Okay, so today I spent some time trying to figure out this thing attributed to a ‘Pedro dela Cruz’. Found it mentioned online, sounded interesting, like some old technique or maybe a specific design for making a small wooden box. Thought I’d give it a try this afternoon.
Getting Started
First, I gathered my tools, the wood I had lying around. The instructions I found were really vague, honestly. Just a couple of blurry pictures and some notes that looked like they were translated badly. It mentioned specific cuts, but the angles? The exact measurements? Felt like guesswork. Really frustrating.
I tried making the first few cuts based on what I thought it meant. Measured twice, cut once, you know? But things just weren’t lining up right. One piece seemed too short, another angle was definitely off. Spent a good hour just trying to figure out step one. It was like the instructions assumed you already knew half the process.
- Measured the baseline again.
- Checked the picture from different angles on my screen.
- Tried sketching it out myself to make sense of it.
- Ended up wasting a piece of wood because the cut was completely wrong.
Reminded Me of Something…
You know, this whole mess reminded me of this trip I took years ago. Before smartphones were really a big thing, navigation-wise. I had this printed map, directions from some website, to get to this remote cabin spot my buddy recommended.
The directions were like: “Turn left at the big rock,” “Go past the weird-looking tree,” “Follow the dirt road until it feels right.” Seriously? What ‘big rock’? There were like five big rocks! And ‘weird-looking tree’? The whole forest looked weird to me!
I drove around for maybe two hours, completely lost, getting more and more stressed. The sun was starting to go down. No cell signal, of course. Just me, a crappy map, and directions that seemed like a practical joke. I remember feeling so incredibly stupid and angry. Thinking, why couldn’t they just give proper road names or distances?
Ended up having to backtrack all the way to the last town I saw, find a payphone (yeah, a payphone!), and call my buddy’s landline to get him to explain it properly. Turned out “the big rock” had been moved months ago for some construction, and the “weird-looking tree” had fallen down in a storm. The online directions were never updated.
Back to the Wood Box
Anyway, that’s what messing with this ‘Pedro dela Cruz’ thing felt like today. Following instructions that maybe made sense once, to someone, somewhere, but were useless now. Just a waste of time and good wood.
I eventually just gave up on the Pedro dela Cruz plan. Maybe it’s a brilliant design, maybe Pedro was a genius, but without clear steps, it’s just… noise. Decided to just make a simple box my own way instead. Sometimes just doing it, even if it’s simple, is better than chasing some confusing ideal. At least the box I made actually holds stuff.
