 Before you cut
Most woodworkers will find a plan and say: this is the project I want to build. Somebody else has figured everything out for me so this will be a breeze. The truth of the matter is many plans have errors and some are difficult to spot until you have cut your glued up boards too small! A case in point is "The Heritage Cradle" by a popular plan company. The 2 sides and foot of the cradle all have common angles but the headboard calls for a different chamfer on the bottom edge. If you cut this chamfer then the sides are too long and overlap and must be trimmed off plus the headboard is at a different angle than the rest of the cradle. If you match the angle of the headboard to the sides the canopy is tilted back. Common sense will tell you the canopy should be level so option 1 is the correct answer. It helps to make patterns for these projects out of 1/4" hardboard. Paper plans wear out quickly and having templates lets you duplicate parts quickly and allows you to hold the pieces in question together to see what works when you find a conflict.
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Mike |