The Physics of the Shop
I spent 8 more hours in the shop today for a running total of 82 hours! Had to run back to the lumber yard for three more pieces of QSRO. Hopefully the final bits of solid wood I’ll have to buy. Came home and spent a quality 90 minutes in front of the planer driving my neighbors nuts with the noise. I got everything planed up and the rest of the day was spent gluing up one final panel (this one will be the main surface directly underneath the TV) as well as making the face frame for the left side bookcase. A funny thing happened whilst doing this. I had very carefully measured all the pieces and pocket screwed them together. Perfect 90 degree angles between them. The bookcase also has perfect 90 degree surfaces. When I applied one 90 degree surface to the front of the other one…..
everything was crooked.
It was like suddenly we didn’t live in Euclidean space-time any more. It was the weirdest thing. I could measure 90 degree angles all over the place, but the face frame was “slanted” by as much as 1/4 inch between the top of the case and the bottom. This utterly flummoxed me until I took the face frame apart, reconstructed it (with the same wood and the same screw.. in the SAME HOLES), and it worked. Amazing. I think I’ve discovered a unique quality of wood: it has the ability to bend spacetime.
So anyway, that’s how I spent my 8 hours today.