{"id":6425,"date":"2020-02-29T22:58:52","date_gmt":"2020-03-01T03:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=6425"},"modified":"2020-02-29T22:58:52","modified_gmt":"2020-03-01T03:58:52","slug":"10-realizations-after-completing-a-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/29\/10-realizations-after-completing-a-project\/","title":{"rendered":"10 realizations after completing a project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"woodworking<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A good craftsperson never stops learning, so I have the habit of taking stock after completing a project to see what it has taught me. Often it is just a matter of reinforcing or reminding<\/strong> myself of things I already know \u2013 or “should know by now.” Here are some views from the caboose after a recent project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. It is so important to develop a solid design concept<\/a> that you can trust throughout the tribulations and vicissitudes of building a project. Woodworking is not easy to do well, so you need the power of that concept to sustain your energy and optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Make sure the design<\/a> is good. You may need to redesign. Often, your early, unexamined assumptions are the most likely candidates to need refinement. Do not obsess, but do get it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. 3M sandpaper<\/a> products \u2013 regular sheets, flexible sheets, and random orbit discs \u2013 are flat out superior, and I see no point in using anything else. I can feel this stuff bite the wood like no other brand of abrasive that I have tried. Sandpaper is a tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Live edge wood<\/a> furniture remains extremely popular, and I appreciate its appeal<\/a>. But for now, I’m tired of it. I also have low regard for tables that consist of nothing more than a non-descript base under a slab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Every effort in accurate, thoughtful stock preparation<\/a> will likely be rewarded downstream in the building process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Stock thickness<\/strong> disappears startlingly fast. Cupping, defects, and especially the dreaded twist, conspire to seemingly evaporate thickness. We are less likely to need a magical Board Stretcher than a Thickness Inflator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Fiddly things<\/strong> drain energy and wear you down. These are things like altering hardware, fixing defects in wood, and finishing quirks. Plan to avoid them and find a better way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. The few minutes after making a mistake is the riskiest time for making a bigger mistake<\/a>, maybe even the Big Mistake. Take a break, step back, and think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. I think it is true:<\/strong> if I were to make this again, I could do it in less than half the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Krenov was right<\/a>: “Worry less, concentrate more, and above all, relax.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best wishes to you with your projects, and I hope you never stop discovering.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A good craftsperson never stops learning, so I have the habit of taking stock after completing a project to see what it has taught me. Often it is just a matter of reinforcing or reminding myself of things I already know \u2013 or “should know by now.” Here are some views from the caboose after […]<\/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-6425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6425","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=6425"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6437,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6425\/revisions\/6437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}