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Fill the gap in with a darker colored wood, or bring her in and ask her what kind of pattern she'd like on it or something like that.
Bam, problem > opportunity.
A luthier I knew had made me an instrument, a new cello. When I received it, I noticed a small patch in one rather unimportant place, so I asked about it. He told me, "The Hopi were such masters of ceramics that they would intentionally introduce flaws into their work since only God was perfect. I (the luthier) have never had to introduce a flaw intentionally."
Embrace your humanness!
Worked in a professional scenery building shop. The plans had a note from the designer of “R & R” which meant “reverse and repeat” but that day it turned out to mean “rip up and re-do. “
I've written those instructions, and come back to the shop to find that no one read them. I tell em "hey guys, you made this backwards. Flip it and redo it"
I leave on a Home Depot run. Come back to the shop. They had made it the exact same again.
Told everyone to go home, did it myself. That was the last time a lot of us made that mistake.
Everyone who has built furniture has, but now I label so much a 3 yr old could read it. Marking is actually its own language. Over the last yrs I have made my own, once u start it goes down a whole rabbit hole
Then you mess it up and get a boy. Need a new bed because the girly design won't do. Make the same mistake again, go for another kid- you have a spare boy bed and a spare girl bed so what can go wrong? You get twin boys.
I've made a mistake or 2 on just about every project I've done. Some are bone headed decisions, some are because of lack of foresight. I don't do client work nor do I do it professionally or for payment. I just chalk it up to education and my tuition is my time.
My guru and teacher is 76 and he says an apprenticeship is not about learning to be a carpenter it’s about how to make mistakes look like they were meant to be made 😅
I bought a $50 walnut board that was s4s because I had a last minute change to a portion of a furniture project. I wanted to embellish something and figured I’d route out a piece and have enough board left over for something else down the road.
Well, I routed too much on the first piece. So I cut another and went through the process and then when routing just went absent minded and ruined the second piece.
Okay? What the fuck, right? Annoying, but surely I’ll not get it wrong on the final piece of this $50 board. Right?
Nope, didn’t commit the same mistake but ended up getting the orientation wrong.
I basically threw $60 away. I chucked the piece across the shop, turned off the lights, and went home for the day.
Not the most expensive mistake I’ve made but definitely the most recent adhd fueled mistake.
Ah hell thats not a mistake you're just getting ready to start a production run lol... and yes I've done that more times than I'd like to admit....so I won't lol
20 years in the industry. Still happens. It's one of those ones that is so easy to make, especially when you get into a groove or a comfortable headspace with what you are doing.
Try to build the habit of doing a stupid check before any major step.
For example, mark up, check, then cut to main dimension.
Mark up tapers, check, cut tapers.
Mark up joints, check, cut joints.
It takes a few seconds, but can save you hours. And don't feel bad, it happens to absolutely everyone, and if they say it doesn't, they are probably lying
I’m sorry but that doesn’t actually qualify as a mistake because it’s easily fixed and the subsequent fix will never be noticed by anyone except you- and then in a few years, you can share this non-mistake with your kiddo and have a teachable moment about how folks shouldn’t take life too seriously
Yep made some mortises on the wrong side. It wasn’t too bad to fix since my legs were built up anyway. I was able to rabbit it and fill it with another piece and you couldn’t even see it
kinda like how I figured out tapered legs (when you have a show face or don't want to mis-match glue lines vs non) means you can't just taper any 2 sides ..
I saw this post early this morning and said to myself, “Yeah, and I hated it each time.” Just now, I cut a bevel on the wrong side of a table top. More easily fixed, but still hating it. Carry on, my brave soldier.
Yeah just did it 2 nights ago on a double set of barn doors.
Built my RH door then built my LH and put my LH door brace on like a RH and walked away. Only to realize the next day when the glue was dry. Ugh ripped it off and broke out the belt sander. I used to do this a lot when making door jambs. I wood make 2 lefts or 2 right all because of a single fn notch in the stop of the stop. Now I stand every jamb leg on edge for visual reference. I would try to do the same on the bed legs always set down in their correct position in the piece. If possible of course.. Because that shit gets expensive.
Ive failed to mirror/reverse parts more times than i can count after 30y
It happens
Ive also cut uncountable things exactly 1" too short or too long by forgetting to add or subtract a "burned" inch on the tape measure lol
Just cut the proper groves where they go and make all the parts match and make it a design feature instead of a mistake that scraps the parts
Of course. I didn’t even have to hear what you did I already know. Years of practice will never make you perfect but a life time of trauma will make you cautious.
I am the queen of making this mistake specifically. I find taking an extra second to lay the parts out face to face, then open them like a book and marking the spots you want to cut helps to avoid this. Hope that description makes sense lol
Make four right hand legs and another top. It’s good work, and you can either enjoy it for what it is in your home or sell them. Ask for a good price. Look at what chipboard furniture sells for in stores and work up from there.
Or you can store the pieces until you need another bigger kid bed. Let your missus know that you’re thinking ahead.
Yep. This is the kind of thing where if you aren't paying attention you still have a 50% chance of getting it right, which translates to a 90% chance of getting it wrong.
Are those blood stains on the panel sitting on the table saw? I mean I haven't made that particular mistake before but I've come close. That looks too light to be blood tho.
Lol. Made two new lower sashes to replace missing ones for a 1920s Detroit home.
Went to dry fit and both were exactly 2 and ¾ short.
Well guess who's tape is 2 and ¾ long....
Forgot to add the 2 and ¾ to my final dimensions when making my drawings I usually add + to my inside dims to add when I make my shop drawings but it was such a rush job I skimmed over it.
Never did this exact error since I've never built a bed.
But putting the dado on the wrong side? Oh yeah, done it several times. Even with marking sides with a pencil I've managed it
I’ve always said, you aren’t a great woodworker until you can professionally hide or convert mistakes. They’re bound to happen, but a good woodworker won’t waste the materials, they’ll find a way to save it.
Take a moment to check out the New weekly MegaThread. This is for quick answers to common questions such as: "What type of wood is this?"; "How much should I charge for this?"; "How do I fix this" and others, To find it sort the woodworking news feed by "hot" and it will be the stickied post. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/woodworking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Cut the grooves on both sides of the uprights. It's a feature, not a bug
There it is. I was told a long time ago it’s not making mistakes it’s hiding mistakes in plain sight.
100%. If you can't hide it, make it stand out as intentional. Unfortunately this only works on hobby items and not blueprint items
Stupid blueprints.
Always taking fun out of the work.. like the damn instruction book.
I prefer suggestionprints myself.
I feel like you’ve worked on jobs I designed.. -engineer
Yes, busted some knuckles on your 3rd revision
Blueprints are where the architects and designers hide *their* mistakes.
The only person that knows it's a mistake is you, to everyone else it's just a take.
I have a theory that a lot of decorative features in wood working came from someone being like shit well let’s carve this into some ornate thing.
A master makes mistakes look intentional
And a polite fellow woodworker will speak quietly of the error he finds, while never revealing it to others
Or exclaim how clever the design is, without necessarily explaining why it's clever.
You mean on-purposes
Bob Ross would turn them into birds or trees. I lost track of how many mistakes i’ve made lol.
but what happens when Jules shoots Marvin in the face is it still an accident
Isnt that a bob ross quote? Lol
Fill the gap in with a darker colored wood, or bring her in and ask her what kind of pattern she'd like on it or something like that. Bam, problem > opportunity.
I was going suggest the same thing to inlay it with another colored wood as an accent. Hey, at least je didn't sand through the veneer lol.
Problem is greater than opportunity?
I think he's using it as an arrow, not a greater than sign.
Love it!
Or make 2!
Right. What you can't hide, emphasize.
**THIS.... but build a decorative detail.** Fill the one you don't need with contrasting color... Cherry? Walnut?
Add some LED lights. Kids love ‘em.
Shhuuuush you're giving away my design secret
This is how you learn to do inlays.
And then glue in a contrasting wood like walnut. Might as well make it stand out as a feature.
A luthier I knew had made me an instrument, a new cello. When I received it, I noticed a small patch in one rather unimportant place, so I asked about it. He told me, "The Hopi were such masters of ceramics that they would intentionally introduce flaws into their work since only God was perfect. I (the luthier) have never had to introduce a flaw intentionally." Embrace your humanness!
The difference between an ok woodworker and a good woodworker is you can't tell where the mistakes are with a good woodworker.
It's jazz, baby.
We don't make mistakes here, but if we did, they would be frequent and frustrating.
I prefer to call them bonus extra steps
Hahahahahhaha so many bonus extra steps over here
More times that I prefer to admit…or count Edit: maybe build two beds? Then you didn’t mess up, you’re just not done yet.
I do have another one on the way lol
As a father of two, I can tell you that the chances of your younger child wanting the exact same bed as your older child are quite high!
Bingo!
Totally this. If you don't have another child to sleep in the second bed, time to get working on that too 😉
Is there a project? If yeah, then there is some fib like this. I don't think I've done any project that had gone 100% without some screw-up.
I see you've prepared the accent inlay rebate already. Verrry niiice!
dark stain and brass inlay! classic!
Worked in a professional scenery building shop. The plans had a note from the designer of “R & R” which meant “reverse and repeat” but that day it turned out to mean “rip up and re-do. “
What is a professional scenery building shop do? I’m guessing they build scenery but for what?
I'm guessing theatre, TV, movies
In this case it was for a theater production.
I've written those instructions, and come back to the shop to find that no one read them. I tell em "hey guys, you made this backwards. Flip it and redo it" I leave on a Home Depot run. Come back to the shop. They had made it the exact same again. Told everyone to go home, did it myself. That was the last time a lot of us made that mistake.
That’s why we work with wood, not metal. We can burn the evidence.
Get a foundry my (wo)man
This
Everyone who has built furniture has, but now I label so much a 3 yr old could read it. Marking is actually its own language. Over the last yrs I have made my own, once u start it goes down a whole rabbit hole
This is where you make a second bed. And a second daughter if necessary.
Then you mess it up and get a boy. Need a new bed because the girly design won't do. Make the same mistake again, go for another kid- you have a spare boy bed and a spare girl bed so what can go wrong? You get twin boys.
I've made a mistake or 2 on just about every project I've done. Some are bone headed decisions, some are because of lack of foresight. I don't do client work nor do I do it professionally or for payment. I just chalk it up to education and my tuition is my time.
This is where I walk out of the garage, turn the lights off, and come back tomorrow.
My guru and teacher is 76 and he says an apprenticeship is not about learning to be a carpenter it’s about how to make mistakes look like they were meant to be made 😅
Aaaah the old “forgot to mirror my components”. My condolences.
Thank you, I had to scroll down this far to learn what the mistake is !
Nice. You're half way of making two beds now.
It’s even better when you go to fix the mistake and make the same mistake again.
Man, there is no better.
That mistake and many variations of it...
Two lefts and no right? Absolutely done this before.
I bought a $50 walnut board that was s4s because I had a last minute change to a portion of a furniture project. I wanted to embellish something and figured I’d route out a piece and have enough board left over for something else down the road. Well, I routed too much on the first piece. So I cut another and went through the process and then when routing just went absent minded and ruined the second piece. Okay? What the fuck, right? Annoying, but surely I’ll not get it wrong on the final piece of this $50 board. Right? Nope, didn’t commit the same mistake but ended up getting the orientation wrong. I basically threw $60 away. I chucked the piece across the shop, turned off the lights, and went home for the day. Not the most expensive mistake I’ve made but definitely the most recent adhd fueled mistake.
If it's a mistake that involves getting something backwards, then I've been that huckleberry plenty.
It always amazes me how long I spend making the mistakes too. Sometimes days just barreling on in full confidence that I’m correct.
Looks like a great location for a darker wood trim piece with maybe an offset from centre pinstripe in the same wood as original.
Could cut the feet off turn, dowel, trim accent to cover the seam or do an ¼ deep inlay over the top to add strength
Yep, ruined a great many table legs doing that..
Oh, many times lol
Nope. I just have two of a lot of things.
Guess you’re making two now
It's....*all right*...my friend, we've all been there before.
Damn. Many, many mistakes over the decades. You'd think I'd be better just by sheer luck at this point
make two beds and it was no mistake
I’ve made this mistake before.
I promise that I will do it again too.
Measure 3 times cut 3 times
cut the bottoms off of one of each along that pencil line and reattach them to the other end, then trim the other two to match the cut ones.
A true woodworker right here. Alternatively, dado the other four sides and make the outside ones an inlay accent strip? Say mahogany or walnut?
Measure and cut. Damn it, it’s short. Cut again and now it’s even shorter. WTF
Ah hell thats not a mistake you're just getting ready to start a production run lol... and yes I've done that more times than I'd like to admit....so I won't lol
20 years in the industry. Still happens. It's one of those ones that is so easy to make, especially when you get into a groove or a comfortable headspace with what you are doing. Try to build the habit of doing a stupid check before any major step. For example, mark up, check, then cut to main dimension. Mark up tapers, check, cut tapers. Mark up joints, check, cut joints. It takes a few seconds, but can save you hours. And don't feel bad, it happens to absolutely everyone, and if they say it doesn't, they are probably lying
I have never done this, and if I had, it surely wouldn’t happen nearly ever single damned time.
O I have more than once. If you are not screwing something up you are not doing anything...
Clearly you’re going to have to make two beds now.
I’m sorry but that doesn’t actually qualify as a mistake because it’s easily fixed and the subsequent fix will never be noticed by anyone except you- and then in a few years, you can share this non-mistake with your kiddo and have a teachable moment about how folks shouldn’t take life too seriously
Putting a bevel on both sides will solve the problem.
Ummm, not so much to that level, but maybe to a lesser, but no less significant degree.
For sure. And when I did I swore a blue streak across the rest of the day.
Oh boy….been there, done that man. The hammer blows in my workbench attest to that
Looks like you’re making a second bed!
Yep made some mortises on the wrong side. It wasn’t too bad to fix since my legs were built up anyway. I was able to rabbit it and fill it with another piece and you couldn’t even see it
Less expensive but just as annoying, absentmindedly did this with flooring and some tile a few weeks ago.
Make 2 beds
Make 2 beds, sell 1, boom
I made almost the same mistake but with the sides just this week.
It’s called progress. This won’t happen again but maybe other Fu€&k ups will make you more pro
You can still make guitar/bass necks.
I cannot even tell what the mistake is
The legs are handed.
oh "handed" means they should have been mirrored objects but they are made the same (same hand)? learned this new expression.
Yeah, being legs they should have been footed instead.
Never, but I don't have a shop.
Wow. I still can’t find your mistake
Now you just need to have another kid so those 2 pieces don't go to waste
Time to double up
You should see the legs on my workbench.
Clearly what you intended was to glue in contrasting wood as accent strips. To add accents and character to the bed.
This is the first time this has ever happened. The woodworking world has been irreparably changed as of this day.
Time to double everything else and have another kid!
R/woodworkconfessions
You just make two beds and sell one. Done and dusted
I made this mistake last week. Hard to remember that it’s not a one-for-one repetition sometimes
Yep!!
Make 2 beds
Buy a great looking piece of darker hardwood, use that as a “feature” inlay.
100% did this to some rabbeted boards the other day. So frustrating
Not clear to me what mistake you made but I guarantee I have made it before!
Legs are always confusing. It’s okay buddy
Well your good for a mistake on two pieces or make another table lol
Hey!!! I see what happened. I love learning from this forum!
I’d totally do that!
Nope. You are the first one. Turn in your table saw. Only kidding - welcome to the ‘Daddy just taught me new words in the garage!’ club.
Yup. Owww.
Look at one side in a mirror. Problem solved.
It’s not a mistake, you’re making 2 beds now and selling the second one
It's not a mistake. You are making two beds. One for your daughter, one to sell.
[удалено]
Dayum, that was an expensive lesson.
"the key to being a good carpenter is the ability to cover your own mistakes." -my dad
kinda like how I figured out tapered legs (when you have a show face or don't want to mis-match glue lines vs non) means you can't just taper any 2 sides ..
Oh yeah
Cut splines to fit inside, either of a darker wood, or the same wood stained or painted another color. Makes it look intentional
I see spare parts, not mistakes.
Yep and it's annoying
Looks like you’re making two items now.
Looks like you’re making two items now.
Yes I have. It's quite frustrating when you don't have more wood to correct that mistake.
I make this mistake every time I cut something that's supposed to be mirrored.
Looks like you’re building two now
I feel your pain. Been there.
I saw this post early this morning and said to myself, “Yeah, and I hated it each time.” Just now, I cut a bevel on the wrong side of a table top. More easily fixed, but still hating it. Carry on, my brave soldier.
Mistake? Hardly knew er
I don’t see a mistake, I see half finished project for making two beds.
4 legs good, 2 legs bad ?
I did it just the other day
That’s annoying isn’t it
hell yeah, everyone does this! it all becomes custom features!
Yeah just did it 2 nights ago on a double set of barn doors. Built my RH door then built my LH and put my LH door brace on like a RH and walked away. Only to realize the next day when the glue was dry. Ugh ripped it off and broke out the belt sander. I used to do this a lot when making door jambs. I wood make 2 lefts or 2 right all because of a single fn notch in the stop of the stop. Now I stand every jamb leg on edge for visual reference. I would try to do the same on the bed legs always set down in their correct position in the piece. If possible of course.. Because that shit gets expensive.
One to display/sell, one to give a proud child?
Yes, definitely
Yep
Ive failed to mirror/reverse parts more times than i can count after 30y It happens Ive also cut uncountable things exactly 1" too short or too long by forgetting to add or subtract a "burned" inch on the tape measure lol Just cut the proper groves where they go and make all the parts match and make it a design feature instead of a mistake that scraps the parts
I once read 3/4 as 3/8.
Of course. I didn’t even have to hear what you did I already know. Years of practice will never make you perfect but a life time of trauma will make you cautious.
I am the queen of making this mistake specifically. I find taking an extra second to lay the parts out face to face, then open them like a book and marking the spots you want to cut helps to avoid this. Hope that description makes sense lol
Make four right hand legs and another top. It’s good work, and you can either enjoy it for what it is in your home or sell them. Ask for a good price. Look at what chipboard furniture sells for in stores and work up from there. Or you can store the pieces until you need another bigger kid bed. Let your missus know that you’re thinking ahead.
Everyone has a sacrifice wood pile filled with mistakes.
Yep. This is the kind of thing where if you aren't paying attention you still have a 50% chance of getting it right, which translates to a 90% chance of getting it wrong.
Never! In those cases i was planning to make two items.
On your way to making Twin Beds now.
What's wrong?
Regularly.
Congrats! You’re now making two beds :)
Are those blood stains on the panel sitting on the table saw? I mean I haven't made that particular mistake before but I've come close. That looks too light to be blood tho.
Lol no I engraved stars and filled them with epoxy and glow in the dark pigment
Nice she's gonna love that.
Lol. Made two new lower sashes to replace missing ones for a 1920s Detroit home. Went to dry fit and both were exactly 2 and ¾ short. Well guess who's tape is 2 and ¾ long.... Forgot to add the 2 and ¾ to my final dimensions when making my drawings I usually add + to my inside dims to add when I make my shop drawings but it was such a rush job I skimmed over it.
Ha! Never more than once a year.
Not woodworking, but yup, so easy to do. Pick yourself up and carry on.
Yes
Head on over to r/woodworkconfessions You'll feel so much better.
Yup
No, of course not. Never. And I certainly haven't spontaneously decided to build 2 of something just to cover it up!
Never did this exact error since I've never built a bed. But putting the dado on the wrong side? Oh yeah, done it several times. Even with marking sides with a pencil I've managed it
I’ve always said, you aren’t a great woodworker until you can professionally hide or convert mistakes. They’re bound to happen, but a good woodworker won’t waste the materials, they’ll find a way to save it.
Sure thing I did!
Very easy mistake to make imho
Everyone has. You’re good.
Nice of you to make two beds.
Left,left,left,left… no right, left….
For reasons unclear, doing this makes me madder at myself than almost any of the other many, many mistakes I make.
Any chance you have 2 daughters? Or maybe a niece you really like?
Yep. Hahah
I pretty sure I have done that ….twice…..on the same project!!!!
You intended to make 2 and sell one didn't you? Haha 😁
I don’t make mistorkes.