Shopsmith Forums

This is where the Aisian countries fail miserably at todays retail furniture. The observations I have made are that, although the wood, general design of the piece, and finish LOOK great, the joints are embarrassing! Little or no glue, drywall screws everywhere, loose fitting joints rammed tight with finish nailers,or just run a drywall screw in at an angle to tighten it up. Planning the joinery IS furniture making. Even a 16 penny nailed up 2x4, if well implemented, will be strong. I tend to think "how long will it last" when figuring out a plan. If it is gonna sell for $24.88 at Wally-World, or sell for $150.00, and last through a couple generations. I admit, I have been forced to use the embarrasing "ram a screw in it" mentality, and I hate doing it. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. There are alot of "rules of thumb" when designing your work around the types of joints possible, most of which is learned over a long stint of trial and error. I've only met a handful of people who were actually "trained" by a proffesional, ie. apprentice. It's pretty tough to work under a guy for free, just for the learning process. Few can do it. I had to force myself to make different joints with scrap materials when I first started up. Sometimes it was a blast, and sometimes sucked! I now have a collection of my best joints to explain stuff to the client. I also read tons of material on joinery, design, etc.. I went to a school when I was about 30, and even though it was a "scam school", I garnered every bit of knowledge I could from it. Design is a tough hump to get over, but you WILL get over it. The coolest part of the whole deal is, if you mess up, you can burn the evidence!!! Good luck with your new found addiction to wood! jimsjinx