the 2am epiphany and the minds tendency to over complicate everything

[Rich Soby]

So.. Im under the gun to finish a project and Im in the process of dovetailing the three drawers. Set up my dovetail jig and cut the first two. The third drawer is larger than the other two and needed a different set up. But.... in my haste I ran it. Now, the two sides and one end are fine but the opposite end doesnt line up as the offset of the pins and tails throws everything off. After many angry words and cursing myself for ever being born I set about how I was going to resolve this dilemma without having to glue up an entire new set of parts. In my frustration and continued disappointment with myself for making such a rookie mistake I think I may have twice reinvented the wheel, lamented not paying better attention in algebra class, tried to remember calculus, and prayed to pythagarus. All, way too complicated for what I knew needed to be done, at that point I milled and glued up a new box end shut the lights off and walked away for the night.
The next night after work I didnt even look at them but set about getting the first coat of finish on the rest of the project and wouldnt you know that night... the 2 am epiphany. (good thing I get up at 3 every morning so i didnt have time to forget it...) Last night when I got home from work I went straight into the shop, assembled the good end and one side, then using the tails I marked the pins on the end of the new part and using those lines put it in my dovetail jig and set it so that all the marks were evenly spaced along the jig, reset my stop and ran it.

Simple simple simple.... so simple it took me 2 days to remember it......

 

[larry merlau]

i had a similar thing on my drawers on the first dresser when the router dropped. the depth had to be redialed and the jig fingers had moved. woke up the next day and aligned the parts that need fixing and tweaked the depth on one then ran the other parts only had to fill one drawer tails to look good.. and get another router base

 

[Rich Soby]

funny how sometimes thats what it takes though. to walk away... I used to see the same thing all the time watching guys try to lay out a set of stairs on a job.

 

[larry merlau]

now to add to the dreadful dreams is a wooden building that has cedar board and batten, and they used the pithy stuff and knotty stuff add 20 years and you got wood peckers and squirrels and rotted pith,, and your told to fix the bad spots????? and no you can reside the whole thing

 

[Rich Soby]

ouch! break out the epoxy!!!!

 

[glenn bradley]

Simple simple simple.... so simple it took me 2 days to remember it......

This is why I often leave something and let it percolate in my mind for awhile. There's always something else to do and generally at some point (later that day, later that week . . . ) something drops into my head to get me past whatever is bugging me.