Choice of Methods

[dragonjaze]

Sometimes, I find myself with too MANY choices on how to do things, and I get stuck as to which is the best way. A possible down side to having lots of tools? Nah...no such thing.

For example, last night I was making a cutting table, out of strips of plywood that interlock with notches. Simple, right? Well, I don't have a table saw (waits for the collective gasp of astonishment) and I was contemplating the different ways I had to cut these notches out.

1) Router with straight bit. Sandwich the pieces together, and route away! Except that the notches are 2" deep. Don't have a bit that will reach. Plus, my router is in the table and I was feeling a bit lazy. so...next idea?

2) Hand saw! Yay for hand tools. I actually did start this, but...well, I'm not the best at keeping a straight line. And the arthritis in my shoulder convinced me quickly that it wasn't a good idea to keep this up, if I wanted to use my arm tomorrow. Next!

3) Circular saw. I have an auxiliary base on my tiny crappy circ saw, so I didn't think it would have the 2" depth needed. Plus, I hate the thing and trying to balance it on the narrow boards was more trouble than I wanted to do. By now, I'm starting to wonder how such a simple project could have me so stumped.

4) ah, but then! Then I realized that the bandsaw I was leaning on while thinking would do nicely! So I happily marked out each notch, cut the sides out, then cut the waste into narrow slices. A little work with some dull chisels and I had my notches. In the short boards, at least.

So, now it was time to do the long boards. Six notches in each, easy peasy..oh, wait. 14" bandsaw, 54" boards. Something doesn't add up. So I gave up for the night and resigned myself to sawing out these notches by hand. Tomorrow, with a Tylenol breakfast.

Inspiration hit in the middle of the night, and I remembered that I have a jigsaw. Two of them, actually. And I'm sure one of them is more than enough for the job. So that solves that problem.

There's my long and rambling story. Do you ever go round and round with methods and joinery choices and such? There are SO many ways to get the same results in woodworking that sometimes it can be overwhelming.

[flairwoodworks]

In woodworking, there is almost always another way to accomplish the same task, but for me, usually one is clearly the best/easiest.