What is your Achilles heel?

[Dave Anthony]

Anyone else have a certain wood working task that seems to bite you when you least expect it? For me it's drilling. It doesn't happen all the time, but for any given project if I had to guess where I was going to screw up I'd wager a drill would be involved. From a pilot hole for a hinge screw that's not aligned at 90 degrees to tearout in plywood to a misaligned shelf pin there seems to be no limit to the ways I can make a mess using a drill. Is this just me, or do others have demons that rear up when performing certain tasks?

[Victor Robinson]

I'm new enough to the hobby where most things are still my Achilles heel. But if there's one that is absolutely preventable it's drilling - I always manage to forget to support the exit and end up with massive tearout.

Clamping is also an Achilles heel of mine, but that's just because I don't have enough clamps. :)

[Van Huskey]

Mine is when I have 1 piece of a particular unique wood to finish a project I can guarantee I will do something in the cutting/milling to insure I have a major issue. More than once I have had to redesign a piece as a result. The last time was with some birch that had grain I had NEVER seen anything like it in birch before.

[Gil Knowles]

Dave

I have to agree with you on drilling. I always try hard to drill holes in the right spot/depth but quite often manage to screw it up one way or another. I'am not sure what my problem is with it!

Gil

[Jim Rimmer]

For me it's when I have repetitive tasks (multiple identical parts, like drawers, etc). I will get lulled into a false feeling of confidence and do one wrong. Glue the front on the back or glue something upside down.

[Van Huskey]

For me it's when I have repetitive tasks (multiple identical parts, like drawers, etc). I will get lulled into a false feeling of confidence and do one wrong. Glue the front on the back or glue something upside down.


By the end of this thread I expect to realize I have as many heels as a millipede... :o

[Prashun Patel]

For me it's sanding. I get lazy, skip grits, and it shows up after the 2nd or 3rd coat of finish. Nowadays I allot twice as many days for sanding. One to do it, and the next to do it right.

[Richard Spain]

For me it is the finish. I can never get it right.
My expectations are for sure higher than my skill level.

[Tom Rick]

For me it's starting a project.....



& then having to actually finish it!

[Greg Peterson]

Seems every time I glue something up and drive a handful of 16 or 18 gauge nails with the nail gun I end up having to dig 'em out because I didn't want to drive a nail in one particular spot.

It's only happened a couple of times or three, but that is often enough that anymore I think twice before I grab the nailer.

[Larry Fox]

For me it is a tie between miter joints and cutting curves. Both seem to require alot of setup and post-cut "fiddling" to get right.

Oh - and I hate routers so they always seem to confound me for some reason.

[Joe Shinall]

Keepin my damn shop clean and organized so I can actually work. 3 hours in the shop, 2 to clean and one to work. Seems like a daily task.

[Alan Lightstone]

Finishing. Always starts out promising, but there's always some flaws I notice later.

[Jon Lanier]

Anything that needs a hinge. Cabinets to Jewelry boxes. I think it's a mental thing. :eek:

[Brian Kent]

Routers.

I find so many ways to tear out, to cause one deep flaw in a perfect curve, chowder an end. And I have no excuse because Pat Warner only lives an hour away and gives lessons.

[Neal Clayton]

Anything that needs a hinge. Cabinets to Jewelry boxes. I think it's a mental thing. :eek:

jigs are the solution to all hinge problems, imo ;). reduce anything to a repetitive task that's impossible to screw up, and you won't. i meticulously make and test hinge jigs and lock plate jigs, for that reason.

for me it's cleaning glue residue. i can always convince myself that one of the primary reasons i use colored shellacs in lieu of stains is that they hide such things, "screw it, it won't show", but a little bit usually does. i despise cleaning glue squeeze out from joints, and i despise standing and watching something that's clamped up waiting for the glue to finish squeezing out even more.

[Rick Markham]

Mine is when I have 1 piece of a particular unique wood to finish a project I can guarantee I will do something in the cutting/milling to insure I have a major issue. More than once I have had to redesign a piece as a result. The last time was with some birch that had grain I had NEVER seen anything like it in birch before.

I suffer from this sometimes too! It always keeps it interesting though :D Recently was the first time I made an error that I couldn't fix and had to start over with something else. I was a little irritated at myself. Dang wenge... that stuff has a mind of it's own, and I didn't listen well enough to it.

[Paul Atkins]

Pricing and keeping track of time. I just get wrapped up in a project and forget how many hours have gotten away.

[Mike Zilis]

I can honestly say that I've never made a mitre joint that I'm totally proud of. I actually avoid them if I can, but that only leads to a lack of practice/experience ensuring that I continue to struggle. My plan is to start using a shooting board and hand plane whenever possible to true them up.

Mike

[Mark Woodmark]

By the end of this thread I expect to realize I have as many heels as a millipede... :o

I agree. Finishing is mine. It is time consuming for me to just get the thing to look ok....not great, just ok. Assembly of large pieces is another. I refer to this as controlled violence

[Cody Colston]

I have many but glue-ups is probably my biggest one. I get really stressed out on large glue-ups because inevitably something doesn't fit right, even after doing a dry fit.

When I spread that first bit of glue and the open-time clock starts ticking, I'm sure my pulse rate and blood pressure goes up.

[John Pratt]

Matching grain during glue-ups. Even when I think I have it as good as it is going to get, the finish goes on and some how the grain pattern changed to something that would look better another way.

[Van Huskey]

Mark, Cody right there with you! What is it with parts, the second you open a glue pot they shrink or swell just enough. I am standing there looking at a pile of pieces that fit "perfectly" 20 minutes ago now not a single ones seems remotely close... :mad: I mean the thing is a loose tenon not a "too freakin' big to fit in the mortise" tenon! :eek:

[glenn bradley]

I have fought to achieve a Zen-like calm during glue ups but I can still ruin anything while finishing if I am not really lucky.

[Bill Huber]

Well my big one is angles, I always cut them the wrong way. I have to lay things out and really think about it before I cut them and then I have to make a test cut and then still screw it up.

[Mark Woodmark]

I have fought to achieve a Zen-like calm during glue ups but I can still ruin anything while finishing if I am not really lucky.

Zen-like calm?.....HA!! I feel like I start out that way and end up in a frenzy trying to unassemble the thing and reassemble it right before the glue sets up.

[Michael Trivette]

I never have enough cash to buy enough wood to do all the projects I want.

[george wilson]

I never learned a lot about electricity,though I can do ordinary house wiring,like outlets,lights. Can usually manage to reverse a motor.

[Charles Krieger]

My last major mess was when I assembled a cabinet and one pieces did not seat in the dado completely even with multiple clamps applied. Ruined a $100 sheet of plywood on that one. (It fit perfectly during the dry assembly, dado was snug but not tight) After the attempt to assemble it I couldn't get it apart as the glue set up too quickly. Sad part is I still don't know why it didn't go together!

My skills are slowly improving but I think I have had all the problems posted by all the other people at one time or another. Any tool that cuts wood can mess it up. Any assembly can be done wrong. Any finish can be messed up. I've done it all.

I think it is the challenge in all of this that makes me love woodworking!

[Sean Nagle]

I find it hard to keep my momentum going throughout a project. When a particularly challenging task is at hand, I hesitate diving into it out of fear of messing up. My attention is then diverted to another project. That's how I always seem to have about 20 works-in-progress sitting around the shop at any one time.

[Erik Christensen]

my weakness is always related somehow to glue - i have yet to learn how much to apply to get a good bond while not having so much squeeze out that it honks up the finish.

I have tried not wiping with a damp rag but instead removing clamps at 30 minutes & scraping while still soft - but no matter what I still can see it when the stain/dye is applied

i now feel like all those little yellow bottles on the shelf spend all their time when the shop is dark and I am not around planning how they are going to screw up my next project... evil little suckers.... they all hate me.... it's not fair....

[Eric DeSilva]

You guys are lucky. My Achilles heel is more systemic--patience. I struggle with the point at which my aspirations for a project go from perfect, to great, to good, to "good enough"...

[paul cottingham]

You guys are lucky. My Achilles heel is more systemic--patience. I struggle with the point at which my aspirations for a project go from perfect, to great, to good, to "good enough"...

+1 I can totally relate.

[Brent Ring]

Being in a hurry at the end!