So I finally went to the emergency room for treatment related to Neanderthal woodworking.
Completely wound-up about some personal issues, I retreated to my basement shop to blow off some steam and practise some joinery. Frustrated with my inadequate workbench and annoyed by the por lighting, I adopted some "unorthodox" work holding techniques to speed things up a bit. Then I sliced open my left forearm with a newly sharpened 1/4 inch chisel that left a museum quality 1 1/2" gash.
I hardly felt a thing but the blood and gore were hard to ignore. The ER staff admired both the straight clean cut and my duct-tape first aid. Two hours and four stiches later I am here to tell you, the woodworker's state of mind is as important and anything else in the shop.
The good news is that it could easily have been much worse, and I'll be the wiser from now on: It doesn't matter what you know... matters what you do.
But you already knew this. So did I....