Make the Best out of a Break

When something breaks get over it and go a different Direction. And as usual I happen to have an example. So not too long ago I finished a project and looked around and saw this Cedar round that I put in the shop months ago and kind of forgot about, so I decided to do something with it. I put it on the router sled and flattened it, It had a rotten spot in the middle so I am thinking…epoxy fill.

After planing part of one side I had to move the slab and add a spacer under it to get it closer to the router. During the process I set the partially plained slab on the edge of the table and while adding a spacer the slab fell off of the table, did an Olympic quality double back flip, landed on the ground and about 1/3 of the slab broke off….CRAP ! So I put both pieces back on the table and finished flattening one side, then I grabbed the larger piece to turn it over and of course it broke….again…uuuggghhhh!! About the time I finished flattening the other side the wife came out while I was trying to decide what to do with this slab that went from being in one piece to being in 3 pieces. She asked me if I was going to glue it back together ? After thinking about it for a few seconds I said…No. I think instead of trying to hide the breaks by gluing it back together, I will highlight them by separating them a little and filling them with epoxy. Here at Texas Iron Wood Furniture, we try to make the best of bad situations.

The wife picked out a pretty cool Red, lava looking mica to add to the epoxy and here we go. And of course trying one thing new wasn’t enough so I decided to go with an Oil & Urethane finish. Once we got past the learning curve and many hours of sanding We ended up with a beautiful finished piece. We mounted the top onto a recently acquired reclaimed base that I refurbished with new paint and adjustable gliders and BAM, there you go, an awesome finished product.

Making mistakes is part of the job. What you do with the mistake is what makes the difference.