I'll rip the dividers from, but before I rip them I am going to square the ends. Lucky me I have my wonderful plane and shooting board just for this purpose! I finally get to put it to work.

 

You can see how out of square the board end is, see the gap at the sole of the plane.

 

 

A few quick passes and I have square ends on my boards. Not shown, I guess I didn't get that shot, but I do have my boards squared up.

 

 

I ripped the boards down to 1 5/8" to create the dividers I need for the drawer.

Then I gang marked them for the tenons.

 

 

I am cutting my tenons on my table saw, just a few passes, since I don't have a dado set, I just make a few kerf width passes and the tenons are cut. I am working under the gun here, I need to get this done, otherwise I would have spent some time cutting the tenons by hand, but I need to get this desk done.

 

 

I laid out the mortises in the desk legs. Then just set my chisel into the layout lines so when I drill out the mortises, they won't splinter or flake beyond the layout.

 

 

Drilled the 1/4" holes to hog out most of the mortise.

 

 

 

Then I followed up clearing out the waste by hand with my chisel. So, here is where we are at right now, we almost have a desk cabinet to hold one drawer, and the lower compartment will hold the computer tower.

 

 

The day is done already in my shop, mama is calling and reminding me I have deferred maintenance to take care of on our home, such as re-screening the windows in the kids rooms, thanks for following along, and I'll check back this coming weekend with more progress.

 

The shop goes to sleep.

 

You got a lot done.  I feel ya on the "other things to do".  Had to make a hard rule for myself concerning this.  Maintenance BEFORE projects.  Such as getting lawn cut, fixing screens, doors etc etc to keep what I have in good working order.  Then the project can get some time. 

Edited August 19, 20196 yr by Woodbutcherbynight

You have done very well, John.  Thanks for posting mistakes and letting us know how your recovered from it.  An old saying, "Putty and paint will make it what it ain't."  In your case, it simply won't be seen.  But, you did an excellent job recovering.  

 

Slow brain - it's the heat.  Once it cools, we'll feel more energized.  If you served in the military, they kept the classrooms almost cold.  It was the intent to keep you awake and alert.  If you are focused on the content, you don't notice the temperature too much.  That's what I got out of it.  I am waiting until it gets cooler.  I have plenty to do, but this heat is too much for this old body.  

Good progress being made John.

Great looking project John and its fun to do it with your son. It took mine till he was in his 30's to decide it would be fun to work with me. He has learned and lot and it has been fun watching his progress. It is also good to watch him work through it before he ask for advise sometimes.

John, is that a Veritas plane you've used there? I was looking at those recently at a Sydney artisans show, and I was instantly taken with the whole setup of board and plane. Smooth to operate, felt great to use. I'm thinking of buying one......... when I'm actually making sawdust regularly again. Dangit I need to get out there. Might do it tomorrow, or maybe even sneak a little in this evening if I can manage it.

 

https://www.carbatec.com.au/handtools-and-handplanes/handplanes/bench-planes/veritas-rh-shooting-plane

It's been awhile since we checked in with this project. I wanted to get this done within the first couple weeks of my son starting school, but my health took a turn again middle of last month and since I got out of the hospital I just been feeling so so, just not feeling the whole woodworking thing and hard to motivate my brain to get in the shop. I'm much better now, back on some horrible meds to keep my blood work steady, and so far my docs have kept me from going back in to the ER, and that's a great thing, it's getting old!

 

Today I felt pretty good, and I grabbed my son and we headed out to the ol garage and fired up the project again, we built the outside legs of the desk, I taught my son how to use the Shopsmith DP mode and he bored out the holes for the mortises in the legs. He then cleaned up the mortises with a 3/4" Marples and a 1/4" Marples, he learned today how to pare down the sides of the mortises to clean them up, and to fine tune the tenons for that perfect fit.

 

Below, he marked out the mortises, then took a 3/8" brad point bit and bored some starter holes.

 

 

I thought I took a pic of him cleaning up the mortises after the Drill Press operation but I guess I flaked. I was just enjoying and watching him work I guess. My style is to teach him the basics, get him started, and then often I'll just walk back in the house and let him go at it on his own, then a half hour later I'll walk back out and see how he goes, and I am usually quite surprised by how well he did all on his own. I feel that executing these steps on his own, builds confidence.

 

 

We'll be back out in the shop tomorrow too, we are making some pretty good headway and the momentum is moving along again. Thanks for reading along!

John glad to see you feeling well enough to share knowledge and get some time with your son

Excellent!!  Time spent today will be a memory he cherishes later in life.  As a kid I was always off with my dad or a relative, taking something apart, fixing something, pouring concrete, or some other project. 

Glad to see that you are back up and in the shop.  I had wondered if this project had gotten finished and I missed it.  Good progress being made.

Thanks for taking us along. It's wonderful to see you in the shop working with your son. You guys are making more than a desk.