Spent 3 hours squaring a cabinet only to realize I clamped it to the wrong side

I was in my shop outside Austin last Thursday, getting ready to assemble a set of upper kitchen cabs. Got my dominoes placed, glue spread, clamped everything up nice and tight. After I let it sit, I went to check square and it was off by almost a quarter inch. Took me a minute to realize I was clamping the face frame to the back edge by accident. Felt like a total noob. Had to pop the clamps, reset everything, and re-glue two joints. Anybody else ever catch a setup mistake way later than you should have?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_bennett1mo ago

My buddy Mike over in San Antonio did basically the same thing with a bookshelf last month. He had the whole thing squared up and glued, let it dry overnight, came back the next morning and realized he'd clamped his spirit level to the side instead of the actual cabinet. Said he stared at it for a solid five minutes before it clicked. Had to chisel the whole mess apart and start from scratch. He still brings it up whenever we grab beers.

reesemiller1mo ago

That's like the time my uncle glued his phone to his coffee table by accident.