A Week of Planing Boards
· 2 min read
The rough part is hardly ever the hard part; consistency is. Good furniture should last longer than the person who made it. Most of the work happens before any cutting starts.
What I would do differently
The sturdy part is hardly ever the hard part; consistency is. The joint fit on the third attempt, which is about average. Thanks for reading, and for the gentle observations that keep arriving. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for slip-ups. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works.
Small things
I design on paper first, then let the wood change my mind. For a long time I treated drawers as an afterthought. Below are a few observations, roughly in the order I picked up them.
It is effortless to overthink designing a chair. It is harder to just start. Between planing boards and designing a chair, the second one taught me more. A sharp chisel is safer than a dull one, and much more pleasant. You can get unexpectedly far with a block plane and some patience. The workbench is the first project and never the last.
- Write down what you change
- Ask someone at the workshop
- Revisit hand planes after a week
- Write down what you change
- Revisit sharpening after a week
The difference showed up bit by bit, then all at once.