Marcus Sly : Cabinetmaker

It can be extremely nerve wracking gluing up a piece which may have taken many days work.  The clock is ticking, the glue is drying, and there are never enough hands free.  If things go badly wrong one can be in serious trouble.  Usually I like working on my own but at glue up time I always wish there were a few more pairs of hands to help! The trick is to plan meticulously, use a glue with a long open time, don't rush, no matter how fraught one feels and... remember to breathe!

This glue up was quite complex - the base and panels took most of the day.  Then it was a matter of fitting the top - ironing out all the little imperfections with hand planes until I had a snug fit.  I put the top on with out gluing it and stood back to admire the effect.  I was met with a slight sinking feeling.  Something seemed not quite right. It's interesting how gluing up - which makes the decisions one has made in the course of doing the piece irrevocable - can heighten ones critical awareness!  Somehow, in spite of the shaping I had done previously, the corners  and line of the top felt wrong - not quite how I had intended.  I had a cup of tea and then came back and looked again.  Yes - it was definitely not quite what I had hoped for.  

It's can be quite  stressful to make changes at a late stage, and I had planned to finish the glue-up by the end of the day, so I wrestled with my conscience for a bit, trying to convince myself that it "would do".  Another cup of tea and I realised that -no - I would not feel happy to leave it like that.  So I spent a couple of hours adjusting one edge of the top with a spokeshave.  Finally I felt that I had something which worked better.  I remember reading David Pye saying that the difference between something which sings and something which is forever silent is often very small.  I was reminded of this while I worked.  A very slight change in the profile of an edge can make all the difference....