A little heartache while carving the bridge for the oakulele:

I could stabilize that crack by filling it with CA glue or epoxy, and make it invisible–for a while at least. Over the long haul wood moves and glue ages, and the bridge is a high stress part.

Do-it-again time.

I used to get very angry over this sort of setback–how dare the wood have a crack lurking inside! However, after years of making myself calm down and re-do flawed pieces it has sunk in that the outcome richly rewards the effort, and I rarely throw the offending item across the shop any more. Building until it’s as good as I can possibly make it begets peace of mind, and provides stories of trial and tribulation to share over drinks with fellow builders! “Peace of mind”–Ha!–this deserves a post of its own; it can be very elusive when you care deeply.

And this doesn’t take away from a certain pleasure in burning the offending piece in the woodstove…after reducing it to kindling with an axe…