A good do it yourself project around the house has several important attributes.
- My wife is happy with the results
- There are no trips to hospital
- You get to buy new tools
Today was a pretty good project. Last week end we went to IKEA and bought some new bookcases. (Not that specific set but similar). They look great. They just didn't fit. Today's project was to cur down one bookcase to make it fit. Cutting, drilling, and screwing in screws, all sorts of good things. Cutting things down went off with out a problem. I have a nice table saw and it worked wonderfully. Then I had to drill holes in the ends so that the dowels and stuff could go together. This is where the first of the new tools comes in. I didn't have the correct drill bits. I thought I did but I was wrong. This is why I never start a project unless the hardware store is open. I came back with what was close to the right bits. So a couple of holes were oversized and a couple were a little small. That is what hammers are for. I also bought a new chisel. I managed to get the right size for that.
I had to go back to the hardware store later for some additional screws. The lamp fixture did not come with any. I am so used to IKEA stuff coming with all the hardware I never thought to look until it was time to put it up. Well they like me at the hardware store anyway. I imagine they laugh at me when I am gone but that's ok as long as I don't know about it.
My wife is very happy with the result. I didn't screw anything up. Well not so as you would notice. No trips to hospital although there is some blood on my knuckles for some reason. I'm not sure how I did that. And I have several fun new wood bits and a new chisel. Oh and I was able to use my new drill press for the first time on a real project. Bonus. Now it looks like I actually had a good reason to buy it.