Woodworking mistakes

[DaveO]

What is the area that y'all make the most mistakes in the shop. Like machine set up, measuring, math, finishing etc.

Personally, mine is walking into the shop:BangHead: :BangHead: seriously, most of my screw-up result from my math. I can measure right, but when I calculate the size of a piece to fit into certain parameters I often forget to account for some little measurement. For example, making the drawer sides for this jewelry box, I forgot to include the 1/8" set back of the drawer fronts from the case sides. That resulted in flush fronts and another 1/2 day of work to re-make parts.

So, fess up where do you screw up most, we won't hold it against you. No one has made a perfect project....right????:eusa_doh:

Dave(the creator of vast amounts of scrap:BangHead: )

 

[Ozzie-x]

Marking measurements is probably the biggest pitfall, be in a hurry and get your eye on the wrong rule graduation, oh and yes DL, "bury an inch" I've done a 1000 times. Getting some high end machinist rules over the years has helped, maybe a sub-conscious thing. Another big help in reducing measuring/calculating errors was getting a good foot/inch calculator for the shop.

 

[sapwood]

Like machine set up, measuring, math, finishing etc.

Yep, all of those and some I can't think of now. If a person learns by their mistakes, I gotta be a genuis :mrgreen:

Sapwood

 

[mshel]

Dave,

IMHO the difference between making a mistake and being able to make that mistake look like it was planned is one of the prime characteristics of a craftsman. We all make mistakes and sometimes it is possible to work around them and sometimes, the only way to salvage things is to do just what you did, remake something. I was told by my mentor that I should try to think ahead two to three steps so as to minimize the occurances of mistakes. Don't feel like the lone ranger I have made plenty of mistakes, and some of them more than once. LOL

MIke

 

[Canuck]

The scary thing about mistakes these days, is the price of wood today. I remember my last - routing dado's in the wrong place! Boy, that turned out to be an expensive bookcase! Oh Well! Experience says a lot! (And the Better Half thought that I was spending a lot of time building it!):-? If she only knew!

Wayne

 

[D L Ames]

The measuring piece is what tends to bite me the most often. I always try to cut my longest pieces of stock first so if I screw up I can use them for the smaller pieces. If I could recover all those inches I've lost when I bury an inch on the tape measure I would would probably have 50 bf of lumber by now.

D L

 

[Mountaincraft]

Yeah, my shop gets filled with inchworms from time to time.

The way I approach it is:

Make a detailed plan;
Memorize the detailed plan;
Rough out the lumber;
Re-examine the detailed plan;
Re-memorize the detailed plan;
Throw out plan and make it work.

Slow is fast.

When I feel rushed, I make junk and take longer to finish. :eusa_booh

 

[JohnsonMBrandon]

Measuring mistakes are probably some of the biggest ones for me. So far I have been lucky and have been able to correct any of them, but I know a day will come when part of it ends up in the scrap pile. Just have to pay close attention. When I get in a hurry is when mistakes start to appear. It always takes twice as long to fix the mistakes.

 

[Steve D]

Not that it happens often, only two major ones last week. I made the drawers for under the cooktop the size of the opening without allowing for the heavy duty full extension slides .

I also built an equipment rack for a friends home theater and mounted the adjustable shelf standards in dados. I even got cute and hid the bottoms of the front standards behind the toe kick. The only problem was that I was more concerned about picking the best edge for the edge banding and lost track of up and down. After the glue up I discovered that the right side was offset from the left by 1/4". Fortunately I was able to slide the rear standard out and flip it. The front had a screw buried behind the toe kick and it wasn't going anywhere. I was able to drill several small holes in the standard where it meets the bottom to weaken the steel and bend it back and forth to snap it off flush. Fortunately the top was buried in a dado that ran under the top of the cabinet, so I could now cut 1/4" off the standard, flip it and re-install.:BangHead:

I always screw up when I get in a hurry. I agree with the advice to slow down. If I could just follow that advice.....

 

[D L Ames]

Yeah, my shop gets filled with inchworms from time to time.

The way I approach it is:

Make a detailed plan;
Memorize the detailed plan;
Rough out the lumber;
Re-examine the detailed plan;
Re-memorize the detailed plan;
Throw out plan and make it work.

Slow is fast.

When I feel rushed, I make junk and take longer to finish. :eusa_booh

:rolf:
Sounds like a plan William.........I like it.:icon_thum

D L

 

[DavidF]

I have made all of those mistakes, but probably simply cutting on the wrong side of the line is one that pisses me off most. As said before, repairing the mistake is often a lot harder than it looks. As for making it up as i go along - almost never - that's what comes of being driven by a CAD design. Once you change one dimension you have to change an awful lot more and I tend to find that that leads to more mistakes.

 

[lbmallett]

If I listed all the mistakes I've made in the short time I have been pursuing this hobby, it would shut down this website. Since I am self taught, I often screw something up and then can't figure out why. So that's a future mistake waiting to bite me on the backside. In the process of "learning" I've wasted a bunch of cheap and not so cheap wood. The learning curve is steeper than I anticipated, but it's a journey that I'm thoroughly enjoying.

 

[cpowell]

All of the above. Particularly involving measuring and marking for mortises/holes. I find myself double and triple checking. But, whenever I think I'm bulletproof (usually trying to save time) I mark wrong and cut on the mark.

My Achilles heel is knowing the rip width then setting the fence on the wrong mark. Generally it is too narrow for the piece! Just boneheaded stuff! :eusa_doh:

 

[Travis Porter]

Measuring. I will do the math, get the measurement, and then mark it wrong. Sometimes off an inch, sometimes off a 1/4, or 1/2 due to NOT reading the ruler correctly and even after double checking it. Boards coming out too short is an expertise of mine.