![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/img_0217_edited-2.jpg\" "\\"img_0217_edited-2\\"")
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Myth:<\/strong> Woodworking is easy<\/strong>. If you simply follow [whatever clever procedure], you can do it quickly<\/strong> and it will come out perfect every time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Reality:<\/strong> As with doing anything well, woodworking takes a lot of skill<\/strong>, few procedures go lickety-split, and there is a degree of uncertainty<\/strong> in making any piece.<\/p>\n Where is this myth promulgated? Look at several issues of most woodworking magazines<\/strong>: “made easy,” “perfect every time,” “quick, fast,”<\/strong> and similar catch lines are rampant. TV<\/strong> and, of course, ads<\/strong> also seem to thrive on this approach. Perhaps this sells but it must discourage many woodworkers who find a different reality when they get into the shop.<\/p>\n Also, I wonder why, in conversation with fellow woodworkers, I more often hear how a particular technique is so easy and “no problem,”<\/strong> than about the likely reality of uncertainty, trials, and mistakes that preceded such ease. I guess this is understandable since most people like to talk about their successes more than their failures. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m guilty<\/strong> of this here in the blog.<\/p>\n High quality woodworking requires<\/strong> artistry, imagination, engineering, knowledge, physical coordination, and patience. Building a piece involves many subtractive processes and without constant awareness, errors are prone to accumulate. Different woods require alterations in technique and often hold surprises. So, maybe it\u2019s just me, but I think woodworking is not easy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As for “quick,”<\/strong> sure, to get things done and to make money, work in any field has to move along efficiently. However, speed comes only after study and experience; without those, quick usually means poor results.<\/p>\n Perfect every time?<\/strong>\u00a0Even if one employs\u00a0highly systematic procedures, even with machinery, there is a host of gremlins poised to thwart perfection in woodworking. Among these is variability in the wood itself, tool sharpness, and tool calibration. Excellence<\/strong> certainly is an achievable goal, but perfection<\/a> is not a realistic expectation to hold out to students of woodworking – and we\u2019re all students.<\/p>\n I learn more from the hype-free literature and discussions that are out there, where I can appreciate the difficulties as well as the successes<\/strong> of woodworking. That\u2019s the real stuff that makes for happy woodworking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Myth: Woodworking is easy. If you simply follow [whatever clever procedure], you can do it quickly and it will come out perfect every time. Reality: As with doing anything well, woodworking takes a lot of skill, few procedures go lickety-split, and there is a degree of uncertainty in making any piece. Where is this myth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1174"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1179,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions\/1179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}