Search Results for: label/mistakes/page/2/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

567 results

Mortise and Tenon Magazine

Avatar photo
Design
2 Comments
...ically, a long list of all the mistake he made in his self-educated attempt to build things with traditional Japanese tools. It’s a refreshing take in an era of Instagram boasting. Despite those mistakes and the limitations of Choy’s space, he manages to create large and very elegant furniture. My prediction: Mortise and Tenon is the new Wired (Un-Wired?)....

Read…

BrickTube

Avatar photo
Design, Gardening, How-to
2 Comments
...inth: Getting the first two rows as perfectly square and plumb is crucial. Mistakes accumulate as the rows of bricks go up. I made a square out of scrap wood to the exact dimensions of the plinth so that I wouldn’t have to keep pulling out a tape measure. I could just hold my square up to the bricks to know that the plinth was square and exactly one foot on each side. This is a form of a storey pole, something that I’m familiar with from woodworki...

Read…

I Built a Harvey Ellis Dresser and it Almost Killed Me

Avatar photo
Design
14 Comments
.... This makes for a much cheaper product but an unhappy worker. I made many mistakes building my Ellis dresser. It was, by far, the most complex object I’ve ever built (including nine dovetailed drawers that had to be precisely fit to within 1/32 of an inch). I won’t bore you with the long list of errors, but the biggest one was not having a precise plan for the details of the inside of the dresser. There are many different ways to handle the insid...

Read…

Kelly’s New Desk

Avatar photo
Design
14 Comments
...the world. As this was the first time I’ve ever built this type of table, mistakes were made but I’m pleased with the end result. Schwartz emphasizes hand tools which means that this desk could be made with just a few tools in a small workshop (though it does kinda call for a drill press to cut the circular holes for the legs). In my tiny garage workshop I use a mix of power and hand tools: power tools for the rough milling and hand tools to shap...

Read…

The #700 Bookshelf

Avatar photo
Design
17 Comments
...f. I opted for a dark stain to hide some less than optimal wood. As usual, mistakes were made. But I did pick up a few new skills. While my solder joints are a bit messy, I got to learn how to make a leaded glass window thanks to some great advice from Stained Glass Supplies in Pasadena (they have classes if you’re interested). Making the bookshelf was easier than paring down our book collection to fit in it. I made sure to leave enough room to di...

Read…