Do you ever think about cheating on ……

[Firebrick43]

Do you ever think about cheating on your hobbies?

I have been putting together a sharpening station and the casing has been done using a scrap dining room table top (nice lumber core ply) and slides have been mounted for nearly a year now.

Covid/Ukrainian war put a real hurt on Baltic birch availability and price. Unfortunately while I have quite a bit of 1/2 and 3/4 stashed I didn’t have any 5/8 for drawers and would more than likely have to drive 1.5 hr to get it as my local supplier died and his son closed it down last year.

I thought about cheating just a little and buying cut to width and dado drawer stock but found whole knock down drawer kits in my search results thru Barker door.

For ~$150 dollars I could buy the 7 drawers from them already dovetailed. For shop equipment I usually finger joint.

A 5x5 BB sheet of 5/8 for sides is $60 and 1/4 for bottoms is $30 plus fuel to get it. I can’t believe that Barker can sell it for so cheap and reviews seem decent?

It sure does feel wrong however with a full shop full of equipment to do the job!

 

[mike93lx]

Use the time for a project that brings value. You won't save any money and you will free up time for other stuff. Sounds like a win to me

I pay someone to mow my lawn so I can do other things that I get more out of. I've bought prefab cabinets to save me a weekend of work.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Made to size drawers for case goods have been an industry for quite some time. It is one of the details of cabinet making that can be highly specialized/optimized at scale.

Go for it you will never think about making drawers the same way!

 

[Boilerhouse]

I am probably an intermediate wood worker. I had finished assembling a project and had slight gaps at a couple joints. The project was going to be painted. I asked a friend, who is a professional cabinet maker and work worker, what he thought of my plan to fill the gaps with wood filler, sand, and paint. The end result would likely look fine.
He said "If you don't cheat occasionally, you are probably not a good wood worker."

 

[Shiftless]

If you don't cheat occasionally, you are probably not a good wood worker

Absolutely.
What would you do if you were installing door trim or cove molding that was going to be painted and accidentally cut a piece 1/8 inch short? Would you toss the piece and start over again or would you apply some filler, sand, and paint?

I admit to once in a while using a tiny bit of 3M 907 body putty on wood projects. It dries quickly and is a dream to sand.

 

[Firebrick43]

Absolutely.
What would you do if you were installing door trim or cove molding that was going to be painted and accidentally cut a piece 1/8 inch short? Would you toss the piece and start over again or would you apply some filler, sand, and paint?

I would send the new guy to find the board stretcher.

 

[cvairwerks]

I wouldn't call it cheating, but rather a prudent use of your time. Good example for me, is I can layout parts using Dykem, squares, compasses and scribes, but it takes a long time and I often have to make multiples of the parts. One thing I'm currently setting up to experiment with, is using a lower power cnc laser setup to burn my cut, drill and fold lines into stock I've already coated with Dykem. If it works, I can coat the stock, port the etch file to the laser and run the job, while I'm doing something else in the shop.

 

[jar944]

Absolutely.
What would you do if you were installing door trim or cove molding that was going to be painted and accidentally cut a piece 1/8 inch short? Would you toss the piece and start over again or would you apply some filler, sand, and paint?

I'd toss it, and use it somewhere else on a smaller section.

 

[Shiftless]

I'd toss it, and use it somewhere else on a smaller section.

Yeah,
If that was an option without buying more material I would do the same.