A few weeks ago I made something with a joint with multiple techniques I had never used before. I decided to make test pieces for each one. I completely ruined every single first test piece. If those had been done on the real pieces of beautiful wood I was using I would have been livid. And then the 2nd tests went perfect. And the real project went perfect. That was definitely a "I should probably always work like this" moment. Not a single piece of beautiful wild cherry was ruined, everything went great.
While everyone loves to see a masterfully executed build, an experienced craftsman who is humble enough to show and explain his mistakes is invaluable to the up-and-coming maker. It shows us that these mistakes are not exclusively within the domain of the newbie and are merely another step along the journey. It is practice that grants us the knowledge and skill to overcome the challenge.
“Papa you sawed past your baselines, I don’t want this piece of garbage!” Lol! These are great tips! Practice is something that should just be an automatic step in my process, but I really do it... Finishing everything is something I wouldn’t have necessarily thought of, but really makes sense.
I started making your mallet out of a cherry log. I only had one log though so I made a test piece out of a 2x4 to learn the joinery. I learned a lot including that, apparently a 2x4 mallet is exactly all I needed. A year later it's had plenty of use!
My Wife wanted to make a workbench for her craft projects. She came to me with an instagram project that had folding legs and hung from the wall. I told her it was terrible but she wanted it anyway. I got it across the finish line for her, and the first time she used it - it almost broke her arm when it collapsed randomly. Of course I was there to catch it, almost like I knew it was going to happen! All this to say, sometimes you do know how something will be without finishing it. It is easy to tell when something was made for a picture vs something that was made for a purpose.
Many years ago in my early 20s I built a war gaming table for myself based from extending the size of a chabudai design with folding legs and hinged across it's middle so it could be collapsed and stored out of sight against the inside wall of a closet. Folding legs are a nightmare to get right with a time tested design. I found out a couple years ago that there's a small company that makes the locking hinges for folding legs and sells 'em for DIY projects.
Over 10,000 years of craftsman and none of them had a “folding” workbench in any of their books until modern era. Im sure somebody tried it. When it came down on them I’m also sure they just omitted it from any book they were writing.
@@gabrielmaynard yeah, exactly - all the combined experience of tradesmen up to our current day could not have coincidentally avoided folding workbenches.
I really appreciate the realism in your videos Rex. It is high time that someone pointed out that the perfect pieces you see online do not reflect reality. I hope a lot of people see this video and find encouragement in it.
You are so right about finishing before judging. My secret Santa project this year looked HORRIBLE to me throughout the project, so bad that I was close to abandoning it and just buying my way out. I completed it, and I had a hard time shipping it out because I wanted it for myself. It wasn't perfect, but it was the absolute best I could do and I am proud of how it turned out.
I had a similar experience building a table. Parts of it were a total disaster and I had to revisit the drawing board a couple of times. It eventually worked out in the end but a lot of lessons learned from it!
First off, Rex, it is so encouraging that small businesses are inventing new tools. I am waiting for new leather crafting tools from another RUclipsr. Can't wait. Just one little note. The sound on this video is PERFECT! The work you did on sound has paid off big time. Excellent.
The flaws, on a piece of furniture, in your own house, on a design you just started trying...well, that is just a historical record of your personal journey, no different than a diary entry. Looks great, Rex!
I started sewing many years before I ever tried woodworking. The best practice in making clothing is to ALWAYS make a practice piece first. It's called making a muslin, since practice garments were traditionally made in muslin, a type of plain undyed cotton. (Muslin = cheap pine.) (Although if you plan to use a fabric with unique qualities--a knit, or a slippery silk--you should make a muslin in a similar fabric. This is like getting to know the qualities of different types of woods by practicing with them.) Making a muslin allows you to try out the pattern, practice any steps you aren't familiar with, and make your mistakes on cheap fabric rather than your precious, expensive fabric. If everything works, you end up with what sewists call a wearable muslin; if not, you toss it and try again. Your lovely stool is the woodworking equivalent of a wearable muslin. Lessons from one craft often apply to others!
I started recording myself practicing, an old habit from competitive esports. You'd be surprised how many things I fixed by being able to see how my body was in a bad position or I was doing something trying to get a result but causing a different problem. Sawing as an example: put a camera straight on and making some cuts, put it to the side and make some cuts and then take a look at your form. Look at how the saw moves. Find the point where your saw started drifting and look at your mechanics in the video and see if you can find a problem. Look at a repeating problem across multiple attempts in the same way. You can find really simple adjustments that will likely fix a lot of problems. In reality, this is a sort of self coaching. If I had someone to teach me, like I did back in shop class, I wouldn't need to jump through these hoops. But here I can just use my cellphone and a $20 holder and tripod and self coach. Just hope this helps folks out there without access to a teacher.
I've been practicing for 5 years! I just looked at my current project and realized how far I've come since I started 5 years ago. The journey is what I enjoy most!
Great suggestions. I have been practicing the joints and techniques for Paul Sellers workbench for a while now...I'll be ready one of these days 😄 Flaws add character. Perfection comes from machines and makes everything impersonal.
I think that perfection, or at least what we woodworkers accept as perfection, comes from experience and the application of good techniques. Machines are perfectly capable of helping us to make repeatable and precise mistakes -- at least, my machines can do so. 😎
I nearly dropped my Patreon, but this video saved it. This is definitely one of my top 5 Rex K videos. Keep up the encouragement, the wisdom, and the practical furniture builds! It'll get me motivated to clean up my shop and get back in there.
I am so glad I came across this video. As a trained musician I well know the value of practice (in my youth up to six hours a day). I am 72 now and as I get more and more into hand woodworking the value of not only learning the techniques but of practicing them is as apparent to me as when I was in the practice room with my trombone. Woodworking is both a craft and an art and must be practiced. A little bit of sermonizing and I hope affirmation from an old guy who believes he can learn something new. Yours is one of the several channels I watch a lot and I have learned a tremendous amount from you. Who says the old can't learn from the young?
Finishing the project is the most important thing for anything in life, no matter how long it takes. That's your measure of confidence. If you dont finish, you will never have the confidence to do more. That's the best piece of advice for anything project, not just woodworking.
This is exactly what I needed to hear. I sort of did this when I built a child's learning tower. It didn't turn out to good in my opinion, but I learned a lot and the second one I built with better wood and it came out better. Still not without flaws, but everyone says "Ooh that's awesome " and I've finally learned to keep my mouth shut and stop being so critical and and just continue to learn. Practice, practice, practice, thanks again, Rex.
I’ve learned a lot of techniques from you, Rex, over the last few months but this video has to be my favorite. It was a great reminder that, at the workbench, one really works with wood as much as on one’s self. The ability to forgive the mistakes, keep practicing, and aim for continuous improvement is key in this wonderful hobby.
Ok. So THIS is why your channel is so goddamn good. The whole practice vs production thing is a constant tension for me because I'm impatient. But seeing this just reinforces the idea of: "Hey man. Take it easy. You'll get there. Enjoy the process". YES.. Thank you!!!
Being relatively new, I am going to start projects with joinery that I've never tried before. My initial thought was to grab some pine to do my practicing just as suggested. When I went to price things at my local lumber mill it turns out that Ash is cheaper than yellow or white pine right now! So, I picked up about 60 board feet to practice and then make a piece or two from what I was practicing with.
I Appreciate you endeavors. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve clicked on a video of something I’m interested in learning how to do and some noob is trying something out for the first time and makes a travesty of a project, and 44 minutes into it they tell ya that this is there first try. I am constantly reminded of the old yankee workshop videos of my youth. Norm Abrams is building a table or stool, and he researches it, makes some measurements, takes it back to the workshop, builds a copy and then, and on,y then does he show you how to make it. Add to it the judicious use of voice over while shaping the piece and the finished product next to the original copy. Sometimes they are different woods, or finishes, but there are two. If only all woodworking videos had this format. Don’t forget the safety warnings, and you could have a weekly show for decades!
Thanks for sharing and highlighting the flaws, and calling out the instagram beauty shots. I beat myself up so hard over the flaws in my pieces and yet others are so kind when they see them. I’m not a fan of filters or enhancing just to make a piece look better. I feel like it needs to truly BE as pretty as the picture shows. Thank you!
The main point of practice was great, but I really appreciate your perspective of being happy with the piece, because it functions and your daughter will likely be thrilled with it. As a husband and father I liked that.
Glad to see you're back at it Rex. I really like the piece made from something other than construction grade pine. Looking forward to the sliding dovetail video.
I love this video. I sometimes practice on things that are cheap and no one will see. As an example, I put a dog door through a side wall into a dog run. I have a large dog and a small dog. I made a ramp for the small dog to step onto on the outside. I used drawbored motice and tenon joints. A couple of them were ugly but i got better. This thing is outside in the dirt but it was practice and even the ugly ones remain tight.
This thoughtful advice goes really well with what you said a while back about not pointing out your mistakes to people. I've been practicing being proud of my work, and not going out of my way to point out the flaws. Its teaching me to both be more serious about my work and the process, while also not being preemptively defensive. Great stuff.
This is one of the best and helpful videos I’ve seen, and I watch a ton. I feel like this should be a mandatory video to watch for ever new wood worker. Dang it man, why didn’t you put this out two years ago, I could of used it. Lol. In the last 6 months I’ve learned to practice before making my cut on my project. It’s probably the most important thing to do as a new wood worker. I did not think about your suggestion about finishing the project. I pretty much always do, but your explanation on why is spot on. Again, excellent video with invaluable advice.
Great suggestions. I like surprises, but not the bad ones. Practice makes perfect. Working with new wood, different techniques, etc. can make a difference. Using scraps is a cheap way to test something.
Some times you run into unexpected benefits from practice. I made a torsion box trap door to close the stairs to the cellar. It had to be rigid and strong enough to support the weight of one or more people, a ladder, and maybe some furniture being move upstairs. I decided to criscross the enterior support system by saddle jointing the ribs. That worked like a charm and the entire trap door, in service for years now, is lighter and a lot more stable than the 3/4 plywood "door" the house came with. But, the side benefit was that while I was tuning the joint cutting to get a precise fit between the cross members, I made a cross out of the pine "rib" material that I still use as a saddle square. With equal length arms, and arms perfectly square to each other, it is excellent for carrying marking around the edge of the board from one face to the far side. And, no fussing about getting the right end down. You pick it up, put one arm against a face, adjust another to locate the mark exactly, and done. It's my most used square these days. Maybe I'll make a pretty one out of hardwood one day.
I have two tubs of mostly just scrap pieces that I test everything new on. In fact most things I do are new, because I'm new to this. My most elaborate project yet was shaker style drawer fronts and cabinet doors for our master bath, which was 18 separate pieces. I practiced the tongue-and-groove joints on several scrap pieces before committing to cutting the actual hardwood, and they all came out great!
Finally got the wood in for my workbench, Redgum and Cypress pine. Feels great to be in my own space and finally get my shiz in order! Just like to thank you for your videos mate, they got me interested and curious about woodworking again.
Even just new tools. I got a new dovetail jig a while ago, and I made a whole different project to get to get the feel of it - and then I used offcuts from that project to make some test joints first. The learner project came out great, and I still use those boxes today; and the "real" project went flawlessly because I knew how to use the tools.
This must be a sign. I've failed on a project several times and I've been so discouraged. Thank you, so much, for this video. I needed it. I was really second guessing myself and avoiding my own shop because I didn't want to fail again.
I have a couple of cabinets in my workshop made with box joints, when pocket screws would have sufficed. I learned about box joints, and did not waste wood in the process.
the concept of building one thing then filming is largely how the new yankee workshop did their projects. Its a great way to be confidant in your work if you are teaching others. another great method is building smaller scale test pieces especially for chairs with splayed legs. A board and an old coat hanger can really help dial in the correct angles .
You are so spot on, it is scary. We, the RUclips consuming public, watch these videos of perfection and speed and think that is what we are going to do out of the gate. I appreciate every video that you do.
Repetition is the mother of skill. The more you do something, the better and more efficient you become. As always, Rex, your advice is spot on, to craftsman and new woodworkers as well! Don't stop learning.
I watch Rex's videos and dream about quitting my programming job and becoming a wood worker. And then he goes and drops some advice that is totally applicable for my current job. Practice. Finish every project before you decide if it's any good or not. So simple, yet so brilliant. :D
I love my work, but it's a slog. If you have a job that's okay and has benefits, then don't envy me too much. This life is great for me, but it's not for everyone. Besides, I think the world needs programmers more.
I've gotten extremely lucky not doing many test runs, but my luck finally ran out on a 3 legged stool with 12 degree angles I'd never cut before. I was using very soft pine & even though the top piece was 1 1/2" thick, I didn't make sure it was solid. After running the 1st mortise, the whole thing snapped like a cracker. Thx for reminding to stop being a Johnny Cutcorners, examine the wood more carefully, & PRACTICE!
I sew and do woodworking (both as a total amateur lol) and there's something in sewing that seems very applicable here: the mockup. Every time you're sewing a new pattern that you don't know how it's going to fit, or trying a tricky seam or fold you've never done before, it's best practice to get some scrap fabric (preferably of a similar weight to your final fabric), and sew a mockup of the final piece. It's always tempting to skip it and just go for it with the final product, but doing a mockup instead has saved me so many headaches when I realise the cut I'm working off is too small, or it needs an extra tuck to sit right, or my adjustments have made it too big in one area and too tight in another. It's the same idea: don't blow your good material on something you're not sure of! Use scrap, make a mockup.
Rex, the same holds true in Blacksmithing as well! The rule of thumb is never do a demonstration in public of a project you have not practiced in private....
I totally agree with your advice regarding finishes - because they evolve so fast now. New products are on the shelves at an alarming rate and it is hard to know exactly what you are getting any more. What once worked great on one kind of timber (lumber in USA) doesn't any longer - and so on. Always try it out on an offcut first, even when you think you know what the outcome will be. For a few decades, I had a good idea what a certain finish would deliver on a particular type of wood but I am recently finding that due to new blends getting rid of certain chemicals, those finishes are no longer what I expect on those same woods. The biggest transition most recently is towards water based finishes rather than chemical finishes and that throws the whole thing up in the air. Will it seal? Will it give the matt, sheen or gloss required? How long will it last? How many coats to get the desired shade? I am struggling with these things lately. When it comes to sliding Dovetails - I take my hat off to you because in over forty years of woodworking, I have often contemplated having a go but never have. It's the kind of joint I have always thought of to be the best for making a wall hanging set of shelves, if you get what I mean. I've always chickened out and settled for a simpler option, that is never as good and I know I have let myself down.
There’s this song called 998 Good Bricks and it talks about this guy who builds a wall where he messes up two of the bricks. I don’t want to spoil the end of the song but it’s worth checking it out and listening to the lyrics.
Great advice, as a recent starter in woodwork, I’ve just completed my second only dovetail box 📦 and throughout the project I was going to give up on as it was looking terrible, however I treated the project as a “how to cover up your mistakes “ project 😮 Anyway I’m really glad I did, it’s turned out beautiful and I’ve just given it to my sister. A square tissue box holder out of beech and sepala…without a doubt my finest piece to date 🤓👍 and I really was so frustrated with it I was going to throw it away.
I also quilt, and these days with machine cutters and all those tools….quilts are now about precision, about perfection. I actually like it when my points don’t matchup perfectly, or when the corners aren’t quite straight. The point of a quilt is to keep us warm and be pretty. I also like the imperfections because they speak of ME, the maker. It shows the quilt was made by a real life person, with all the emotions and troubles and joys being human entails. A trace, a whisper of the person who made it. To me that gives meaning and joy, and connection. The same can be said of woodworking. Leave the trace…echo the whisper. We are not machines and we are not perfect. Let our work reflect that.
Practice is overlooked in absolutely every domain. I studied piano professionnally for a year and I stopped because I didn't enjoy enough practicing piano 4 to 8 hours a day. Now I'm studying physics and still there practice is just mandatory to learn. I feel like it's the same everywhere, nothing comes just by knowing how it's done, you really have to try it yourself countless times before you ever get a chance to master it.
I completely agree that anyone needs practicing and I've learned it the "not so pleasant way". I'm in a project now and I don't want to use any screws or fasteners of any kind so i have to make 8 through mortise and tenon joints and it's the firs time I do something like that. So obviously I've laied out the pencil lines directly on what will be the finished piece only on one side because it's not a regular shape. I've found out why you need to put lay out lines on both sides and drill through half from one side an half from the other. Fortunately I've managed to recover the first four and for the remaining ones I'm definitely going to do that.
Find Woodworking magazine had a fun article a couple of years ago that basically said go ahead and make crappy prototypes. Stop obsessing over wasting wood. Interesting advice. So I took scrap plywood from a garden shed I’d torn apart and made an end table and a printer stand. I needed to check proportions on the two projects. Funny thing is they are still in use, like 2 years later! I was surprised how strong a simple glued wood joint is. Recently I bought some cherry so will have the end table made. The printer stand will need to be bigger, so thankfully I built it out of crap plywood and will be able to toss it. But you know, it would make a nice little stand in the shop … hmmm.
thank you Rex good to see you again. my health broke at 59 so after i recovered enough to do something i set up a wood shop more to keep me above ground . my back ground is varied . 70s -80 machinist (navy trained sub-tender ) . different stuff after that . i told my son hey mistakes are just learning new stuff. ( machinist was dead on but different tools ) . so my first project after some shop builds is a classical guitar lol . oh lets start with the easy stuff first . if my heath holds up ill get back into the shop and finish both
Rex - video idea.... pick a joint or skill or something you've not done, and record all the practice. Record all (ALL) the mistakes and show that progression over time. Just a thought.
Dove tails have to be my favorite joint. Love watching machinist make dove tails in their parts and watching it slide together snuggly~~ can't wait to see your video on them in the future!
This man needs a title that helps distinguish him from the other experts. If you just search for woodworking advice, jadda jadda, this man should be the top result if you're a novice woodworker. Hands down. Rexpert has a nice ring to it, although it's such a lazy pun that I feel filthy enough to warrant a shower. Krueger Crew?
Regarding practice, if I’m making a dovetail box I make the sides and ends a few inches too long then if I’m not happy with my first tails or pins I just saw them off and restart. Sometimes you can build the practice into the workflow.
thank you so much for your honest presentation, I really love it you own your mistakes, and help others to avoid them. and it's ok to make mistakes. I really love the video!
The more complicated the sub assembly the more likely I am to make an extra (or 2). Need 4 legs? Make 5 and then #5 is your exact size test piece and if one of them goes south, you have a spare. Great vid Rex!
Rex, correction: practice dies not necessarily make perfect. You can practice something incorrectly and build incorrect muscle memory. Perfect practice makes perfect! Make sure you are practicing correct procedures.
I really like your stuff. You are not afraid to show the things that don't go according to plan. I agree with the idea of practice. Still working on my hand cut dovetails. They are getting better though not as perfect as I want them. As you said practice a lot. Thank you.
Thanks, Rex! This helped me. As an ameteur woodworker, it's not obvious to practice when facing a daunting new technique because I am just thinking about getting the scary build done. Your video is a lesson I will remember next time.
There's a story about an art teacher who ran a little experiment on a pottery class. He split the class in half and told one group that in the next month they would make one pot and be graded on the quality of that one pot. He told the other half that in the next month they would be graded solely on the quantity of pots they could complete. The first group agonized over their single pot. At the end of the month, they had each produced one pretty good pot. The second group produced reams and reams of trash. At first. But by the end of the month they were making stuff better than the 'quality' group.
I treated the diaper changing table for our firstborn as a practice and just-get-it-done project. It got done about two weeks after we came home with him but it turned out really nice. I have gotten into the habit of wedging all my through tenons because that allows me to be a bit sloppier with the mortice rim. Also, keep the small lumps of wood that you cut away between the dovetails and pins and to create the shoulders of the tenons. Making slivers of them and wedging in any gaps is the best way of hiding the gaps, if you are lucky you can even get the growth rings to match.
I have been working wood for over half a century and I still do some practicing before I start work on a new project. For example, If I need to do some dovetailing, I practice cutting and fitting dovetails, preferably on the same species of wood I am going to be using for the final project. I also verify that all the saws, chisels, and planes I need are sharp and ready to go. If nothing else, this just helps me get really focused on the tools and tasks at hand. Currently, I am working on a custom watch case for a favored client. Since the jigs and joinery for the design are a bit different from what I am accustomed to using, I am going to build the jigs and test out the joinery on a prototype made of poplar before I start building the client's case out of imported hardwoods. If past experience is a guide, the time it takes to try out the new jigs, to make the joinery, and to build the prototype will be time well spent -- and even money saved. Plus, I will have a cool case I can use to store stuff in the shop. Win, win. As usual, your advice is gold! Practice, practice, practice. Many thanks.
The bench looks awfully similar to most benches that I've ever seen. And then it hit me. Moravia, my home region -> moravian Church -> so called moravian style furniture. So for me it's traditional Czech furniture design. Thanks for the videos!
Practicing - you need to do it with everything. Most people associate practice with music lessons and that is where I learned it too. I started taking accordion lessons in the 7th grade and quickly became good at it. Practiced every day for years. By the time I graduated high school, my teacher was the accordionist that played on the the TV series "The Love Boat". And I was absolutely terrified of him. Not because he was mean - he was the nicest guy I had ever met. He was so good, that he could make Weird Al look like an amateur. And while trying to hold myself up to those standards, I knew I wasn't practicing enough. Meanwhile, I was making lots of furniture in high school wood shop. That was of course practice too. Professionally, I am a database administrator (DBA), now very senior. And what is the number one job of a DBA? To be able to restore a database from backups. So guess what, I practice restores a lot. And train other DBA's to do so to too. After high school, I joined the Army an didn't have access to a wood shop, nor an accordion for years. Re-learning those skills I had at 18 required a lot of practice.
Thanks Rex. It's humbling to know I'm not not alone. I guess we all make the same little mistakes. Now I feel better about my "finished" pieces. Aloha 🤙
I had the same experience with some bar stools I made for my kids homework desk and they are full of flaws and I was reluctant to finish it. When I pushed through they turned out pretty nice if you don’t worry about the tiny details
I teach woodworking (18 years now) and have a list of books and youtube content that I recommend. I don't add things to that list lightly - there is so much cr#p and almostcrap out there... but just to let you know, you made the list! Keep up the good work.
Rex i find the most critical person of my work is me. Whether it is woodworking, plastering, carpentry around the house . Pluss you know id be happy to have something with saw marks , rather than a smooth piece of chipboard from ikea
Have you thought about doing a slightly tapered sliding dovetail? They are so smart! They come together so nicely and if you make the sliding part a bit too long it is easy to trim after getting it tight. With the tapered sliding dovetail no force is needed until the last centimeter or two when assembling.
A few weeks ago I made something with a joint with multiple techniques I had never used before. I decided to make test pieces for each one. I completely ruined every single first test piece. If those had been done on the real pieces of beautiful wood I was using I would have been livid. And then the 2nd tests went perfect. And the real project went perfect. That was definitely a "I should probably always work like this" moment. Not a single piece of beautiful wild cherry was ruined, everything went great.
Yes, that’s exactly what he said in this video.
While everyone loves to see a masterfully executed build, an experienced craftsman who is humble enough to show and explain his mistakes is invaluable to the up-and-coming maker. It shows us that these mistakes are not exclusively within the domain of the newbie and are merely another step along the journey. It is practice that grants us the knowledge and skill to overcome the challenge.
“Papa you sawed past your baselines, I don’t want this piece of garbage!” Lol!
These are great tips! Practice is something that should just be an automatic step in my process, but I really do it... Finishing everything is something I wouldn’t have necessarily thought of, but really makes sense.
I started making your mallet out of a cherry log. I only had one log though so I made a test piece out of a 2x4 to learn the joinery. I learned a lot including that, apparently a 2x4 mallet is exactly all I needed. A year later it's had plenty of use!
My Wife wanted to make a workbench for her craft projects. She came to me with an instagram project that had folding legs and hung from the wall. I told her it was terrible but she wanted it anyway. I got it across the finish line for her, and the first time she used it - it almost broke her arm when it collapsed randomly. Of course I was there to catch it, almost like I knew it was going to happen! All this to say, sometimes you do know how something will be without finishing it. It is easy to tell when something was made for a picture vs something that was made for a purpose.
Many years ago in my early 20s I built a war gaming table for myself based from extending the size of a chabudai design with folding legs and hinged across it's middle so it could be collapsed and stored out of sight against the inside wall of a closet. Folding legs are a nightmare to get right with a time tested design.
I found out a couple years ago that there's a small company that makes the locking hinges for folding legs and sells 'em for DIY projects.
Over 10,000 years of craftsman and none of them had a “folding” workbench in any of their books until modern era. Im sure somebody tried it. When it came down on them I’m also sure they just omitted it from any book they were writing.
@@gabrielmaynard yeah, exactly - all the combined experience of tradesmen up to our current day could not have coincidentally avoided folding workbenches.
I really appreciate the realism in your videos Rex. It is high time that someone pointed out that the perfect pieces you see online do not reflect reality. I hope a lot of people see this video and find encouragement in it.
You are so right about finishing before judging. My secret Santa project this year looked HORRIBLE to me throughout the project, so bad that I was close to abandoning it and just buying my way out. I completed it, and I had a hard time shipping it out because I wanted it for myself. It wasn't perfect, but it was the absolute best I could do and I am proud of how it turned out.
Thank you for being in the secret santa!
I had a similar experience building a table. Parts of it were a total disaster and I had to revisit the drawing board a couple of times. It eventually worked out in the end but a lot of lessons learned from it!
First off, Rex, it is so encouraging that small businesses are inventing new tools. I am waiting for new leather crafting tools from another RUclipsr. Can't wait. Just one little note. The sound on this video is PERFECT! The work you did on sound has paid off big time. Excellent.
The flaws, on a piece of furniture, in your own house, on a design you just started trying...well, that is just a historical record of your personal journey, no different than a diary entry. Looks great, Rex!
I started sewing many years before I ever tried woodworking. The best practice in making clothing is to ALWAYS make a practice piece first. It's called making a muslin, since practice garments were traditionally made in muslin, a type of plain undyed cotton. (Muslin = cheap pine.) (Although if you plan to use a fabric with unique qualities--a knit, or a slippery silk--you should make a muslin in a similar fabric. This is like getting to know the qualities of different types of woods by practicing with them.) Making a muslin allows you to try out the pattern, practice any steps you aren't familiar with, and make your mistakes on cheap fabric rather than your precious, expensive fabric. If everything works, you end up with what sewists call a wearable muslin; if not, you toss it and try again. Your lovely stool is the woodworking equivalent of a wearable muslin.
Lessons from one craft often apply to others!
I started recording myself practicing, an old habit from competitive esports. You'd be surprised how many things I fixed by being able to see how my body was in a bad position or I was doing something trying to get a result but causing a different problem.
Sawing as an example: put a camera straight on and making some cuts, put it to the side and make some cuts and then take a look at your form. Look at how the saw moves. Find the point where your saw started drifting and look at your mechanics in the video and see if you can find a problem. Look at a repeating problem across multiple attempts in the same way. You can find really simple adjustments that will likely fix a lot of problems.
In reality, this is a sort of self coaching. If I had someone to teach me, like I did back in shop class, I wouldn't need to jump through these hoops. But here I can just use my cellphone and a $20 holder and tripod and self coach. Just hope this helps folks out there without access to a teacher.
I've been practicing for 5 years! I just looked at my current project and realized how far I've come since I started 5 years ago. The journey is what I enjoy most!
Great suggestions. I have been practicing the joints and techniques for Paul Sellers workbench for a while now...I'll be ready one of these days 😄 Flaws add character. Perfection comes from machines and makes everything impersonal.
I think that perfection, or at least what we woodworkers accept as perfection, comes from experience and the application of good techniques. Machines are perfectly capable of helping us to make repeatable and precise mistakes -- at least, my machines can do so. 😎
I nearly dropped my Patreon, but this video saved it. This is definitely one of my top 5 Rex K videos. Keep up the encouragement, the wisdom, and the practical furniture builds! It'll get me motivated to clean up my shop and get back in there.
I still use the first piece of furniture I made n HS wood shop around 50 years ago, it has given yeoman service. Your absolutely right on this topic!
Needed exactly this attitude adjustment today. About wood working... About life. Thanks, as always
I am so glad I came across this video. As a trained musician I well know the value of practice (in my youth up to six hours a day). I am 72 now and as I get more and more into hand woodworking the value of not only learning the techniques but of practicing them is as apparent to me as when I was in the practice room with my trombone. Woodworking is both a craft and an art and must be practiced.
A little bit of sermonizing and I hope affirmation from an old guy who believes he can learn something new.
Yours is one of the several channels I watch a lot and I have learned a tremendous amount from you.
Who says the old can't learn from the young?
Finishing the project is the most important thing for anything in life, no matter how long it takes. That's your measure of confidence. If you dont finish, you will never have the confidence to do more. That's the best piece of advice for anything project, not just woodworking.
This is exactly what I needed to hear. I sort of did this when I built a child's learning tower. It didn't turn out to good in my opinion, but I learned a lot and the second one I built with better wood and it came out better. Still not without flaws, but everyone says "Ooh that's awesome " and I've finally learned to keep my mouth shut and stop being so critical and and just continue to learn. Practice, practice, practice, thanks again, Rex.
I’ve learned a lot of techniques from you, Rex, over the last few months but this video has to be my favorite. It was a great reminder that, at the workbench, one really works with wood as much as on one’s self. The ability to forgive the mistakes, keep practicing, and aim for continuous improvement is key in this wonderful hobby.
Ok. So THIS is why your channel is so goddamn good. The whole practice vs production thing is a constant tension for me because I'm impatient. But seeing this just reinforces the idea of: "Hey man. Take it easy. You'll get there. Enjoy the process". YES.. Thank you!!!
Full disclosure: i SUCK at enjoying the process. I'm often in a panic trying to get the next video out. But your praise is very appreciated.
Being relatively new, I am going to start projects with joinery that I've never tried before. My initial thought was to grab some pine to do my practicing just as suggested. When I went to price things at my local lumber mill it turns out that Ash is cheaper than yellow or white pine right now! So, I picked up about 60 board feet to practice and then make a piece or two from what I was practicing with.
I Appreciate you endeavors. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve clicked on a video of something I’m interested in learning how to do and some noob is trying something out for the first time and makes a travesty of a project, and 44 minutes into it they tell ya that this is there first try. I am constantly reminded of the old yankee workshop videos of my youth. Norm Abrams is building a table or stool, and he researches it, makes some measurements, takes it back to the workshop, builds a copy and then, and on,y then does he show you how to make it. Add to it the judicious use of voice over while shaping the piece and the finished product next to the original copy. Sometimes they are different woods, or finishes, but there are two. If only all woodworking videos had this format. Don’t forget the safety warnings, and you could have a weekly show for decades!
Thanks for sharing and highlighting the flaws, and calling out the instagram beauty shots. I beat myself up so hard over the flaws in my pieces and yet others are so kind when they see them. I’m not a fan of filters or enhancing just to make a piece look better. I feel like it needs to truly BE as pretty as the picture shows.
Thank you!
The main point of practice was great, but I really appreciate your perspective of being happy with the piece, because it functions and your daughter will likely be thrilled with it. As a husband and father I liked that.
"without meaning to, I finished the whole piece" That's one for the lines book !
Glad to see you're back at it Rex. I really like the piece made from something other than construction grade pine. Looking forward to the sliding dovetail video.
I love this video. I sometimes practice on things that are cheap and no one will see. As an example, I put a dog door through a side wall into a dog run. I have a large dog and a small dog. I made a ramp for the small dog to step onto on the outside. I used drawbored motice and tenon joints. A couple of them were ugly but i got better. This thing is outside in the dirt but it was practice and even the ugly ones remain tight.
This thoughtful advice goes really well with what you said a while back about not pointing out your mistakes to people. I've been practicing being proud of my work, and not going out of my way to point out the flaws. Its teaching me to both be more serious about my work and the process, while also not being preemptively defensive. Great stuff.
This is one of the best and helpful videos I’ve seen, and I watch a ton. I feel like this should be a mandatory video to watch for ever new wood worker. Dang it man, why didn’t you put this out two years ago, I could of used it. Lol. In the last 6 months I’ve learned to practice before making my cut on my project. It’s probably the most important thing to do as a new wood worker. I did not think about your suggestion about finishing the project. I pretty much always do, but your explanation on why is spot on. Again, excellent video with invaluable advice.
Great suggestions. I like surprises, but not the bad ones. Practice makes perfect. Working with new wood, different techniques, etc. can make a difference. Using scraps is a cheap way to test something.
Some times you run into unexpected benefits from practice. I made a torsion box trap door to close the stairs to the cellar. It had to be rigid and strong enough to support the weight of one or more people, a ladder, and maybe some furniture being move upstairs. I decided to criscross the enterior support system by saddle jointing the ribs. That worked like a charm and the entire trap door, in service for years now, is lighter and a lot more stable than the 3/4 plywood "door" the house came with. But, the side benefit was that while I was tuning the joint cutting to get a precise fit between the cross members, I made a cross out of the pine "rib" material that I still use as a saddle square. With equal length arms, and arms perfectly square to each other, it is excellent for carrying marking around the edge of the board from one face to the far side. And, no fussing about getting the right end down. You pick it up, put one arm against a face, adjust another to locate the mark exactly, and done. It's my most used square these days. Maybe I'll make a pretty one out of hardwood one day.
Rex I love how genuine you are, keep it up.
I have tons of experience and have thoroughly mastered the art of reducing all of the lumber into saw dust and unusably small scraps. Mostly saw dust.
I have two tubs of mostly just scrap pieces that I test everything new on. In fact most things I do are new, because I'm new to this. My most elaborate project yet was shaker style drawer fronts and cabinet doors for our master bath, which was 18 separate pieces. I practiced the tongue-and-groove joints on several scrap pieces before committing to cutting the actual hardwood, and they all came out great!
I totally agree. I treat every project as an experiment and that removes a lot of the pressure.
Finally got the wood in for my workbench, Redgum and Cypress pine. Feels great to be in my own space and finally get my shiz in order!
Just like to thank you for your videos mate, they got me interested and curious about woodworking again.
Even just new tools. I got a new dovetail jig a while ago, and I made a whole different project to get to get the feel of it - and then I used offcuts from that project to make some test joints first. The learner project came out great, and I still use those boxes today; and the "real" project went flawlessly because I knew how to use the tools.
Really appreciate the editing flair Nate put on this video.
This must be a sign. I've failed on a project several times and I've been so discouraged. Thank you, so much, for this video. I needed it. I was really second guessing myself and avoiding my own shop because I didn't want to fail again.
Try again, but isolate the part that's giving you trouble. Try to improve just a tiny bit. You get the idea.
Recent subscriber enjoying your extensive back catalog. I'd definitely be interested in a video about the sliding dove tails.
I have a couple of cabinets in my workshop made with box joints, when pocket screws would have sufficed. I learned about box joints, and did not waste wood in the process.
the concept of building one thing then filming is largely how the new yankee workshop did their projects. Its a great way to be confidant in your work if you are teaching others. another great method is building smaller scale test pieces especially for chairs with splayed legs. A board and an old coat hanger can really help dial in the correct angles .
You are so spot on, it is scary. We, the RUclips consuming public, watch these videos of perfection and speed and think that is what we are going to do out of the gate. I appreciate every video that you do.
Repetition is the mother of skill. The more you do something, the better and more efficient you become. As always, Rex, your advice is spot on, to craftsman and new woodworkers as well! Don't stop learning.
I watch Rex's videos and dream about quitting my programming job and becoming a wood worker. And then he goes and drops some advice that is totally applicable for my current job. Practice. Finish every project before you decide if it's any good or not. So simple, yet so brilliant. :D
I love my work, but it's a slog. If you have a job that's okay and has benefits, then don't envy me too much. This life is great for me, but it's not for everyone. Besides, I think the world needs programmers more.
I've seen this video twice in the past. I need to watch this 10 more times!
I've gotten extremely lucky not doing many test runs, but my luck finally ran out on a 3 legged stool with 12 degree angles I'd never cut before. I was using very soft pine & even though the top piece was 1 1/2" thick, I didn't make sure it was solid. After running the 1st mortise, the whole thing snapped like a cracker. Thx for reminding to stop being a Johnny Cutcorners, examine the wood more carefully, & PRACTICE!
I don't practice much. I like the pressure to help me focus on the task at hand.
I sew and do woodworking (both as a total amateur lol) and there's something in sewing that seems very applicable here: the mockup. Every time you're sewing a new pattern that you don't know how it's going to fit, or trying a tricky seam or fold you've never done before, it's best practice to get some scrap fabric (preferably of a similar weight to your final fabric), and sew a mockup of the final piece. It's always tempting to skip it and just go for it with the final product, but doing a mockup instead has saved me so many headaches when I realise the cut I'm working off is too small, or it needs an extra tuck to sit right, or my adjustments have made it too big in one area and too tight in another. It's the same idea: don't blow your good material on something you're not sure of! Use scrap, make a mockup.
Rex, the same holds true in Blacksmithing as well! The rule of thumb is never do a demonstration in public of a project you have not practiced in private....
Thanks Rex. Really appreciate hearing this time and again.
I totally agree with your advice regarding finishes - because they evolve so fast now. New products are on the shelves at an alarming rate and it is hard to know exactly what you are getting any more. What once worked great on one kind of timber (lumber in USA) doesn't any longer - and so on. Always try it out on an offcut first, even when you think you know what the outcome will be. For a few decades, I had a good idea what a certain finish would deliver on a particular type of wood but I am recently finding that due to new blends getting rid of certain chemicals, those finishes are no longer what I expect on those same woods. The biggest transition most recently is towards water based finishes rather than chemical finishes and that throws the whole thing up in the air. Will it seal? Will it give the matt, sheen or gloss required? How long will it last? How many coats to get the desired shade? I am struggling with these things lately.
When it comes to sliding Dovetails - I take my hat off to you because in over forty years of woodworking, I have often contemplated having a go but never have. It's the kind of joint I have always thought of to be the best for making a wall hanging set of shelves, if you get what I mean. I've always chickened out and settled for a simpler option, that is never as good and I know I have let myself down.
There’s this song called 998 Good Bricks and it talks about this guy who builds a wall where he messes up two of the bricks. I don’t want to spoil the end of the song but it’s worth checking it out and listening to the lyrics.
Great advice, as a recent starter in woodwork, I’ve just completed my second only dovetail box 📦 and throughout the project I was going to give up on as it was looking terrible, however I treated the project as a “how to cover up your mistakes “ project 😮
Anyway I’m really glad I did, it’s turned out beautiful and I’ve just given it to my sister. A square tissue box holder out of beech and sepala…without a doubt my finest piece to date 🤓👍 and I really was so frustrated with it I was going to throw it away.
I think this might be your best video ever. Seriously.
I also quilt, and these days with machine cutters and all those tools….quilts are now about precision, about perfection. I actually like it when my points don’t matchup perfectly, or when the corners aren’t quite straight. The point of a quilt is to keep us warm and be pretty.
I also like the imperfections because they speak of ME, the maker. It shows the quilt was made by a real life person, with all the emotions and troubles and joys being human entails. A trace, a whisper of the person who made it. To me that gives meaning and joy, and connection.
The same can be said of woodworking. Leave the trace…echo the whisper. We are not machines and we are not perfect. Let our work reflect that.
Practice is overlooked in absolutely every domain. I studied piano professionnally for a year and I stopped because I didn't enjoy enough practicing piano 4 to 8 hours a day. Now I'm studying physics and still there practice is just mandatory to learn. I feel like it's the same everywhere, nothing comes just by knowing how it's done, you really have to try it yourself countless times before you ever get a chance to master it.
I completely agree that anyone needs practicing and I've learned it the "not so pleasant way". I'm in a project now and I don't want to use any screws or fasteners of any kind so i have to make 8 through mortise and tenon joints and it's the firs time I do something like that. So obviously I've laied out the pencil lines directly on what will be the finished piece only on one side because it's not a regular shape. I've found out why you need to put lay out lines on both sides and drill through half from one side an half from the other. Fortunately I've managed to recover the first four and for the remaining ones I'm definitely going to do that.
Excellent points.
Find Woodworking magazine had a fun article a couple of years ago that basically said go ahead and make crappy prototypes. Stop obsessing over wasting wood. Interesting advice. So I took scrap plywood from a garden shed I’d torn apart and made an end table and a printer stand. I needed to check proportions on the two projects. Funny thing is they are still in use, like 2 years later! I was surprised how strong a simple glued wood joint is. Recently I bought some cherry so will have the end table made. The printer stand will need to be bigger, so thankfully I built it out of crap plywood and will be able to toss it. But you know, it would make a nice little stand in the shop … hmmm.
Practice. Yeah. Good shout. A lesson I need to teach myself. Along with patience.
Good video as always.
I like the new editing with the pop up graphics, it looks nice.
The Hand tool Hero looks like something really useful! Now I want one for my birthday :)
thank you Rex good to see you again. my health broke at 59 so after i recovered enough to do something i set up a wood shop more to keep me above ground . my back ground is varied . 70s -80 machinist (navy trained sub-tender ) . different stuff after that . i told my son hey mistakes are just learning new stuff. ( machinist was dead on but different tools ) . so my first project after some shop builds is a classical guitar lol . oh lets start with the easy stuff first . if my heath holds up ill get back into the shop and finish both
Audio is much improved, good job. Now I have to get back to practicing.....
Rex - video idea.... pick a joint or skill or something you've not done, and record all the practice. Record all (ALL) the mistakes and show that progression over time. Just a thought.
Thanks, I practiced on some curtain rod holders and had them sitting at the 90% mark. I'm gonna get back to them.
Dove tails have to be my favorite joint. Love watching machinist make dove tails in their parts and watching it slide together snuggly~~ can't wait to see your video on them in the future!
Loved the honest advice. Your videos are always Inspiring. Thanks Rex.
This man needs a title that helps distinguish him from the other experts. If you just search for woodworking advice, jadda jadda, this man should be the top result if you're a novice woodworker. Hands down. Rexpert has a nice ring to it, although it's such a lazy pun that I feel filthy enough to warrant a shower. Krueger Crew?
Regarding practice, if I’m making a dovetail box I make the sides and ends a few inches too long then if I’m not happy with my first tails or pins I just saw them off and restart. Sometimes you can build the practice into the workflow.
Love the tool display behind you
Thank you for this video. Yes.... practice.... practice... practice. You gotta give yourself a little grace. Woodworking is supposed to be fun!!
thank you so much for your honest presentation, I really love it you own your mistakes, and help others to avoid them. and it's ok to make mistakes. I really love the video!
Ty buddy. One of the RUclips channels I love.
The more complicated the sub assembly the more likely I am to make an extra (or 2). Need 4 legs? Make 5 and then #5 is your exact size test piece and if one of them goes south, you have a spare. Great vid Rex!
That's a good point! Making extra parts is under-rated.
I'm reminded of the phrase - "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."
So true about the practice!
I made 13 4"X4" dovetail corners before I did anything on my first box.
Really helped me.
Rex, correction: practice dies not necessarily make perfect. You can practice something incorrectly and build incorrect muscle memory. Perfect practice makes perfect! Make sure you are practicing correct procedures.
I really like your stuff. You are not afraid to show the things that don't go according to plan. I agree with the idea of practice. Still working on my hand cut dovetails. They are getting better though not as perfect as I want them. As you said practice a lot. Thank you.
Spade bits are good for rough drilling. Best use foster bits for furniture.
Nice, looking forward to the next version.
Thanks, Rex! This helped me. As an ameteur woodworker, it's not obvious to practice when facing a daunting new technique because I am just thinking about getting the scary build done. Your video is a lesson I will remember next time.
Thanks for reminding us that we are human and not machines, that we aren't perfect and to embrace the flaws
There's a story about an art teacher who ran a little experiment on a pottery class. He split the class in half and told one group that in the next month they would make one pot and be graded on the quality of that one pot. He told the other half that in the next month they would be graded solely on the quantity of pots they could complete.
The first group agonized over their single pot. At the end of the month, they had each produced one pretty good pot.
The second group produced reams and reams of trash. At first. But by the end of the month they were making stuff better than the 'quality' group.
I'm so looking forward to those videos, keep 'em comin'!
I treated the diaper changing table for our firstborn as a practice and just-get-it-done project. It got done about two weeks after we came home with him but it turned out really nice. I have gotten into the habit of wedging all my through tenons because that allows me to be a bit sloppier with the mortice rim. Also, keep the small lumps of wood that you cut away between the dovetails and pins and to create the shoulders of the tenons. Making slivers of them and wedging in any gaps is the best way of hiding the gaps, if you are lucky you can even get the growth rings to match.
I have been working wood for over half a century and I still do some practicing before I start work on a new project.
For example, If I need to do some dovetailing, I practice cutting and fitting dovetails, preferably on the same species of wood I am going to be using for the final project. I also verify that all the saws, chisels, and planes I need are sharp and ready to go. If nothing else, this just helps me get really focused on the tools and tasks at hand.
Currently, I am working on a custom watch case for a favored client. Since the jigs and joinery for the design are a bit different from what I am accustomed to using, I am going to build the jigs and test out the joinery on a prototype made of poplar before I start building the client's case out of imported hardwoods.
If past experience is a guide, the time it takes to try out the new jigs, to make the joinery, and to build the prototype will be time well spent -- and even money saved. Plus, I will have a cool case I can use to store stuff in the shop. Win, win.
As usual, your advice is gold! Practice, practice, practice.
Many thanks.
Excellent points, I agree with your approach! Thank you 😊
The bench looks awfully similar to most benches that I've ever seen. And then it hit me. Moravia, my home region -> moravian Church -> so called moravian style furniture. So for me it's traditional Czech furniture design. Thanks for the videos!
Practicing - you need to do it with everything. Most people associate practice with music lessons and that is where I learned it too. I started taking accordion lessons in the 7th grade and quickly became good at it. Practiced every day for years. By the time I graduated high school, my teacher was the accordionist that played on the the TV series "The Love Boat". And I was absolutely terrified of him. Not because he was mean - he was the nicest guy I had ever met. He was so good, that he could make Weird Al look like an amateur. And while trying to hold myself up to those standards, I knew I wasn't practicing enough.
Meanwhile, I was making lots of furniture in high school wood shop. That was of course practice too.
Professionally, I am a database administrator (DBA), now very senior. And what is the number one job of a DBA? To be able to restore a database from backups. So guess what, I practice restores a lot. And train other DBA's to do so to too.
After high school, I joined the Army an didn't have access to a wood shop, nor an accordion for years. Re-learning those skills I had at 18 required a lot of practice.
Thanks Rex. It's humbling to know I'm not not alone. I guess we all make the same little mistakes. Now I feel better about my "finished" pieces.
Aloha 🤙
I had the same experience with some bar stools I made for my kids homework desk and they are full of flaws and I was reluctant to finish it. When I pushed through they turned out pretty nice if you don’t worry about the tiny details
I teach woodworking (18 years now) and have a list of books and youtube content that I recommend. I don't add things to that list lightly - there is so much cr#p and almostcrap out there... but just to let you know, you made the list! Keep up the good work.
Rex i find the most critical person of my work is me. Whether it is woodworking, plastering, carpentry around the house . Pluss you know id be happy to have something with saw marks , rather than a smooth piece of chipboard from ikea
Great lesson. Thanks for sharing
Have you thought about doing a slightly tapered sliding dovetail? They are so smart! They come together so nicely and if you make the sliding part a bit too long it is easy to trim after getting it tight. With the tapered sliding dovetail no force is needed until the last centimeter or two when assembling.
Thank you, this video spoke to me so much.
Very excited to see what's coming up next from Compass Rose Tools.