Avoid these 5 common woodworking mistakes! (From a teachers perspective)

I have been teaching woodworking classes for a long time now and I was very surprised at the common mistakes woodworkers were making. I obviously am here to teach them but I expected some of these fundamental things to come more naturally to people. I unexpectedly found myself teaching basics more than I anything.

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Instagram: @William.Douglas.Co

[Brangustx]

Wow, this was refreshing and spot-on. I had an old mentor who used to preach, "the sign of a good craftsman, is one who can recover from his mistakes" . I'm subscribing.

[CLoveIN]

“Quality only hurts once.” One of my top ten quotes. I wish I would have learned that lesson in my younger years but unfortunately I too wasted more money than I like to recall on cheap tools.

[krisbeatty]

One thing I learned from my uncle was "buy once cry once" I totally agree if you need new buy good not cheap. I believe it makes you better at what you do

[siriosstar]

There is one thing that should always precede the excellent table saw instruction.Before the blade starts up, Always ask yourself - " where are my hands" in relation to the blade .
i was taught this in woodworking class in the sixties and i still have that thought every time i start my saw up . This line of thinking can be applied to any machine . After fifty years of woodworking i still have all of my fingers and have never been cut by any machine .

[davidtimperley]

Some great tips and tricks to recover the mistakes we all make from time to time, but I would make one observation with regard to the table saw and that is not using a riving knife when ripping timber. There is a much higher chance of the timber kicking back or being dragged into the teeth of the saw blade along with your fingers, that is why saws come with both guards or riving knives. Please use them, no one wants to lose their fingers.

[BandSWoodcraft]

best advice you have on here is to slow down. not just for sanding but whenever you encounter a mistake or problem, slow down and think it through before rushing into a fix that just makes it worse. great video hoss, keep it coming!

[jessefurqueron]

Best sanding vid I’ve seen was done by a guy for a YouTube Festool vid. Only issue I had was he didn’t blow off his pieces between grits. We always blown off pieces to get rid of loose grits pieces (can be a problem with some sandpapers, even a popular US 3rd party paper whose name I won’t mention) and dust (especially in wood w open pores). When we moved from Bosch to Festool sanders we adopted his sanding pattern (and his advice on when/when not to skip grits) and still use his approach, cause it works, in our shop. Nice added bit, is found that we are spending significantly less time overall sanding than before and achieving a better surface. Key take away that gets skipped often, try turning down the suction on your vacuum (if you can). Really helps with swirls. While it’s expensive, I will say that in our experience, we get a lot less loose grit with Rubin sandpaper, but it can still happen..so pull out that air gun 😉

As always, YMMV. just sharing. nothing more. nothing less.

[JoshHarrisPhotography]

Loved the opening safety tips on the table saw, with no riving knife or blade guard. :)

[BlessedLaymanNC]

My guess for the reason the most experienced make the mistakes is either because they developed their methods/habits already, or they have become complacent. It's too routine.

In the Navy, I was taught to watch out for airplane propellers. But then told that it was the Chief's who are more likely to walk into them.

Thank you for the tips. This is my first visit. I'm checking you out to see if I subscribe.

[barrytipton]

@ 2:28 That's Howie Kendricks of the Anaheim Angels, LA Dodgers, and Washington Nationals...SO cool he's also a woodworker.

[Real.Estate.Report]

I learned a lot on this one! Taping your joints is a great idea. Never thought about that but totally makes sense especially in those harder to reach areas.

[justinhill]

I've been a woodshop teacher for 25 years. I will tell you the #1 mistake so many people make is taking the BLADE GUARD OFF THE TABLE SAW, because someone told them "it will just get in the way and probably cause an accident". I can tell you, from all of my experience teaching people from 10-80 years old, no one has EVER been hurt by the blade guard on my table saw! However, it has saved several student's fingers over the years. I know it is necessary to remove the guard for certain cuts, but it always goes right back on as soon as those cuts are done. BTW you are spot on with your other advice in the video.

[serendipityguy]

I loved the way that you shown how to recover from mistakes and using the scraps or wedges for the resolve. Using the Tape is a nice tip, I have to bookmark this one. It was nice to see some of your student's work and how they are displayed. Yes the chair is amazing and the inlay is the bonus. These type of videos are the kind that gets viewed again and again. I know that I had enough kick backs and it's this experience that keeps me alert, same with the Router Table & fence. I too hate when good wood gets bowed . . .Why Why why . . . Thank you kindly for this Master Video techniques Will.

[watermain]

Experienced woodworkers have made lots of mistakes already, but are willing to try new ways of doing things to get better at their craft, IMHO...Thanks for a great video and all those tips.

[mikeamboy]

Great tips! Add one more; when sanding something as wide as a tabletop be sure to treat both sides the same. Otherwise there is a good chance it will want to bow.

[honorvetz]

"It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better." John Ruskin
I saw this quote years ago and have remembered and applied it ever since.

Thank you for your very informative video. I certainly agree with all you said, however, what you did not say about table saw safety is my concern. Minimum riving knife, plus unless cutting thin strips or small pieces of timber, why not use the blade protection.

[befmx]

I hate to say it but although I have not been in this game for very long, I have just found out that there is a lot of benefit in "sanding thru the grits". Wow, what a difference. Now I just need to remove all the dust in between each grit. Thanks for the tip!

[southcarolina]

I've been a full time professional woodworker for 26 years and gotta say great tips man all on point I'd say maybe add reaching for items around the saw to the video this is one of the most common problems I see with new guys in my shop reaching directly over the blade to grab something on the other side people seam to always over look the simple things that cost fingers

[terrmaso]

My first commissioned piece had a major mistake. I made a boat bookshelf and cut through on one side when making relief cuts for bends. The way I fixed it was to remove all the relief cut areas and replace them with a piece of Ash. Finished product turned out amazing, in my opinion, and everyone who sees it tells me how much they love the color combination. The fix turned out to be what catches everyone's the most. Mistakes are stressful, but they can often turn out amazing 👍.
Totally agree on the tool aspect. I started out with some inexpensive tools and came to understand why they were inexpensive. I even have what some would consider more high end tools that I picked up cheaper due to a blemish. Doesn't effect performance, they just can't be sold at regular price. Those are nice, but as much as I hate to admit it, the guys in Red really set themselves apart with the small touches. Being able to leave your square on the corner/edge of your workpiece without it falling off. Having all your measuring tools read the exact same measurements (take two red tools and line them up side by side) is awesome because you don't have to worry about deviation. The added versatility of a well thought out and engineered tool makes life that much more pleasant. By all means, take advantage of the mistakes and learning experiences of those before us.
And if you are referring to the 3M Cubitron sandpaper, taytools.com did the original comparison and actually has the hard data available on their website. Once you switch to Cubitron, there is no going back.
Thanks for the great info, I always enjoy your content. Haven't seen the Jeep in a minute, what gives?