Projects that have gone wrong

[Brixton]

Being new to this forum I have been looking with a mixture of envy, excitement and depression at the things that have been posted that you guys have made.
Envy - wish I could make that
excitement - I will make that
depression - It's turned out pants again!

Did you lot ever produce disasters?
Any chance of a look to cheer us new klutz's up?
I'll post my really bad knife handle and sheath if someone will send me a p.m. telling me how to include a picture in a message

 

[Graham_S]

most of my projects that have gone wrong have been of the wood carving variety (mainly spoons) so have ended up as either tinder or fuel for my kelly kettle. i find a brew helps to soothe the pain of a split spoon bowl (my most common disaster) especially if the brew was made using the offending item

 

[troy]

Don't know if this will make any body less unhappy about things that went wrong, but today, after 2 weeks of careful and meticulous work the present unique ash flat bow split - ouch.

 

[Wayne]

Troy

Must be a bad day for bows checked mine and there is a nasty split. Several days work down the drain.

Well if you dont succeed try and try again.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Wood splitting and checking is where most of my disasters have been as well. From chair legs to longbows - sometimes they work sometimes not. I've also melted perfectly good high carbon steel files that were destined for knife blades. Leaving them in the forge until pretty white sparks dance off them is not a good idea.

Eric

 

[CatFisH]

December 4, 2004.....

using a Stihl chainsaw to split a chunk of wood, the saw kicked down and across the top of my left boot...looking down I realised that I had just ruined my good pair of walking boots...wigglied my toes and all seemed okay so I continued cutting...after 10 minutes or so, I felt something mushy in my boot...removing the boot and sock, I saw that I had separated my big toe from the rest of my foot...

avoiding doctors and hospitals at all costs, I called my friend the veterinarian...he did and admirable job of stitching the toe back on...he suggested that I see another mutual friend, an orthopaedic surgeon...made an appointment with him...after examining my toe, he wanted to use a steel pin or bone graft to reattach the bone...I would have to wait until the toe healed a bit b/4 this surgery....haven't been back to him since

odd thing is...I told my dentist of this misadventure...he x-rayed my toe out of disbelief...he was amazed that I was still walking...after my regular checkup, he scheduled another visit a month later...finding this strange, I asked why...he said he wanted to look to see if my toe bone was growing back together...it is...I guess this could loosely be considered a project gone bad

 

[Ogri the trog]

Catfish,
Sorry buddy, I know that just had to hurt when you took your boot off - but I just had to laugh at the story.

Brilliant

Ogri the trog

 

[troy]

Ref splits in bows, I still try to salvage the bow by bandaging it with rawhide, hiding the fact by cris crossing strings up and down the entire bow, or as with a recent pine bow, just rap the split area with 20 or so turns. Seems to work in most instances, althought the tiller is more then likely off, they atleast are still usable - with bring few examples to mini meet eric.

Ref cutting ones self with things, 20 odd years ago, on the first day of a new job at about 08.15 cutting wood for a frame, the brand new saw I was using decided it would be more exciting to try and cut my thumb off - almost succeded. The best bit was at A & E, when the nurse prodded at the mass of dried blood pressure that had built up behind the scab produed a great spurt of blood that shocked the hell out of the nurse - I thought it was quite funny until she started with the needle.

 

[stevec]

not bushcrafty but, i took some wood out the skip at work,some nice lumps of 2"x3" pine about 2ft long, got a large sack full. my intention was to split it, and practice fire lighting with it for fuel. then i went to local with some friends and was told i ought to make a table out of it. so i did, well i tried!! frame and legs done now for table top, inset piece of 6mm mdf, get mosiac slate tiles, stick down, add grout........ ahhhhhh can't get grout off tiles. bugger. still like that at moment, am going to get some tile cleaner that should take the grout off, its going to take time, theres a lot of those little bleeders. oh well live and learn!
sc

 

[C_Claycomb]

I have been inordinately lucky with my bow making, possibly because I am a coward and everything that has looked like it might break has been backed with linen. A while back I was lined up to make a trip to the US, rural Kentucky, in September. That is the start of their bow season for deer and I had been talking with some friends who said they would take me bow hunting if I wanted. I set to making a 2 piece wood laminate take-down longbow using a special steel and brass handle sleeve system purchased from the US (it cost an absolutely staggering sum in postage!) Everything was going beautifully, the sleeve was permanently affixed and I was just starting final tillering when it all went pear shaped. The tiller started shifting, then the weight dropped, I shortened the bow to bring the weight back and the tiller went the other way, I finished up with a beautifully finished takedown that was too short and was neither well tillered nor of a hunting weight. I had put a huge effort into it all and was depressed into my boots.

Most of the stuff that I have made has worked alright, but I am a very slow worker and haven’t made all that much stuff. Anyone who produces really outstanding work, and has been at it a long while will have dozens of stories of when things didn’t work quite right. Generally the maker will see all the faults of his labour, every scratch appears to be a massive scar, whilst the unskilled observer may only see what appears to be a beautiful work of art.

 

[Marts]

using a Stihl chainsaw to split a chunk of wood, the saw kicked down and across the top of my left

Sorry about the toe Catfish, but is that a burl in that first photo? If it is it's massive! What are you going to do with it?

Marts

 

[troy]

C_Claycomb - bows are a real labour of love, you story brings home a couple of like wise disaters. I could probably go on forever about the good and bad one's I've made/broke. Funny as it may seem, but my best ones have always been the projects I have started with no real rush or design and have just let the wood show me the way.
Most of my bows are made out of boards, so I to back them quite alot especially when the grain does not run from tip to tip it also provides a nice canvas for my kids to paint on (can't handle an axe/drawknife yet) which helps them to feel involved.

I have quite few nice bows now, that I can now use to soothe frustrations when things go wrong. When I first started I went through a stage of experimentation (different woods/styles/shapes) that produced quite a few frustrations, so for now I just let the wood show the way.

At the end of the day, when your stood in front of a target with one of the most graceful weapons ever invented, that you made out of an ordinary piece of wood, you feel as sort of primitive satisfaction upon releasing the arrow that makes the good and bad worthwhile. I think any way.

 

[raskusdrotti]

Sorry about the toe Catfish, but is that a burl in that first photo? If it is it's massive! What are you going to do with it?

You insensitive mercenary!!!

Haha

 

[Brixton]

December 4, 2004.....

looking down I realised that I had just ruined my good pair of walking boots...wigglied my toes and all seemed okay so I continued cutting...after 10 minutes or so, I felt something mushy in my boot...removing the boot and sock, I saw that I had separated my big toe from the rest of my foot...

Don't know what's more "well 'ard"
continueing the sawing
getting a vet to stitch the toe back on
or taking photos of it!

I would be in a corner of A&E immediately muttering words to the effect of "you've had my N.I. give me seriosly strong drugs NOW!"

To think I was only after a few pictures of dodgy knife handles.
I'm never starting a thread again

 

[innocent bystander]

Don't know what's more "well 'ard"
continueing the sawing

That's the weird thing - stuff like that often doesn't hurt until you've looked at it. When i did my national service at Rover (cowley), i spot welded my hand. Saw the black spot on my glove and thought "oh well" and carried on working. When i took the glove off 5 minutes later, my hand swelled up to the size of a melon, and smarted a little. Well, quite a lot actually.

But not in the same league as a chainsaw...

 

[Hoodoo]

CatFish, that photo is just plain wrong. And what the heck kind of dentists do you have down there????? You get a lot of hoof and mouth disease down there?

 

[odin13]

that looks nasty

 

[Ravenn]

And what the heck kind of dentists do you have down there?????


The kind that say "undress for your exam"

 

[Squidders]

My first spoon would make a fine Lego canoe...

My first knife sheath turned out to be left handed which was a surprise to say the least!

I managed to cut through the retaining of its sheath strap with my machete because I thought it wasn't done up.

I cut a big gash out of my left eye because I wondered if my aim would be better, I should have swapped arms also but you live and learn not to use an air rifle with the scope butted up against your eyebrow.

I pitched my tent about 9 inches from some scout poo and spent 48 hours wondering what the smell was... I only found it when packing down the tent.

I (along with someone else) dug up a wood ants nest only to reveal 90,000 unamused ants and no grubs to eat.

Other than the usual gash when carving everyone gets once to teach them to be careful that's it for me...

I don't do big epic disasters just bumble through a series of small stupid moments.

 

[CatFisH]

yes...it is a burl....100 pound Black Cherry burl that I salvaged from tree cut down to make way for friend's shop addition...so far all I have gotten from it is this flat section used for a serving platter..bowls will be gouged out when cooler weather arrives

the dentist just took a mild interest in the toe...she'll x-ray it again when I return later this year to see if it continues to grow together...heck...she gives me nitrous oxide and puts a Grateful Dead CD in for a routine checkup...I aint complaining...

don't laff at my health care quirks...normally I go see Hattie Mae...one of the last great Louisiana Voodoo women for what ails me...she lays a mojo on me an' I'm good to go