I spent a week teaching a furniture building class and one of the constant themes is the need to understand which aspects of a given task are most important to get right. bottom. The short answer to this question is everything. Just focus on doing everything right. I’ve spent a lot of time on that over the years. But what I’ve noticed is that if you give all tasks the same weight, you risk missing aspects that really make a difference in the outcome of your work. Not only that, but a “everything is perfect” approach doesn’t necessarily yield better results and can make the building process harder than it needs to be.
Over the course of that week, we noticed that some of the seemingly unrelated building tips we covered fell into this category. From the initial selection of parts to the final touches, thinking through what matters most has resulted in a more efficient (and fun!) way to build.
So we focused less on cutting the part to exact dimensions and more on making sure the top and bottom and a pair of sides were equal in length. This ensured the case was square and created a good foundation for the rest of the project. I then sized the remaining parts to fit the finished case instead of the dimensions given in the drawing.
Determining which faces and edges of a part are most important when positioning parts within a project will help you make the most of good boards and make the most of less good boards. I was. It’s natural for students to focus on the faces of case parts, but for this cabinet, the front edge was the most important. Since the top and bottom of the case cannot be seen in the wall-mounted cabinet, the sides are also emphasized, but the edge bordering the front of the case was prioritized. They are where false strips of sapwood or irregular grain can create unintended focal points.
When cutting dovetails on the bench, I always looked at the board’s display side. This allowed me to focus on hitting the line where it mattered most. When machining the joinery on the table saw, I used the front face of the part as a reference so that the visible side of the part would align even if the thickness varied.
For experienced woodworkers, these techniques are familiar. Our ability to focus on what really matters is a big reason why work gets easier and gets better over time. If you’re new to woodworking, learn to focus your efforts where it matters most. more likely to hit the target.
— Michael Pekovic
from fine woodwork #304
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