Does it pay to be picky?
Well, there's no good answer.
I did a short post last week about shaping the back and arms of the new dining room chair set. The process takes time and while you work, you can see the quality of the tapered finger joint that connects the back to the arms. This joint is done with a back saw and a lot of patience....it has a double taper, and both pieces taper opposite directions. (I don't know why I do that to myself, but it looks cool when it works out) The taper makes it really difficult to get the two parts to mate up nice and tightly. You dry fit, sand, dry fit, sand, dry fit........you get the idea. When gluing these parts up, I mix in a little cherry sawdust in the glue as a gap filler. Getting the right consistency for the glue is also tricky.
Things brings me to my point. Sometimes the joint looks great, and, well, sometimes, not so much. Here is a joint that I'm pleased with:
This one.... well, let's just say it can be fixed, but, I'm not happy with it.
So, does it pay to be picky? I think that if I'm not happy with it, you certainly wouldn't. So, I'll be making a new back for this chair.
Have a great weekend
Chris