I am near completion of a bedroom set based loosely on the design in Woodsmith 34. I need to finish the 4 drawers for the chest and I'm done. I planned the wood and cut it to size yesterday but didn't feel up to the dovetails. They are just machine cut but the plans call for a 3/16 offset at the top and a 11/16 at the bottom. Both control how deep the drawer goes into the chest and the bottom one gets a cove on the back as a finger pull. I cut the dovetails this morning and figured out I cut all the pieces 6 1/8. The fronts need to be 7 inches. What to do.
I could have pulled more wood off the rack, planned it and cut to size. That would have taken an hour or two (my planner is a lunchbox and has to take little bites). But this piece is stained and for a guest room and I decided glueing on a piece would be OK. I didn't think of it in time but I could have offset the dovetails on the top and glued a 7/8 piece on the bottom. But what I have started is gluing a 3/16 piece to the top and a 11/16 to the bottom. That let me cut all the dovetails normally. All the joints are cut and the first drawer front is in the clamps. I don't have enough clamps of the size I want to use to do them all at once. But next time I go to the shop I will take the first out, glue up the second and probably cut all the dados for the bottoms. Either that visit or the next, I will cut the bottom plywood. So I have three more visits to complete the glueups but can do a little more work each visit.
How do you deal with mistakes? Does it depend on the project? I usually cut the bigger pieces first so I can recycle them into smaller pieces if I make a mistake. I think dealing with mistakes is one of those things you have to learn. In my opinion, some are live with it and others are not.
I could have pulled more wood off the rack, planned it and cut to size. That would have taken an hour or two (my planner is a lunchbox and has to take little bites). But this piece is stained and for a guest room and I decided glueing on a piece would be OK. I didn't think of it in time but I could have offset the dovetails on the top and glued a 7/8 piece on the bottom. But what I have started is gluing a 3/16 piece to the top and a 11/16 to the bottom. That let me cut all the dovetails normally. All the joints are cut and the first drawer front is in the clamps. I don't have enough clamps of the size I want to use to do them all at once. But next time I go to the shop I will take the first out, glue up the second and probably cut all the dados for the bottoms. Either that visit or the next, I will cut the bottom plywood. So I have three more visits to complete the glueups but can do a little more work each visit.
How do you deal with mistakes? Does it depend on the project? I usually cut the bigger pieces first so I can recycle them into smaller pieces if I make a mistake. I think dealing with mistakes is one of those things you have to learn. In my opinion, some are live with it and others are not.