dovetail
\ DUHV-teyl \ , verb;
1. To join or fit together compactly or harmoniously.
2. In carpentry, a joint formed of one or more such tenons fitting tightly within corresponding mortises.
3. To join or fit together by means of a carpentry dovetail or dovetails.
1. In carpentry, a tenon broader at its end than at its base; pin.
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The hammer came down on the piece of
wood with a resounding thud. The slab of wood stayed exactly where
it was. Jeff groaned at yet another of his failures. This one was
particularly embarrassing, since it was little more than an elaborate
tracing job. And yet, the wood stubbornly refused to fit into it's
slot, a testament to the fact that he had managed to cut it wrong,
even while the cutting lines had been clearly marked out in thick
black marker.
The high school woodworking class Jeff
was currently in had been assigned to make a simple piece of
furniture using basic, beginner level dovetail joints. The instructor
had even given them a hand by clearly marking where to cut each piece
of wood in order to make them fit together correctly. When Jeff had
finished cutting, he thought he had gotten it right for once. But,
now that he was actually fitting the two pieces of wood together, he
found otherwise.
He cast a quick glance around the
class to see how other students were doing. It made him feel a bit
better to see that he was not alone in his failure. In fact, most of
the class had messed something up in cutting their own pieces of
wood. There were only a few people who had managed to get the joint
to work, and those were the people who somehow managed to get
everything to work, so it was no real surprise that they cut these
joints correctly as well.
He sighed and began looking over the
two pieces of what was supposed to be a small bookshelf for a desk in
order to find where the problem was. Maybe he could fix it with some
clever use of a file and sandpaper. It should be too hard to find
the problem. After all, there were only two large notches on each
piece that he was currently working with, and the marker lines were
still visible since he hadn't painted anything yet.
He examined the lines to see where any
bumps were. Unfortunately, his eyes weren't able to see where the
deviation was, so he would need to use a straight-edge to look it
over. And it just s happened that there was one very big obstacle
currently preventing him from getting at one of the communal rulers
that were provided for the entire class to use.
His name was Jerry, and he had issues.
Issues that he liked to take out on smaller, weaker guys. And since
they guy was six feet tall and weighed 190 lbs, that was just about
everyone in school with the exception of a few of the guys on the
football and wrestling teams. And he was standing right in front of
the equipment Jeff needed, and was clearly not intending to move. It
was as if he was daring anyone to come up and get something from the
small table behind him.
Jeff cast a quick glance around for
the instructor, who might be able to get Jerry to move, but he was
currently busy helping one of the students with their project, and
was not paying any attention to anything else.
If Jeff wanted a ruler, he could
either wait for someone else to be desperate enough for a ruler,
pencil, or glue to attract the attention of the bully, or be the
martyr himself and try to get the ruler he needed, hoping for someone
to come to his rescue when he did. Looking around, it looked like
nobody was going to take the stand first, so it was likely he would
have to be the one to bare the brunt of whatever punishment Jerry had
in store for his victim. It probably wouldn't be immediate, since
Jerry wasn't dumb enough to actually do anything in class. But, Jeff
could expect something during lunch, or after school.
Maybe he could avoid Jerry this time
though. All he needed was a straight-edge after all. While a ruler
would be best, he could use one of his pens, or even a sheet of paper
if he folded it right. He got a small pen out of his bag and set it
on one of the grooves in one of his pieces of wood. He soon found
the round surface of the pen was not up to the task. He would need
the flat, thin surface of a ruler to help find the imperfections in
his work. He looked around to find the teacher had moved on, yet was
still helping another student, and not paying attention to much else.
The other students were also suddenly very intent on their own work.
He was on his own with this.
He clenched his teeth and stood up,
walking purposefully towards the table with the measuring and writing
equipment on it. He hoped he looked confident enough that Jerry
wouldn't do too much to him. He wasn't keeping his hopes up about
that though. He approached the table from where Jerry wasn't but the
big guy stepped in front. Jeff tried to move around the larger boy,
but Jerry always moved in such a way as to block his advance. Jeff
looked up at the larger boy, to see his face pinned up in a wicked
sneer.
“U-um, excuse me, but can you please
move?” Jeff asked, hoping to hide his nervousness.
“Oh, I'm sorry, were you trying to
get something?” Jerry asked in mock ignorance.
“Just really quick, then I'll be out
of your way.” Jeff said, hoping that would make Jerry more willing
to let him by.
“Well then, here you go.” Jerry
said, stepping aside, holding his hands out in a gesture of
presentation. Jeff looked at him warily as he approached the table.
Suddenly, his foot caught on something, and he stumbled into the
table. He was able to brace himself by grabbing the edges, so he
wasn't hurt, but he was red with embarrassment. He was sure that the
sound of him hitting the table got the attention of most of the
class.
“Oops.” Jerry said, snickering to
himself, “You'd better watch yourself. Don't want to trip anymore,
right?”
Jeff knew what had happened. Jerry
had stuck his foot out at the last moment and gave his a quick nudge,
tripping him. Nobody had seen this happen though, and so there was
no point in calling attention to it. All that would do would earn
the ire of the bully, and ensure that Jeff went home with a few
bruises. Instead of saying anything, he just grabbed one of the
smaller, thinner rulers from the table and headed back to his
station, making sure that he gave Jerry a wide berth as he did.
When he was back, he resumed working
on the wood, making note of the many imperfections the notches on his
joints had. He risked a glance up at Jerry, who hadn't moved from
where he was. The bully was looking very intently at him, a nasty
smirk on his face. Jeff gulped quietly and looked back to his work.
With the help of the ruler, he soon
had the dovetailed pieces of wood fit together as snugly as he
possibly could. It wasn't even very long before the whole thing was
fully assembled. He suddenly felt a large, rough hand on his
shoulder. He turned around and saw Jerry looking over his shoulder,
the same sneer still locked on his face.
“Nice thing you got there.” He
said, “Better be careful though, it looks like it might break if it
isn't handled right.” With that, he left, heading to where he had
set up his things at the beginning of class, leaving Jeff to huddle a
bit too protectively around his now mostly complete shelf.
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In case your wondering, a dovetail joint is one of these guys. Also, just a heads up, since next week is Thanksgiving, I'll be spending a good portion of the week with family, and more specifically highly energetic younger cousins. This means I may or may not get the chance to write a story next week. I'll try to get a story up early in the week, or during any lulls that may occur, but no promises. Just in case: Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
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