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Deep End or Small Steps?

4K views 47 replies 45 participants last post by  shipwright 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
When you are trying a new skill or technique or style or ???, do you jump into the deep end and try something complex and difficult right off the bat or do you prefer to take small steps and master easy projects first before moving to the more complex ones ?

This probably sounds like a no brainer….... of course you should start out slowly. But I'll bet there are lots of us who jump right in. I think it's an interesting question and I for one will be really interested in the replies.

For me, it's an easy one. I'm challenge driven and I jump in at the deep end every time. My reasons are:

1) I think I will learn more quickly, even if some of the first pieces are crap.

2) I get no buzz at all from doing something that I know I will succeed at.

3) There are so many new things I want to try that I don't have enough time left to spend a long time sneaking up on all of them.

Surely there are lots of us of each kind. Let's hear your opinions.
 
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#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
I deep end, Paul. Everytime. And usually with disastrous consequences. It's when I'm destroying a piece that my neurons are firing the hardest;)

As an example, several times I have had an entire CNC build-it-yourself kit in my shopping cart, and aborted. I can't tell you how little I know about building CNCs. I figure what's best way!
 
#4 ·
Paul,
I guess we're similar. I don't shy from complex, difficult projects. But, I do slow way down, so in the end, I have relatively few failures. It just takes me longer to figure out how to do it well. I tend to do a lot of studying before I begin cutting wood if I am not sure how to go about something. If things are too easy, I lose interest.

Patience is an invaluable asset, and I find that I now have more of it than I did thirty years ago. The urge to get things done quickly is a curse to the woodworker. I doubt that it ever results in a better product.

Great topic. Thanks for bringing it up.
Roger
 
#6 ·
I always want to challenge myself, but I'm not the kind of person who just jumps in at the deep end. I always read and study any new discipline for a while before I start it. So to use your swimming pool analogy, I'm always going to get in the deep end, but I get in slowly instead of jumping with a splash. I like to know exactly how deep it is, what the temperature of the water is and I'll always check that my trunks aren't on inside out first. :)
 
#8 ·
I have to say I'm surprised at the answers. I thought more of us would have taken the cautious approach. Maybe it's the way I phrased the question.
Still, I'm glad to see I'm in such fine company.
 
#13 ·
usely I´m already in at the deep end before realising I have started on a major project I didn´t
new much about at all
but now I realy have slowed down with this woodworking thing try to learn as much as possiple
before the first big project …............well with my luck I gess I am in the mittle of twenty projects at the
same time before I realise I don´t know a Sh…. ..... .. ..............:-(
but with the addictive L J desease I hope I survive long enoff to finish them when the time comes … LOL

have a great evening fok´s
Dennis
 
#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
Paul, what an interesting discussion you have started.
When most are saying the "deep end" I think you (being singular) may not be aware at that point "how deep is deep", is it some perceived limit or personal mind barrier?, I would tend to think it more as a predetermined self imposed "marker " or stake in the ground to test the water so to speak because untill you have tested your skill / knowledge against a marker you have no measuring criteria.
Haveing done this, ie tested yourself, you can then determine whether to more forward or retrace your steps back a peg or two & then work forward at your own comfort pace.
Having said that I must admit that I have thrown more than my fair share of "potential masterpieces" LOL into the fire box.
Good topic,
 
#17 ·
I always try to do something new in a project that challenges me in some way or teaches me something new. If it feels like I'm just doing the motions or that the result isn't going to be worth making it in the first place, then I get turned off quickly and the thing will actually turn out worse than if I had started something grand, simply because my heart isn't in it.

That said, I'm not sure it really is jumping into the deep end. I mean in a way there is no risk involved other than having to redo things, or scrap and rethink something or fix mistakes you made (and claim that's totally how you intended it if it works out even better than before). Also I tend to look up and research things if needed and spend a lot of time thinking and pondering the design and how it could be done and all that.

So in the end, I'm not certain how to answer I guess. In a way it seems like being a "deep ender" is cool, but also I'm sure it really means a bit of a different thing to everyone. Do you fall into that category if you always try something new and challenging that you haven't done before, but are also always convinced that you can do it? Or does it only count if you choose something you are unsure of. Which would be kind of hard for me, since deep down I think that I can pull off almost anything that I want. Is it necessary to have a deadline or other limit on the project that gives you a clearly defined fail-state and therefore stress?

My biggest hurdle would probably be money for required tools or materials as this is the one thing I don't really have. Although in a way I guess I somewhat dove into the deep end recently on that as well, but on the other hand I might've had my first deep end the moment I quit technical college and set my own goals for my life. Still working on that project though, so I can't say yet how this worked out.

Not sure if my reply sounds a bit mushy or something, but there's not really a clear cut answer I can give to the question as such.
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
If possible, I practice on scrap a few times, and if I am anywhere near an acceptable outcome, I dive into the biggest project I can come up with. I usually regret it though, not because of bad results, though they are common, but because it is not as fun as expected once I get the hang of it, and then I am stuck doing it a hundred times in the one project.

For example, I wanted to learn to hand cut dovetails, so I practiced maybe 10 times on scrap, then started an all dovetail gunsmithing box. Dovetailed corners, dovetailed drawers, dovetailed lid, half blind dovetails on the front. After a few joints, I was comfortable with it, slow, but comfortable. Once it wasnt a real challenge, I was just stuck spending hours and hours fitting dovetails. I still enjoy it enough to want to dovetail some drawers in a larger project, but I will never do another project where 90 % of the work is dovetailing.
 
#19 ·
When I first started woodworking I started with easier projects…simple joints, minimal pieces etc. As time went buy I graduated to more difficult projects. I find even now that many projects have lots of fairly easy steps, but then among the easy steps there can be difficult ones too. So I tend to get a challenge and learn new things on each project no matter how simple it appeared at the beginning.
 
#21 ·
Hmm.. I think I share my answer best with HorstPeter.

Typically I come up with an idea/project, and then through the designing process try and assess what I can do, what I know I can't, (typically due to lack of tools or monetary restrictions), and then try to incorporate a few challenges. It could be ten new little things, or it could be one BIG new thing (like when I taught myself how to work with veneer), but there's always a fair amount of challenge, and more to it than just one little modification on a often repeated design, (like it seems drewnahant seems to).

There's often a little research involved, but not overly much, just enough to see if an idea is sound or the basics of a technique. Beyond that, it's kind of a logic puzzle, and I'm just organically learning what I can as I go.

So deep end? Shallow end? I just prefer somewhere where my feet can touch the ground, if only barely.
 
#26 ·
I keep thinking I am a middle of the pool guy until I try to explain something to my friends and I get this
"You did what with that" look and get told no wonder you had to do it over. But I am happy and get
to play in the woodworkshop so since we are out of kit and kaboodles, but we have a kaboodle kit I
will go and make a kit and kaboodle out of the kit.
 
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