Spent 3 hours cutting dados with a chisel before remembering I own a router

Last Tuesday in my shop I was trying to square up these shelf dados with a chisel like an absolute moron. My apprentice walked in and just pointed at the router sitting 2 feet away - anyone else have those days where your brain just checks out?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericschmidt21d ago

Same energy as the time I tried to adjust the blade height on my table saw by reaching underneath while it was running. Not my proudest moment. I still find little hand-cut dovetails relaxing even if they take forever. But then I remember I own a dovetail jig that does them in 30 seconds and get mad at myself. Woodworking makes you humble real fast.

claire_hayes3521d ago

Oh man, I've totally been there! I spent a whole afternoon fighting with a hand plane on some oak once, getting all frustrated, then realized my jointer was literally plugged in behind me. What finally helped was making a little checklist on my phone of "what tools could do this" before I start any project. I force myself to look at my tool wall and actually think about it, even if it takes an extra 30 seconds. Feels silly, but it saved me from a lot of dumb mistakes (and wasted time). Now I just laugh at myself when it happens, which is still way too often.