Cheat sheet for common newbie mistakes?
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- This topic has 18 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 5 months ago by Paul Sellers.
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25 January 2014 at 12:41 am #26485
I’ve seen lots of suggestions scattered throughout forum posts, but has anybody compiled a cheat sheet for the really common beginner mistakes and how to avoid them? Or would that list be too big to be practical?
I can seed the list with a few that I’ve learned in the last few days:
– For both chisel work and assembly, make sure your workbench is clean before picking up a mallet. You don’t want stray wood chips or other debris bruising the other side of your work piece.
– When cutting a knife wall, make sure you do a light pass first or the knife can get away from you. (I know Paul says this in the videos, but apparently I don’t listen. :))
– If your dado is just a little too narrow, a few swipes with the plane on the other board may fix it up.1. Make sure your combination square or square you use for layout is actually square.
2. Use only one tape measure when working on a project. 12 inches on one may not be 12 inches on another.
3. Steel rules, same as above but as I recently discovered my steel rule is out 1/16 of an inch compared to my tape. This is a problem.
4. Sawdust mixed with glue makes some problems go away 🙂
5. There’s a tendency nearing completion of a project to “get it done”, resist this urge.
6. Practice cutting to the knife line on scrap pieces of wood once a week. Scribe a bunch of lines on a board and practice, cut them off (they make great glue sticks) and repeat. Accurate sawing is vital.
7. Keep a journal, I’m a terrible artist, my journal is basically just a rough sketch with mostly notes.
8. Resist wiping away excess glue, let it dry for an hour or so and pare it away with a chisel.
25 January 2014 at 2:41 pm #265119. Confident and deliberate cuts are cleaner and more accurate then timid and hesitant cuts.
10. Sharpen, sharpen, sharpen. Before, during and after a project.
11. Practice on scraps. Repetition builds skill, confidence and muscle memory.
Your project should never be you practice piece!25 January 2014 at 3:17 pm #26519Sometimes it’s hard for me to see the grain direction but I can “feel” it when I plane. I have found that marking the grain direction on the work saves frustration if I have to plane it again later.
If you start getting tear out when planing, change your tactics or it is likely to get worse.
When planing, if the surface supporting the work is not flat, it is difficult to plane the work flat. Shimming the low spots with wood shavings can help.
Only use your 2 reference faces when laying out lines. It really does make a difference 🙂
There’s a lot covered here already. All I can add is don’t expect perfection and flawless performance as a beginner woodworker. For every mistake, look at them as a positive that you have learned something new. Don’t take the errors to heart and allow them to deflate your enthusiasm.
30 January 2014 at 10:25 pm #2689612. Less is more when pairing or chopping take smaller bites you have more control. Also when using router fine set cleaner finish easier to control. When using a plane start with a fine set will help against tear out.
13. When marked a line or gauge lines put a cross or wiggly line in waste to be removed this helps to cut right side of line.
Did anyone say sharpen tools regularly of course they did.15. Analyze and plan until you are so immobilized by doubt and burdened by preparation that you never start. (I do this, so I put it first, or 15th).
16. Use sharp cutting tools to make layout errors permanent.
17. Apply finishes to trap and immortalize pet hair and insect fauna from around your home.
18. Mark the waste side during layout so that when you cut on the wrong side of the line anyway, you don’t have to waste time making excuses for why the joint is loose.
19. Apply dye, stain, and finish to your project to see how it looks rather than exploring with cutoffs. Everyone likes a surprise!I don’t know how to do these tongue in cheek:
20. If you chip an edge, e.g., a tenon shoulder, CA glue (Tightbond medium plus spray activator) will let you put the splinter back on and get back to work.It’s not the strongest glue, but works for this.
21. If a shoulder is off a bit, you can knife a line and pare to it to fix it. If you have multiple shoulders in an assembly, like the coffee table leg, you may need to move a shoulder on a tight joint in this way to close an open one.Dados can be adjusted similarly.
22. A trick from Charles Neil: If you need to thickness wood for a project, skim just a minimum off and experiment with the dyes and stains you plan to use. Develop your finishing schedule. You are using your actual project wood, so you’ll see how that particular piece of wood blotches, responds, etc. Write it down. Now plane off those dyes, stains, and finishes to get to your desired thickness. This lets you make whatever finishing experiments and messes you need to make when it doesn’t matter.
23. Use your square to see if your joint faces are square and flat rather than just doing test fits. The square can often show you exactly where there’s a bump or a problem and reduce guessing.
24. Learn that color and finish are things you can tune and adjust, just like a joint. You don’t have to accept what comes out of the can (even after it is on the wood) and you don’t have to get it perfect on the first shot, usually.
25. You see things in your own project that others don’t and which may not be there. Don’t get disheartened. It’s better than you think. Glue up and finishing do amazing things.13 February 2014 at 4:50 am #27797Lots of good tips here. I haven’t been online much lately and am just catching up to all the suggestions. Thanks all!
(Also, if I get energetic I’ll format these suggestions and post them somewhere. :))
19 February 2014 at 10:03 pm #28095We are planning on gradually filming free extra videos on sharpening and trouble-shooting as well as techniques for various tools. Can’t promise any due dates at the moment though, there’s so many things we want to film…
20 February 2014 at 10:30 am #2811326. Don’t panic! 10 minutes is usually plenty of time for a glue-up.
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