Stumpy.

Stumpy on a dry run.

Against all odds, I managed to glue up my project this week. Stumpy, as it is now known, started life a couple of inches shorter then he was meant to be and also a lot fatter. I've been unable to make it any skinnier, but at least on the final run I've made it a wee bit taller (although the graft in the middle is sadly a little obvious).

This week has been a comedy of errors in a lot of ways, highlighting the worst of my incompetence (including fitting shelves without checking that they are at right angles, sanding a bit off the cabinet door by mistake, gluing the back panel on to the cabinet without having fitted and measured the front door, etc etc etc).

Stumpy (post-op). Shame it can't also go on a diet.  

I am amazed at what I've managed to achieve in the space of 9 weeks, but I also know that I really wouldn't have been able to get this far without the help of Sandy and Graham, our tutors. They've helped me tremendously on the particularly tricky bits, like scary saw cuts (the potentially cut your finger off kind) and drilling hinges in at weird angles. There's a part of me that's a bit disappointed that I can't say that I've done this completely on my own, but I'm more relieved than anything else that I've just about got there in the end.   Some concessions have been made on the design aspect, as a lack of time and materials has meant that I couldn't quite accommodate everything that I set out to do. Perhaps I will feel better about it by the end of next week when all the inconsistencies have been sanded down and the gaps filled in, but at the moment, if I was truly honest with myself I'd have to say that I have mixed feelings about Stumpy.

The butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.

All things considered, I am really looking forward to the Christmas break, and not just because I have an excuse wear fat pants and jim jams for a week solid. 

Ps: How terrible would it be if I tried to fob off the candlestick we made during bench skills this week as a Christmas present to someone? I am after all a poor student.