Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.

I'm making an armoire and the sides of the carcase are plywood (yeah yeah).
So I'm making a dado across the sides with a router to hold a shelf. 30" to
the top of the dado from the bottom edge. I line both pieces next to each
other so that I can cut the dado across both so they will line up exactly
(clever I am!). I measure 30" up on one side (to the top of the dado), make
my mark. 30" on the other side (make my mark). Get the straight edge &
router and zip! Wait...something's wrong. Ack! I measured 30" correctly
but I mark one side as the top of the dado, and the other side the bottom of
the dado. I correct this by filling in the dado (which won't be seen), and
cutting a new one at 31". Now I just have to remember to make the stiles
and door panels for the lower section an inch longer (can you see what's
coming?). "I should write this change in my plans, so I'll remember
it"..."nah, I'll remember it."

Tonight, after a long day at work, and stupidly snapping at my wife about
something unimportant, I tell her I'm kinda tired to work in the shop, and
she says "you better not, you'll make a mistake and be upset." ......
Well, Norm works till the wee hours doesn't he?, so I decide, I won't do
anything _major_, I'll just rough cut the pieces for the doors, rails, and
stiles. The cuts were all perfect...they really were if I didn't have to
add back that missing 1" for the lower stiles and door panels. Why why why
do I this? Now I'll have to make a special trip and go back to the
lumberyard and find matching pieces (if I can), and start that section over.
More gas $$$ and more lumber $$$. Why don't I just start with 50% more and
be done with it?

Another day on this same project I took 2 hours to lay out the measurements,
and miter cuts for the cornice pieces. Checked, and double-checked...even
tried the measurements and cuts on some old pine I had...perfect. Got out
the "real" lumber and walked over to the miter saw and promptly made the
angle cuts backwards....sigh.

I'll stick with my day job and take solace in knowing most people I work
with can't traverse a directory tree or distinguish between click and
double-click even after I've showed them a gazillion times. I'm good at
something I guess.

Time for a cold one. Here's to those who do it right the first time!
Duke

In article , Dukester
wrote:

Got out
the "real" lumber and walked over to the miter saw and promptly made the
angle cuts backwards....sigh.

Commiseration. BTDT, and I was talking about *exactly* the same thing
with my neighbor just yesterday, after he told me about cutting a pieve
of crown molding 3/16 too short because he was tired and not paying
attention...

djb

--
Was that last sig line lame or what?

"Dukester" wrote in message
Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many
of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask
myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.

The hell of it is, you aren't anywhere close to setting a record. DAMHIK

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 4/13/04

Dave Balderstone responds:

Got out
the "real" lumber and walked over to the miter saw and promptly made the
angle cuts backwards....sigh.

Commiseration. BTDT, and I was talking about *exactly* the same thing
with my neighbor just yesterday, after he told me about cutting a pieve
of crown molding 3/16 too short because he was tired and not paying
attention...

Probably all of us have done it, more than once, and that flies in the face of
not working with machines or edged tools when you're tired. We're lucky when we
only screw up the wood. Most of the scars I carry are the result of being tired
or in a rush, as are most of the project screw-ups (most, not all: there are
some where I outbuilt my knowledge and others where I just made a damned fool
mistake for no good reason except that it was my time to make a damned fool
mistake).

Charlie Self
"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance
of being right." Thomas Paine

"Dukester" wrote in message
. ..
snip

One of the real arts of woodwork is learning how to recover from one's
lapses

Bernard R

....never admit such a thing...put the piece on the rack for the next project
and tell the SWHMBO that you didn't like the grain on that piece and have to
look for a better one because you are "fussy"...she won't understand but
then again you don't understand how a few pieces of fabric a "shade" off
will ruin her quilt either because she is "fussy"...(translation is they
goof up from time to time also) LOL



"Swingman" wrote in message
...

"Dukester" wrote in message
Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to
many
of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask
myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.

The hell of it is, you aren't anywhere close to setting a record. DAMHIK

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 4/13/04

"Bernard Randall" wrote in message
...
One of the real arts of woodwork is learning how to recover from one's
lapses

No, learning how to turn it into an *opportunity*!

Lo these many years ago, when I was still with NCR Corp. in
Indianapolis(large scale EDP sysrepair), the district specialist(Indiana,
East/Central Illinois, Northern Kentucky) would occasionally have one brush
fire too many and request my boss to send me out. This never seemed to
happen unless we had plans or company or a holiday weekend or. . . well, you
get the picture. My boss, with his fine Irish blarney, would always tell
SWMBO when she answered the phone that he had an "opportunity" for me.

--
Nahmie
The first myth of management is that management exists.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.657 / Virus Database: 422 - Release Date: 4/13/2004

Dukester wrote:

Time for a cold one. Here's to those who do it right the first time!

You're just not being creative enough. If the pieces are the wrong size,
make something like this out of it:

http://www.straightlinedesigns.com/images/spencer.jpg



Like Swingman said, you're not even setting a record. Measure twice, cut
once; too long. Measure twice, cut once; too long. Measure twice, cut
once; too short. Damn.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

"Norman D. Crow" wrote in message
No, learning how to turn it into an *opportunity*!

I spent a lot of time last night thinking about how I could still use the
pieces I cut too short. I *suppose* I could add an inch filler strip to the
face frame on the bottom where the doors overlap but this presents a couple
of other "hmmmm...i don't know"s:

One, the face frame will then be an inch higher and have sort of a raised
lip over the shelf on the inside. I guess this would not *really* matter as
the only time it would be seen is when the doors were open, but stilll....
Second is that there would then be a glue line just below where the doors
end at the point where the 1" filler strip meets the real face frame... And
now that the face frame is already installed, it seem like it would be tough
to get that mating line as crisp as if I ran both pieces over the jointer
prior to installation.....

Thoughts?

Thanks for the kind words anyhow. Things always look better on Fridays.

--
Cheers!
Duke

Dukester wrote:

Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many
of you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask
myself why do I even bother with woodworking.

The question is "do you make lots of different mistakes or do you make the
same one over and over?"

If you make lots of different mistakes then you're learning--that which
doesn't kill us may not make us stronger but it often makes us more
knowledgeable. If you're making the same one over and over you need to sit
down and think about why it's happening and what to do about it.

I'm making an armoire and the sides of the carcase are plywood (yeah
yeah).
So I'm making a dado across the sides with a router to hold a shelf. 30"
to
the top of the dado from the bottom edge. I line both pieces next to each
other so that I can cut the dado across both so they will line up exactly
(clever I am!). I measure 30" up on one side (to the top of the dado),
make
my mark. 30" on the other side (make my mark). Get the straight edge &
router and zip! Wait...something's wrong. Ack! I measured 30" correctly
but I mark one side as the top of the dado, and the other side the bottom
of
the dado. I correct this by filling in the dado (which won't be seen),
and
cutting a new one at 31". Now I just have to remember to make the stiles
and door panels for the lower section an inch longer (can you see what's
coming?). "I should write this change in my plans, so I'll remember
it"..."nah, I'll remember it."

Tonight, after a long day at work, and stupidly snapping at my wife about
something unimportant, I tell her I'm kinda tired to work in the shop, and
she says "you better not, you'll make a mistake and be upset." ......
Well, Norm works till the wee hours doesn't he?, so I decide, I won't do
anything _major_, I'll just rough cut the pieces for the doors, rails, and
stiles. The cuts were all perfect...they really were if I didn't have to
add back that missing 1" for the lower stiles and door panels. Why why why
do I this? Now I'll have to make a special trip and go back to the
lumberyard and find matching pieces (if I can), and start that section
over.
More gas $$$ and more lumber $$$. Why don't I just start with 50% more
and be done with it?

Another day on this same project I took 2 hours to lay out the
measurements,
and miter cuts for the cornice pieces. Checked, and double-checked...even
tried the measurements and cuts on some old pine I had...perfect. Got out
the "real" lumber and walked over to the miter saw and promptly made the
angle cuts backwards....sigh.

I'll stick with my day job and take solace in knowing most people I work
with can't traverse a directory tree or distinguish between click and
double-click even after I've showed them a gazillion times. I'm good at
something I guess.

Time for a cold one. Here's to those who do it right the first time!
Duke

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"Dukester" wrote in message
. ..
Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many
of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask
myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.


As long as you learn something each time you make a mistake, then you will
be fine. Look at it this way, since the mistakes cause a fair amount of
pain, you are unlikely to repeat them.
My theory is that eventually I will make every mistake possible and if I can
avoid them all in the future, I will be a perfect woodworker (like Norm )

Frank

"Dukester"
Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.


tri·al and er·ror

noun

trying of different alternatives: a method of finding a satisfactory
solution or means of doing something by experimenting with
alternatives and eliminating failures

Duke,

If it wasn't for this method of "learning", I would be hard pressed to
get anything done. Besides, look on the bright side, you're building
a really nice lumber rack. When I'm working in my shop (garage),
inevitablly one of my neighbors will come over to ask what I'm making.
I always says it depends, either a (insert project) or firewood, I
just have to see how it goes today.

Good luck,

Chuck

"Dukester" wrote in message
. ..
Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many
of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask
myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.

(snip of very familiar stuff)

I'd be perfect if it weren't for my mistakes. Duke, I'm making a stereo
cabinet and did exactly the me thing with a shelf dado. Twice.

Bob

"Bob Schmall" wrote in message
...

"Dukester" wrote in message
. ..
Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to
many
of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask
myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.

(snip of very familiar stuff)

I'd be perfect if it weren't for my mistakes. Duke, I'm making a stereo
cabinet and did exactly the same thing with a shelf dado. Twice.

Bob, whose typing skills mirror his woodworking expertise.

BTDT far too often.

How about leaving the FF as it (correctly?) is and going back and
fixing the original dados? You could plough out a wide 2" to 3" dado
in the ply panels and insert a filler strip of solid wood. Then cut the
right dados into this strip. You could even make the insert strip of a
contrasting wood and "feature" it.
Just a thought.

Art
(who has many "features" in his projects)




"Dukester" wrote in message
...

"Norman D. Crow" wrote in message
No, learning how to turn it into an *opportunity*!

I spent a lot of time last night thinking about how I could still use the
pieces I cut too short. I *suppose* I could add an inch filler strip to the
face frame on the bottom where the doors overlap but this presents a couple
of other "hmmmm...i don't know"s:

One, the face frame will then be an inch higher and have sort of a raised
lip over the shelf on the inside. I guess this would not *really* matter as
the only time it would be seen is when the doors were open, but stilll....
Second is that there would then be a glue line just below where the doors
end at the point where the 1" filler strip meets the real face frame... And
now that the face frame is already installed, it seem like it would be tough
to get that mating line as crisp as if I ran both pieces over the jointer
prior to installation.....

Thoughts?

Thanks for the kind words anyhow. Things always look better on Fridays.

--
Cheers!
Duke

"Dukester" wrote in message ...
Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many of
you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask myself
why do I even bother with woodworking.


Hey, listen: For every major project I take on (well, major for ME
anyway), I now know that every single component will have to be made
at least twice: once to screw it up and hopefully, a second time to
get it right. I mean EVERY SINGLE part. I now buy 230% of the wood
required for any project AUTOMATICALLY. The extra 30% for the usual
safety margin, plus the extra 100% for the first piece that I know I'm
gonna screw up. Occasionally, well, rarely, I may have a little wood
left over. More often, I still need to go back for more wood, for
the third or fourth try.

Yes, I'd love to do this for a living, except for the part where my
family and I starve to death....

"Bob Schmall" wrote in message

I'd be perfect if it weren't for my mistakes. Duke, I'm making a stereo
cabinet and did exactly the same thing with a shelf dado. Twice.

Bob, whose typing skills mirror his woodworking expertise.

I don't make too many mistakes, but I sure do make a lot of "design
changes" during a project. Yeah, I really meant it to be that way.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

In article , Edwin
Pawlowski wrote:

I don't make too many mistakes, but I sure do make a lot of "design
changes" during a project. Yeah, I really meant it to be that way.

If I was worried about mistakes, er, design changes, I'd never start a
project.

djb

--
Was that last sig line lame or what?

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 20:19:17 -0500, "Dukester"
wrote:
Here's to those who do it right the first time!

Wherever they are. G

Barry

In article ,
says...
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 20:19:17 -0500, "Dukester"
wrote:
Here's to those who do it right the first time!

Wherever they are. G

Barry

Yup- that would be me. Never made a cutting error, every part fits right
the first time, I buy only the exact amount of any wood I need as
spec'd on the blueprint, and the final project comes out exactly as
designed, no changes needed.

Vic
Grand Prize Winner,
2004 Liar's Club Competition,
Hobby Division.

Man, am I glad to hear this happens to other people. And I thought it
was just me. I run into the same problems on every project I do. And,
I never seem to learn. I feel so stupid, but man I love doing it.
Mistakes or not, I'll keep on trying and I hope you do to.

Measure once, cut twice......or is that measeue thrice and cut
twice....no, no...it's measure once, cut..........

Anyway, good luck.

Richard