One step forward ....

Two steps back.

I'm waiting for some wood to acclimatize (takes a while for East Coast wood to adjust to the desert:rolleyes: ) and catching up on things that need fixing.

One of them is one of the first pieces I ever made, about twelve years ago. Its a console table that I made from plans in Wood magazine. It has served well and I thought it was still in good shape. SWMBO stored a container of cough syrup on its side, which leaked and made an ugly sticky mess on the drawer bottom.

Well, says I, no problem. Even then I knew not to glue the drawer bottom, so I took out the brad that held the bottom to the back and slid the sucker out, cut a new piece and presto fixo.

But then, when I was replacing the drawer, I noticed the fit isn't that great and :eek: the tenon connecting the apron to the leg is loose :eek: There are several other things about the design and workmanship that I don't like.

So... I'm thinking, this guy needs to go on he to-do list. I should make a new base for the table top which is still in fine shape. But that half hour repair is looking more like a week's work now:eek:

Does this happen to you, too?
 
Jesse,

I call it the sub project B syndrome.

Sub project B's are good, as long as you complete them.

Right away, no thinking, no lists.

Otherwise you have the affliction my teen age son has

recently been diagnosed with.

The hole in the bucket syndrome.

Per
 
Two steps back.

But then, when I was replacing the drawer, I noticed the fit isn't that great and :eek: the tenon connecting the apron to the leg is loose :eek: There are several other things about the design and workmanship that I don't like.

So... I'm thinking, this guy needs to go on he to-do list. I should make a new base for the table top which is still in fine shape. But that half hour repair is looking more like a week's work now:eek:

Does this happen to you, too?

Jesse

If the loose tenon is the only structural problem, I would mask off the surrounding area and get some epoxy into that mortise. Getting the epoxy in there could be tricky. I'd get one of those double syringe epoxy applicators, bore a couple of small unseen holes (on the inside of the base). Bore right through the tenon, put the syringe tip tightly into hole #1 and squeeze as much epoxy in there as you can. If you get some epoxy exiting through hole #2 then you know you're good. Even if you don't see it coming back out, you'll have filled up enough of the voids to solidify the joint.

As to the general fit and finish, give your younger less experienced self a break! It was the best you could do at the time. Remember that it was only the gunk in the bottom of the drawer that drew your attention to the minute details. Let it be - go on to new and better projects.
 
"Does this happen to you"?

:doh: ...I was younger, stronger, dumber with no arthritis in the hands when I first started woodworking. Using clamps was an excuse to see how tight I could get them. Didn't realize I was squeezing almost all the glue out & starving the joint. Some of those early projects have come back to haunt me...but we learn for the mistakes and go on.....hopefully.:eek:

I now have a very fancy built in torsion meter used for judging how tight to set the clamping pressure. If I use my right hand and turn right up till the arthritic pain in the knuckles is just sharp enough to cause me to squint and wince.....it's just about perfect. If I cuss...it's too tight. :D

You do very nice work Jess so I can see why you would want to build a new base....but I agree that it serves as historical proof on how far you've come. My 1st major project is a piece of junk but I keep it just because it was the 1st. Heck...I still have my 1st wife.
 
I've got a walnut coffee table and a cherry sewing table in the house I did about fifteen years ago.

I know what I did wrong when I heard a loud splitting noise one night.:doh:

They are still haunting me.
Maybe when I retire I'll fix them:huh: :dunno:
 
Thanks for the great advice and comfort everyone.

I'm going to seize on the good counsel of Per and Ian and inject some epoxy in that leg tomorrow morning and then move on to more interesting adventures.:thumb:

BTW Per, I'm still working on that dining table with your bar finish recipe, pics will follow someday.:rolleyes: Glad I didn't tell the wife which Thanksgiving it would be ready for.:rolleyes:
 
I remember my first project very well and I still have it. It was a magazine rack and what a disaster it was. Part of it I blame on my shop teacher because he didn't show me that after I had drawn the first half of the pattern all I had to do is fold it in half and cut it out to get a full sized pattern that the same on both sides.

DK
 
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