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Writer's pictureMark Hicks

Don't Panic.

Updated: May 5, 2023

When things seem to go wrong...


Step back.

Take a deep breath.

And a close look.


Ask yourself...

"Is it really all that bad?"

 

As you saw at the end of last week's video, I made a mistake on my practice part. Because it's for practice, I'm using less than ideal material. And there was run out in the tapered end of the leg. Both ends, really.

And so, just like the practice leg Jeff was tapering in the video, the grain wanted to be cut in the other direction. Unlike Jeff, I was impatient. Rather than reversing the knife and pushing through the cut, I decided to push my luck.

And, of course, a big chunk popped off the end of the part.

Rather than panic, I asked myself "Is this really a problem?"

Turns out, it wasn't.

The material blew out at the corner. And as I envisioned the finished part inside the blank, I could see that I would need to remove material beyond the bit that had split off.

 

But I did need to make sure the taper was right. And I had lost the reference line on that face.

So I carefully cut down to the line on the opposite side.

(The one that still had a layout line)

Then I used that face and a small square to check the taper.

If the tapered face wasn't completely square to the layout face, I removed material until it was.

I kept removing material and checking my work until the two surfaces were square to each other at every point along the taper.

 

In this week's 5 minute long Foundations video, you'll learn the difference between Bevel Up and Bevel Down Draw Knives.

And you'll get a solid understanding of when you might want to choose one over the other.

 

Some Classes You Might Like

 

Wilbur Pan

is teaming up Kezurou-Kai USA to teach an online workshop on

May 21

I still have openings

in my

class at my shop in Ozark, MO

September 17-23

Is there a woodworking class or instructor you really enjoyed?

Let me know in the comments!

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