I was recently reflecting on how steep the curve is in woodworking when you're getting started, and how forums and online learning sites really accelerate our knowledge of techniques and tools.
I thought it would be fun to share some of our misconceptions, misinformation, and naiveties from early in our woodworking careers.
I'll start:
I thought that a cabinet saw was for making cabinets, and since I didn't really plan to make any of those, a cabinet saw was largely useless to me.
I thought wood from the big box store was straight and square. I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought just because I bought a brand name tool it would last forever (several DIDN'T). I thought I was going to get really good at woodworking (but the projects I see here prove that I have a LOOOONG way to go). I thought I'd only buy what I needed (OK, that one worked out for the most part). I thought Craftsman made SOMETHING I could use.
I thought Oak, Maple, Walnut, Cherry, Pecan, Ash, and Poplar were all the hardwoods. That Craftsman made the quality tools. That a block plane was for small blocks of wood. That New chisels were sharp and ready to use right out of the package. That 400 was a super fine grit.
Sorry JGM, so far I have made everything better and cheaper then the store, that'll change on something I'm sure. The idea of faster was never remotely in my head; I'm fast on a bike, driving, running and doing math. In everything else I'm slower then a snail.
My misconceptions:
Oak was an expensive wood that would be priced beyond what I could afford, unfortunately it isn't but the woods I really like are. There also wasn't much else beyond oak, maple, cherry, and mahogany and that mahogany would be so expensive it wouldn't be possible to make anything out of it. Now it is my second most frequently used wood and in small blocks(>2'x8-10"x2.5" is the cheapest wood I can get easily.
That a table top saw would be good enough, wasted 100.00 on one that didn't make it halfway through the first project.
Handplanes were outdated and useless, so were chisels unless you needed to install a door hinge and even then they sucked.
That I could get by with a rickety table and no workbench. The bench is in progress and the table is ready to collapse.
I thought I knew it all-was my attitude at 18 years old,and my Dad didn't know anything.He tried to tell me,and I learned the hard way.He sure learned alot 30 years later.
I didn't know you were supposed to wipe stain off before it dries. That a hybrid table saw was half gas/ half electric. Just kidding about that last one. I don't remember what I thought a hybrid table saw was before I found out what it was.
In agreement with Charlie, I thought that one day I would have every tool I could possibly need.
Luckily, a few years and a lot of money and hard work later, now I do have every tool I need.
Oh, wait.
I gotta go look at a tool on Craiglist that I don't have.
My dad started me when I was really young, so I don't remember much from then, but I thought (still think sometimes) that I can just wing it. While it works occasionally, it's not most of the time.
Sorry JGM, so far I have made everything better and cheaper then the store
Awww…c'mon…. there is no way you can make anything cheaper than IKEA. Heck just buying a sheet of plywood or compressed board is already more expensive than the unit they sell.
I thought, "this will be my last workbench".....planning on my third one already…
It's very hard to beat Ikea. My wife and I wanted to buy a bunch of Billy bookcases shortly after we were married (about 9 years ago). My dad was a cabinetmaker and so I told him what I wanted--we made six bookcases out of birch plywood for around $300 or so after all the expenses. About $200 or so shy of what Ikea would have been, but it was also a lot of time spent on the project. I'm happy I did it though because it produced some nice memories of working with my father before his passing.
I think my first misconception about woodworking was that a table saw is a table saw. My first TS was an undersized, underpowered, cheap Ryobi. I didn't even have it for six months before I upgraded.
My second misconception was that I could trust the angles in my miter saw. Haha! Oh how gullible I was.
...my brother who I got my table saw from had welded the blade to the arbor when I tried to put a better blade on. Turns out it the arbor was reverse threaded and I spent half an hour working up a sweat for nothing.
...in order to prep cabinet-grade plywood for finishing before I made it into a cheap table top, I'd need to take a belt sander to it. And I did this outside, during the 110 degree Texas summer. 10 pounds of sweat and one wavy, jagged table top later…
...the bottom of said table wouldn't need finishing, because no one would see it.
...two coats of poly should be enough for anyone.
...a plane is a plane.
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