Have you ever amazed youself by your own work?

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
Well the pics of this episode will follow once i get over my experience and update my Vanity table thread. But i had a great day in my shop yesterday and well utterly amazed myself. Made the frame for the mirror on my vanity table from some curly maple and I have looked at it and looked at it and still cannot believe i actually did it. Whilst it might not seem like it i am rather speechless with my own effort. Not bragging here but wondering if you have ever had the experience where you pass you own expectations. :eek::)

Glenn you right again. Patience and lots of practice cuts and preparing practice cut wood when you prepare your project lumber.:)
 
havnt seen the final output yet rob but i did see the greatness of your table before it was finished..you could see the attention to detail and the thought that went into it.. well done rob!!!
 
I've gone through several iterations of "man, I don't think I could ever do that!" over the years. Then, I decide to go for it and surprise the daylights out of myself. I see so much very intricate work by so many people and I'll try some things someday, but I'm happy with I've accomplished so far.
 
I've gone through several iterations of "man, I don't think I could ever do that!" over the years. Then, I decide to go for it and surprise the daylights out of myself. I see so much very intricate work by so many people and I'll try some things someday, but I'm happy with I've accomplished so far.


My thoughts exactly. I mess them up so often:( I walk around like a peacock and pat myself on the back when they come out perfect :rofl:
 
Wow that's a tough one rob.
On several occasions I have had the you could have done better.
And on several occasions I have had there that's how it is supposed to look.
And I have had the wow that came out really nice.
But I can't recall a wow that's better than I thought I could do.
But than again I almost always know I could have done better. :thumb::thumb:
 
i've had that happen where a design, and building it, have all come together. but the one thing that had me thinking was, this thing will be around long after i'm gone. started with the youngest nephew's cradle. about half way through, i could just see someone telling thier young one that thier great grandfather's uncle built this for him.
 
Rob, That's a great feeling to have when you finish any project. :thumb:
In gilding you will never hear of a profession gilder because we refer to out work and "Practicing our trade" So when I finish just about any project be it gilding or refinishing a piece of furniture I am still amazed at what thing turn out like. Maybe that's why I do not consider what I do as work and more of my hobby.
 
Wow that's a tough one rob.
On several occasions I have had the you could have done better.
And on several occasions I have had there that's how it is supposed to look.
And I have had the wow that came out really nice.
But I can't recall a wow that's better than I thought I could do.
But than again I almost always know I could have done better. :thumb::thumb:

I can relate to that, but you missed the " Don't ask me how I managed because I don't know":D:rofl:
 
I'm my own toughest critic, so I'd say "No" with two notable exceptions, and they would be my lovely daughters, but then again I would say my beautiful wife gets most of the credit for them :D
 
I can find flaws in everything I've ever made, but there have been times when I've been pleasantly surprised at the results of my work. I've had the same experience in music, too. I've got recordings of myself playing guitar that I still don't know how I did what I did. :huh:
 
I have been amazed at lots of things that I have worked on in the building trade like train tressels and dams and high rises and residential homes, but the things that truly amaze me come from inside the trees that the bark hides. Standing at the lathe and as well as putting woods together to make furniture has always truely amazed me as to the color and beauty that comes from inside the wood. I feel that am just the person that sees it for the first time and is responsible for presenting it to the rest of the world to see. I have had to step back a few times to say wow at what mother nature has done.
 
Vaughn, all talented artist of any sort have one thing in common, they can fix , hide & get around their mistakes. We all see our own flaws and must learn to accept some of them to a point. It's only through experience that we,be it customers dissatisfaction, comments from others that we learn. Some learn to except small imperfection some just learn how much they can get away with to make an idem acceptable.
The truly talented craftsman has the innate gift of putting their heart into his or her work and it will show and be noticed by all.
That is I think the main reason I like this site so much. The talent here is top shelf :thumb:
 
Every piece I have ever made was done to the best of my abilities. However every piece I ever made had some imperfection that I found, was it obvious to others not normally but still i knew it was there. I always stive to make each piece better then the last piece i did weather it I am doing a commission piece of something for my grand daughter.
 
I love to learn, so I try to do things different every once in a while to keep things interesting. This usually adds to flaws in a project, but I'm still satisfied with results usually as I gained some knowledge out of the process. I've had several projects that came out beyond expectations, but they are typically something that got created on the fly, nothing more than a napkin sketch or a couple of measurements jotted down, the rest was imagination along the way for inspiration.
 
The closest I've come to that is "it doesn't suck". :eek:

I can show you mistakes in every piece that I've ever completed. On a more encouraging note, the last few years it's gotten so the majority of my mistakes come while finishing the project.

I've also completed a number of projects where just before I put a finish on it, I said to myself, "self, this is going well."

As the saying goes, I'm my own worse critic. I don't think this is so bad however. I think (hope?) by having this attitude, I've remained open to learning new techniques or ways of doing things. It' a amazing how after I've mastered a different technique (e.g. dovetailing, bending, pocket screws, mortise and tenons, biscuits, etc. etc.) I've been able to fold that into my repertoire of woodworking.
 
Absolutly, anytime I finish a project I'm amazed. I just can't believe I actually started an finish it. Here are two examples:

This was a garden gate that started out as raw lumber from a local saw mill.

contruction.jpg
unfinished1.JPG
finished.JPG



And as I posted in a previous thread, this project (which took almost a year to complete, mainly due to procrastination) also amazed me that I actually completed it. This was actually a repair and refinish project, not an actual build.

desk1a.jpg
desk2a.jpg
desk4a.jpg
 
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