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An old timer in my shop told me my dovetails were 'too tight for their own good' about 15 years ago.
He said the wood would fight itself with seasonal movement, so I started leaving a hair's width of space, and my cabinets in this humid coastal town haven't had a single joint crack since, so what's the biggest piece of advice you ever got that went against what you thought was right?
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the_jake3mo ago
Oh man, that reminds me of my grandpa telling me to never force a stuck window, just tap the frame.
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the_ryan3mo ago
That "tap the frame" advice is everywhere once you look for it. It's like how you wiggle a key instead of pushing harder when a lock sticks. So much old school fix-it knowledge is about gentle persuasion instead of brute force.
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torres.leo1mo ago
Gonna push back a little here @the_ryan - sometimes brute force is exactly what a stuck joint needs, especially when you're dealing with old paint and rot that gentle tap ain't gonna fix. A key that wiggles too much just breaks off in the lock.
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