What is your Achilles heel?

[Dave Anthony]

Anyone else have a certain wood working task that seems to bite you when you least expect it? For me it's drilling. It doesn't happen all the time, but for any given project if I had to guess where I was going to screw up I'd wager a drill would be involved. From a pilot hole for a hinge screw that's not aligned at 90 degrees to tearout in plywood to a misaligned shelf pin there seems to be no limit to the ways I can make a mess using a drill. Is this just me, or do others have demons that rear up when performing certain tasks?

[Victor Robinson]

I'm new enough to the hobby where most things are still my Achilles heel. But if there's one that is absolutely preventable it's drilling - I always manage to forget to support the exit and end up with massive tearout.

Clamping is also an Achilles heel of mine, but that's just because I don't have enough clamps.

[Van Huskey]

Mine is when I have 1 piece of a particular unique wood to finish a project I can guarantee I will do something in the cutting/milling to insure I have a major issue. More than once I have had to redesign a piece as a result. The last time was with some birch that had grain I had NEVER seen anything like it in birch before.

[Gil Knowles]

Dave

I have to agree with you on drilling. I always try hard to drill holes in the right spot/depth but quite often manage to screw it up one way or another. I'am not sure what my problem is with it!

Gil

[Jim Rimmer]

For me it's when I have repetitive tasks (multiple identical parts, like drawers, etc). I will get lulled into a false feeling of confidence and do one wrong. Glue the front on the back or glue something upside down.

[Van Huskey]

For me it's when I have repetitive tasks (multiple identical parts, like drawers, etc). I will get lulled into a false feeling of confidence and do one wrong. Glue the front on the back or glue something upside down.

By the end of this thread I expect to realize I have as many heels as a millipede...

[Prashun Patel]

For me it's sanding. I get lazy, skip grits, and it shows up after the 2nd or 3rd coat of finish. Nowadays I allot twice as many days for sanding. One to do it, and the next to do it right.

[Richard Spain]

For me it is the finish. I can never get it right.
My expectations are for sure higher than my skill level.

[Tom Rick]

For me it's starting a project.....



& then having to actually finish it!

[Greg Peterson]

Seems every time I glue something up and drive a handful of 16 or 18 gauge nails with the nail gun I end up having to dig 'em out because I didn't want to drive a nail in one particular spot.

It's only happened a couple of times or three, but that is often enough that anymore I think twice before I grab the nailer.

[Larry Fox]

For me it is a tie between miter joints and cutting curves. Both seem to require alot of setup and post-cut "fiddling" to get right.

Oh - and I hate routers so they always seem to confound me for some reason.

[Joe Shinall]

Keepin my damn shop clean and organized so I can actually work. 3 hours in the shop, 2 to clean and one to work. Seems like a daily task.

[Alan Lightstone]

Finishing. Always starts out promising, but there's always some flaws I notice later.

[Jon Lanier]

Anything that needs a hinge. Cabinets to Jewelry boxes. I think it's a mental thing.

[Brian Kent]

Routers.

I find so many ways to tear out, to cause one deep flaw in a perfect curve, chowder an end. And I have no excuse because Pat Warner only lives an hour away and gives lessons.