Mess ups

Well, considering that storage space costs money, I’d rather not make Martin go and get more space for my mistakes. I’ve got quite a history of things that should not have happened and I’m doing my best to repress many of them. Though there have been some “design modifications” that I was pretty pleased with … unfortunately I have no pictures.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

Problem is, I never mess up ;>) yeh, right. Good idea.

-- Bruce from Central New York

I think one of the things that makes a good woodworker is being able to hide your mistakes.
If you can’t hide them, incorporate the mistake into the design to make it look like you planed it that way.

If all else fails make it over again.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Russel if we dont mess up how will we ever get it right. Just a thought. I think a help tab would be much better money spent then on a contest tab. Not much learning there. Thanks Dave

-- Davesfunwoodworking

I recently posted my mess up in my blog series on my latest project..check it out. Since I for one learn from my mistakes I thought I would share so others would benefit.

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/bfd/blog/5333

-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com

I’d be interested in something like this actually, although I’m not sure it needs to be separate from blogs.

I recently had a problem with badly cut tenons (done on my out of alignment RAS), and it took me a while to figure out how best to fix them. I can’t imagine its an uncommon mistake.

-- Dylan Vanderhoof - General hobbiest and reluctant penmaker. http://llarian.etsy.com

I think there is already a lot of this. I think you just need to look through the blogs and forum posts. Many of the forum posts are asking for help after making a mistake and often have soem photos. I know for a fact that the blog contains people who felt they made a mistake, and then learned from it. Blake did a blog making a sewing table. The the came out awesome, and you would never know he made what he considered to be a mistake at the time, but he made some modifications and it sounds like he is even happier with the result than if his original plan had worked.

I think the short answer is, you make a mistake when you
1) are impatient
2) don’t research
3) are doing something new

All of these are things that someone else posting probably wouldn’t help with (except for 3, but someone posting the right way to do it should be enough if they give you some warnings to keep you on track). I can see where you are coming from with this post, but I think there is lots of good info on dealing with mistakes here.

I don’t think a mess up tab is needed. The amount of bandwidth that Martin would have to buy/manage would be huge. I’d rather have the contest tab.

I think most of us when we pull a real boner/mistake – we post it as a blog. If we have a mess up tab more would be inclined to post small mistakes. If anyone makes a mistake and can’t figure out how to solve it – they post about it and LJs jump into action with suggestions.

-- You can't get a hug from Facebook.

A wise craftsman once told me, ” You can’t be old and wise without first being young and stupid.” The key is to learn from your mistakes. I agree with Gary also. Some of my most interesting designs came from necessity, not planning.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Hey I am newbie. And I have made a lot of it. It certainly would have been less painful, less expensive, done more precisely, completed in a shorter span of time and the project would have looked better had I avoided some of those booboos. Yes I have learned the hard way. And it is going to be a long hard way because one really does not graduate from the “School of Hard Knocks”.

I agree with trifern above. But isn’t it even more wise if we can cut the “stupid” part out. LOL. We are all singing praises for Lumberjocks as the best woodworking site there is. This is one novel idea of making this site even more more helpful. I agree that another tab will make the display area smaller and that is not nice for the advertisers. Isn’t it Martin? ;-). Posting for help/assistance/information does not necessarily mean one can get the exact help he needs at the time he needs it (I live halfway around the world).

I think it will help a little if we include the phrase “mess-up” in the entry tags/keywords space whenever anybody posts a project on which he committed it. This way a mess-up is particular to a process in the project which will be easier for the searcher to discern if it is the help he exactly needs. Of course, this all depends on the willingness of the project’s author to admit his mistake and his willingness to elaborate more on the mistake if further explanation is required.

My two cents!

Rico

-- "Real jocks do it on a bench"

mess ups tab…we already have it…I am surprised its not used more:

MESS UP TAB

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

Napaman now thats funny.LOL!!! Your stuff looks good.
I don’t want to upset all of thoughs who are master craftsman out there. But some times it helps to see what others did wrong and how they fixed it. Your all great at what you do. However I am still and till I am dead will always be learning new stuff. Infact every day I learn something new. However I just think that if this is going to be the best woodworking site (as I tell everyone) We need a to see mess ups and how to fix them.
Now I am sure I am not the only one who suffers from stupid once in a while. Infact my fire wood pile is growing over the last few days. Had I been able to see some one elss make a fix. I may have save alot of wood. Now I know this is not your fault. But you all want to share your finished projects as I do. But we sure could use the help too. Just think back ok way back no no way wayu back to when you all first started. Now would it not have been a bit easyer on you had some one be able to share there mess up with you. Then you could have said WOW Iam going to give that a try. Learning is a big part of everyday living. Just a thought..

-- Davesfunwoodworking

Talk about timing.
I am working on a A&C bridal chest. The lid is solid QSWO with breadboard ends.
For some reason there is a small gap between the breadboard and the solid wood top. I think it is because I used a shoulder plane to trim off some of the toungue to fit the groove in the ends. And it left a tiny ridge in the corner.
Anyway, I was reminded of something David Marks told me. If you have a gap at a joint and cant get it closed, then accentuate the gap.
Which is what I did. I used a 1/8 router bit and cut a groove along the edge. hopefully when I put the finish on the lid, it will look like I designed it to have a groove.

-- MISSION FURNITURE-My mission is to build furniture

I notice that Napaman’s project is first on that tab!

-- You can't get a hug from Facebook.

i think its a cool idea dave…

maybe an easier idea is to put in “mess up” as a tag…Tags are an often overlooked and under used search tool here at Lj’s…it would be simple…when you add a project, blog, forum…just add mess up as a tag…and then we would get a collection of them…

ok… i just added this tag to a pen project where i blew out the blank…here.

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

and if you go to TAGS….and type in mess up in the box…my project shows up…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

Define wood working ;

The fine art of fixing boo boo’s.

Professional woodworker, successfully lying about it.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

When I built my daughters bed, it took me four tries to get the legs right. The third set (I am ashamed to admit this) were perfect with one minor flaw, the mortises for the side rails were on the wrong side. I came into the house very proud of my work to show my wife, I quickly noticed my mistake, I yelled NOOOOOO at the top of my lungs opened my shop, threw in the legs and did not go out there for a month. They ended up as scrap. I can’t stand to be in the same room as some of my mistake let alone take pictures of them for posterity.

-- Michael A. Brailsford

Lee…you are soo right…and that is LIFE too…fixing boo boos…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

Napaman- LOL!!!!

Dave, I spend more time trying to fix mistakes in woodworking than I do productivly woodworking… lol. I have made so many mistakes in cuts, setup problems, bad grain orientation, glue ups… I can go on and on. It would take me years to just input all the data to the tab.

My biggest problem is that I think I can do woodworking like I do everything else, at 100mph. I’ve got to remind myself to slow down, think, set things up correctly, and plan through the project on paper, first. I can’t rely on just putting things in my head and doing it on the fly, or it won’t get accomplished.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

“slow down” he says.. that’s what I did while working on my fairy door… “make no mistakes… slow down..”
and so I slowly put the glue on the wrong side of the wood; I slowly attached the roof on backwards, and I slowly forgot that I wanted to level things out by attaching the roof.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)