When you smash your thumb.

When you misplace everything....particularly the hand drill which is big as a bulls eye!

...when that "one more" coat of paint wrinkles.

...when you cut a piece the wrong size three times in a row.

...when you don't remember what you are supposed to do next.

...when you realize you've just spent 20 minutes looking for a tiny screw you dropped in a big pile of sawdust, when there are 500 more tiny screws available that you could have used.

...when you realize how close you just came to drilling, sawing, or routing your finger.

...when you sharpen a pencil, and see an old paint brush you need to throw away, so you put the pencil in your pocket, and walk to the trash can, only to realize the trash bag is full, so you take it out to the curb, and notice some branches that fell in the yard after the storm, so you start to pick them up, and your phone starts ringing, so you reach into your pocket and stab your finger on the newly sharpened pencil, and wonder why the hell you have a sharp pencil in your pocket.

Comment: Great minds think alike.

When you walk to the shop looking for a screwdriver, forget the keys, go back home, get the keys, walk back to the shop with keys in-hand, open the door, put the keys in your pocket and realize you have a screwdriver - so - you put the screwdriver in the tool box, turn the lights out, lock the door, keeping the keys in your hand, walk back home then..... five minutes later you then realize the screwdriver is now in the shop so you walk back to the shop only to realize that you left the keys at home.

And you're locked-out of both buildings.

Wow, that's bad!

You want a screwdriver , the one with the wood handle it has metal headed thumbtack in the end of the handle so yo can tap gently and not hurt the wood, it has a black handle worn to to soft grey. the shaft is that dull blackish color,its 6" long with at slot tip, slightly grimey in the handle . Now that you have remembered all those details about it --why can't iI remember where I put it?

I want a partiular book, reddish cloth covers, worn spine, black lettering, red and yellow band on the binding cords, last seen in the pile of books that was placed next to the book cases too filled to put it in , the one in the bedroom on the north side- I know I put it there- who moved it so I can yell at them. It was there 6 mod ago why isn't where I put it. Arrrrrrrrrgh!


Do we see a pattern here?

I'm pretty much guilty of all of the above. I quit when I get so frustrated that I pick up the project that I have been working on for weeks to throw it across the shop. Usually quitting comes too late when I have double checked the dimensions of the box I am building and can't figure out why it is that large, so I cut it down, only to remember it is a tip over box and the height and depth of the box have to match.

My favorite time to quit is when my wife comes in and gives me "THAT" smile. I know work is finished for the day!

I swear I just did this...

I just spent an hour and a half applying decal transfers to a piece, and when I finished, I smiled, and then realized every .damn. one them was upside down. ARRRRGGHH!!!!

When you spend all day cutting multiple pieces for a run of a new product. You get to the last one.. sweep the sawdust.. vacuum the shop, empty the trash.. file all your short ends in the short end pile, stack your pieces you just cut for assembly the next day... and realize that you're ONE PIECE SHORT of the one that's the one that has the hardest jig to set up...

When you use a belt sander on a few pieces, which you then set ontop of the nearby disk sander and when you casually pick up the pieces from the disk scander you sand off the knuckle of your pinky because you forgot that the belt sander and the disk sander spin at the same time.

Jim

When you break every last 1/8 in drill bit in the shop working on a stainless steel project.

When you make a brand new never-before seen box that you've been meaning to make... forever - Then glance at a shelve and see the same thing which you made, 30 years ago.

When you spray a flawless coat of primer on a piece you were intending to stain.

When, after long hours of working in your shop, you finally have to open a cover maintained by 16 screws to discover (after having unscrew the 16th screw) that you just open the wrong cover. Then you proceed to screw back all your screws to find that only 15 screws have been screwed on the cover... the 16th being UNDER the *** cover!... >: (

When that "one quick pass on the router table" ends up referring to both the workpiece and your fingertip.

(That's a mistake you only make once- hopefully not per fingertip.)

Today I was using my drill. I was zooming thru the project with ease. I was not paying enough attention. I drilled the back of my hand as the drill was over it. It is a good thing the drill bit was dull. There was no blood. But I felt a funny feeling for a few minutes after hitting a nerve.

When you keep misplacing/losing one tool among the batch of tools that you keep hunting down, to
get together for the job you are trying to start.

OH. MY. GOSH. These stories are enough to make ANYONE shy away from building stuff! ...and as a newbie to the building world, I've already experience SEVERAL of these! YIKES!

I drilled my thumb with a power drill and phillips head screwdriver bit. There was a little blood...but super happy it wasn't an actual drill bit!

I'm completely petrified that I'll saw off a digit (or my hand) in some freak accident. I'm a bit accident prone when working with tools. Not that I can't figure out how to use them...but I sorta get in the groove (no pun intended) and just quit thinking about how I could get hurt...and that's VERY dangerous I think. As long as you have safety on your mind, it's a good thing. Project be darned...I need to respect my hands!

When I was two, I was "helping" my dad fix the sink. I had a pair of pliers and put my thumb inside of them and then leaned on them with the other hand. The more I leaned, the more it hurt and the more I couldn't get my thumb out so I cried and screamed. Dad said, "You dilbert! Quit leaning on it!" And he took away the pliers...

I then picked up the hammer, put my thumb under the hammer and leaned on it. Same result. Seriously, I have a very high IQ...but I think it must have been developed by experience at a young age...lol. Can we say "IDIOT?!"

For the second time that day....

When you're so tired from working all day & then working several hours in the shop that you walk past the big jointer on the way to the Uni-plane & since you looked at the big jointer you instead turn on the small jointer right across from it instead of the Uni-plane & attempt to run end grain across it thus resulting in the wood being ripped from your hands & shot across the shop - it's time to quit for the day...