Beginning builders - how stressed do you get when making a cut?

Try not to get stressed on your first few build. The hard truth is you are going to mess up. Also avoid building with expensive materials at first. I screwed up a lot of truss rod channels. I screwed up a few necks in general. But I have also found procrastination is the worst thing when your new at this(I also lack a lot of free time). The reason being is you forget little tricks you don’t even realised you picked up. Even little stuff like the order you do things.

This weekend is a good example, it’s been a few months since I build a neck. Cut the truss rod slot perfect, but since I was so focused on that. I forgot to joint the blank. No big deal, then i go to redo the truss channel depth, and mess it up.

Your going to mess up, and luckily repairing them is as much of a lesson as building them.

 

Losing the wood doesn’t bother me NEAR as much as the setback—especially if I’ve already made it through a few scary cuts or hours of sanding!

 

I plan, watch videos, visualize etc. but at some point you just have to do it. I do the best I can and if it goes wrong I try to fix it and hopefully learn something.

 

As someone who has been around wood working all my life (my dad built custom cabinets when I was a kid, and I work with furniture manufacturers all the time now) I have realized that using the right tool for the right job makes the work go easier.

Every time I decided to "wing it" or just throw a jig together to get a job done I have made scrap wood. Patience is a key component of being a good wood worker, patient in terms of planning the cut and making the jigs, then getting the right tool set up for the job.

The one thing that still kills me is something like the OP was doing, the truss rod route. It is pretty straight forward right? A long skinny route into the piece of wood. But so many things can go wrong if you don't make a jig and plan. It has taken me much longer to make my neck jig and to get the router, the jig and the neck set up than it has ever taken to cut the slot...

 

I've built about the same amount and I'm right there with you. I think it's better to be a bit anxious/nervous than to just dive in and hope for best.

 

When you make that first cut, or for what it matters, any cut, it's always best that you have your head on right-side up and facing forward with the brain fully engaged .

But, all joking aside, I think I know what you're talking about. Even after a lifetime of cutting wood as part of my job, I still feel a little different when I'm about to make the first cut into a small and pretty piece of $100 dollar wood.

It's really the point where intent and execution intersect. I don't think I'd quite call it nervousness; I think of it more like a state of "heightened awareness" .

 

^THIS! I’ve never gotten bent out of shape over a piece of wood, but the thought of going backwards KILLS me! I’ve turned into Yosemite Sam on a number of occasions because of that scenario.

 

Losing the wood doesn’t bother me NEAR as much as losing a digit. Being nervous is healthy when operating machines with cutters.

 

My Dad built boats as a "hobby".. he drilled into me.. measure twice, cut once... I hear him behind me whispering every time I make a cut....

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Stressed? You mean how it feels walking back to the router table after a piece of wood just got pulled out of your hands and flung across the garage? Yeah, I have felt that. Learned a good lesson too.

 

The day of every build when I can finally pack up the router is always a happy day for me!

 

That end grain will get you every time! The first time I made a butcher block type cutting board I found that out. I cut my material into strips, glued them up and then sent it through the thickness planer to smooth it out, no problem. Cut into strips again and rotate 90 degrees, then glue it up with the end grain exposed... put it through the thickness planer again without thinking about it and had a 2" thick, 12x20" slab of maple and walnut shoot past me at the speed of sound Definitely not a lesson I'll ever forget.

 

Couldn't agree more

 

If you guys are stressing about the use of the router, you might want to take a look at what and how you are using it. You can relieve some of the pressure by drilling out waste before you attach a template and make the clean up pass remove very little material. Perimeter shaping doesn't have to even involve a router. There are other options out there that often get overlooked because of techniques that get repeated over and over here. Using a lower powered router will do the job to and feels more comfortable in your hands.

 

All true, but that hummer is still gonna be going around 300 times per second. I’ve only had a route go SERIOUSLY pear-shaped once, when I did something really stupid that seemed only slightly sketchy before I did it. Okay, now that I think about it, that’s happened twice...

Anyway, the POINT IS...

The point is that nowadays I’m always concentrating really hard when I use the router, because the briefest moment of inattention can be catastrophic, and though I generally get good results these days, it is exhausting.

 

I’m on my 4th or 5th build. I’ve been gradually eliminating the stress points in my build process. I a lot more to go. I make an effort to double check measurements and make sure all of my templates are firmly secured.

The one point where errors always happen for me is when I move the router when it is still running after finishing a cut. I’ve damaged a lot of templates and a few workpieces that way. Now I just move the bit away from the piece, shut it off and wait for it to run out before I move it.

 

In short, my answer to the thread title is - VERY..!!