Months of Work

[rhull]

...ruined in 5 minutes in a failed glue-up. Perhaps this isn't the hobby for me after all.

[Danford C Jennings]

Care to eloborate, Rob? Mebbe, we can help you to pull the fat out of the fire...

Dano

[JoeLyddon]

Hey Rob, don't be so fast on the trigger...

... never can tell, there may be a way to salvage, fix, etc. to make it work.

Have any pictures and a little more history of the project?

Have Fun
Joe
http://www.woodworkstuff.net

[Keystone]

You are not alone in that Rob. Learning from mistakes is something I mastered many years ago. Fact is, I have to learn from others mistakes too as I don't have enough time to make all of them myself. :+

[WoodMangler]

I know that has gotta be the pits... believe me, I know.

Let us in on the details... might be a way to salvage this eh....

[Woody 1]

I bet I`ve made mistakes you haven`t even dreamed of yet, don`t let that stop you. The first piece of furniture I made was a blanket chest, you could have easily put a car in it. I don`t use plans but I do get some measurements after that. Then I made a Chippendale chest, after dovetailing the dividers in, might add the 4 drawers get about a inch taller from top to bottom, I noticed I start measuring from the top on the front and the bottom on the back. That chest is now a stand for my printer. If everyone on this forum quit because they goofed you might be the last one standing. Barry

[rhull]

I can fix it...I just don't have the time for this kind of screw up. This is going to set me back through New Years...

This project is the crib I've been working on for a year. My son is 8 months old now, and he's going to outgrow his bassinet any day now. The second we think he can pull himself up, we can't use the bassinet any more, because the sides aren't high enough and he could fall out.

After taking some time out, in retrospect, I think I did 3 things wrong.

A few of my tenons were a little too tight in the mortises. They were a bit tight for a dry fit, but I think when I added Titebond III, they started to swell just enough that I started having problems.

I think I put a little too much glue in the mortises. With the tenons being so tight, I don't think the air and excess glue was able to get back out, which was preventing me from inserting the tenons completely into the mortises.

I was trying to do too much at one time, and my lack of experience didn't allow me to accomplish the task. This glue up didn't require I assemble the entire side (top and bottom with twenty-something slats) at one time. I need to fit the slats to the bottom first, a few at a time. Once they're all in, I'll fit all of them to the top piece and clamp.

Also, when trying to disassemble everything once I determined things weren't working, aside from the fact that all the mortises and tenons now have glue on them that needs to be cleaned off, I broke the tenons off two of the slats. I'll have to drill them out of the mortises and replace with loose tenons on those two slats.

What a tremendous, terrible mess. I'm so frustrated. It would be one thing if I actually had sufficient time in the shop, but a couple hours a week at my snail's pace isn't a complement to this kind of time-limited problem.

[arcticfox46]

Rob - that was a BIG project for sure. I do know about the snails pace. Michelles blanket chest has been ongoing for two years. She was married a year and a half ago. It is a wedding gift.

When I did the lid - well lets just say - I got lucky and I found a way around my inadequacies. I will not admit to what is wrong with it, and the pics will not show it. Did you know that a sheet of Cherry plywood is $100.00?

I too get so frustrated sometimes I just want to give up. Right now - I am on a little bit of a high - just learning new stuff, and just getting done the blanket chest. When I am low - you can encourage, me!

Rob, you'll be OK. Just lean and cry a little, take a break for a week. You will get it I am sure.

From what I have seen - that is an awesome job you are doing. You can do it. I know you can.

[arcticfox46]

What am I missing here - something looks pretty donegone good to me.

I cannot see anything wrong - except one side is assembled and the other side it not.

[rhull]

That was a picture of a dry-fit from several months ago.