Forgive me, creekers, for I have sinned

[Federico Mena Quintero]

I forgot to draw X's on the waste sections of a dovetailed panel for a small box of drawers.

So I'm there, all holdfast'ed and chiseling out the waste after removing the bulk with a coping saw...

And it didn't look like tails or pins at all. Yes, I had coped out the *wrong* parts. The panel, spoiled.

Off to make it again from scratch. Darn.

Maybe I can use the bad panel to turn it into a slapping board, to slap myself every time I make that kind of mistake. Ideas appreciated.

[David Weaver]

Make it into a cheese tray and give it to an old woman.

I know that sounds rude. Maybe it is rude.

(Men don't want cheese trays and young women seem to like wooden things only if they like what's stored in them. I'm not sure what else you can make of a single screwed up panel for free).

[David Weaver]

Wait, i have another idea.

If it's nice, and wide enough, maybe you could put it on a lathe and make a plate out of it.

Woodturners turn all kinds pieces of nice large wood into large wooden objects that nobody really wants. I do it all the time with offcuts I can't use for anything else, and so far, the only thing anyone has expressed interest in is "hey, can you turn me some wooden pens like we saw at the arts fest?"

If it's long enough, maybe you can make a cheese tray, cut the end off, and turn a plate out of the offcut.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I did this once. Although I think I caught it before the chiseling. Fortunately it was early enough on the project it was simple enough to just cut off the "tails" and make the piece one board's width shorter.

David, your comments are just adding to the fuel that would justify that lathe purchase.

[Charles Goodnight]

I believe you have made the famous dodo-tailed joint. They were originally designed to assemble dodo nest boxes until the bottom fell out of the project.

[David Weaver]

I like to make fun of turning, and I don't have a large lathe, but I have to admit that I have turned a lot of useful things (useful to me), but the part about only getting a request for pens is true.

Go ahead and get a lathe. If you're a hand tool woodworker, you don't have as much chance of getting sucked into turning all the time - it does get boring fairly quickly, but a lathe is a good trick to have up your sleeve when you need to make a busted knob or some tool handles.

[Jim Matthews]

I have never made such a mistake.

I have revised some projects to encompass a lesser volume after aesthetic consideration.

"What is it?" SWMBO
"It's a jewelry box." YT
"What fits in it?" SWMBO
"Earrings, one pair." YT

[Pam Niedermayer]

Square them off and make a corresponding box joint board, then add 4 more boards and I'd bet it would make a good coffin for David.

Pam

[Jeff Wittrock]

I wish I could say I have done this only once.
The way I figure it, I still have all of my fingers, so I don't fret to much over dovetail mistakes anymore.

[Andrew Gibson]

Yep I have been there. No matter what I am cutting I always mark the waste. As soon as I don't I will cut on the wrong side of the line...

[Ron Kellison]

If it were my panel I would drill a hole in it and hang it on the wall in my shop as a reminder of my fallibility. It would fit in nicely with a few others I have in my collection!

Regards,

Ron

[Ed Looney]

My brother has a wood stove in his wood shop. He tells me he never makes mistakes but occasionally he admits to making firewood.

Ed

[Jim Koepke]

Well, at least you aren't alone.

I have made smaller projects out of such big mistakes.

On one I had to hand bend a shelf because a dado was about an inch too low.

jtk

[Steve Branam]

I like to think of this as the "gear-tooth joint". Lots of glue surface like a finger joint, but poor mechanical strength. Everyone makes at least one of these! I use one of my pieces as the string toggle on my larger bowsaw.

[James Taglienti]

This is hilarious