Ridding your shop of bad luck

I like to take one of my wifes bath towels and use it to wipe off stain or glue. It tends to focus the anger on something new and keeps it away from my tools.

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

I just tell her to go start cooking me dinner….... dohhhhhhhhhhhh!

Why do I suddenly feel like I should duck? lol

*The only problem with this is when the bad luck continues I no longer have anyone to blame it on… plus I get intimately aware of the…. as I call it… “ouch couch”

-- The Best Intentions Bring Undoubtabliy Something Less But Nontheless Something..."

usually a toss (read: crow hop) of said piece of wood helps get the frustration out…or when i used to do sheet rock it would feel nice to put a boot through the piece in question…then i realize that im borderline crazy and give my self a minute to calm down and refocus on what im doing

-- It's made of wood. Real sturdy.--Chubbs Peterson

Well first you need the heads of three chickens, then there is the wings from a dragonfly.. and finaly the last three toes from the hind foot of a small goat.. after that it gets really freaky so I wont continue.. Papa

-- Papa@papaswoodworking.com

Well never having come across the word ‘juju’ before I googled it, selected images and clicked search. I’m not sure I’d be in any rush to rid my shop of her. Just sayin’.

-- Andy -- Old Chinese proverb say: If you think something can't be done, don't interrupt man who is doing it.

In all seriousness When your making mistakes you need to walk away for a bit a day or a week. Spend some time studying the craft on video works for me. I have not had a rash of mistakes in many years but I do recall them I still do some things in a hurry that i should not Like the other day. I got done with the dovetails on a nice 18th century cupboard and got a bit excited and quickly glued up the box some 15 minutes later I realized I had forgot to cut the rebate on the back of the box. Now this is a problem that has a fix in power tools but would really suck if i were going to be doing the whole project out of hand tools. So I walked away long enough to come up with a plan and to get my head back in the game. This error will cost me in time as a rebate is easy on a flat board but in a box it is a bit tougher. I dont like making judgment errors but we are human and as such we fall short of perfection.

That said the key to reducing errors for me is to mark where everything is going to go on the board I use a contractors crayon to do this some old timers use chalk make your instructions big and bold and the mistakes will lessen over time I have been doing this over 40 years now and I still do stupid things the difference is now I know how to do the task another way so a mistake wont show up in the finished project.

-- when I am not on Lumberjocks I am on @ http://thisoldworkshop.com where we allow free speech

if it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.

I drink!! Jack on the rocks for the bad luck.

-- There is nothing like the sound of a well tuned hand plane. - http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com (timetestedtools at hotmail dot c0m)

when i have a rash of mistakes,which is pretty much anytime i get in the shop i just call it a day and go inside and watch some mind-numbing tv!!!

-- It don't have to be straight,it's just a suggestion!!!

I watch “Red Green” and realize I ain’t doin’ that bad!!!

Yeah, that and drink until the bad karma has left the building!!!

-- Randy-- I may not be good...but I am slow!

Maybe you should pitch the Greg Brady tiki necklace. Some people call them learning experiences. I call it having my head up (fill in the blank). When days like that happen I find its best to walk away. I agree with the Dude and have a plan. If I follow it things work out ok. Usually I put something down for a while. Forget to look at the plan and where I left off then “Oh Crap”. could be worse. Thats what I tell myself.

-- Dan I.G.N.

”How do you guys get rid of the bad juju in the shop?”

Well, ...I round up the ‘Bench Dog JuJu Hit Squad’ and send them into the Shop ahead of me for 30 minutes.

If that doesn’t convert the Bad JuJu to Good MoJo, ...then I go to the Barn, harness up Ole Bruce and go work in the Garden.

Work Safely and have Fun. – Grandpa Len )

-- Mother Nature should be proud of what you've done with her tree. - Len ...just north of a stone's throw from the oHIo, river that is, in So. Indiana.

len your killing me here

-- when I am not on Lumberjocks I am on @ http://thisoldworkshop.com where we allow free speech

Well, when it happens, I just fix the mishap and continue like nothing happened. Sometimes it happens again and again but it’s completely useless to turn oneself mad about it, because it won’t change anything anyway. What it really does is increase the odds of making things even worse, so there’s no point in getting angry. That’s my secret vodoo recipe for fixing disasters.

-- Thomas - There is no such thing as a problem, there only are solutions.

Great stuff fellas. Love the dogs n antlers means of attack Len.

Don – im comin to your shop next time you get in a funk. Twice the Jack – better the karma. Then were hoppin a plane to Brit’s, apparently bad juju has come to england from amsterdam. Were gonna need to see that. Then maybe Soda could send that secret recipe so we can cook it up back in the States. Mix it with what Papas got brewin, bottle and sell. Vast fortunes await.

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

Until now i was unaware that there was an alternative to: ” Mark the wrong side of a board, drop a chisel, ding a plane iron, rabbet the wrong face, so on and so on.”

Learn something new everyday.

-- ~Tony