Back Leg Boo-Boo

Back Leg Boo-Boo

My wife asked me to repair a wobbly kitchen chair. All the joints below the seat had failed, so it didn’t take much to knock apart the legs and stretchers. The joints were a bit loose after I removed all the glue, so I planned to wrap a shaving from a hand plane around each tenon during glue-up to tighten the fit.

Wrapping shavings around 16 tenons, applying glue, and assembling and clamping the joints required all my concentration. Fortunately, the job went smoothly, and after the glue was dry, I removed the clamps and triumphantly sat in the chair. But something was wrong, because the seat sloped sideways. I’d been so focused on fitting the joints, I’d installed the legs in the wrong holes—the shorter back legs were now on the side. Argh. –David O’Connell

Power Cord Catastrophe

My wife thinks that I have too many tools. I think my shop is too small. Everything is on wheels and lined up against the walls, to create some room to work. The 240-volt receptacle is about 6′ off the floor, next to the shop’s electrical supply box and on the opposite wall from where I store my planer. My spindle sander sits on a bench below the receptacle, with the drill press on one side and the bandsaw on the other. Get the picture?

Today I rolled out the planer to mill some oak and wound its 20′ power cord around the tablesaw, and up between the drill press and spindle sander in order to lock the plug in the receptacle. After milling the oak, I rolled the planer back to the wall. But as I gave it one last push, I heard a sickening crash. I turned around to see the spindle sander on the floor, with its cast-iron top broken to pieces. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to unplug the planer, so its cord had tightened and whipped the sander off the bench. –Joe Spencer