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Will I ever stop making dumb mistakes?

6K views 116 replies 85 participants last post by  Guss 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Here's my latest dumb mistake - -

I had a 4' board that I had to cut exactly in half. I had no wood to spare in this application. I measured to the halfway point and marked it with a marking knife. Then, I lined up the laser from my miter saw precisely with the mark. After the cut, one board was longer than the other by the width of the blade. Of course, the laser gives me the edge of the blade - not the center.

I felt so dumb after making such a stupid mistake.

I've been doing this kind of work for a long time and I still make dumb mistakes. Please tell me I am not the only one.
 
#3 ·
Everybody does it, however cutting aboard exactly in half can be trickier than it sounds. Missing by the kerf stinks, but as i was reading the post, I thought you were about to say you missed four inches or something. The quest for perfection in woodworking is a subjective and endless one, the fun is in the journey.
 
#7 ·
My most common mistake in cutting, is cutting the wrong piece, when there are multiple pieces of similar dimensions.

The second most common is making a cut…......and finding that it has no relationship whatsoever to what I measured….......meaning, I don't even know what the world I was thinking!

The first type of mistake is avoidable, the second is not…......because I can't figure out what I did…..(-:
 
#10 ·
yea rich your the only one….lol…...no buddy, i still make some like that to, im making a project now and mis measured the walnut i was using for the drawers….so i had to re do it, ill find a use for the messed up wood sometime later….some things have just been smashed and thrown into the wood stove if it was a winter mistake…it felt better to smash and burn it, then it did to lay is aside…must be the animal in me…i guess it makes sense…as i am the grizz…..lol…...sorry you messed up…but each mistake hopefully helps us to not do the same one again…
 
#11 ·
What's funny is the truth that we feel so good when our mistake doesn't cost us anything. If they just made wood that we could cut back together again we wouldn't have to put up with this!

Ok, I admit, I got A LOT of firewood.
 
#12 ·
Jim has been watching me. Last year I was building a chest of drawers. I built a complete drawer that was too narrow. No idea where I got those numbers. If it had been too short no one would have ever known but it was too narrow! What did I do?? Oak face, dovetail corners, the whole bit! I had to build something like 10 of these drawers the same width. This was not the first not the last but it was WRONG.
 
#13 ·
Your not alone Rich
The old joke is " I keep cutting it but it's still to short" If you watch some of the shows on TV guys like Roy Underhill say things like" well you get the idea" or some of the on line guys (if there honest and don't edit mistakes out) say things like " do as I say not as I do". What mistake mean is you working on something instead of just thinking about your project.
As time goes on and we learn more about woodworking we don't stop making mistakes we just learn how to fix them better :) Cory Like said you now have an opportunity to make a design change.
 
#14 ·
Rich
Been there done that. My ruler was changed so that the inital board is at least 1" longer so I must do two cuts - one rough, second cut is the finish cut (slower and precise).

This is for more than one reason, other than the quaulity of the cut, it allows for movement or placement to make the grain to be where it looks the best. If grain is a real issue, I leave 6+" on each board for adjustments.
 
#19 ·
Rich…I watched a movie on Norm and he actually has a board over a door in his shop that he made. It says "I make missteaks too"
Norm is fortunate that he can use wood that cost $20 a b/f and if he makes a error he just gets another piece.
The only one I've ever seen make a mistake is Roy Underhill. He pointed it out,laughed and moved on. Cool guy in my book.
Frankly,I thought I made a mistake once but I was wrong…....
 
#20 ·
Yep…..I'm afraid you're the only one that's did this….Just remember…."we don't make mistakes…we have happy accidents".....Bob Ross, painter. If that guy was still alive, I'd write him and give him a piece of my mind.
But I can't afford to give any of it away….I need all of it and more….lol. Welcome to our world…!!!!!
 
#23 ·
Speaking of Norm, where is he now-a days?

His shop :)

We all make mistakes and I have made the vast majority of them. Luckily, I can fix them most of the time without altering the design of the project. I have done everything from cutting in the wrong place to routing the wrong side of the board. I'll probably still be making these stupid little mistakes 40 years from now. Not much you can do about them but learn from them.
 
#24 ·
I don't know if you'll stop, but I'm pretty sure I never will! I laid out some nice dovetails this week and when it came to chopping them, all my chisels were too big.
 
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