if this then that, next

I received an email request for help from a former box making student. He was attempting to use barbed hinges as I had shown him in class, but had failed to fully understand the process. It is common when dealing with complex things to not get every point. And it is essential that we not just do what we think we've been told (even if we've taken notes), without also using our powers of observation and trusting what we can see for ourselves. We do learn more by observing and thinking than we can by just doing what we think we've been told.

In my own case, having had no one to teach box making to me, I can assure you that the powers of observation are essential and should not be overridden by words untested.

My student claimed also to be having trouble getting corners to all come together in a mitered box. I developed this simple check list to help in his observation.

1. The angle of the saw must be set accurately at 45 degrees. 
2. One must use a sled and stop block to assure that your parts are accurately cut. 
3. The top panel and bottom must be accurately cut to length and width. This requires close observation, and when I demonstrate in class, students don't often see exactly what I see.
4. Grooves in the top panel must be cut to the exact depth. 
5. If everything goes together right in trial assembly but then seems to drift off after you’ve set the box aside to dry (that shouldn’t happen with rubber bands or clamps in place), then use corner clamps as a routine part of your operation. 

You can make your own using my methods shown in  Fine Woodworking, or buy nicely made ones from Lee Valley.

You can sometimes fix boxes (if they have no metal in them) by putting a drop or two of water in the offending joint and putting it in the microwave for a minute or so, just long enough to heat the glue at the offending joint. Quickly use corner clamps to pull the offending joint into proper position. But generally, I believe that if a joint will not pull tight, or won’t stay tight, there’s some real and direct reason for it and 9 times out of ten with my students, the culprit is a bottom or lid that’s cut too long or too wide or with grooves not as deep as the grooves cut into the sides.

Yesterday a very good friend from Marc Adams School of Woodworking passed away from cancer. Zane Powell had been one of my assistants there for many years. He had been with the school since it started. He had a wonderful sense of humor and had great patience for helping individual students better understand what I was attempting to teach. I will miss him, and I mourn  his passing with all those whose lives he had touched.

Make, fix, grow and create. Pass along what you know how to do. Share with others.