Ch-Ch-Changes
I can certainly sympathize with David and other makers on field changes, where a client has changed things that make the finished item useless. I have exactly the opposite problem….
I can certainly sympathize with David and other makers on field changes, where a client has changed things that make the finished item useless. I have exactly the opposite problem.
The items I occasionally sell are already done before the customer sees them, so the issue of the customer changing things is moot. But its probably a good thing I dont make stuff per a customers request, as I find it a rare item I dont change considerably from the time I start it to the time I finish it.
That doesnt apply to exact reproductions; there, the design is someone elses and Im merely re-creating it. But for things I design myself, the original sketches often bear little resemblance to the final result. Now, if Im making something that has to be a certain exact size to fit in a certain exact spot, you can bet the dimensions will be spot-on. But everything else about the design is likely to change while making it.
A lot of times its being able to see it as it progresses, and realizing that something I just thought of works better. Other times its realizing that something worked differently on paper than it does in wood number and location of drawers, say, or the direction a door swings.
Then there are changes dictated by availability of materials maybe an exact type of wood or hardware Id envisioned that I couldnt find so an on-the-fly redesign is called for. Sometimes its simple error that prompts a change (or a lot of changes), like a bad measurement in an irreplaceable component; its sometimes easier, and sometimes even makes the project better, to just alter things so the component is useable rather than starting over. And then there are times that, well, I open my wallet and realize I need to scale something back mid-project.
Till next time,
A.J.

A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.