Trying to save, cost me money

[Ronn W]

I have a habit of layoing out my proejct pieces on paper on outlines of boards and then buying only what I absolutely need  for the project.  OK I am cheap.  And I have gotten away with it up until now.

I post this because I should have known better and maybe some one can learn from my mistake.  I bought an 8 foot long piece of 8/4 walnut 5 1/2" wide for the 8 legs of my desk.  Each leg needed to be 1 1/2" x 1/ 1/4" x   37" long final dimensions.  The 8" was long enough for 2 rows of 4 legs each . The piece I bought was just wide enough to rip 4 legs out of the board.  I planed the board to  1 1/2" and then proceeded to rip 1 1/4" wide pieces.  They have to be very straight for the drawers to fit properly and there are no horizontal rails to hold (force) the legs into postion relative to each other.  See my post about suggestions/ comments under General woodworking.  About half of the board decided to relieve stress as I ripped and 3 of the legs have a good 1/16"  to 1/8" bow.  To mill out a 1/8" bow the thickness will be reduced by 1/4".  Useless unless I change my design.  That was an $80 board shot to hell.  So the lesson is......don't try to be cheap.  Buy the board wider and thickener than you need.  MIll and rip to about 1/4" oversized, maybe let them sit a day or 2, and then mill and cut to final dimension and send me the $100 that you will save for a larger board.  Address availlabe on request.

OK, now you can all rub my nose in it.

[Coop]

I bet consensus will say that we’ve all been there, it just took you longer than the rest of us. And now, if you’re like me, you’ll keep those mistakes in hope to use them someday. 

[Spanky]

I hope Cousin Dave reads this!  

[gee-dub]

40 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

I bet consensus will say that we’ve all been there, it just took you longer than the rest of us. And now, if you’re like me, you’ll keep those mistakes in hope to use them someday. 

Definitely been there.  I find there are areas to be stingy and areas to spend a little more to assure success. 

[Tom King]

Any time I have ever tried to save money building anything, it has always come back to bite me.

[Coop]

When I first started Woodworking and others suggested buying a 15-20% overage, I thought those were just slackers and I could do better. Didn’t take me long to listen to experience. 

[Chet]

1 hour ago, Ronn W said:

Buy the board wider and thickener than you need.  MIll and rip to about 1/4" oversized, maybe let them sit a day or 2, and then mill and cut to final dimension

This is pretty much my standard operating procedure.   I tend to purchase about 25% more then I think I will need especially when the color of the wood needs to be consistent. If it doesn't get used there are other projects down the road, just throw it on the lumber rack.

But I do it this way because I tried many times to use Ronn's technique but usually had the same result he did.

[Coop]

11 minutes ago, Chet said:

But I do it this way because I tried many times to use Ronn's technique but usually had the same result he did.

So forevermore, we will refer to wood short cuts as Ronn’s Technique! Just kidding bud!  Good luck on your next $120 wood purchase. 

[..Kev]

Like the rest, I've been there..

I like to look at it from a different perspective..  I always buy extra because that "scrap" always pays off in some way shape or form.  Many of you have seen my projects this year but, the "scrap" from those projects completely built all of my Christmas gifts this year plus about 15 picture frames that my house was in need of.  Also, a couple cutting boards and table lazy Susans for other clients.

So, nothing wrong with being "cheap" but, thinking outside the box actually gets me far more than barely buying enough to complete the current project.  I actually made more money because I had that "scrap" on hand.

Great topic Ronn!  Thanks for posting!

[Chestnut]

I approach things a bit differently. I rough cut and than set the size the the largest part i can get out of the board. If it's 1_1/2" so be it if it's 1_1/4" so be it. Most of the stuff I do 1/8" either way isn't goign to make much of a visual or structural difference.

Dining table I'm working on. I wanted the bench legs to be 1_1/2" thick. Well stuff moved a bit after lamination, which i was expecting. I ended up with 1_3/8" and unless you look at my plans, you'd never know.

I think the best way is Kevs way though. Scraps make awesome bits and pieces for Christmas gifts, house warming gifts, bribe for a neighbor, ect.

[Ronn W]

23 hours ago, K Cooper said:

So forevermore, we will refer to wood short cuts as Ronn’s Technique! Just kidding bud!  Good luck on your next $120 wood purchase. 

Please do. They won't name a street or a disease after me. So I'll take what I can get.

 

6 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I approach things a bit differently. I rough cut and than set the size the the largest part i can get out of the board. If it's 1_1/2" so be it if it's 1_1/4" so be it. Most of the stuff I do 1/8" either way isn't goign to make much of a visual or structural difference.

So, since the legs were maybe scrap anyway, I took the piece with the worst bow and milled it staight taking off as little a possible and milled the rest to match. Ended up 1 1/16 x 1 7/16 instead of 1 1/4 x 1 1/2.  Decided I could live with that.  I am not happy about it but the pain will disappear with time.

[Coop]

Just chant, “Size Doesn’t Matter”, “Size Doesn’t Matter”! 

[Martin-IT]

I stopped using red oak, because it seems to have some secret dance moves until  it is ripped.  A perfectly flat, no bow, no twist, will do it.

Normally, for me it is more feeling the pressure as I sort thru the piece of lumber, feeling pressure not to have the attendant wait to long, and I end up a piece or 2 shorts.... I started woodworking using cherry, and I would discover the sap wood or the color not matching only after milling the piece.

I always adjust my plan as I milled the piece, it does not have to meet some structural engineers plan !