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My coworker asked me to remount a special trophy/plaque he's had for about 20 years that fell from the top of a fridge, shattered in a few spots (he re-glued) but also split the base plate in half! (it seems to be a solid piece of 4/4 maple, but it was small and the trophy is fairly heavy).

My thought process was that I wanted to make the base heavy, since it needs to counteract the trophy's tendency to fall (I almost dropped it myself, twice!)

With that, I set to work. I had some spare maple and cherry laying around, started with "plenty" for this project and ended up with "just enough!"

Mistake 1 - I attempted dovetails for the first time. I then cut them off and continued with a box joint setup.

Mistake 2 - I didn't pay attention to my box joint jig! Here I was, happily cutting my joints, when I noticed they weren't going together very well (I just thought they were tight, but they were actually not fitting).

The problem? I had lowered my main table early in the cuts, and didn't realize my jig's sled was being pushed up slightly by the right side extension table I had mounted

So I cut off the fingers and did it again, barely having enough wood to make the size I wanted.

Here's a shot up close of the near-final work:

Old Glory Base - Detail by J L Smith, on Flickr

The base and box are made of really pretty pieces of maple, and the lid is made from cherry.

I made it this way because I filled the inside with genuine Albuquerque rocks for weight

Unfortunately the person wanted it a darkish color. After I applied my first coat of linseed to the wood, I almost cried knowing I'd have to ruin the look by using stain...but oh well, he wants what he wants -- the wood was beautiful with just the oil.

Still, it isn't too bad as is, and will look better once it's fully lacquered and buffed out.

Here's how it looks altogether (I really love that statue)

Old Glory Base - Overview by J L Smith, on Flickr

I made a few more mistakes, one I knew I was making because I was lazy (I didn't have a backup piece behind my wood during the cuts, and so I had some tearout on the face-portions of the wood), but overall I think it's turning out pretty well.

Now just to apply a million coats of lacquer and get her buffed nice and shiny.

Thanks for looking and reading!

That's a nice concept and a nice job! None of this stuff is as easy as it looks .

Mistakes? Where? Absolutely wonderful craftsmanship. Be proud of your work. Looks great to me.

swampgator wrote:Mistakes? Where? Absolutely wonderful craftsmanship. Be proud of your work. Looks great to me.

Well, I see wavy saw cuts, colors that are not smooth, too much other stuff to name to be approved by those who cast things in plastic in China. The "not-so-perfect" restoration lends to a certain exactness and credibility - perhaps falling off the refrigerator was a welcome addition to this piece.

there's an old saying." Only you can see your mistakes" most of the time it holds true. I believe if someone sees the mistakes,they're really looking too hard and should find something to talk about.hah
Your work looks great.