A New Bottom

Yellow is such a transparent color it does not hide well, so several coats on the wheels are needed. With the hot humid weather, that means 24-48 hours between coats.  So I set to work on a new bottom for the wagon.  Fitting it had to be done by hand.  The compartment was not square, and 3 of the 4 sides were angled.  But I took my time and got it almost right.  I say almost because if you look closely at the picture on the left hand side, you will see I added a thin piece of wood.

So what happened there?  I had gotten the front and two sides just the way I wanted, but had cut the piece long on purpose so I could sand it to fit.  Well guess who got too vigorous sanding?  Yup, me.  Everything else fit so perfectly, I figured if I cut a new piece, I'd never be satisfied with the result.  So I glued a strip on the end and secured it with wood pegs drilled into the ends.  Did I cheat?  Yes, but it's one Grandpa would be proud of.  The splice will be located under the seat when complete.  So you'd have to turn it over and look very hard to spot it after the staining and the varnish.  It is so thin, you won't notice.  But a gap that big you would notice.

Every woodworking project of mine has at least one mistake that no one spots.  But I know they are there.  It used to bug me.  It had to be perfect.  But wood is not perfect.   Now, I think that it's my signature.  One error that is nearly undetectable.  Something corrected in a way that masks it's presence.  I don't go out of my way to make a mistake.  They just happen.  It reminds me that none of us are perfect.  While we try to attain perfection, we must accept the imperfection as well.  It doesn't make it any less useful or detract from it's appearance.  There is now a story behind that part of the wagon, hidden away under the seat for the next person to find and wonder, "What happened here?"