I mentioned that I wanted to finish trying to rehab my old wooden screw before I start my bench, since it will determine the size of the hole I bore into my leg (for the leg vise) and whether or not I’ll have to mortise the nut into the leg. If the screw didn’t work out, I would use my new threading kit (1 1/2″) and simply tap the hole in the leg – no nut required.
So now that I’m mostly done, I have mixed feelings. But first, the pics. Here’s the “before” picture:
and now the “after” picture:
So it’s a great improvement over a rotting screw head; anyone would admit that. There are many things about this thing that I don’t like. First off, the shape is all wrong. I wanted a hexagon but a beefier hexagon. I cut it to size with my ryoba, which is a fantastic saw but ill-suited for cutting thick stuff – the blade is too flexible. So while the top of the head looked like a nice hexagon, the bottom was an indescribable shape full of unevenness. I made twice as many cuts as anticipated because I kept trying to fix my mistakes. I have to say, though, that my sawing improved as I went along, and I think if I had to do it all over again I might do quite a bit better. Funny how practice is.
Another thing I don’t like is that my pegs are uneven – they are centered on one side of the head but not the other (because of the unevenness – I fixed it mostly, but it’s still off). And lastly, the head seems the slightest bit crooked in relation to the shaft of the screw. You can kind of see it in the picture above.
So here’s the test, to determine what kind of woodworker I am. Will I leave it as is, and continue on with the bench? I do not doubt that once this screw is assembled to the bench it will function perfectly. Or will I keep tinkering, maybe even chopping this head off and start over, so that my screw head reflects the excellent craftsmanship that I hope will be characteristic of all my pieces?
I’m leaving it. I don’t like the look of it, and I don’t like that it will be one of the focal points of my workbench. But it’s a stinkin’ workbench, for crying out loud! If it works, I’m leaving it. It will also remind me of lessons learned along the way. If at some point I find myself with a nice block of wood that is a regular cylinder or cube, I may try again with a new screw head. But knowing how I am with “good enough”, my guess is that this will be my screw for a long, long time.
P.S. I’ve yet to finish this off with my plane, to get the pegs flush and to remove saw marks (I thought a flush cut saw wasn’t supposed to leave saw marks?), and after that I need to finish it. Just in case you were wondering.
6 comments
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July 30, 2010 at 12:43 am
Gye Greene
Hey — good progress!!!
Yep, I’m of the same mind: I tend to leave my mistakes, as historical artifacts of my various stages of skill (or lack thereof). And I’m also fairly pragmatic when it comes to shop fixtures: I’d rather save my time and effort for stuff that goes inside the house (so to speak).
Good stuff, by the way: looks sufficiently beefy, and also rustic. (And the hexagon makes it look somewhat Japanese — to my eye.)
–GG
July 30, 2010 at 10:58 am
Eric
Thanks – it’s nice to get someone else’s perspective on it. As for me, I’m mostly comparing how it looks with how I HOPED it would look, so I’m not as objective. Japanese, huh? That improves it for me!
Anyway, it was a good exercise in sawing, restoration and in fixing a wooden screw head onto a screw – something I’ll be doing more of now that I have my threading kit!
July 30, 2010 at 11:39 am
paganu
I’m totally with you on this one, “good enough” is something dangerous to mess with and it’s best left alone
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July 31, 2010 at 11:31 am
Ryan Garrett
Starting to take shape. Leave your mistakes and keep them in mind for you ext bench (you will build a second one guaranteed….that’s why mine is pine). The important thing is that it works well enough that you don’t NEED to build another one. My version of a sliding deadman for edge jointing is a 2×4 clamped to my bench, but it works.
Worse comes to worse, use a wheel type cranking mechanism instead of a bar. It’s not as traditional looking but it works just as well if not better.
Keep up the good work.
August 4, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Gye Greene
Flush-cut saw and saw marks: I’ve heard the trick is to orient the saw strokes so that they line up with the grain. And to protect the surrounding area with a playing card (I’ve used an extra file folder instead).
–GG
August 5, 2010 at 9:12 am
Eric
Well shoot, I can do that playing card trick with any ol’ saw! (In fact, I used a cereal box before.) I though the whole idea of a flush-cut saw was that the teeth didn’t stick out even the slightest bit, so you wouldn’t need to resort to “card tricks!”
But as for orienting the strokes with the grain – okay, now THAT I can try.