I learned something recently regarding the proportion of components within a project. If it looks wrong, it probably is.
In January I posted about
making an undercarriage for a step stool. I just finished another one, but I made the connecting tenons a little beefier.
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| New stool on left, earlier one on right |
You can see on the connecting rails of the earlier stool that the ends just seem too small (well it seemed to me, anyway). The tenons were 1/2" diameter, fitting into legs that were about 1 1/4" diameter where they connect. In the more recent stool, the tenons are 5/8" and that 1/8" difference seems to make all the difference in the world!
Maybe a closer look will help:
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| Earlier stool with 1/2" tenons |
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| New stool with 5/8" tenons |
I'm making these legs and rails without a lathe. It's possible that the uneven and slightly asymmetric shape of the rail in the earlier step stool contributes to the feeling of poor proportion. But the newer step stool just
looks so much more pleasing. And it looks stronger, too!
I'm sure most people (non-woodworkers, that is) wouldn't even notice a difference. And probably I wouldn't have noticed a few years ago either. Learning is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteIt is all in the eye of the beholder... Learn quite a few things about trusting your eyes by reading George Walker and Jim Tolpin articles...
And YES learning is always a good thing
Bob, were the Strong Nor Easter storms are brewing
Bob - I've thought for a while about Walker and Tolpin's online design courses. I may do that sometime.
DeleteThis is something I agonize over. It is where prototyping comes in handy, if you have time, material and money to prototype (I don't).
ReplyDeleteHey Derek! I've done prototypes lately on a couple small projects and it really helped to work out construction details. But I haven't done prototypes to work out proportions. I should probably do more of it for larger work, too. But I don't have the lumber for prototyping - I barely have enough space for project lumber, let alone prototype lumber!
DeleteSmall wire frame prototypes work for large proportions, but not for this. It's the small stuff that bugs me: is this molding going to look right, is the thickness of this top too bulky or too skinny, do the thickness of the legs look right, etc.
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