I hate wasting wood

[HowardH]

I hate to think how much hard maple and purple heart I've turned into firewood over the years.  I am making a special cutting board and it required a lot of maple pieces.  I started doing it one way and then changed my mind and then after some more, changed my mind again and the next thing you know, $30 of maple is lying on the floor in various sizes that I really can't do anything with.  I was digging through my piles of cutoffs today to try to scrape enough together to finish but alas I'm short so a trip to the lumber yard is now needed.....  grrrrrrr.... I remember watching Norm through the years on the NYW and I wonder how much he threw away on projects he hadn't perfected yet for his show. But then again, he probably never made a mistake, at least that showed up on the finale cut.  [big grin] [big grin]  Any other tales of big mistakes that you can laugh at now but cringed at the time?

 

[Staniam]

My first trim job was at the age of 13 with my Dad. He showed me what to do and how to safely use a nailer so when he went to work one day, I was left at home to do as much as I could throughout our house. When my Dad got home I had done out entire first floor and I was super stoked for him to see to the point I was waiting in the foyer for him. He walked in and I immediately told him to check the baseboard... He smiled and put his arm around my shoulders and said "Son, you definitely know how to use a saw and a nailer, I'm very proud of you." and I must have had the biggest smile maybe of my life to that point. He then went on to say "Now we just have to work on knowing the top from the bottom". I installed all the baseboard and trim upside down, straight side on top, routed/grooved side on the bottom. I was pretty sad and disappointed at that point but the great Dad that I have, he simply smiled and told me I know what I'm working on the next couple of days.

Needless to say I always triple check before I cut ANYTHING to this day.

 

[wow]

GREAT story, stamiam! Thanks for sharing!