Declared Defeat

[Birdhunter]

I have an only partially earned local reputation as a "fixer" of furniture. I friend asked me to repair an antique chair. She handed me the remains if the chair and I took the pieces to my shop. The back of the chair was broken off halfway from the seat to the arched top. One side had a pretty clean break about 90 degrees across the grain. The other side had a splintered break. That side had 4 splintered pieces, It was obvious the chair had been repaired at those two locations as there was a lot of glue residue and each side had two dowels. I watched a number of excellent videos from a guy who was a professional chair repair expert. He explained how dowels were poor techniques for repair in the thin section of a chair back. From what I was seeing in this chair, he was correct. The dowels didn't leave enough wood for any strength.

After mulling over this problem, I decided any attempt to fix the chair so (1) it would be strong enough to be safe and (2) it would look good was far beyond my skills. So, I told my friend she should take the chair to an professional.

Did I do the correct thing?

 

[luvmytoolz]

I think you absolutely did the right thing. By the sounds of it, structurally it would just be a ticking bomb once repaired again, and that could hurt your reputation.

I've been in this same position more times than I can count, and very annoyingly most of the time it was an item that would normally be thrown away due to the extreme wear or damage, except the person "conveniently" knew someone who did woodworking so they were hoping for a miracle.

Took me quite some years to learn, but sometimes the only appropriate response is "sorry, no".

 

[onocoffee]

Nothing wrong with this. It's good to know when you can stretch and what is beyond your means. You made the right decision.

 

[Sparktrician]

Excellent decision!

 

[mac sparrow]

Though not the kindest thing, my default answer is no. Almost everything I touch takes 10 times longer; I don't have it in me to do a half ass job. Recently I've been questioning whether it's all worth it given the time sacrifice.

I commend your efforts for previously helping people. We need people like you around. I thank you.

 

[ChuckS]

Without pictures of the broken chair, it is hard to tell if it is salvageble. But if I was presented the situation (assuming the chair was worth repairing because of some reason) and I wasn't sure, I'd consult Tom Johnson (of Antique Furniture Restoration in Maine) first before giving up. His unique technique of routing a channel and gluing a block to connect broken pieces has been seen in some of his chair fixes.

 

[Packard]

My friend’s father was the head of the FDA just prior to World War II. When I knew him, he was quite old, but sharp as a tack.

He said, “Almost 100% of medical malpractice occurs when very good doctors attempt something that was slightly beyond their capabilities.”, which supports your decision to suggest a professional.

 

[ChuckS]

That quote is either a misquote or pure oversimplification for our current setting. I can find no research studies on medical malpractice that support that statement. Individual overconfidence certainly can be a factor, but it can't be the majority reason for medical malpractice unless we are saying very good doctors are all risky doctors.

 

[Packard]

That quote is either a misquote or pure oversimplification for our current setting. I can find no research studies on medical malpractice that support that statement. Individual overconfidence certainly can be a factor, but it can't be the majority reason for medical malpractice unless we are saying very good doctors are all risky doctors.

I think he was basing this on his personal experiences. In my experience doctors seem very confident in their abilities, perhaps based on all the accolades they got over the years they were studying for their medical degree.

A variation on that was my complaint about the boss’s son that had entered the business directly from college. I said, “He knows what he is doing before he has learned what he should be doing.”. Overconfidence. A harmless character flaw in many professions; deadly in a few.

 

[peter halle]

Good decision! Not every chair at a bar fight can be saved

Peter

 

[Vtshopdog]

Good decision.
My take is you respectfully declined to participate in what is often called "Turd Polishing"

 

[mino]

That quote is either a misquote or pure oversimplification for our current setting. I can find no research studies on medical malpractice that support that statement. Individual overconfidence certainly can be a factor, but it can't be the majority reason for medical malpractice unless we are saying very good doctors are all risky doctors.

I think you are reading the anecdote wrong.

There is exactly zero way to statistically identify when a doctor is "slightly beyond one's capabilities" so that comment was a rhetorical condensation of his life wisdom.
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@Birdhunter
When I talk to new junior colleagues at work /junior as in not in a project-leading role, usually 5-15 years of work experience/ I always mention this when indicating how they will be judged:

"A Senior professional is not the one who knows how to do things or how to do things well. It is the one who knows what he cannot do and knows to say no."

 

[ChuckS]

I think you are reading the anecdote it wrong.

There is exactly zero way to statistically identify when a doctor is "slightly beyond one's capabilities" so that comment was a rhetorical condensation of his life wisdom.
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@Birdhunter
When I talk to new junior colleagues at work /junior as in not in a project-leading role, usually 5-15 years of work experience/ I always mention this when indicating how they will be judged:

"A Senior professional is not the one who knows how to do things or how to do things well. It the one who knows what he cannot do and knows to say no."

I was simply relying on common sense to know that the so-called wisdom was either wrong or overgeneration as medical malpractice, which has been studied extensively in a scholarly manner, is not due to one single factor, let alone, overconfidence, and no credible sources can be found to support that kind of oversimplification.

The medical field, or more specifically the multi-interdisciplinary hospital system, is a very complex operation that can go wrong due to a number of factors, often beyond the control of one single player. To pinpoint the malpractice issue to solely one group of players, namely the very good doctors, borders at best oversimplification and at worst, a misunderstanding of a complex subject matter.

Just because someone was in a position of authority doesn't necessarily mean any condensation of their life widsom was right, even assuming they were correctly quoted.

 

[Packard]

I was simply relying on common sense to know that the so-called wisdom was either wrong or overgeneration as medical malpractice, which has been studied extensively in a scholarly manner, is not due to one single factor, let alone, overconfidence, and no credible sources can be found to support that kind of oversimplification.

The medical field, or more specifically the multi-interdisciplinary hospital system, is a very complex operation that can go wrong due to a number of factors, often beyond the control of one single player. To pinpoint the malpractice issue to solely one group of player, namely the very good doctors, borders at best oversimplification and at worst, a misunderstanding of a complex subject matter.

Just because someone was in a position of authority doesn't necessarily mean any condensation of their life widsom was right, even assuming they were correctly quoted.

Dr. K., who dispensed that generalized wisdom, became the President of Beyer, the drug company. He was still president when when I met him in the early 1970s.

I have no doubt the quote was meant to teach his son and me, more than it was to convey scholarly advice. The fact that it remains in my mind, and has influenced my thinking over these past 50 plus years is a testament to his wisdom, if not his research.

 

[ChuckS]

Good that you've benefited from his wisdom. Wisdom applies to different people in different ways, and I, for one, look at quoted statements with my own background and training, and judge them independently -- and hopefully, objectively at the same time. When it comes to medical malpractice, I firmly regard both average and very good doctors as having the same chances of committing it -- unless and until I'm proven wrong.

 

[Packard]

Good that you've benefited from his wisdom. Wisdom applies to different people in different ways, and I, for one, look at quoted statements with my own background and training, and judge them independently -- and hopefully, objectively at the same time. When it comes to medical malpractice, I firmly regard both average and very good doctors as having the same chances of committing it -- unless and until I'm proven wrong.

The statement could apply to any doctor. An average doctor. “Good” in the sense that when he sticks to removing cysts on the skin’s surface, he kept a 100% success rate, but beyond his reach when he tried to remove a tumor that was attached to an internal organ.

So a good doctor when he worked within his limitations.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Chairs are the most abused furniture pieces that you are going to come across. Repairing anything much more than simple re-gluing loose joints is as far as I would be willing to go.