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Old 29th Nov 2009, 1:10 pm   #14
Retired
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Fenay Bridge, Huddersfield. UK.
Posts: 673
Default Re: French polishing for beginners.

Hi,

Forums are new to me and I couldn’t have joined a better or more well run forum than this one. Right from the very start with my request for help I’ve been made most welcome. Members have been extremely generous not only offering first class advice but also sending me items through the post entirely free of charge. Thank you all.

In return I’ve tried to respond in kind and in particular by adding threads on subjects that generally scare the average person to death as they used to scare me. Cabinet work is a huge subject in its own right and whilst most forum members are very good with the electrics side tend to shy away from cabinet work as though it is some kind of black magic.

May I be allowed to share my thoughts without preaching; criticizing or lecturing in any way as I only wish to encourage others to produce similar cabinet results to mine?

My method is so simple and goes back to absolute basics in how I think; I’m just an ordinary guy so how did I learn to do this type of work? Two things really; the first is patience and the second is two words “I can’t”.

Taking the first; what is patience? According to my dictionary it is described as “Quality of enduring”. I never expected to ride a bike on my first attempt in fact I fell off many times hurting myself. I didn’t start my working life expecting to know the jobs inside out right from the beginning. Learning to walk and speak were tough ones to master. The dictionary is absolutely correct because by endurance I learned these things as I have with everything else in life. Years ago I used to say “I’ve no patience” but what did I really mean; was it that I had little interest in trying? This isn’t a failing in any way because there are many things I’m not interested in so wouldn’t consider trying them; hence I have no patience.

The second is “I can’t” how true this is; anyone saying these two words couldn’t be more truthful as they are correct; they can’t and never will. By removing the letter “t” from “I can’t” results in “I can” therefore I will succeed in whatever I try.

Cabinet work is nothing more than a learning curve requiring endurance and a positive attitude. The results I achieve are usually very hard won because I make many stupid mistakes; I think many times that I appear to make every mistake possible before doing the correct thing but this is where I finally succeed because I endure.

It is my sincere desire to encourage others to have a go; not only in cabinet work but in other things thought beyond them. My thread on the “Wave winder” is a good example because I had never cut a gear before in my life and didn’t know how to but with patience I came up with a new method and produced cast iron gears within a short period of time. I’d like to have a go at vacuum veneering and also learn computer graphics to the professional level shown in threads on this forum. I can do both in time because I have the desire to do so together with a positive attitude.

I’ve gone on at length because I feel these notes are so fundamental to anything I try to do and hope they make others to just stop a while and consider why they can’t do things they would like to do?

Over the years we have had many visitors to our home and the number of times we’ve heard comments saying “I can’t do that” or “I haven’t got the tools” when shown what we have made. In our first home I made and installed a fully fitted kitchen made of white Contiplas; I used a tenon saw costing under £1 a single speed electric drill; a single ½” wood chisel together with a few more old screwdrivers etc. I had blisters to my hand with using the saw and had to keep sharpening it. Now I have excellent workshop facilities with industrial quality machine but all these machines do is to remove the hard work; they still need setting up because the work doesn’t do itself but the comments we now receive tend to be more “I don’t have the machinery”.

I’m delighted my threads have been so well received and can only say thank you once again for all your very kind comments which are very much appreciated as they encourage me to do even better. I'm so pleased to hear from members saying they are now going to have a go and wish them the very best of luck; much frustration will follow but in equal amounts is the enjoyment experienced together with an immense feeling of overwhelming pride whilst standing back and looking at the beautiful job produced with their own hands.

I never want to become an expert in anything as I feel it would be boring; making the mistakes and getting downright frustrated is the fun part for me because I know at the end I’ll eventually break through and win after all I just need to endure. Hope this is of interest and generates a bit of thought. Col.
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