Measure once cut twice

[garethharvey]

Is it only me, this happens all the bl**dy time, why can't I just take my time.

Rebated this leg on the wrong side.

 

[DiscoStu]

No it happens to us all! Well at least it happens to me too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RossJarvis]

Yep, rather too often.



To hear some comments you'd think some people rarely make mistakes, but I always say that making mistakes is learning in action. (although it get's a bit frustrating after the 100th time )

 

[Hemsby]

Sure there is a saying “Those who never made a mistake have never made anything”

 

[morturn]

Can you treat this as a ‘design opportunity’?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My b.i.l. has in his garage a perfect (well, nearly) replica of the check in desks in Auckland international airport. All cut by cnc, stunning design, perfect craftsmanship (he made them) ... and back to front.

 

[graduate_owner]

Happens to me also, all too often. I find myself with a piece of wood say, half an inch short, and asking myself how on earth I could have managed to get it wrong - again.

K

 

[Woodmonkey]

"I've cut it several times and it's still too short!"

 

[tomf]

I am one for the 10cm too long/ short game.

 

[custard]

Joking aside, if you're repeatedly making mistakes then there's a serious flaw in your marking-up and layout techniques.

Everyone knows about the traditional cabinet maker's squiggle signifying "reference face" and "reference edge", and the "cabinet maker's triangle" signifying how components are laid out, but that's only the start of it. You need an entire language of hieroglyphics to denote the orientation of components and joinery. Some workshops have their own complete system which they teach their apprentices, but most woodworkers develop their own personal code. In my workshop I use a system of squiggles that tells me how legs are to be arranged, if Dominos are to be machined on the sloppy or tight settings, which veneer faces are the "show" faces versus "glue" faces, what is the top left corners of panels in frame and panel work, which is the waste side of every cut line, etc, etc. In addition any project apart from the most banal will have a dimensioned plan and a cut list.

All this means I'm a bit slower in the early stages of a project, but I hardly ever make mistakes like the ones detailed in this post, and virtually every full time cabinet maker that I know takes a similar approach. Hard experience teaches that in woodwork the tortoise always beats the hare.

 

[John15]

I have a book titled 'Measure Twice Cut Once' by Jim Toplin which makes an interesting read. I got mine fairly cheaply from a second-hand outlet.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Book ... D100121503

John

 

[monkeybiter]

All this means I'm a bit slower in the early stages of a project, but I hardly ever make mistakes like the ones detailed in this post, and virtually every full time cabinet maker that I know takes a similar approach. Hard experience teaches that in woodwork the tortoise always beats the hare.

While hacking away at a different level (hammer) (homer) I have found that the more time I spend in preparation [planning/materials/tidying] the quicker, more satisfying and more successful the outcome, providing I actually keep the motivation going long enough to get past the extended planning and into the making. I think that's probably why I usually plough head-first into something unplanned, then work it out as I go along. It's not as good and I wish I didn't but at least I sometimes get some bits done, rather than just procrastinate all the time.
I would think that when it's your business and the job has to be done regardless of motivation fluctuations, being disciplined in your methods is easier as well as essential.