do you feel this way?

If you’re really worried about it, make the crappiest, sloppiest cutting board you can and try to break it… See how much abuse it can take. That should put your mind to ease, or at the very least tell you where the weak points are.

I don’t think you have anything to worry about.

-- Big John's Woodshed - Farmington, IL

That’s why were hear we are obsessed with what we do and how well we do it.

-- https://www.artisticwoodstudio.com/videos

good point jim

-- thatwoodworkingguy.com ~Eagle America~ ~Woodcraft~

I feel the same way sometimes, but mostly I am never satisfied with my work. I always think of one more thing I could have done to make it better. I made some hanging bookshelves for a Veterans Center about a year ago and they have held up. It always helps to see your pieces still in use and not broken.

i have that same fear about everything i ever made, expecting the phone to ring or to see emails from angry customers all the time. though it has never actually happened.
i just make what they ask, and hope they will use it correctly.

All The Time….

My friends call me paranoid, anal, my worst critic, etc… but that really is a issue with me. I tend to over due things for this very fear. Maybe down the line I will become more comfortable with my work and this will settle down some. Right now… I just like to think it helps keep me sharp and aware of possibilities.

-- Dan ~ Texarkana, Tx.

Ha, I build additions, so, yea, sometimes, I will wake up at night wondering if I used enough nails, or wondering if this or that is still together. Not because it is done wrong, but because I genuinely want my work to outlast my grandchildren.

-- http://www.ahomespecialist.net, Making design and application one. †

This is why over engineered woodwork will never go away.

-- "The way to make a small fortune in woodworking- start with a large one"

My biggest fear is always just before I deliver a piece or get ready to install. I will install that project 3-4 times in my “sleep” the night before. Afraid I measured something wrong or going to find something unexpected, but the biggest fear is “will they like it”. I’m always wanting my customer to get more then they expected and even after 25 years, I still get that pit in my stomach before I deliver…............and when I get home, I wonder why I was so worried!. LOL. And I hope I always feel that way and will always try to do even better on my next project. I always wonder about the business’s that just do it to get it done to get paid. (If the customer pays, they must be satisfied). They could care less about the quality or service given to the customer, or if it falls off the wall or falls apart, as long as it will stay together long enough to get to the bank and cash their check!.

-- John @ http://www.thehuffordfurnituregroup.com

I started installing shutters for my dad at 17 years old, still in high school. I was always very paranoid going to a job, wondering what would go wrong. Would they be unreasonably picky? Would the shutters fit? Would the color be right (I painted them also)

Dad probably started sending me alone too early. Not that I wasn’t qualified to do the job, but because I didn’t have the confidence I would later gain though experience. I would get back to the shop and cringe whenever the phone would ring—-Could it be an unhappy customer? It took a long time to get over that feeling. As my ability increased, so did my confidence. I became much more attentive to details so the customer didn’t have anything to find fault with. I found if my work was top notch, I received no complaints.
My dad tended to simply try to get by and I learned to work that way at first. Though the influence of a very good craftsman next door to us, I saw what it meant to do things right to begin with. Striving for excellence solved the problems I had early on.

Maybe that all lead to my obsession to do things right. I still think constantly about the projects I’m working on, not from an attitude of fearing failure, but of analyzing my designs, maybe to make them better as I move through the project. I will stop and fix an issue rather than hoping no one will notice. My work is certainly not perfect, but it has really come a long way over the years.

-- http://shepherdtoolandsupply.com/

All the time here too. When I give someone a completed project, I always make it clear that they should contact me if something isnt right, but I often get concerned when I dont hear from them :-) I will ask them when I see them if everything is OK just to set my mind at ease.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN