Hello again everyone,
Inspiration for this thread comes from the other thread I started on all the tools we wish we had never bought.
Sometimes we learn things the hard way (usually expensive too).
So other than tools, what WWing lessons have your learned from the school of hard knocks?
Any pearls of WWing wisdom you’d care to pass on?
Here’s mine to start:
1. Do your riskiest operations first. That way if you screw up this one piece of wood after doing all of the easy operations first, you haven’t sunk all this time in it for nothing.
2. The shortest pencil trumps the longest memory everytime. I hate taking a measurement, walking over and trying to remember if I am supposed to cut it 58 and half inches long or 85 and a half. That goes along with avoiding reading the tape upside down.
Many thanks,
Chills
Replies
Tablesaw:
A few decades ago, using a tablesaw without thoroughly researching the safety aspects first taught me a valuable lesson about kickback and how to shorten a thumb in a millisecond.
Finishing:
A few years ago, re-learned the futility of staining maple while completing test pieces for a finishing class.
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
I'd have to say most of my lessons have come while trying to finish my completed projects. One in particular comes to mind and it was trying to put a thick epoxy clear coat on a desk top I had spent hours, maybe weeks would be more approropriate, building. Now I try to do all my finishing before I build the project. (ha, ha)
Chills,
Nothing beats planning -- or maybe I should type it: PLANNING -- not to shout, of course. I've seen many cases of poor planning and scheduling (especially in a couple of commercial shops) that eat into productivity and morale. Now that I'm 'retired', I can take the amount of time necessary to adjust design plans until I'm satisfied that I'll get the desired results.
After purchasing materials and ready to start, you hit the nail on the head with your #1 comment: Do the riskiest operations first. Among the riskiest operations is simply the initial milling of whatever hardwood one is using. For example, when building a basic table and using 8/4 stock, plan where the legs and aprons are going to be cut, make the cross cuts, rips and resaw to a reasonable amount oversize -- then let the wood rest a few days to stabilize. I've seen people rip stock to the exact size they need, only to have it twist out of shape in a matter of hours or even minutes.
Use the same measuring device throughout a project. Something too many people overlook is the allowable tolerances for tape measures, tablesaw scales, etc. I can lay two different tapes against my tablesaw scale and see up to a 1/32" difference at some points.
Forget 'measure twice, cut once'. Measure as many times as it takes to be absolutely certain you're where you need to be.
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
Mensa Member
Click Here if you're interested in a good, inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Use the same increments.
Building a door a few years ago, I measured the opening. The screen door was to be 6 feet tall.
Built the door and proudly showed it off to my wife. Her comment was "Why is it so short?"
Dumbfounded, I measured it. I turned the 6 feet into 60 inches. Duh!!!!
Managed to save the door and it looks ok. Lesson learned.
Edited 6/8/2005 8:03 pm ET by wooden splinter
1) My hand is not a clamp. Reminded by all of my busted knuckles, and pin holes in thumbs.
2) Close eyes BEFORE blowing sawdust off of something.
3) Never mark a cut after not following rule 2
4) Don't buy any tool because of the price
5) Pay taxes. The IRS will notice you didn't.
6) There is such a thing as "over thinking"
7) A flat head screw driver is NOT a replacement for a 1/4" chisel, no matter how many stairs are between you and the chisel.
8) The degree of the miter does not matter, only how the joint fits.
9) Fingers can be sewn back on, but it is expensive.
10) Your ears are not supposed to ring all the time, wear hearing protection.
Ah, that reminds me of several more:
1. Friction is greatest before a slip. Read: that chisel your pushing so hard through whatever material is just about to go flying through that material and anything else in its way, like your other hand.
Go back and re-read above, a hand is not a clamp or vise for that matter.
2. Safety glasses don't get scratched up so quickly if you wear them all the time.
What'd he say about ringing in the ears? What? Huh?
3. Listen to your gut instinct, if it is telling you there might be a better or safer way to do something STOP what you're doing and think the alternative through.
Chills
"7) A flat head screw driver is NOT a replacement for a 1/4" chisel, no matter how many stairs are between you and the chisel."
Also remind the kids a 1/4" chisel isn't a replacement for a flathead screwdriver.
A flat head screw driver is NOT a replacement for a 1/4" chisel..
Sort f like My old PaPa said... Here is my tools! Use them and BUT EM BACK where ya found them.. Or You NO KIN OF MINE!
When figuring out the more difficult parts of a problem, don't overlook the simple stuff! Brought home most pointedly when assembling my dado set for the first time. Had no idea how the teeth were supposed to sit relative to each other -- carefully added the various blades to the saw arbor, nudging the teeth out of each others' way. First project -- make a zero-clearance insert for the dado. Rising up (or trying to) through the stock, lots of noise, lots of smoke! Dado not cutting! Ooooops, put some of the blades on backwards!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
1. NEVER, EVER work when you are tired. That is the quickest way to have an accident or make a mistake. Mistakes can be fixed, accidents may not be so easy. Take breaks when you notice your attenion is on something other than what you are doing.
2. When ever possible DO NOT MEASURE, keep a stick handy and put your layout lines on that using the project itself to get the size from (this is called a story stick - very useful, especially if you might make more than one of an item) - see my tag line
3. Before changing any blade, bit, belt whatever on a power tool, always unplug it -- see number 1 above for why.
4. If wearing long sleeve shirts, make sure that the cuffs are buttoned, not rolled up. and to be safe - put a rubber band on that wis just snug enough to hold the cuff closed.
5. Take the time before any major project to properly tune any equipment you will use - that includes setup tools such as squares.
6. A sharp tool is a safer tool.
7. Buy quality, NOT price or brand and NOT fancy, will seldom or never, use features.
I think that is enough for now
1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
You forgot long hair...
I had to get a woman out of a printing press once..
Fire Department calle my office.. I got her out by taking the press apart.. Not pretty..
I sure hope she is OK.. Long ago..
Just stating 'It happens'!
Imagine if she had been using a table saw and gotten her hair caught!!!1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Damn straight on the long hair. I have hair down to my butt, and I don't enter the shop without it braided and tucked down the back of my shirt.
One more lesson learned the hard way as a newbie: buy each tool as you have a need for it, not in sets!-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
JD you are so right.... Be patient, do your research, buy the most you can afford...Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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A sheet of 3/4" birch plywood landing on your foot, on edge, from 3 feet really really hurts and can almost make you pass out. (and it will break a toe and you will limp for a long time and when the weather is just right it will hurt)Wear good shoes in the shop and never go barefoot...Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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Reading through the posts I saw a lot of good ideas...to do and not to do.
My addition: I try to use hand tools as much as possible for many reasons. I like the skill development, no noise, and the safety factor. But I have learned the hard way three things:
1. Have a sharp edge on your tools.
2. Use a good clamping device to keep hands away and the cut accurate.
3. Don't be in a hurry.
pk
Not to let a business major make the push sticks needed for the table saw. In a manufacturing enterprise course in college, we were making trivets, and were doing some resawing of walnut. I needed a push stick and was handed a freshly made one. As I was cutting and passing over the blade, the push stick grabbed and flew out of my hand, bounced on the table, off the fence and across the lab. Come to find out, to keep someone "busy" they told this business type to "make some push sticks, cause were going to need them." This "push stick maker" made them out of Hard Maple! I was not a happy camper and had a number of ideas of where he could put certain body parts, but I came out of it OK. I had a new appreciation of making sure that what you need to stay safe, you make yourself. We happened to be video taping for a time study, and man oh man, quicker than you think, the stick was gone and out of the way even before I even flinched.
Donkey
avoiding reading the tape upside down........?? I wish!! - lol
I'm a lefty and sometimes have a problem reading one right side up. If I could find a lever-lock tape that could be read either way, I would probably buy it - but I would also have to re-learn how to read a tape.
Actually, I'm a big fan of "story sticks" which allow me to directly transfer measurements and leave the tape hanging on my pocket.
I have a tape that reads from both directions. I'll find the mfg and post it...mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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Ahhh, but is it a Leverlock??? I've used those for years and have a problem using the "other" kind. - lol
> Actually, I'm a big fan of "story sticks" which allow me to directly transfer measurements and leave the tape hanging on my pocket.
Better even than "story sticks" is to mark the actual piece in the place where it's going to go. In addition to eliminating number memory errors, it also eliminates a transfer step, and its small accumulated error.
-- J.S.
Here are the tape measures I was referring to. They don't have a "lever lock" but the tapes all have two lock buttons. One thumb, the other forefinger.I have the "Green" one that reads both lefty and righty...Markhttp://www.fastcap.com/prod.asp?page=procarp&WSCam=Quote&WSEvt=ProCarpenter
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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I second the story stick system,I always use on a big job.
Was brought up on imperial measurements ,we have changed to metric here in NZ,although I think metric is easier in so much as working with parts of a hundred is better than say 15/16th's,they take a bit of getting used to.
Fascap or Fastcap (I forget how to spell it) makes a tape that reads both ways, they also make a story pole tape that has standard markings on one side and is blank on the other. You can mark on the tape with a pencil and erase easily. They are also very well priced.
Mikeplease excuse my spelling.
I learned that it is possible to sand through the medullary rays in quarter sawn oak. It was a shame too. After I spent all that time picking and arranging the ray patterns to flow across a dining table for my sister in law, a few minutes with the belt sander changed the whole look of the table. Live and learn.
Andy
"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
Chills ,
When cross cutting , stock cut your longest parts first ,
A dull tool is the most dangerous tool in the shop ,
ears eyes and nose , take care of them , you may live longer then you figure on ,
never discount your work with the promise of more to come if it is good ,
learn where the leaks in your roof are ,
STOP , as soon as something feels dicey or otherwise wrong ,
don't let your 13 year old son play with sawdust and your torch in the wood shop,
regards dusty
a graduate of the Pacific Northwest School of Hard Knocks
Never short cut a procedure because "I'm only going to do one" or "I'm moving it only a half block".
This may just confirm my hack status, but I find it almost always useful to make a few extra parts, for when I goof one up. 5 table legs, extra raised panels, if it's a small project, I sometimes duplicate the whole thing; make a nice one and "b" version.
Nope that don't make you a hack.Even Norm (The New Yankee Workshop) makes a "prototype" (read "practice piece")besides that is what scrap is for - If I'm serious about a piece, I'll set up the tool and cut scrap to fit. I find that if I don't do that I'm dissapointed :-(MarkMeasure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Edited 6/10/2005 9:55 am ET by Mark
Think very carefully before beginning a complicated glue-up! Don't answer the phone! Don't talk to anyone unless he is telling you the house is burning up. Better yet, avoid glue-ups that are overly complicated.
Tom
AMEN! I been there more than a few times...
PLAN YOUR GLUE-UP!
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Install good lighting. Then install task lighting where you work the most.Sweep the floor carefully before taking anything apart. Sweep it carefully afterwards. Re-install the parts you dropped before turning on any machinery.Don't dis-assemble things near an open floor drain.Ask for help.If the little voice says "This is a really dumb idea" — listen to it.Don't use tools wrong-handed. They tend to slip and show you exactly how sharp the edge is. Walk around the bench, saw horse or whatever you're working on to use the correct hand.Don't loan out the files you use to sharpen things like saws. They won't be back and you'll have a dull saw to sharpen.Sh*tcan factory file handles. Turn ones that fit YOUR hands and the useage the tool will be put to. It's good practise on the lathe and a h*ll of a lot more comfortable to work with in the long run.Buy quality. It may not be the cheapest, but will be a lot cheaper than buying cr*p and then buying what you should have bought.If you're buying used equipment, find out why it's being sold. Pay for a survey if you're not sure it's right.Detail-strip machinery, with the manual in one hand and a wrench in the other, if that's what it takes. That way, if it goes bust you'll at least have a clue about what's going on. If it doesn't bust, you'll have a working knowledge of how to maintain it.Leon Jester
My many years of country medical pactice have taught me a few things to avoid. The most basic rule is don't hold nails for some-one else to pound. I remember a father and son, both very drunk, the son having been holding spikes for the father. I've never seen a more completely mashed thumb.
Tom
If you decide to hold a nail for someone, do not say "When I nod my head, you hit it".
DM,
Har!
Ray
True story.
Roger and Stuart (workers for the town) were driving fence posts. Stuart was holding the post and Roger was using the sledge hammer. You guessed it, Roger missed and hit Stuart's hand with the hammer. Roger said, "Man, that's going to hurt tomorrow". Stuart replied, "You stupid son of a b____, it hurts right now!"
DM,
An older gent (Mr. Leavel) told the story of working one summer in his youth, building fence with a pious Mennonite farmer. Seems the old boy whacked his thumb pretty good driving a "steeple" (staple) into a post. He hopped around for a few seconds uttering epithets like "tut-tut" and "fiddlesticks". Mr. Leavel says he asked the old man what that meant, when he said "tut-tut". "He wouldn't answer me!"
Cheers,
Ray
Here was a painful lesson...Good size job last summer building 35 booth benches for a restaurant.
So spent some time tuning up the panel saw, cleaned the main blade,
cleaned the scoring blade got most of it done and then quit for the day.
Next morning a guy working for me thought I had finished work on the saw. Raised up the main blade and switched it on. Made a hell of a racket as the main blade tore the teeth off the scoring blade. Luckily no one was hurt. But 200.00 in blades down the drain. :-(Lesson learned- either finish the tuning when you start it or leave a great big sign on the machine saying Don't Use!!!! and lock out the power.Measuring tapes- Assign one tape as the "Master Tape" for a job and label it as such. Better to use story sticks if possible but if using tapes don't assume one reads the same as another.TomYou Don't Know.
You Don't Want to Know.
You Aren't Going to Know.
One of my folding rulers runs high to low both front and back; the other runs H to L one side and L to H the other side. Recently I had a delivery requiring a forklift to drop equipment in place, wrong ruler used to measure doorway height. Ended up removing a portion of door lintel to get fork lift into workshop. Not fun.
Steel toe boots. Wear them always.
I'd never go into combat without body armor. Why should the shop be any different?
Steel toe boots, gloves, dust mask, ear defenders, safety goggles; your body armor in the shop.
Daggs,
How ya get any work done, in all that get-up? Just kidding of course, I wear 'em too, just not usually all at the same time! I prefer to work bare-handed in the shop most of the time, as it seems to me that I'd have a better chance of snagging a glove in a piece of whirring equip't than a finger. I'm used to knowing where the finger stops, not always the case when wearing gloves.
Keep your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, and your ear to the ground. Then see how much work you can get done!
Cheers,
Ray
Never measure anything with someone in the shop. You'll find that 36 1/2 length you cut was supposed to be 38 1/2. Seems you failed to distinguish the slight difference between 6 and 8. Ill go one further; never measure when you are pissed off either. same problem
Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
Just had my first stopped sliding dovetail tail looking pretty good when I tried to remove the router before it fully stopped. The second one I cut to the wide measurement at the narrow (waist?) end. Tommorow will be better, maybe. The pins (on the legs of a small table) came out ok first time out. I wanted to do it on the router table but couldn't figure out how to do all four so I went freehand with stopblocks.
KDM
The Bill of Rights
December 15 1791
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I cut several tenons on my sliding router table (horizontal router) (I'll post pics when I get my camera back from repair).
They came out great. Then I thought my router had moved, so I checked by cutting another tenon on a piece of scrap. Sure enough - something was wrong.
I adjusted the router, and cut four new tenons on my stock.
Surprise, the scrap I used was a different dimension than my stock (thickness was off by .030) and my tenons came out too narrow.
I had to cut the tenons off my stock and redo them - now my project is 1" shorter than before :-(
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Mark.. I been there a few times....
dimension my stock BEFORE NOT AFTER!
Edited 6/23/2005 2:10 pm ET by Will George
I've been there as well, more times than I can remember. Solution was to glue a thinner piece to the tenon face and cut it again.With my new setup, (newly made horizontal router with pillow block bearings) I had the same problem. I didn't tighten the lateral stops enough and it moved a tad. Next set of mortisies I orientated the uppper most line to the edge with the left reference line for all pieces. (That meant flipping the piece around.) That time it worked. The beauty of wood is the ease in which mistakes can be corrected.
Edited 6/24/2005 7:53 am ET by pqken
"The beauty of wood is the ease in which mistakes can be corrected."And the ugly of wood is how easy it is to make mistakes :)Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
The beauty of wood is the ease in which mistakes can be corrected....
Unless you can SEE it.... LOL... All my mistakes turn out OUTSIDE...
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