Rule #1: Never, repeat, never brag about the tool you just bought from Delta, Jet, PC, Grizzly, etc. You will be overwhelmed with horror stories and more bragging opinions.
Rule #2: Never, repeat, never complain about … (See Rule #1)
Rule #3: Do not mention politics. This is a woodworking forum and nobody votes or cares about politics.
Rule #4: Always ask about why or how. We are all experts and know everything about anything. We would be rich except we like woodworking.
Rule #5: Believe everything you read in this forum. (See Rule #4)
Rule #6: Never ask whether to work with hand tools or power tools. No one has an opinion on this subject.
Rule #7: Do not mention any woodworker by name such as Norm, Marcs, etc. They do not have any woodworking knowledge. Everyone here will tell you that they do it all wrong! What you see them do is an illusion and trick photography. The real woodworkers are here and are anonymous.
Rule #9: Have fun. This is the best bang for the buck around.
If you are wondering about Rule #8, it was deleted by the cyber police as being too controversal. It dealt with how to sharpen a …
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Replies
Great rules, even if yer missing one...
Some folks just need slack....
http://www.grayarea.com/subgenius.htm
somewhere these Dobsonians have "slack" defined as an aspect of their religion.
Eric in cowtown.
wishes he'd signed up years ago.
Rule #10 - Never make any rules, they are all subject to Murphy's Law. And to Finnegan's Corellary, "Murphy was an optimist".
But I did work for a small software firm years ago, they advertised that they had taken care of Murphy's Law - they hired Murphy.
I'm retired too, but having had a rather varied career in my 70 years I can say that nothing is work when you can do it at your leisure. I enjoyed the work in all my jobs (investment banker, software designer, furniture mover - oops, didn't enjoy that, cabinet maker when between jobs, etc.). The demand of time is what makes it work.
Yet having said that I wonder what it would have been like to have chosen wood many years ago. The object of work is satisfaction, after the obvious demand of making a living. I graduated an Ivy League college in 1957, and that was a wonderful experience as it was in a time when college was a place of learning rather than a trade school. My classmates include one billionaire famous "corporate raider", a number of corporate presidents - and a number of secondary school teachers and musicians and others who followed their own desires in life. And all are equally respected within the class - monetary success is irrelevant to this bunch.
Wow, I got a bit off track, but it wasn't politics. I was leading to that question, why not wood. Socrates said "gnothe saiton" (a transliteration of the Greek alphabet as I don't have the font), meaning "know thyself". Those of us of an age will often wonder what might have been, but if we are realistic we know that any change would have lost us something we have. Had I not married the woman that I'm long divorced from I might have had a better marriage, but I wouldn't have had the two fine children I have. I might have had better children, or worse - but they wouldn't be the same two. And I wouldn't swap them for anything.
Oh yeah, this is supposed to be about wood and woodworking. I almost forgot where I was. So let's get back to that. I wish I'd followed my instincts many years ago and gone to work with my hands - it is a fiction that education needs to be used for vocation, it is equally well used as avocation. (Mr. Justice Frankfurter started studying Greek in his nineties so he could read Homer in the original, just for fun). But then again I don't really wish that, for the reasons in the above paragraph. Any change of one's past will also change the present for better or worse - and if the present is good on balance (like the kids I have, or you have) then it is counter productive to ask to redo it.
The solution is to look ahead, and become the best wood worker (and understand and study your woods). Tip O'Neill said "all politics are local", and all of us are what we are at the moment, and where we intend to be in the future. It is never too late to invest study and work in the future, I'm making stringed instruments - but only for myself for the moment. When I get the hang of it I hope someone will say "Murphy makes a great harp" or lute. But if they don't I will have had the satisfaction of making music out of wood.
Best, Jon (Murphy)
Great discussion, responses. Some of the best I've read in a while. I'd like to add a couple of comments. Something I learned early in my apprenticeship as a machinist (which I haven't worked at in decades, I'm a 'systems analyst' now). A good setup is paramount, however, at some point, you have to cut chips. That's the goal, not the perfect setup.
Also, anybody can do it right the first time, but it take a real pro to fix a screwup. Don't worry too much about making mistakes, everything is a learning experience. Some of the best learning experiences start out as mistakes.
Enjoy.
Jeff
Jeff,
In one of my incarnations I was a contract analyst and programmer. Set up, as you say, is not the goal - it is merely the method. The process of designing and implementing a system is impossible if one considers all possibilities. I started working in computers in 1961 and we then had several "laws". One was Von Neumann's Law. "Any system, no matter its percent of completion, is always a year from fruition". One sets "error traps" into the main line of the program for the unanticipated problem. I was called to Belgium in 1983 to troubleshoot a CitiCorp data communications system - they had cancelled the outside consultants because they thought they were finished - then they had to call in another one to fix the "crashes". The previous consultants were good, I found 1200 error traps that they had set, but not been given the time to handle. All I had to do was write the "handlers" and come off a hero (but it would have cost Citi less to just let the original guys finish, they thought they were "milking the job".
OK, back to wood working. Leave some room for mistakes. In effect set an error trap. Saw a bit wide and trim with a hand plane, cut a bit long so that when you route the tenon you can trim the ends for the right depth. And if you make an unrecoverable mistake in a piece of the puzzle think of something else to make where you can use the piece.
Best, Jon
Something else I have noticed since hanging out here:
Don't ever mention Lie Nielsen in the same sentence as any other plane manufacturer. Also, never mention Veritas in the same sentence as any other plane manufacturer. Nor bevel up. Nor bevel down. It will set off an instant firestorm. Notice how I was careful not to mention any of them in the same sentence :)
Seriously though, Newbie or Oldbie should never hesitate to ask any question in this forum. I have learned more from this forum in the past 8 or 9 months than I could ever imagine. Even the most basic and obvious questions are addressed with great detail and sincerity. Often the person asking the question has no idea of the skill level and the notoriety of the men and women supplying the answers or suggestions. It's as if you went onto a baseball forum and asked how to hit a curve ball, and Barry Bonds replied.
That was a good post. I enjoyed it.
-Chuck
Hi! guys I'm Jim although my screen name is blind,you guys took all the good ones,I just found this site and thought id jumpon and say hi!,I'v been stuck at home for over a year with a bad back injury and have recently started a smallshop in the garage, making a few items to sell ,yard chairs, tabels, arbors,and even a swinging baby cradle. just trying to suplement the wifes income until my work comp trial or social security goes through W.E.C.F and I had a few questions Id likee to ask if I may. first what is the best way to joint 22.5% corners on an octagonal tabol top without them sliding around as you work your way around the sides, I dont have a lot of clamps andif i do it in sections thay dont seam to line up right and i have to modify my plan to account for the material i have to remove to make it work. and second is there any place I can get free plans until im able to sell somthingI have veary little income and most of that goes to materials. thank you for any idas you might be able to give me...Jim
blind......re your octagonal assembly prob.... some form of spline fitted to each joint should halp arrest any vertical mis-alignment between pieces; a band clamp (or a couple joined together) would wrap around the circumpherence to lock everything down...Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Buy a simple pocket hole jig. They are not expensive. Place the pocket hole piece to the inside and screw together the pieces. Now just remove the excess on the non-pocket hole piece. The edge will be tougher and less likely to suffer damage.
Pocket hole screws self drill and so clamps become less needed.
A bad day woodworking is better than a good day working -- yes, I'm retired!
Rule...uh...#13 - yeah, that's it (this should be Rule #6, but that one's already taken...):
#13: Remember the 6 Ps: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
Other misc rules:
No good deed goes unpunished....
"Beware of strong drink: it can cause you to shoot at tax collectors....and miss." (Lazarus Long)
"Always store beer in brown bottles." (also Lazarus Long)
Keep your edges sharp and your fingers behind the sharp edge.
Never mention p*w*r tools by name in a hand tool forum; always refer to them as "tailed apprentices," "electron munchers," or by some other similarly deprecating-but-humorous description.
All tool gloats require accompanying photos. Same applies to project gloats.
enough for now...
James
Edited 4/26/2006 12:30 pm by pzgren
In the army I leanred it as
Proper prior preparation prevents piss poor performance
This of course would make it rule 7 (though the word 'prior' is redundant). :)My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
Me too, but I was -- for whatever misguided reason -- trying not to use any...aaaahhh....censorable words.
Learned a number of other useful words and phrases there, too; most of them not usable in "polite society...." ;-)
Tschüß!
James
<"Beware of strong drink: it can cause you to shoot at tax collectors....and miss." (Lazarus Long)>
ROFL! Around here, it is the revenuers and you don't want to miss!
A bad day woodworking is better than a good day working -- yes, I'm retired!
I am new in woodworking. I have always love woodworking; but I never seem to have the time. Now I decided to start. I have a 2 car garage that I plan to build my workshop. I have build 2 tables w/2x4 they are not the best; but it a beginning. I stated to buy books on cabinet making and other subjects. can anyone tell me what is the best way to start
Build yourself a nice woodworking bench based on european or similar plans. Do a little research and determine what configuration and features would be important to you for the type of projects you anticipate building. This will give you an opportunity to work with most of the techniques you will need in day to day woodworking, planing, jointing, joinery, etc. etc.. AND at the end of it you will be the proud new owner one of the most useful tools you can have in your shop, a quality woodworking bench.
That's my take on this. Good luck.
Jeff
There are many woodworking books you could read, if you are looking for information; unless you are rich you probably could not afford them all. But one that every woodworker should read is Bruce Hoadley's UNDERSTANDING WOOD. It will teach you more about the material you wish to use than you could learn in twenty years worth of experience.
Another good source of information is the first one hundred issues of Fine Woodworking Magazine. You can also learn a lot from reading tool catalogs.
Regards, Old Saw.
He that welds steel in a wood fire may accomplish anything!
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