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

[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.

[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...