Basics of Woodworking

Common mistakes and how to correct them

The impression given in most books on woodworking is that if instructions are followed carefully all the joints will fit together perfectly the first time, frames will be square, nails will go in straight and so on. Anyone who has ever made anything in wood knows this is not so.

Professional woodworkers learn to live with the likely mistakes and to correct them as they go along. As each joint is cut it is tried and a bit shaved off here and there to make it fit. When the piece is finally assembled it is usually a matter of trial and error to make everything fit perfectly. A little clamping here and letting out there will usually be like fitting a suit, ending up with a good fit.

Most of the tricks come with long experience of learning from each mistake, but there are several useful hints on correcting mistakes that will cone in handy for the beginner.

Wood fillers

There are several types of quick-drying wood fillers. They come in small tins and tubes in a variety of wood shades, but the most common is white or cream for ordinary pine. The inevitable little nicks and blemishes can he filled and sanded off smooth and will hardly be noticed.
With clear finishes on pine, the fillers always show a little, so for especially large cracks it may be better to glue in a fine sliver of wood.

Fillers are especially useful for darker or stained woods and for painted surfaces, which tend to hide the filler better, and for filling the small holes left from setting panel pins or nails below the surface.

Some items look much better if the nail heads do not show: a cream filler to match the wood is used to fill the small holes and produce a much more attractive finish.

Plates and brackets

For all the joints which just will not stay together no matter how much gluing and cramping are carried out, the easiest remedy is to screw on z plate or bracket on the back to hold the join together. This is useful not only for new project but also for repairing old pieces of furniture, there are various shapes of brackets. (See ***). It is a good idea to have a few of each with matching screws. In making a picture frame , the main difficulty is in holding the sides together until the glue has set and the nail are added. If it proves insurmountable turn the frame over and screw on a few small, discreet brackets to hold the corners together.

Repairing broken joints

Some wood tends to split quite easily, and man joints break at a weak point while they are being cut or being assembled. Halving joints are yery susceptible, especially near the end of the hoard.

This type of mistake occurs constantly in woodworking and the usual remedy is to glue the piece hack on and cramp it until the glue has set. For a small joint it is probably enough to glue the piece hack on, but sometimes it is better to strengthen the joint by adding a small screw or dowel peg.

In larger pieces hide the screws completely by counterboring so that the screw head is at least 10mm below the surface, then plug the hole with a plug of the same wood. Inexpensive plugcutters to he used in an electric drill are available in several diameters. Plugs can be made out of a piece of offcut and glued in the hole to cover the screw. These plugs are so effective that it is often impossible to tell that a hole has been drilled.

Many woodworkers use plugs rather than fillers to remove dents. Fillers draw attention to the flaw if they do not match perfectly. The dent is drilled out with a sharp dowel drill hit, and a plug of the same wood is inserted in the hole and sanded over smoothly.

The simplest remedy is often all that is required to put right a seemingly intractable mistake. A split halving joint, for example, can be glued and clamped together until it s strong enough for further assembly. Where there are dents or flaws in the wood, or where a hole has been drilled info the wrong place, you can fill suit holes with wooden plugs cut with a special drill attachment for this purpose. For wobbly picture frames attach a flat-faced corner plate.

Reinforce weak corners with metal corner brackets.