No Forgiveness in Metal

I’ve been applying finish metal to the upper walls in the kitchen at the cabin. This is a particularly tedious project given that the walls have a 45-degree jog and I must also skirt a pair of “floating” shelves

I enjoy working with metal, but there is no forgiveness in metal. It’s not like working with drywall, where you can tape and mud over mistakes. It’s not as friendly as wood, which allows you to putty a misplaced hole or slightly miscut joint. There’s no blending in.

With metal, a misplaced screw hole or a wonky cut forces you to pitch the piece into a recycle pile and start over. To date, I’ve cast aside a half-dozen pieces. Mind you, some of the profile metal sections took me several minutes to fabricate with my snips and shears.

There’s another thing: the metal can cut you. Yesterday, while trying to force a piece into a tight spot, my hand slipped and the metal cut deep into the tip of my finger—deep enough that I looked away as Desiree doctored me.

I’m sharing some photographs documenting work on the project.

The Upper Walls in Process

My Fabrication Area in the Basement

Freshly Bandaged Cut

Finished Upper Walls

—Mitchell Hegman