What's the most stupid thing you've done in woodworking?

[smackie]

I don’t know anything about using a chainsaw nor do I want to but isn’t the weight of that tree going to trap his blade any second?

Pretty much. But even if it doesn’t, I’ve seen more than a few chainsaws kick straight back just catching the edge of a knot so chainsawing at throat height is just a terrific idea. I’m also loving his left hand placement too...

 

[XH558]

I attended hundreds of car accidents during my working life. About 98% were due to a mixture of one or more of: ignorance, arrogance, stupidity.

Ah, that's 'Driver/rider error' then.

 

[Jonzjob]

No it wouldn't catch Cabinetman. Not this time

If it had kicked back then his fingers would have been the least of his worries

 

[Ozi]

As a student engineer on placement at British Gas where changing a light bulb could have brought the union out I decided I was sick of waiting for an electrician to turn up and did some rewiring on a test rig for myself. It was quite a complicated rig and I somehow managed to run two power cables to one pump, plugged in the first, then a few steps later into my modification climbed the side of the rig (who uses the stairs) holding the second plug which unknown to me was at 240V about to plug it in touched a live pin. A young fit hart will cope with left hand on metal frame right hand to mains shock then six foot fall to concrete floor followed by hasty removal of all modifications before the electrician turns up.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I don’t know anything about using a chainsaw nor do I want to but isn’t the weight of that tree going to trap his blade any second?

No

 

[Chippysu]

I just ruined two lovely lengths of oak doing just this.

Measured up dovetails, checked, double checked, cut ever so carefully with my newly refurbed dovetail saw, mightily pleased with myself, until I tried to fit... Wrong way around. Find, plane and square a new piece of wood... Carefully measure, carefullt cut...

And did it again!

Called it a night at that stage... Next day cut them down and changed the dimensions of my project to suit!

Well from your negative comes a positive, you have highlighted something to be mindful of for the rest of us. So I thankyou. I concluded some time ago that when I work a piece, at each stage I set it up then walk off, have a cuppa or do something else for 10 mins, when I return I check the set-up again, I have saved myself much heartache, time & money doing this. I hope this idea helps someone else on here.

 

[francovendee]

Seeing the post about the tree cutting reminded me of one stupid thing I'd done with a tree.
A friend had a Pin Maritime that had grow very large and some lower branches needed removing.
I was younger then so foolishly offered to do it for him.
I put the ladder against one of the branches making sure that the ladder was firm and not wobbly.
The top rested against the branch being shortened and I had a hand saw to do the cut.
What I hadn't allowed for was the tree springing up when the weight of the branch was removed.
The top of the ladder was suddenly in mid air and I was too. I fell about 10' onto my back.
I lay there thinking, have I broken my back as it felt like I was having an electric shock.
I cautiously move one limb at a time and managed to get to my feet.
I was very lucky as there was a thick layer of pine needles on the ground.
I learnt trees can be dangerous if messed with!

 

[Cliver]

Not sure I should admit this. But, years ago, on my first ever DIY kitchen refit. I layed the worktop on my workmate, measured and marked the sink cutout and started to cut it out. I only realised that the only supported piece was the cutout when the whole thing broke and crashed around my feet.
An expensive mistake and one which I'll never repeat.

 

[TRITON]

Well from your negative comes a positive, you have highlighted something to be mindful of for the rest of us. So I thank you. I concluded some time ago that when I work a piece, at each stage I set it up then walk off, have a cuppa or do something else for 10 mins, when I return I check the set-up again, I have saved myself much heartache, time & money doing this. I hope this idea helps someone else on here. ☺

I find these threads nice to know we all occasionally make simple errors, seems we're not alone in our stupidity, and theres some crazy comfort in that

 

[Jameshow]

I did simalar on my first kitchen build. Yep we need 8 units straight run lardy da

Got the built up only to find they don't fit.

The old kitchen was only a wartime special on 36" unit widths!!!

Cheers James

 

[Chippysu]

I did simalar on my first kitchen build. Yep we need 8 units straight run lardy da

Got the built up only to find they don't fit.

The old kitchen was only a wartime special on 36" unit widths!!!

Cheers James

Doh! But you'll check every measurement in the future, so that's more power to you from now on!

 

[TRITON]

I did simalar on my first kitchen build. Yep we need 8 units straight run lardy da

Got the built up only to find they don't fit.

The old kitchen was only a wartime special on 36" unit widths!!!

Cheers James

Option B# -Extra thick lipping ? or was it a case of remake.

 

[Jameshow]

If I remember correctly we left a unit out!

Cheers James

 

[Ozi]

have you ever noticed how similar cups of tea and cups of dirty water are? water that's had steel dipped into it after grinding, fun times.

An X girl friend had the nasty habit of leaving half inch of beer in a can to use as an ashtray - now I turn the ring pull sideways on any can I drink from.

 

[Sideways]

Fixing a latch onto a newly hung garden gate, I was drilling from one side with a hand on the opposite to push back against the pressure of the drill.
Of course my support hand was off to the side and not in the line of fire...
Or not ! Nice pilot hole but before I could stop the brad point drill bit made a perfectly round 3mm hole into my finger
I can still just see it 30 years on.

 

[scooby]

I recently received a small round HSS bar from Phil Pascoe to make a small skew. In the process of making the skew today, I didn't recall the piece being that long but I carried on regardless.

Nice ash handle, sharpened the blade and had a go with it..nice. I then tidied my workshop and found the bar Phil had sent me

Didn't take long to realise, I'd used one of the Tommy bars from my pro edge

 

[baldkev]

Many years ago i was doing a kitchen inbetween rentals, i was doing the last worktop on a friday night at about 10 ( the new people were moving in saturday lunchtime ) i had done quite a few kitchens over the last few months and all had sinks with small radius corners..... yep you guessed it. I didnt unpack it, just measured the flanges to check cutout size and buzzed it out. When i sat the sink in the hole, there were 4 crescent shapes because this sink had large radius corners!!
I was outside howdens at 7.30 the next morning

I can laugh about it now but at the time it was a bit crap.

 

[BHwoodworking]

ply'd a wall from the wrong side. e.g. the edges didn't land on the studs.

failing that, i shook hands with a mitre saw blade. when it was spinning.

it hurt. thats all i will say.

 

[maznaz]

I was trying to attach a replacement baseboard below a kitchen unit. I had a piece of melamine but there was a protruding bit of tile adhesive around the cabinet leg. I used a brad point bit to drill the shape out in the side. The last bit didn't bind properly and the drill skidded off into my leg, twisted my jeans into a tight knot around a hole in my leg that's still nice and visible a year later!