I’m sure everyone has at least one half-finished project. It can be very difficult to resurrect your interest in a project after it’s been abandoned for a while. And it can also be difficult to figure out what exactly you were doing when you stopped.

I once was going to make a classic display cabinet. You probably know what I’m talking about, they are about five feet tall and have a glass door, a few shelves, frame and panel construction. I have a habit of trying to get all of my mortise and tenons cut at once. I also like to have all the dados cut, too. So, I was progressing nicely on this when I had to stop. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to it, it really just looked like a pile of sticks.

Not just sticks, actually. Crooked pieces of wood.

So, number one thing to remember: if you cut a dado in a long slender piece of wood, it will likely warp and twist if you let it sit around for a year. You will certainly find your dado is no longer of uniform width.

And number two thing to remember: if you don’t label your pieces of wood, they all end up looking like scrap.

Apart from bigger projects, like my kitchen, I have one unfinished project that really has gone too long. About eight years ago, I decided to make myself a bed. I dedicated a fair amount of time to working out the best way to make the structure. I bought materials and let them acclimatize, since I didn’t want any possibility of the side rails twisting after I had the thing assembled. And I made one big mistake. I made the bed with the idea that I would make the headboard at some point in the future. The headboard was, by my design (that was scribbled on paper that has long since evapourated), was to provide the support at that end of the bed. I “temporarily” installed a couple of props to take its place.

Of course, there’s still no headboard.

Number three thing to remember: parts you deem temporary usually end up making the entire project temporary.

At least it can be finished without generating too much confusion, since the headboard is more or less a separate part of the bed. Normally, though, when you leave something too long, you will have a bit of trouble figuring out what exactly you were doing.

Number four thing to remember: the sensible mechanics of your design will start to look like a random mixture of different jigsaw puzzles if you look away too long.

I’ve actually had that happen after just a few days. I’ve gone back to the workshop and wondered why I had certain things marked or certain things cut or even why I had some parts joined together.

So, another way to state number four: whatever may be obvious right now will probably become incomprehensible in the future.

I think that’s a general rule for life. You know it’s true if you think back on some of the things you’ve done that seemed to be such a good idea at the time.

But that makes sense, since life is a half-finished project. I don’t know that anyone ever gets to finish that one, though.

Anyway, I may get to making that headboard some day. And I don’t really have many other half-finished projects. But that’s mostly thanks to the power of fire. For instance, I kept all the pieces of my planned display cabinet for a year or so (I never did get any glass for it, though) and then tossed the lot of it into the burn barrel. I didn’t have any place to put a display cabinet, anyway. Sometimes, you just start making things because you want to make them, without any real destination for the piece. In those instances, the burn barrel is a good destination.

My burn barrel is fairly busy.