# Weather Station and all that went wrong



## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

This presentation is an exhibition of errors, compounded one upon another in an effort to fix each error rather than restart from the beginning again. Obviously some I was able to cover some not.

So, I'll get it out in the open pronto, this weather station looks nothing like my original intention, were it, it would have been a carved 1 piece with what I felt was an organic look, unfortunately my vision and my carving skills don't see eye-to-eye. 

1. Pic#1 is of the jigs and such used to cut out all the WS parts. 

2. Pic#2 shows 4 of the major parts. This is where things began going wrong with the 2nd attempt and continued to go wrong. I used the Jasper circle jig to cut out the instrument holes and disks then cut insert disks out of 1/4" ply to fit in the instrument holes as centering gauges. But, for some reason the disks were smaller in diameter, I had to wrap each disk in 2 layers of masking tape to make up the diff. 

3. Pic#3, when dressing up the back side of the station with very old and reclaimed pieces of another heavier and darker species of mahogany, (Honduran I think because of age) I accidentally created a divot. I forgot to install the offset collar and saw it on the bench as I completed the plunge. So I routed 3/8" PH dowel and covered the divot, (wifey called it a beauty mark), I then added more dowels in an attempt to make it look on purpose. Then I routed 1/4" PH dowels to increase the distraction.

3. Pics#3, 4 & 5, the 1st "BIG" mistake, I thought I could rip the PH and use a scarf joint to hide the seam but that didn't work. 2nd big mistake, instead of dealing with the ugly scarf joint 1st or better yet cutting a new full piece for the WS I went ahead and cut and installed the string inlay. I'm learning, PH and Maple are beautiful woods but they're resistant to some manipulations, they're very fibrous, dry and or brittle. The PH chips/splinters easily when cutting the female side of the string and Maple doesn't bend well with water and heat. Pretty much all my PH work has been as an inlay embellishment not applying inlay in it. I'm going to have to invest in some Holly.

4. All the sting minus the 1/2 rnds was cut with the same gauge cutter and yet notice the difference in widths. Also take note of the broken Maple arch tip left, clock side. It broke off when chiseling the connecting string flush.

5. Pics#4-7, cutting the Walnut disk covered the joint but messed up the string, I got the idea of adding something to the center of the disk to reconnect the string and that failed due to poor exacto knife skills on the (X). I believe I failed on the 1/2 rnd because I cut it separate from the PH, I should have glued it in place sanded it down then used the gouge to connect the lines.

6. Pic#7, I've used Tung oil on a lot of Philippine mahogany and never had it darken up so much that it nearly blends in with the much older mahogany.

If anyone is wondering what the 2 circular depressions in the PH are about it's due to the unit depth of the Thermometer and Barometer being slightly deeper than advertised.

If I build another WS using this footprint, I have the refined technique, adjusted the step order and no splicing written down in my project log.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

If you hadn't pointed them out.... nobody would have noticed! (but then we are our harshest critics)

All that aside, you never learn anything when things go right!

I still think it is a great project, thanks for sharing the story of it's creation.


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## bryansong (Mar 4, 2015)

Yeah thanks for sharing it! I think it looks good also.

Bryan


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

but it seems you recovered so well...


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Ron,

Great job! I agree if you hadn't pointed out the problems I would not have seen them in the photos. When most people look at these types of projects they don't normally see any mistakes or shortfalls. Again, we are our own worst critics.

What did you learn? How to recover, disguise, and correct your mistakes. You, also, learned the characteristics of PH and Maple; what works and what doesn't. All is good...


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## gjackson52 (Jul 4, 2015)

Very Nice ! Thank you for sharing.

Gary


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Nice job Ron. Like my signature says, you will make mistakes. Learning to deal with them and hide them is the difference between workmanship and craftsmanship. We would have never known if you hadn't told us.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Lovely piece, Ron.
Hopefully you're better at predicting than our local TV 'whether' gal...


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Lovely piece, Ron.
> Hopefully you're better at predicting than our local TV 'whether' gal...


Easy, Sunny with highs in the mid 70's. Dark tonight with a chance of sunshine towards morning.>>>


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

I read up to 1/2 of #3 and then looked at the pics............... The finished product looks lie a well planned and finished Weather station. Well done!


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Nice Ron, congratulations.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Hopefully you're better at predicting than our local TV 'whether' gal...


look out the window...


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

Sometimes woodworking is like sausage making — you should only focus on the end result because getting there can be kinda' ugly. In your case the end result is excellent and no one will ever notice the issues you had. I think it looks great.


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

I appreciate the kind words guys but the camera is only a 6 mega pixel and compressing the pics original size in half to 800X500 lost a lot of definition. As I said if I make another I have the proper sequence in the book, no working backwards maybe different materials.

Or you're all cross eyed drunk and suffering from multiple concussions due to charging at that demon thing everyone has been calling "floor" too many times.


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

There were mistakes??????

If I finished something half as good as that *WITH* mistakes then I'd be one very happy bunny.


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Ronald, I think you are too hard on yourself! The end result is beautiful, and shows a real talent in woodworking! Great Job!


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

To the untrained eye, it looks great. I think it looks great! :grin:

Thanks for sharing.
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Tonight's forecast...Dark with a slight possibility of light in the morning! :surprise:


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## Guitfiddle (Dec 14, 2014)

Very well done! Nice design. I didn't even read about the errors because it looked so good!


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Errors...? where?


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