I know we’ve got a handful (at least) of newbies out there, ’cause they’ve been brave and posted introductions. I made a rookie mistake yesterday, thought I’d pass it along for their edification, and y’all more experienced woodworkers can add some memories of your early, and preferably laughable, miscues:
I’ll give the Moral of the Story first: “When free-forming an angle to be duplicated with a power tool, make it more than 1/2 degree away from any pre-set detents on said power tool!”
I had several pieces of cedar siding to cut today, matching the plywood I was applying them to. Unfortunately, the angle I had free-formed the plywood at was 23 degrees. That’s extremely close to 22-1/2 degrees, and my cheap little Delta 8.25″ CMS did not want to make a distinction between the two! Glad I didn’t have a zillion of ’em to do.
Now, this one’s pretty low on the laughter scale, so c’mon guys ‘n gals, bring us some good ones.
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Replies
I've got a rookie mistake, and it doesn't get much more rookie given that this is my first project :) I'm working on a planter that requires top and bottom dadoes on two sides of each corner post. I put my new dado blade in the table saw, made a test cut, and set to work. When I was done I proudly looked at my new posts... only to discover that I'd put the top and bottom dadoes on opposite sides of each post!
*sigh*
> ....top and bottom dadoes ....
My first experience with dados (dadoes?) was a doosie!
A simple box with dadoed ends. Box was x by y dimensions from 3/4 stuff. Cut my front and back pieces allowing for the (I thought) 1 1/2" thickness of the ends. (smart me, I can add fractions).
Well, the box was an acceptable 3/4" less wide than the original intent so all wasn't lost.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
I recently built a new computer workstation from a couple of melamine-faced MDF slabs (surplus office furniture I got for free). I had one large and one smaller slab so I made it L-shaped. In addition to a filing cabinet and three heavy-duty shelf brackets, I put wood strips around the walls for support. Measured and marked everything carefully, checked for level regularly using the smaller slab (the big one was really heavy). Finally all done, just put both slabs up and - one is higher than the other! The smaller slab was not one shorter than the big one and narrower, it was also thinner.So *that's* why the big one was so heavy. Doh.
Graeme
Lert:
Just thought I'd let you know about something that happened today that would almost fall in this category. I been chopping wood for 30 now as you know, and today a mistake was made. Measure twice, cut once . I measure three times as I'm very careful and have eye for detail. I happened to be glancing at the hole in my shop wall and then went ahead and measured. 18 15/16" all 3 checks. CUT..
Got back to my blue-print and noticed the specifications of that peice was 19 15/16 inches...Obviously someone creep into my shop and changed specs on the blue-print. Because of someone's childish prank I had to re-design the whole project to fit the in-correct piece.
It just goes to show you can't trust anyone these days! I suppose I'll have to put some kind of security system in the shop to avoid these needless acts..
Regards as always,
Sarge..
p.s. As you know, Real Men don't make mistakes-they just blame something else..heh..heh..
Some of you may remember that last year I was building a bookcase-sized CD-storage cabinet. It was supposed to have ten evenly-spaced shelves for about 1000 CDs, with the top, middle and bottom shelves fixed into the carcase by sliding dovetails in the top, middle and bottom rails of the frame-and-panel sides.
Well, during glue up, I accidentally put the middle rails in upside-down on both sides. After realizing my mistake when I started measuring the locations for the rest of the shelf supports, and a quick flurry of phone calls and e-mails, my client/friend (still friend, I might add) and I agreed to create eleven almost-evenly spaced shelves with room for 1100 CDs.
I was appalled. My friend was actually quite pleased, since his CD collection had grown while I was building the cabinet.
DavidHmmm... the garden or the workshop today?
Your upside down reminds me of the ballisters I replaced on our hall stairway....sigh...I took the right amount of stock off...half off the top and half the ballisters i took it off the bottom....so now I hae alternating patterns going up the stairs....(dummy)..(make that cheap dummy)
Ohhh, I'm getting ready to do some stairs too. Spent many hours turning them puppies, I need to remeber that one.
My worst mistake was many years ago when I first went to work for a garage cabinet shop. The owner showed me a pile of rails and stiles, some glued up raised panels, oak mind you, which needed to be dimensioned and them assembled into the frames. Well to make the story short and sweet like the job, I basically made 15 wrong sized, oak, raised panel cabinent doors. He fired me on the spot. To this day I still don't know how I did it?
My second place worst was when I built a 9' kithcen cabinet, with drawers, sink, shelves, dishwaher, etc, and it was supposed to be 109 Inches. Sarge, your guy must have moved from here to there, I was mortified as I so proudly attempted to FIT it into the space. Can anyone say Americas Funniest Home Video?
My next worse is sometimes not remembering certain parts are mirror images and need to be assembled as such. Things just don't line up quite right then do they?
MARK:
See post I just made to avamoore! I think that "person" (hi ya FG and splintie) just struck again. Maybe we should report this to our Neighbor-Hood Watch Group! My problem is, they won't speak to me cause I make those machinery sounds late at nite.
Keep up the good spirits and learn from mistakes as I do. If boo-boo's are the worst things that happens to us in life--we can consider ourselves very fortunate as both human and as woodworkers having a he-l of a good time!!
Drop by any time, welcome to all..
Sarge.
davamoore:
I agree that sometimes mistakes can be re-directed into blessings in disquise. Some of my better designs have been from having to change boats in the middle of the stream. I try not to hit the panic button when one happens. Sit down in my shop and crank up Van Morrison and figure how I made it and then how can I correct. If there is no solution, grab a cup of coffee and go back to ground zero. I used to call Ms. Cleo on that 800 # but haven't seen her around lately. I'm not what you consider too bright and haven't figured that one out yet.
Thanks for posting to me. I've seen your little what-ya-ma-call-it about gardening or the shop at the bottom of your post. I'm new (to computers..anyway--don't say anything FG) and can't figure out how to make the big letters. That's also probaly a blessing in disquise as I'm dangerous with anything but a tool.
Since your here, I got tomato plants that are wilting. It's been very dry in Atlanta for a month or so. Also, I haven,t watered them as we have a watering ban. Question!! Could these factors be the problem? Or possibly, the same person that switched my measure-ments on blue-prints could be sneaking over late at nite with a hair-dryer with a long extention cord and drying them out just for laughs..??
Have fun in the garden or shop and feel free to drop in without an invite. We southerners always leave the welcome mat out. Just knock and come on in..
Sarge..
Rookie mistakes are a dime a dozen. Haste makes waste!
In your situation, Forest, you are right; always make your rough cut oversize when fitting to an inside dimension, as when fitting between two existing pieces. Angles are tough -- to measure and to cut -- so I always try to give myself a second chance. SAme with miters.
My favorite rookie mistake is failing to reset saw blades to vertical when making angled cuts.
Cheers,
Dave of Fla.
A rookie mistake I KEEP making is not re-setting the blade height on my table saw.
Any suggestion on how to cure this? (Am I leaving myself wide open or what)
DAVE:
Another rookie mistake you made was telling me you were a "jarhead" (Marine for those not familiar). HA! I think you know I'm funning (not that I ever do that). Hope you got some rain PA. Atlanta took some last nite. Humidity in shop is high. No assembly here today.
I'll try to wipe the smiles a minute and make a serious attempt at suggesting a cure for your saw-blade height adjustment "thang". I have a freind that is pilot for Delta A/L and runs assimulator training. I get to sneak some quiet Sat. evenings and pretend to fly those "big birds". Point as follows:
What did you learn in military about by the numbers? The first thing you do in a cockpit is go through a "check-list" of procedures to make sure your equipment is functioning and "all is well so everything ends well". I have trained myself to follow these same procedures with set-up and safety in the shop. It works for me with a result of minimum of mistakes and all nine fingers ( or is it ten, I forget after 30 yrs.of sawdust inhalation) intact. Just a thought, if you have the patience and discipline. I cant imagine and ex-Marine that is not capable of the discipline part. Everybody has developed their own theories of what works best for them!
Hey, if all else fails; get some "post-ems" and leave a note attached to saw top: CHECK BLADE HEIGHT..he..he..he..
SEMPER FI and thanks for your service to our great country! Always..
Sarge..
Yhank you. I was ROFL with that post Sarge. As for "ex", there is no such thing. Once a Marine, Always a Marine.
Sarge, You know I am guaranted to go to heaven being a Marine. The devil doen't want us because he's afraid we'll take over.
Dave in Pa.
Semper Fi and Keep the Faith
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