5 WOODWORKING MISTAKES: I made them, you should avoid them

In this video, I share 5 mistakes I've made during my woodworking journey. These are things that are less related to skills but more to planning. They are easy to avoid and I wish I'd had the foresight to see them coming.

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:41 1. Don't waste money
01:44 2. TIDY! Get into good habits
02:30 3. Plan the layout of your workshop
05:03 4. Invest in good lighting
06:26 5. Don't be scared
08:23 Outro

[aball]

I've been doing this since 1974 and my 2 biggest are,

Cleaning, make a place for every tool you have and put everything back every night. If you do you will be able to work faster each morning and you will not lose tools.
Second, just because you watch a YouTube video and they say that tool is the most used and you need one right away, don't run out and buy it.
If you are just starting out i suggest buying lower cost tools and then replace the ones you use the most often with the higher quality, higher cost tools.
Have fun making sawdust and always work safely.

PS love the channel!

[billbris]

Lighting, lighting, lighting, lighting! Not only lighting but the location of the lights. Shadows are everywhere. For detail work you might want to consider an articulating arm light as well. You can then point it directly where you need it. Other than that emphasis, well done list.

[Ted_James]

Words of wisdom for sure! As they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It's perfectly ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. In fact, if you're not making mistakes along the way, you're doing it wrong.

[NickSeee]

Thanks for honesty and clear messages. I have just built my workshop (thankfully lighting I DID think about), its an L shape due to available garden space and is not huge so I have to be clever. So far a table saw, planer thicknesser, a sink and a CNC (when I finish building it), but as yet... no shelves, tools, storage. My aim is to at least fund the wood, materials and occasional tool starting next year... it was good to hear your self b-llocking about cleaning down... so far I'm doing it but mainly because brand new floor tiles... and therefore novelty factor, but I know my 'normal mode' would be to let the mess of projects accumulate. Must establish that good habit now and for ever - cheers!

[DaveGDesigns]

Mate I’ve changed my workshop so much since I started in 2017 and they’re all good tips that you mentioned but what I would say is don’t beat yourself up over it as you don’t know what you don’t know and hindsight is a wonderful thing. Also with regards to the tools you’d be surprised how much you start using them as your skills develop use a flap disc on the grinder for heavy duty sanding and sell the circular saw they’re horrible 😂

[researchandbuild]

Thank you for the advice. The lighting is something i need to do soon. During the day i can open my garage door and get daylight which helps

[frednoble]

Good to recognise mistakes, but these can all still be learned from!

[dannybaker]

Excellent advice all 'round, mate. The lighting one especially. I am at the point now with my 'shop that the time to invest in decent lighting is NOW!😂

[billtrossell]

You have got me in the sh•• with my wife. Every statement you said it was followed by “that’s you, you should take notice of this man”
Regards Bill lol

[fathogwoodworking]

Great video mate. I boxed myself in on my first workshop too.

The biggest mistake I think I made was spending money on tools at the wrong end. I wish I known to spend more on a planer and better sand paper than on loads of saws.

[TheWeekendWoodshop]

Great list! I know I've made many of those same mistakes.

[awlthatwoodcrafts]

I spent less than $50 on a pack of 6, inter-connectable, LED strips off Amazon. Barina is the brand. Plenty of light, even in a 2-1/2 car garage. And no shadows. Since they're connectable, I only needed one outlet so I screwed in one of those light sockets with an outlet on the side and viola! Lights!

Great list of things for aspiring woodworkers to think about. The tools one, especially. I watched plenty of woodworking videos before I even got started so I knew that one straight away.

What is your Etsy shop name. I'd love to check it out. If it's still open, that is. I started one a couple of months ago and it's just now picking up steam. I kinda had the same thought about the quality of what I'm selling. But then I reminded myself of the price of what I'm selling and I felt better. Lol

[nigelperry]

I've been told by a sparky, never to use fluorescent tubes in my workshop, due to the flickering. It will affect your lighting. Just a heads up for you. Have a great weekend.

[michaelwillson]

M8 nice video been there done them made pretty all those mistakes. Am actually gonna be spending next week resetting and sorting out my workshop cause its just a clutter and I've new plainer thicknesser combo 😮 so that needs a space. The other one struck with me wyss the selling thing. Am stil kinda in that mind set not good enough etc etc although i have just finished my first comission job but was seriously underpriced for what it was shoot me your email ill send u photo of what it was and can see what you would reckon. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍

[kz.irudimen]

All good points, but I don't think you need to spend hundreds of lighting as a beginner (if you're not going to film in there ...). I bought a whole bunch of 12€ LED light bars made for garages (same shape as those old fluorescent tubes, but LED) at LIDL and just used those. And I added a flexible light right on top of my workbench where I work to make sure it's really well lit up. It's not perfect but the whole thing cost me like 50€. Things don't have to be perfect, my basement shop does not have to look like the workshop of an american youtuber who has 500k subs :D Lots of light is right, but they can be cheap IMO.

[samrix]

I had to skip step one as for me it's in the 4 or 5 figures lol

[vmoutsop]

Eh, don't worry, shit happens 😂