Split Decisions: Fixing Wood and Refining Designs
Cason t -
Hello everyone and welcome back!
Since my last post, I had the chance to work with my new saw and some fresh pieces of wood. As expected, the smaller frame has proven to be more challenging, with a recurring issue of the wood splitting. Before I delve into that, let me share my experience working on it.
First, I spent more time on the cutting process to ensure every cut was precise. I also made a point of not cutting too close to the markings, since the width of the saw itself needs to be accounted for. On my initial attempts, I left too much excess wood, which led to a lot of extra sanding. However, as I practiced, I got better at making accurate cuts, which meant less sanding. Things were going great—my cuts were on point, and everything was sanded well—but when I assembled the frame, two of the sides split.
Dovetails are supposed to fit tightly to avoid falling apart, but it seems I made the joints too tight, which caused the splitting. One piece didn’t split too badly, but the other split quite significantly. I’ll need to redo those two parts of the frame and make sure to take extra time sanding everything to fit like a glove. Another thing is that when it is too tight, the pins can push the tail out, which is why those dovetails are not uniform.
Speaking of gloves, I should’ve worn them from the start, but I forgot to—a silly mistake on my part! While working on the first dovetail, I had too much force on the saw and accidentally pulled it back into the hand holding the wood. The cut was minor, but it served as a good reminder to always wear gloves when handling the saw. Anyways here is what the final frame of the board will look like:
After repairing the split parts of the frame, the next step will be to create something to hold all the blocks of the board. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll use yet, but my faculty advisor suggested using a sheet of wood with legs attached to the bottom for support. So far, their suggestion seems to be the best option. Design-wise, this part of the board has been the most challenging so far. Placing a sheet to hold the blocks wouldn’t look ideal, as the difference in the wood would be visible at the bottom. I’ll continue brainstorming and researching potential methods to achieve a design that I find appealing.
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