When are you the most mistake prone?

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Cwalker935

Cwalker935

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May 18, 2014
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This is a question for the imperfect turners out there, I know there has to be one or two other than me. When do you make your mistakes? For me its when I am repositioning my tool. I will sometimes nick or gouge my working surface when moving from one working area to another. I simply let my attention waiver. I was reminded of this earlier today while transitioning my cutting tool from my upper lip to my left sideburn. I inadvertently nicked the piece that I was working on underneath my left eye in a non-working area. Nothing serious and was easily treated by several dabs of toilet paper. Difficult to explain how one could cut ones self in an area well removed from the beard area. Think I will respond to the inevitable questions with- knife fight.
 
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I make many items for craft shows - not just on the lathe. To be successful in this venue, you have to make a lot of things and make them reasonably fast. Without question, I make the most mistakes when I am "in a hurry" to get things made. This usually occurs the last week before a show when I'm trying to get those last few items completed. For items that I make every craft season, the patterns and established procedures lead to making fewer mistakes. However, making the same thing over and over gets boring. I try to balance old and new items to reduce the boredom.

Each year I look forward to the 3-4 months after the Christmas season to try some new things. This is fun and relaxed woodworking. Since this frequently involves new tools and techniques and I don't have to finish something quickly, I can take my time and that leads to less mistakes.

At the lathe, being tired or trying to get too aggressive (in a hurry) with a tool can lead to catches and other problems, so I try to take regular breaks from the lathe by switching to scroll work or finishing, where I can sit and rest.

Sorry if I rambled too much!
 
I sometimes let my eye wander from the cutting edge of the tool to the top of the blank to see how much is coming off and what profile is developing. that's usually when the nice tool gouge and blowout occurs.

Most other times I am in a hurry due to limited shop time right now with a 19 month old at home and I don't let glue/paint cure fully around a tube/blank or rush a sanding/finishing job and end up taking twice as long because I have to start over....

I have quickly learned that to be most efficient means taking my time and thinking through the whole process. I have got into the habit of laying aside time at the end of each night's turning to go ahead and prep a few blanks for the following night's turning endeavors and that usually helps with most issues (besides the wandering eyes on the blank!!)
 
Getting old is causing me to make more mistakes. Arthritis and neuropathy make for some loss of dexterity. I tend to drop things more frequently and notice some loss of fine motor skills. I used to do fine scale modeling but can no longer do so.
 
Many times I have raltionalized this hobby as a stress reliever. Ironically, I make my mistakes when I am stressed to the point I can't get my mind off what is bothering me. Work, kids, ex's - all are to blame:wink:
 
Sorry for jumping in late here. lately, I most mistake prone when ever I set out to make a pen.

I just finished about 20 fro Christmas presents and had issues with each and every one of them. My wife said they came out great, but not to my standards. I am even too ashamed to post them on here.
 
This week I've had no mistakes made on the lathe. Of course, the lathe has been turned off while I wait on supplies to show up. 9 more bolt actions to get made for customers. I'm sure there are some mistakes coming. I'm so positive on the mistakes coming, that I ordered a couple of more bolt action kits than I needed!
 
When I get distracted/sidetracked by an intrusive thought... like when I'm turning and drift off into thinking about the micromesh finish I'm going to start soon. KA-BLAM: Shards of material shower the workshop.
 
I varies in direct proportion to the cost of the material I'm using. Thuya burl, desert iron wood, spalted pecan, Stainless Damascus, etc. Cheap wood or acrylics not so much. Also, the last pass on the last piece turned tends to be the most mistake prone especially when the match is near perfect or I have no back up material and a deadline to meet.
 
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