Thread: Im starting out. Top 10 mistakes?

My two favorites.

Cutting the wrong side of the line.
Seeing the light at the bottom of a bowl.

LOL. Yep. Hilarious and lots of good advice at the same time.

Can't add much apart from for some a cigar or pipe is better than cake, and don't try too hard. Take it as play and learning at the same time.

More "errors" that can lead to frustrations but are easily avoided:

• Sticking your fingers where they shouldn't be.

This is the one that leads to the goriest threads. Never run machinery without safety guards. Use push sticks when possible - and safe. Always be aware of where your fingers are when operating meat-eaters. Don't operate machinery when distracted or tired or drunk or stone or sneezy or weepy or...

This is probably the most covered, discussed and photographed mistake. You probably know most of it. But you need to know most of it.

• Assuming tape measures are accurate

Sometimes you need to measure a length that's longer than your ruler. A tape measure becomes "needful" then. However... do not fool yourself into thinking it'll be accurate! Poor technique (allowing the tape to sag), stretched tape and faulty ends all contribute to a whoops factor.

It's generally good enough to measure your first length, but for subsequent lengths you're really better off to use the first piece as a template. IMO, of course.

• Using many different rulers when measuring a job.

Don't just assume that all rulers are equal. They're not. Settle for a two or three of different sizes and double-check them against each other. It saves a lot of cursng. DAMHIKT.

• Assuming that Squares are square

Get yourself a piece of wood with a nice, straight edge. Place the square on the edge and scribe a line. Flip the square over so it's pointing the opposite way - but still on the same straight edge! - and check that it lines up with your scribed line. If it doesn't, then it is out by half the amount of observed deviation.

• Using thick pencils for scribing cut marks

Don't. Trust me... just don't. Use a good, fine pencil. Or better still, use a scribing knife and only use a pencil over the top of the mark to make it more obvious at a glance.

• Botching metric/imperial conversions

If you have imperial plans, it's generally best to stick with imperial measurements. Ditto for metric. Otherwise, recompile the plans in the standard of your choice... and then double-check that all the measurements add up properly!

• Assuming that timber is square

Commercial materials such as MDF, ply, etc are generally cut squarely. But not always; I have bought sheets that have been mis-cut.

Ditto for dressed lumber from a yard... it's usually properly squared when milled but it doesn't take long for movement to play it's part.

Always double-check and joint/thickness if necessary.

• Failure to supply cake

Hmmm... Yeah. This should be #1!

Originally Posted by damian

Safety: Whenever I am distracted I stop working. Background noise, hurrying, tired, sick, cold, heat. All these increase your chances of injury tremendously.

You blokes are hilarious.

Not a top ten only some random musings.

I have a shed full of woodworking machinery. these allow me to make mistakes really quickly.

My tablesaw is emminently efficient at cutting wood a little too short.

My router turns wood needed later into dust at a wonderful rate.

The bandsaw makes beautiful curves in the wrong place.

Hand tools take real skill to make mistakes, and they make those mistakes more slowly with little noise, dust or fuss. You can make some really impressive mistakes with handtools, more intricate than machines will make. For top notch errors buy handtools.

Quality hand tools make a better class of mistake than cheap ones, and you'll spend more money making them.

The order in which you aquire your tools depends on the type of mistakes you want to make.

Only undertake your work when you are calm and focused. Plenty of time for drinking when you've finished, and if not finish earlier. If your not 100% don't start work, go straight to the fridge and make mistakes another day. Discourage your mother burning your sister.

Love them.

Thanks alot for the feedback guys, so much quality information here

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Who is that... that... that... Cro Magnon (I can't say Neanderthal, because seemingly that refers to a hand tool-using woodworker these days)? Why would you employ him to promote your machinery? He wouldn't be out of place in Borat's home village.

On the occasions he breaks into English he refers to adjacent surfaces as being parallel. Judging by the missing bits of fingers, I presume he's tried making his left hand 'parallel' at some time too. Very strange stuff.

Oh he reminds me of another 'expert' who had an airing here long time ago. Remember Robert J. McMahon for 'Expert Village'? Ehow has had a purge and his series on the use of handplanes when high has been relegated to the annals of history, but there's still a couple of series here and here where he shows how not to do it.

The internet really is a scarey place at times!

And that guy still had all fingers...............

Originally Posted by DavidG

And that guy still had all fingers...............

I wouldn't be too sure. Prosthetics have come a long way since Captain Hook.
Cheers,
Jim

If some one asks me if I have a hand to spare, I send them to the prosthetics department. They make hands! Not as good as the original though.

Lots of great advice here. As a relative novice myself, I would reinforce these:

Enjoy the thinking about woodwork. I've learnt that if I can't work out how to do something, the best solution will often come along if I just gently think about it for a while. And I've learnt to enjoy this thinking time.

Set up your workshop space so that you like it. Which will mean different things for different folks - but it is your space, so make it somewhere you really enjoy being (football on the radio on a Sunday afternoon works for me too).

Do a course if you can. I did a part time course 1 night a week for 3 years - learnt heaps and met nice blokes.

Learn how to use hand tools first. For me this engendered a lasting love of hand tools. The power tools are quicker, but sometimes taking my time is more fun.

Getting good tools is worth it. I've got lots of old second hand tools that are better at woodwork than I am, and I've also got some new shiny ones that will last for many years. I don't like buying rubbish as it is a waste of money, but I don't like paying a fortune either for the same reason.

Be ambitious. Just because you haven't made something amazing and fancy before doesn't mean you can't do it - it will just take longer and you'll make more mistakes.

When you make a mistake, try not to get angry. Be philosophical. There is always more wood. And you might have learnt something.

Stop using sharp tools if you get angry or tired or upset. When your mind isn't focused on what you are doing, you're much more likely to injure yourself, or make a mistake. Some mistakes hurt more than others.

The safety tips are really important. Safety first. Everything with sharp teeth wants to bite you. DAMHIKT.

Cake. Good cake. Always make time for cake.

Originally Posted by Poppa

Learn how to use hand tools first. For me this engendered a lasting love of hand tools. The power tools are quicker, but sometimes taking my time is more fun.


Be ambitious. Just because you haven't made something amazing and fancy before doesn't mean you can't do it - it will just take longer and you'll make more mistakes.

These two ^

and a few more

- ignore the people who say you shouldn't rout a radius on everything, it's so much fun using a router that you should do it at every opertunity (guess who got his first router last week? )

- woodies are generous people, so do what you can to give back, be it a few small toys you make and donate to the local community center, the random spare tool you send to a beginner (that #5's still getting a weekly workout Ern!), or the kindly advice or comment on someone's post. It will be repaid in kind I'm sure.

- Try something other than pine early on. Go visit your local timber yard and see if they have scraps under the cutoff bench you can practice with. It's not just good tools that make woodwork enjoyable, good wood makes a huge difference (though pine is great for certain things - WIP workbench pics coming soon!)

- Buy pencils in bulk. I must break or lose one a week!

Originally Posted by andrewr79

These two ^



- ignore the people who say you shouldn't rout a radius on everything, it's so much fun using a router that you should do it at every opertunity (guess who got his first router last week? )

-

hahaha, ok it is fun, maybe get some bits between 2-4mm stay away from 6-20mm radius. Unless you are using pine, pine does handel a radius.

On the subject of tools, be very wary when you see a tool described as 'tradesman quality'. It's usually a euphemism for crap.
Cheers,
Jim