Loading…
0
The county fair demolition derby changed my framing approach
I spent 12 years building picture frames the same way, using nothing but mitre joints and glue. Then I watched a derby car get hit head-on at the Grant County Fair last August and the frame held while the engine mounts gave way. It hit me that my frames were too stiff, they transferred all the shock to the corners. Now I build with a little flex in the joinery, like a bumper that absorbs instead of fights. My last 30 frames have survived two moves and a dropped mirror without a single cracked joint. Has anyone else changed a core method after seeing failure happen somewhere totally unrelated?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
tarag287d ago
Watched a guy at a tractor pull once where the hitch snapped clean off a sled and the whole thing bounced instead of breaking, and that stuck with me way more than it should have. Rigid stuff just snaps when it gets pushed past its limit, but give it somewhere to move and it survives. Your derby story makes more sense than half the woodworking books I own.
3