What annoying mistake(s) do you continue to make?

[Harold Balzonia]

Some of us are slow learners...

I am continually leaving the lid off my paste wax container and then going back to the lathe and the next thing I know my wax container is full of shavings...

i frequently blow the dust out from the bottom of a bowl I'm sanding and forget I don't have my glasses on and end up with eyeballs full of saw dust...

I almost always forget to have a damp rag handy BEFORE I start gluing things up so I end up having to run over to the sink and try to find a rag that's never where it's supposed to be while the glue that squeezed out all over something I didn't want to get glue on taunts me....

I measure something once, twice, three times and have it laid out exactly right and make the perfect cut only to realize I forgot to account for the kerf of the saw blade....

im an idiot...

anyone else make the same stupid mistakes over and over?

[Lee Schierer]

If I did, I wouldn't tell anyone...:D I once made a set of doors for a cabinet and mis measured the opening width. The doors ended up with a 1" gap in the center of the opening. So I used some more wood and made a new set of doors but I added in the inch to both doors making them 1/2" each too large..... Fortunately I could trim the rails and didn't waste more wood.

[Doug Garson]

No I never make the same mistake twice. I have a blackboard in my shop with all the possible mistakes anyone could make listed. I have them colour coded, the really bad ones in red chalk all the way down to really minor ones in white chalk. Whenever I make a mistake I cross it off the list so I know not to make it again. By my last count I am 1000 down 1000 to go. Reminds me I need to go out and buy more red chalk. On a more serious note, I often plan a project down to the last detail usually in the middle of the night and then go into the shop and jump right into it without checking my plan.

[Jim Becker]

The most frequent repeat mistake I make is in measuring, being a half-inch (exactly) off because of mental mistakes...so for me, it's "measure at least three times, cut once...unless a fourth measurement should have been taken" :D :D :D

[Ellen Benkin]

There was a cartoon in the newspaper the other day where the guy said he measured three times and then took the average!

I also always forget the wet rag until I'm in the middle of a complicated glue up.

[John K Jordan]

im an idiot...

anyone else make the same stupid mistakes over and over?

Fellow idiots unite!

Mine include making that very last cut a wee fatal amount too deep on an especially critical tenon on the lathe. I guess I get bored and try to bypass the cut/try repetition. But on the plus side it's good practice since I get to make another one!

I have dozens more but I don't want to bore you...

JKJ

[Hoang N Nguyen]

For me, the mistaken I make the most is cutting things too short. Not because I didn't measure correctly, but because I didn't read my scale on the table saw or miter saw station correctly. Both my table saw and and miter saw stations have left to right scales on them. I've already had right to left scales so this has been an adjustment I haven't gotten use to yet, although it's been over a year now. Part of it may have to do with the fact I read my tape measure right to left so when I go to the table saw, my mind doesn't switch.

I would always read the scale right to left so I end up cutting 10.5" instead of the 11.5" I needed. This has happened dozens of times.

[Robert Engel]

Leaving the can open....gimme a break! :-D

How about measure once, forget.

Measure twice, not sure.

Measure third dime, cut a little long just to be safe.

Find out I read the tape wrong an still cut it short.

Now where's that board extender?

[Ted Reischl]

I do not make any mistakes. Ever. I am perfect. My shop is perfect. Everything I make is perfect. My house is perfect. My wife is perfect. The dog is perfect. I have the perfect answer for everything.

I am a perfect liar.

Obviously if one repeats the same mistake over and over, the result of that mistake was not painful enough. Try beating yourself with a rubber hose or something every time you goof up. You will learn fast. . . . to forget where you put the rubber hose.

[Robert Engel]

I do not make any mistakes. Ever. I am perfect. My shop is perfect. Everything I make is perfect. My house is perfect. My wife is perfect. The dog is perfect. I have the perfect answer for everything.

I am a perfect liar.

Obviously if one repeats the same mistake over and over, the result of that mistake was not painful enough. Try beating yourself with a rubber hose or something every time you goof up. You will learn fast. . . . to forget where you put the rubber hose.
Is this the Down to Earth WW'er? LOL

[Jay Larson]

The one I seem to make over and over is to not check the stain coverage. I stain the project, let it dry, and go to put on the sealer. Of course just AFTER I put the brush to the wood, I see a big ole fingerprint, or a slight drip, or a brush mark, or blob.

Why can't you see them 10 seconds earlier?

[rudy de haas]

"Sure, I can do that"

This Is almost always wrong and yet I keep saying it....

[Robert Engel]

How about, "Ok the last time I did this I......."

When its all over,

"Dang, NOW I remember & it didn't work too well that time either!!"

[Mike Kees]

Getting out of bed every day... Losing my keys for the 8000th time.My biggest woodworking mistake is not spending enough time at it.

[Sam Murdoch]

The one that keeps biting me is marking a cut line with my pencil - then changing my thinking or restudying the grain pattern etc. and then marking a 2nd cut line - WITHOUT ERASING THE 1ST. Guess what happens too often (though thankfully not anywhere as often as it used to be).

I always have several good pencil erasers on the bench. :D

[William Shelley]

I've been known to measure backwards if I'm looking at the tape measure upside down. E.g. I want 33-1/2" but i put a mark at 32-1/2" instead because I'm an idiot.

I also frequently don't properly account for the thickness of something, like making a drawer box as wide as the cabinet interior without subtracting for the slides.

Another thing that bites me is if I've got one thing "off" from a set. For example making a set of cabinets that are all 24" wide but the last one is 25" wide for some reason, I'll end up with only drawer parts for making drawers to fit 24" wide cabinets.

Usually I discover this after I've cleaned up and my machines aren't at the same settings they were for the other stock.

[Ted Reischl]

Usually I discover this after I've cleaned up and my machines aren't at the same settings they were for the other stock.

See, that is why us old guys are soooo smart. We go out and buy things like Wixey gage's for our TS's. I use one to set the blade angle and the other is the Wixey fence system. That way, we can always reset the fence to exactly where it was. I am trying to figure out how to do it on the RAS as we bloviate.

If you live in the analog world of normal TS fences, expect things to be, well, analog.

Oh, the other way to get repeatable parts is to build yourself a cnc machine. One great thing about it is you can also build lots of incorrect parts that are nice and identical to each other! That is awesome!

[Prashun Patel]

I keep making things without learning Sketchup.

I keep trying to make silk purse furniture out of sows' ears wood.

[Patrick McCarthy]

well, to be candid, my ongoing failure is trying to amuse my wife. After 38 years of marriage, I'm at the point where I need to accept the fact that my sense of humor is so "unique" that only I am amused by it . . . . . only so much eye-rolling a guy can take . . .

OTOH, out in the shop the biggest problem I have is running of time . . . and that seems to happen almost daily . . .

[Mike Manning]

When I measure with a tape measure and I'm trying to be pretty accurate I don't trust that little bit of wiggle in the "catch" at the end of the tape so I'll often start from the 1" mark. However, far far too often I then forget that I started at an 1" rather than at the end of the tape and my cut ends up an inch too long. Doh!

[Sam Murdoch]

When I measure with a tape measure and I'm trying to be pretty accurate I don't trust that little bit of wiggle in the "catch" at the end of the tape so I'll often start from the 1" mark. However, far far too often I then forget that I started at an 1" rather than at the end of the tape and my cut ends up an inch too long. Doh!

Start at the 10" mark for some excitement :D

[Edwin Santos]

Neglecting to use sacrificial material and proceeding to route into the surface of my worktop. Done three times now.

Silver lining, improving my inlay skills.

[Ralph Okonieski]

I prefer to think of myself as a pioneer (forging ahead to make new mistakes). I try hard to not repeat mistakes; does not mean I do not repeat them, just not consistently.

[Paul K. Johnson]

99% of all my errors are measurement errors. I don't make too many of those though.

Two projects ago I ruined a lot of very good plywood. That was my first project after putting my Incra fence on the table saw. I had it calibrated within a couple thou but then did some routing. I forgot to take off the router fence which made everything that thickness too small. And I didn't realize it until I'd cut all the walls of my project. I'll use the wood for something else but it was super annoying.

I thought I'd never do that again and then in the next day or two I almost did it again. The saw was fired up and the wood about to be fed through it when I caught myself.

I've had an incra on my router table forever and love it. But it's a lot more complex to use on the table saw when it's doing dual functions. Makes it easy to make mistakes really. I'm hoping that after I've used it for a while it will become more automatic for me.

[Jim Becker]

For me, the mistaken I make the most is cutting things too short. Not because I didn't measure correctly, but because I didn't read my scale on the table saw or miter saw station correctly.
Yea, that's a major corollary to what I mentioned previously...D'oh!!

[Leo Graywacz]

When I measure with a tape measure and I'm trying to be pretty accurate I don't trust that little bit of wiggle in the "catch" at the end of the tape so I'll often start from the 1" mark. However, far far too often I then forget that I started at an 1" rather than at the end of the tape and my cut ends up an inch too long. Doh!

I use to do that too. Now I go to the 10" mark. If you can't notice you're off by 10" then you deserve it.

My most common error is the error between 13/16" and 11/16" It measures 13 and I cut it at 11/16" Grrrr

[Art Moore]

Lack of patience when finishing. It bites me more than I like to admit.

[stevo wis]

In addition to all mistakes mentioned, the one that i do is to leave an almost finished project in the shop and then ding it up starting other things. The easiest thing to prevent but does that stop me? nah.

[Steve Demuth]

When I measure with a tape measure and I'm trying to be pretty accurate I don't trust that little bit of wiggle in the "catch" at the end of the tape so I'll often start from the 1" mark. However, far far too often I then forget that I started at an 1" rather than at the end of the tape and my cut ends up an inch too long. Doh!

Doesn't the cut end up too short by an inch? Need 20", measure to 20" from the 1" mark, get 19"?

At least that's how I make that particular mistake.

[Steve Demuth]

I've dug more tearout in boards with a plane that was a bit dull or poorly adjusted, and which I didn't bother to check on an offcut before taking a swipe at a piece I care about that I care to remember. Likewise, I always remember to have a tight backer board for planing end grain AFTER I chip out a sliver from a piece.

[Bill Berklich]

Lol.... MY mistake is watching a lot of you guys thinking "That looks EASY!", "I can do that!", "It will only take a day or two" - apparently I'm just not that good!

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Measure once. Cut once. Where is that board stretcher.

[Steve Reich]

Well, every time I go into the shop, I bring the same habits but expect different results. Never really works, does it?

I make many of the same measuring mistakes that others have mentioned, and this thread heartens me because now I no longer feel so alone and ashamed.

There are, however, three things that I find I do often.

1. Use a tool---screwdriver, wrench, chisel, tape measure, pencil, whatever---and don't put it back in its place. I'll need it 20-30 minutes later and will then spend the next 20 minutes trying to figure out where I placed it. Its habits such as that which make me glad that I do this as hobby rather than for a living.

2. Have the wrong blast gates open/closed and wonder what has gone wrong with the dust collector when the machine I'm operating spits dust at me.

3. I have difficult time seeing things in three dimension. For instance, yesterday I was putting together a baseboard radiator cover in Arts and Crafts style. I cut everything right. I even marked which sides were top and bottom, but when it came to assemble, and I had to turn the pieces upside down, and I, of course, put them on backward and upside down.

[John K Jordan]

Measure once. Cut once. Where is that board stretcher.

Give up the silly wood thing. Take up pottery and metalworking where you can always add material!

JKJ

[Tom Bain]

Forgetting to put my ear plugs in ... so I can plausibly deny hearing my wife telling me to come in from the shop :-)

[Steve Demuth]

Give up the silly wood thing. Take up pottery and metalworking where you can always add material!

My wife knits. Makes a mistake, and just pulls the yarn until she's behind the mistake, and starts again. It's a beautiful thing.

[Mike Manning]

Doesn't the cut end up too short by an inch? Need 20", measure to 20" from the 1" mark, get 19"?

At least that's how I make that particular mistake.

I didn't make myself clear Steve. I'm measuring the inside dimensions of an old Craftsman toolbox because I want to make a wooden tool tray to replace the one that's missing. When I measure those dimensions I start at 1" on the left and read 20" on the right. I end up forgetting my length should be 19" and cut it 20". Earlier this year, I did that making a drawer pullout for my wife's vanity. Completely finished the pullout, took it in the bathroom and took me a minute to figure out why the hell that drawer pullout wouldn't even fit into the cabinet. Doh!

But now that you mention it I'm likely to make that one as well!

[Brian Henderson]

1. Use a tool---screwdriver, wrench, chisel, tape measure, pencil, whatever---and don't put it back in its place. I'll need it 20-30 minutes later and will then spend the next 20 minutes trying to figure out where I placed it. Its habits such as that which make me glad that I do this as hobby rather than for a living.

That's one thing that I do all the time that drives me crazy. I have this super-organized shop, a place for everything and I just put things down on the bench and leave them there. Then I have to spend a couple of hours putting everything away. Drives me nuts.

[John K Jordan]

...
1. Use a tool---screwdriver, wrench, chisel, tape measure, pencil, whatever---and don't put it back in its place. I'll need it 20-30 minutes later and will then spend the next 20 minutes trying to figure out where I placed it. Its habits such as that which make me glad that I do this as hobby rather than for a living.
...

I spent an hour yesterday looking for the clear plastic storage box with all my spare chuck jaws. The shop isn't that big - I must have put it in a REALLY secure place for safekeeping!

JKJ

[Roger Marty]

Yes, I set pieces of milled wood or tools on surfaces that either aren't stable to begin with, or aren't stable when I start pounding something with a mallet.

I've had a router fall to the floor (bent the base plate), chisels, other power tools, etc. I've had to redo pieces that get a huge dent on a corner.

I'm pretty much a moron.

I've had my SawStop PCS for 4 weeks now. I already tripped the brake cartridge as a $200 Freud Super Dado was coasting to a stop (I bumped the blade with a metal ruler when the blade was at 160 RPM-- as verified by SawStop). I think the Super Dado blade survived just fine-- no visible damage since it was only doing 160 RPM. But a $90 mistake for the brake cartridge replacement.

Then just last night I was using the SawStop as a work surface and managed to scrape up the edge of one of the cast iron wings with a belt sander.

Yup, I'm a moron.

[Doug Garson]

I spent an hour yesterday looking for the clear plastic storage box with all my spare chuck jaws. The shop isn't that big - I must have put it in a REALLY secure place for safekeeping!

JKJ
I've done that more than once (contrary to my earlier post), what I do to overcome this now is after I find it instead of putting it back where I found it, I put it back in the first place I looked, the theory being next time I'll find it in the first place I look.

[Paul K. Johnson]

I've sat at my desk where I build models, put my knife down and then spend half an hour looking for it. What kills me is I never moved. I know it's right in front of me someplace and I just can't find it. It didn't roll onto the floor. I always find it in a place I've looked ten times and for whatever reason it was just invisible to me.

I pull out a screw, set it down so I can grab the driver or go in the house to grab something and then can't remember where I set the screw down 30 seconds ago. I do that all the time and it drives me crazy. I'm moving fast to get something done and don't take a moment to consciously remember where I put something.

But... I've done that so many times in the past year that I'm much better about taking a second to note in my mind where I'm putting something. I never forget where I put it when I do that. It's when I'm moving fast and don't think about where I'm putting something that I can't find it. Taking that moment makes all the difference.

Man would I love to have all those hours back I've spent looking for stuff that I just had in my hands...

[Brad Barnhart]

my shop is my sanctuary. Every tool has it's place, & is kept there. tape measures are kept at or close to every saw.

My biggest hang up is measuring inside measurements & angles. No matter how many times I measure them & check them, I can never get them right.

Another mistake I occasionally make is forgetting to check the squareness of my sawdeck of my scroll saws. My saws are higher than most because I sit in a barber chair at the saw. When customers come in the shop, the saws are the first thing they lean on, invariably. Which moves them out of square.

I finally had to break down & buy new tape measures that are for drunks & old people, as my Uncle would say, so I could see all the marks. I kept missin' measurements by an 1/8" or thereabouts & I couldn't figure out why. I counted it out as not takin' in account of blade width. Finally it came down to not bein' able see the marks on the tape.:mad:

[Patrick Irish]

Not using a backing board when routing. Always tell myself there won't be tear out.

There's always tear out. I just hate ruining perfectly good pieces of wood haha!

[Ben Zara]

Using the actual work piece to try and sneak up on a perfect fit for joinery instead of using a test piece.

This practice always ends well...

[Bill McNiel]

I've done that more than once (contrary to my earlier post), what I do to overcome this now is after I find it instead of putting it back where I found it, I put it back in the first place I looked, the theory being next time I'll find it in the first place I look.

Doug - that is a Genius solution! Absolutely brilliant!

Yes, I "lose" tools, parts, my vape, my mind all the time every day and my shop is fairly well organized, but my biggest issue is procedural. I think a lot about the process of a project and develop a build plan. I then start with Step 2 go to Step 5 and then Step 3 and wonder WTF? I am going to install a whiteboard so I can have a fully visible list of all the step and actually follow my sequential plan.

[Simon MacGowen]

That is easy.

I always forget the last mistake(s) I made!!!

[Doug Garson]

Thanks Bill, I suspect what I probably have done on several occasions is during a shop cleanup decided to also reorganize the shop and put some things in what, at the time, seemed like more logical spots to better utilize limited space. Then a few weeks or months later when I needed them my brain remembered the "old" place instead of the new place. Maybe the genius thing to do would be to not reorganize in the first place!

[Johnnyy Johnson]

The mistake I make is since I am a on again and off again wood worker, once I learn how to do a hard task I forget to make notes and then 6 months later It's like I have to learn it over again. Not simple stuff, but the complicated stuff. I made a lot of notes lately on dove tails, and that special stuff when your mind goes "oh yea" thats the way to do it. Write it down...Make shop notes!!
Thanks
Johnny

[Steve Demuth]

my shop is my sanctuary. Every tool has it's place, & is kept there. tape measures are kept at or close to every saw.

My shop is my sanctuary, and one thing it's a sanctuary from is having to put everything back in its place :D

[Leo Graywacz]

I know exactly where every one of my tools are.

In the shop....somewhere.

[John K Jordan]

I know exactly where every one of my tools are.

In the shop....somewhere.

Ha! Mine too. Unless I carried some to the barn to work on something. Or put them in the little farm truck. Or in a bag at the house for a fixit job. I have even found missing tools in my back pocket!

But the scary thing that happens here all the time is some mysterious stranger sneaks in and moves things. I spent a half hour yesterday looking for a woodturned platter my wife wanted to put on the table. I finally found it - the mystery person must have come in yesterday while we were home (past the gates, past the guard dog, crawled past the motion detectors, and even somehow avoided the security cameras) and took it to the shop and put it right next to my can of Renaissance wax. Since it was handy I put some wax on it.

JKJ

[Martin Wasner]

Getting out of bed every day...

Winner winner chicken dinner.

[phil harold]

I "inch" things.
if it is 2'3 5/8"I will cut it 26 5/8"
Sooner or later I guarantee it will happen!

[Mel Fulks]

Some commercial shops require all measurements to be in inches for that reason, Phil. If anyone thinks that is tedious ...
they clearly have not worked with drawings using all milimeters.

[Martin Wasner]

Some commercial shops require all measurements to be in inches for that reason, Phil. If anyone thinks that is tedious ...
they clearly have not worked with drawings using all milimeters.

I worked in one shop that used feet and inches. Drove me nuts, a cabinetmaker around here has no clue what a foot is or what it used for. It's like handing an iPad to a horse.

[phil harold]

Some commercial shops require all measurements to be in inches for that reason, Phil. If anyone thinks that is tedious ...
they clearly have not worked with drawings using all milimeters.

my problem as a carpenter would still be an inch short even if I only worked in inches
being right handed The pencil is in my right hand and tape is in my left
so the numbers on the tape are upside down from you
so if i need 22 and 5/8ths I can easily find the 22 and then the 5/8ths mark to the right of the number
maybe its just me
But I have cut it three times and it is still too short!

[Scott Welty]

Oh yes...reading the ruler backwards and cutting at, say, 12 1/2 inches instead of 11 1/2...and then making 20 of something !
Scott

[Jim Becker]

my problem as a carpenter would still be an inch short even if I only worked in inches
being right handed The pencil is in my right hand and tape is in my left
so the numbers on the tape are upside down from you
so if i need 22 and 5/8ths I can easily find the 22 and then the 5/8ths mark to the right of the number
maybe its just me
But I have cut it three times and it is still too short!

Phil, if this is a constant problem, you can buy a tape that is designed to read "correct side up" from that direction. :)

[David Utterback]

I have repeatedly made measurement errors of every type mentioned. Also, glancing at the ugly mug in the mirror on occasion. Thankfully, we only have mirrors in our bathrooms and vehicles.

[Brian Henderson]

Oh yes...reading the ruler backwards and cutting at, say, 12 1/2 inches instead of 11 1/2...and then making 20 of something !
Scott

Of course, doing it the way you say, cutting at 12.5 instead of 11.5, isn't a big deal because you can cut that extra inch off. It's a little harder putting that inch back on.

[Mike Nolan]

My two biggest mistakes are:
Carefully making a plan and then not following it.
Trusting unpowered tools not to bite me. The two biggest offenders are chisels and drill bits.

[Von Bickley]

My list would be too long to post here.

[Julie Moriarty]

Believing my memory is correct when doubt is telling me to go back and double check.