‘Work slower; it’s faster’
For every hour you save rushing a project, you'll probably spend four hours redoing the parts you're ashamed of.
Dec 21, 2021
Early on in my woodworking, I learned the aphorism “work slower; it’s faster.”* I don’t remember who said it to me or who they were quoting, but they were right. Every time I rush, that phrase pops into my head. And every time I have to fix mistakes or oversights – or in this case, conscious decisions – because I rushed, I regret that I didn’t adhere to that very good advice.
Right now, I’m basically stripping the paint from two sides of a tool chest because I didn’t have time to properly prep them before applying paint. Video cameras were running and time was almost up. So I made the front and right side look good for the cameras, then painted the other side and back without planing or sanding off the machine marks. Quelle horreur. No choice, really, but I knew it would cost me time and angst later.
I try to avoid sanding whenever possible, simply because – and I know this sounds weird coming from a woodworker – I hate the feel of sawdust on my hands. Wood dust is, I’m convinced, more hygroscopic than the solid wood, and my skin is already far too dry. So typically I handplane all my parts before assembly, then again after assembly as necessary. But needs must. During my rush to get the job finished (well enough), I resigned myself to lots of sanding later. I dislike gumming up my planes with paint more than I dislike having to stop to moisturize my hands every five minutes.
And it’s not just the surface prep on two sides that needs addressing; I also rushed through installing the hinges on the lid. They were close enough to perfect that I asked the question: “Do I really need to fix these?” But of course whenever you ask the question, you know the answer. So I plugged the holes in the lid’s hinge mortises (an excellent use for barbecue skewers), then made the mortises somewhere between 1/32 in. and 1/16 in. deeper. The back of the lid is now perfectly coplanar to the back of the chest. My anal-retentive brain is happy. Best of all, I can now sell this chest without feelings of shame accompanying it to its new home.
But thanks to my hurrying, it cost me four more hours of work to get to the point where I was proud of the work. So slow down; you’ll get done not only faster, but better.
* The former English teacher in me demands that I point out the faulty syntax. It ought to be “work slowly; it’s faster” – but that doesn’t fall as trippingly off the tongue.
Comments
As a published writer (even of a book by Taunton Press!), I've come to believe that the best English is the most expressive, not necessarily the most correct. Language is plastic and always evolving, and a good ear is worth a handful of grammar texts. So yes, "Work slower, it's faster."
As to the point of your blog post: Having once run a small production cabinet shop I now find, in "retirement," that virtually all of my projects are one-offs. So I have to think through every step carefully so I don't have to spend a lot of time fixing mistakes.
In fact, I enjoy working slowly. I'm getting more and more into hand tools and away from power tools for most tasks — including surfacing where planes and scrapers beat the heck out of the sanders I've used all my life. (Sawdust is more than dehydrating. It's messy, potentially toxic and just generally annoying when it shows up in and on everything.)
So thanks, and, yes: "Work systematically, it's quicker."
Skip Wenz
Never enough time to do it right, always time to do it over.
Oh BTW since slower is a comparative, shouldn't that be, "work [more] slowly..."?
Hmmm...debatable; let's assume we're both right ;-)
I definitely needed to read this, thanks. And I’m in the same boat with dust and hands. Flour too *shudder*
Agreed. I intend that my creations are around for generations. Why rush? Do it once and do it right. Craftsmanship takes some time. Once I convinced myself to enjoy the journey instead of rushing to the destination, my woodworking activities became much more enjoyable. I spend less time fixing mistakes too.
Timely article, I think I will print it and hang it on the wall by my workbench! I use the shaft of a golf tee to fill in my drilling errors (just saying).
Thank you for your thoughts! The Romans had a command: "festina lente", which means "hurry slowly!" I have to remind myself of this constantly, because I have two speeds: rush and didle-daddle...
Supposedly Napoleon told his (nervous) valet on the eve of battle, "dress me slowly, I'm in a hurry!". Seems like this applies here as well.
Interesting article whether you read it slowly or slower. I learned its value years ago, and always? remind myself it takes 1 to 5 seconds to make a mistake and 1 to 5 hours to fix it. Sometimes I have a memory lapse.
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