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... 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"

[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.