Impatient newbie wwers read on

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
I thought i would share a learning experience for those newbies in woodworking like me. I have done a bunch of woodworking but the results i see guys here achieve have always been illusive to me, primary as a result of impatience. Strange thing is many of my friends think i have a ton.:huh:

So i was busy making my plane totes ( which i would highly recommend for this purpose) and it dawned on me. If one pauses to examine why you are impatient (at least in my case) its the excitement and anticipation of seeing the project complete.

However if one is always rushing to the end to satisfy that urge or desire then inevitably the tail end suffers. I hate sanding but after my plane totes and being determined to get a decent finish, I stuck with it.

It paid off for me because i got to experience the kind of finish that i only have achieved on the lathe up till now.

The beauty of making a plane tote is that is small enough to get your mind to go through the whole process from start to end and fast enough to see the progress and reward from your effort.


So my big message is START SMALL and get the reward then tackle bigger items and set yourself up for success.


I even got to back off the initial coats of poly which I always skip. And experience the finish i was after.

I dont say i am cured but now i have achieved this state, its the same breakthrough as sharpening, I will definitely be more inclined to pace myself nearer the end and take it slower.

To me contiously monitoring this "state" and reviewing your experience is the feedback loop that was missing in my woodworking. I am really chuffed with the outcome.

Hope you get something from my adventure.:):thumb:
 
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Good article there Rob... another thing I've learned about patience... when I get impatient and try to rush things, that's usually when I either have a mishap that ruins or damages the project or I get hurt. So far no hurt more than a bruise and embarrasement, but none-the-less if I get impatient, something happens.
 
well said rob, and hurrying up will get all of us one time or another..and your approach to a new technique is a good one make a goal and acheive it then go to a higher level next time..
 
Good article and point Rob. :thumb:

I'm guilty of rushing through projects. Finish work is my true downfall. I've gotten much better and want to learn more about it, but it's historically been a "rush job" for me.

One culprit to rushing, at least for me, isn't always the hurry to just be done with the project or to please the recipient. It's the fact I've always had a lack of shop space that usually doubled as my wife's parking space or some other inconvenient location that typically puts a time constraint on what can be a long process. Sometimes these locations aren't always ideal for doing finishes, like a dusty shop that one doesn't want to take time to clean.

I guess my point is the same and in addition to the ones you made, being aware of what affects your project from a time-line and environment standpoint can help alter the end result to something much more rewarding.
 
Good points Rob,
I'm far from being a decent woodworker. I start dreading the finish process as soon as I start the project.

But using Don's BLO recipe has made what used to be a mind numbing process for me a lot easier.
 
Patience is the one ingredient that we all lack at the begining. Perhaps thats why turning is so popular, it's the one facet of woodworking where one can achieve almost instant gratification but even in the spinny world one must be patience in the finishing process. Finishing is the one aspect of wood working where one must be patient. Each of the 8 pieces require up to 6 days to put on the finish. there are a total 8 pieces. Thats a total of 48 day just to finish them. I do work on other things when they are drying but this is the one part of the process where you cannot hurry it along.
 
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