Four fixes

Creativity in the shop took a dive this week, with most of my productivity geared to repairing things. I hate that.

The problem with repairs – or their close cousins, replacements – is that they nearly always require as much work or money, or both, as creating something new. But when you’re done, you’ve created nothing new to show for all your efforts.

Repair #1 �� Remember that P.O. box bank I told you about last week? I cut it open to salvage the door. I decided to more-or-less “resaw” it open near the back side, and did so carefully enough that once I accessed the back of the door and got the combination, I manage to glue it back together. A bit of sanding and refinishing and you can’t even tell.

Repair #2 – Remember that ruptured water heater from last month? With the subfloor thoroughly dry in the little room where it’s located, I was able to install a new laminate floor. But because I had to cut this flooring around the water heater, water softener and a dozen PEX pipes that go down through the floor, the process of laying a floor in this tiny 3’ x 7-1/2’ space took two full days.

Repair #3 – I finished a decorative box a week ago that came out fantastic, but I wasn’t happy with the finish. I stripped and sanded the box, used a different stain and refinished it. Much, much better, but it was still just fixing something I’d already created.

Repair #4 – What happens when you carry a case of laminate into the shop and accidentally whack a low-hanging fluorescent light fixture with it? You break the fixture, requiring another trip out to the Big Box store for a new fixture, followed by yet another repair job.

Sure, all four repair jobs were warranted, and some, like the finish on that decorative box and my new floor, look much nicer now than they did originally. But still, these kinds of tasks simply put things back pretty much the way they were before things broke. Yeah, they’re all better for my efforts, but it means I created nothing at all new and original for all the work I did.

Except, of course, a topic for my blog.

Till next time,

A.J.