One Pesky Millimetre

Saturday 1st June, 2024

People come to Sylva throughout the year to learn to work with wood, and my courses often start with the most basic of projects - a cross halving.

This project takes you through some fairly fundamental skills - planing stock flat and square, paring the end grain with a chisel, and cutting a snug-fitting joint.

Or at least, that is what we should be aiming for.

But this is tough! Most people do not get that ‘goldilocks’ fitting joint (the one that is not too tight, and not too loose).

But that is fine. When I think back to my first attempt, I can totally empathise!

My project was going so well. I had got used to the bench-plane and had made my little piece of walnut nice and flat and square. I had pared off the rough ends using a bevel-edged chisel very nicely, and had chopped it in half. I had used a block plane to square the other two ends. Everything had been signed off by my tutor, Jon.

But when it came to cutting out the centre joint I was, well, a little too eager. Too eager to the tune of about 1mm.

One pesky millimetre.

The pieces should press tightly together and hold fast. That extra millimetre that I had hacked off meant the two pieces did not fit tightly. I put the two together and with a jeering little wobble one fell out onto the bench. 

I was learning to make furniture at a high level and this was not up to snuff.

Tight, accurate paring with a chisel is an essential skill in making fine furniture. Dovetails should sit tightly together; recesses for hinges and inlays should be perfectly square. And joints should not fall apart.

When I was training, this high level of accuracy was expected from the get-go.

I had to repeat the exercise.

Second time around I planed the wood square and true. I used the chisel to pare all four ends, to give myself extra practice for the joint. I pared the joint extra carefully, taking off mere fractions of a millimetre each time.

The moment of truth came.

I pushed it together.

It held - just!

There was a gap in one of the pieces where I had still pared too low...but it held!

At the end of the day my wrists ached from all the work, but I had learned a great deal. I had started to re-train the muscles in my hands to get used to this level of work.

I had learned to use a chisel much better than I ever thought I could.

Most importantly, thought, I learned that in cabinetmaking one pesky millimetre is actually an enormous gap.

Until next time,

Stay sharp friends

~sh

Stephen Hickman
Studio Cabinetmaker