Re: Recommendations for a ruined(?) finish
Originally Posted by
putnamm
my greatest failings in this project have been (1) an energetic rush to the finish line and (2) an accumulation of methods and techniques from a great variety of sources--without proper testing of those techniques. So this is the result of both, obviously. ...
... a Frankenstein's Monster of inexperienced joinery, middling craftsmanship and piecemeal masking of errors. .
I cringed every time you talked about "failings." None of what you did are failings. They're successes. They're successes because you tried, and successes because you got in the game. You didn't produce a Peter Coombe or Marty Jacobson quality instrument. But you produced a damn sight better instrument than if you'd sat on your butt and just wished you could do something. My father was a research biochemist, and when his experiments didn't work out, he felt like he'd had a success because he learned something he hadn't known before.
So: Learn from your mistakes, sure. But don't castigate yourself for making mistakes. There isn't a single person here who hasn't screwed up royally, and learned from it. That's how you get to be an expert: by continually screwing up--as long as you learn from it.
(And by the way, I use exclusively French Polish as a finish. It's easy (I'm sure I don't do it as well as Marty). I love the look. And it forces me to slow down.)
belbein
The bad news is that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. The good news is that what kills us makes it no longer our problem
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