the worst woodworking day or dumbest thing you have done

ok, just reading a few recent posts on this site has inspired me to post a forum to find out just how cruel murphy can be to us woodies. i am inviting everyone to post details of their worst day or moment they would rather forget in the workshop. i chose the hints and tips forum so that we might be able to save someone else from the same grief.

to get the ball rolling, heres my most embarrasing moment in woodworking:

I am renovating my old queenslander and decided i needed a triton workcentre 2000 to make life easier. being a single man (now with a g/f) since my wife died unexpectedly just over 3 years ago, i decided to set up the workshop in the dining room as the plan was to renovate the bedrooms, bathroom kitchen then dining room last, better than cuting downstairs and carting up all the time!

I got my brand new triton workcentre home and was setting it up, having a great time, did the main chassis and the saw, everything was set up far more more accurately than i thought possible. the maxi extension table was perfect, next thing is the router table.
i set up my faithful old makita 3600br router in the table and decided to run a piece of timber through it.

now im quite experienced with a hand held router , and of course i didnt read all the instructions (who does) but i never thought about the router bit rotating in the opposite direction in the inverted position. naturally i assumed that you moved the fence back to support the back of the timber and proceeded to feed a piece of 35 x 70 sized pine stud about a metre long through the cutter . after all the arrows did point that way.

well, imagine my horror as the stock was ripped from my hands and i glance up from the table to see it heading straight down the dining room directly at my dear departed wifes precious sewing machine!!!

The gods must have been smiling on me as there was a buiscuit tin infront of the sewing machine motor and it took the brunt of the impact.

well,i learnt a lot from that experience, i just cant remember what it was i learnt.


if you have a similar story post it here, we might be able to save someone else from doing similar

DOug

Quote:

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Originally Posted by doug the slug

I am renovating my old queenslander and decided i needed a triton workcentre 2000 to make life easier.

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Doug,

You could have stopped right there, that was a pretty emabarrasing confession :D :D :D

Just kidding Triton owners, just kidding :) :) :)

Jack.

ok jack, i didnt start this forum to justify my decision to buy a triton and if the thread is hijacked, i dont care. but weould you be able to carty a tablesaw around the where the work is when building wardrobes into the house or would you be forced to go to the workshop to recut every piece that needed a mm cuting off?

im happy with my triton, which i can take from place to place instead of a table saw which youcan wheel around the workshop if you ar elucky

btw jack, i do recognise that as humour, and i tried to send you a greenie but i cant cos i sent you one the other day, but i will send you one as soon as the system allows, thanks for contributing, but tell us what your most embarrasing moment was

It would probably be easier to tell you of the non embarrasing moments :)

Ok, how about this one.
I have been building a built in wardrobe in the master bed room for quite some time now.
As I am only home 1 week out of 3 these things take time.
It is almost complete now, only the doors to go as I finisfed the shelves recently, which is where the embarresment comes in.
Bear in mind that a friend of ours had us over the night before to drink her ex husbands red wine collection, 11 bottles between 5 of us.
I measured the shelves at 377mm wide and locked that number in to memory.
I then went downstairs to the TS (perhaps if I had a triton which I was able to use upstairs this mistake would not have occurred :D :D :D )
Once downstairs I wrote the measurement down so I wouldn't forget it.
I then proceeded to cut the 12 shelves required.
This complete I went back upstairs and drilled and fitted the shelf pins.
I then grabbed the 12 shelves to fit them in to the cupboard only to find they were 40mm narrower than what was required.
I measured and checked a few times and then went back downstairs (once again, something I would not need to do if I had a triton :D :D :D ). I checked the fence setting and it was at 337mm, not the 377mm required. I then checked the measurement I had written down, again 337mm, 40mm short.

Somehow, even though I measured more than twice, I had lost 40mm of measurement walking down the stairs.
I then went to bunnies, spent another $80 on melamine and started again, all went okay this time.

Jack

I have also made a similar stuffup when I was making an almost 2m long bookcase and cut the last shelf 20mm shorter (the Triton didnt save me here ;) ). It was very annoying as it was a public holliday and Bunnies were closed :mad: .

Another one... When I was making canopy windows for our weatherboard home... Here I was at the last canopy and I cut the top brace almost 80mm short :eek: . Luckily by then I had started to account for my errors by buying extra wood, so it wasnt a disaster.

Lastly, also did the router thing with my first homemade router table, the missile was luckily only a 30cm piece of pine which disintegrated on impact with the opposing wall :D . Tell you what, never made THAT mistake again...

[QUOTE=routermaniac] It was very annoying as it was a public holliday and Bunnies were closed :mad: .

[QUOTE]
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon14.gif
up here they open longer on long weekendshttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon14.gif

"the worst woodworking day or dumbest thing you have done"

Putting a large overweight lockmitre bit in my router table without changing the speed setting too lowest... almost killed my table router(3612c mak), it vibrated enough to shake one of the electrical connectors off the motor which then went on too hit the brushes contact area arcing and pitting the hell out of it... luckly there was enough meat left on the contact area to clean up with some W&D with the stator assembley spun in my cordless drill and for safety the connectors are now soldered on!
I dont use that bit anymore as now its out of balance(bent the 1/2" shaft I think)

ok here is an icebreaker...it's not woodworking but it is a classic...the other day i went to pick up a washing machine that i got via ebay, put the machine in the ute as normal but did i put a rope around the top and did i face the machine backwards , no of course not why would i do such a smart thing like that, oh , and it was a really really windy day, driving down the road , almost home i here a sudden noise , sounded like metal hitting the road, looks ok in the back , must have just been something on the road, got home and went to show of the great machine i got and crickey! where is the lid gone ??? it won't work without the lid, oh so that's what that noise was on the road , the bloody lid flying away! i drove back to that spot and there it was , lucky it was metal , and not a ding on it, not even a tyre tread...make sure you rope down your stuff on a windy day, even a small lid could become a dangerous object, luckily there was no one driving behind me at the time...

i got drunk and fell asleep in a wheelbarrow once. my mates filled it up with sand then water. that was a fun night...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zed

i got drunk and fell asleep in a wheelbarrow once. my mates filled it up with sand then water. that was a fun night...

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So thats where the term "drunk as a monkey" came from.

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zed

i got drunk and fell asleep in a wheelbarrow once. my mates filled it up with sand then water. that was a fun night...

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They were obviously interrupted before they could put the cement in :D

Beside the 1 inch too short on the specially rebated piece of timber covering the edge of the melamine (cut at 20.5" instead of 21.5") on the new laundry cupboard, there is the hole in the wall.

Last weekend I finally got around to removing half a brick to let the drain out from the new laundry trough. A series of holes worked a treat and out came half a brick with a couple of smacks with the hammer. Then I look and think and conclude .. "It'll be neater if I put the trough drain hole 2 brick courses higher. I'll use that other hole for the floor watse." So off I go drilling holes to remove another half brick. BUT this one did not want to shift as easily and then I looked behind it ..

:eek:

The water pipes to the trough were on the inside of the wall and there was no way a drain was going to get past them let alone the piece of brick.

So 2 holes in the wall :o

... time for a cuppa.

Fortunatley I did not have a fountain.

Triton saw table, piece of wood, kickback, window. Nuf said. :eek: :o

Front door (including jamb).replacement on a sunday morning......

https://www.ubeaut.biz/idea.gifTaking old door out and jamb out I decide it would be quicker to leave the door in the jamb and remove it all intact - surely it would save time as the screw heads on the hinges were painted over. Whilst cutting the last of the nails holding the door and jamb in place, the jamb tilted and the door slammed shut on my thumb - to cap it off lock engaged (there's the dumbest things covered) https://www.ubeaut.biz/crying.gif. Managed to open door one handed with wrecking bar, door and jamb fall out of opening on the ground (as a result of a well wound up poke with a steel cap boot). Off to hospital with a bag of frozen peas wrapped around my now purple and bleeding thumb - minus any security for the house as the front door is sitting on the floor - tools strewn everywhere. I'm hoping robbers don't work on sundays. Thumb nail removed, thumb wrapped and splinted in case it's broken (no radiologist on at the time) pain killers administered.

Get home about an hour later, realise that I must be at work tomorow so I have to install the new door jam, hinges, door, lockset .... before tonight otherwise no front door. Any time my thumb touches anything there's either tears, swearing or both.

Having an injury is one thing - having to come back and complete the job in pain is pure evil https://www.ubeaut.biz/fireface.gif


...I'd rather be lucky than skilful...

I beg to differ Mr Eastie

This is the silliest thing you have done.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...=eastie+sander

Al :D