Why can't I just do it right the first time?

As I've mentioned before in this blog, my mother sewed pretty well all my clothes until I was through school. She did very meticulous work and I can remember her saying with some exasperation, "Why is it that I always have to pick out seams?" I, and perhaps she, actually thought that there would be a project where she wouldn't have to pick out any seams.

Ways it didn't work

Now that I've been at it long enough to call myself a woodworker I see the whole business of having to redo things a bit differently.  I'm currently at work on a box project for a friend.  The boxes themselves are not complicated yet, I'm on my ninth or tenth attempt to get it right. These boxes do have to be a certain size and shape to hold table napkins. The design is basic: four equal sides with a groove cut to house the bottom of the box. No lid, no hinges. It's amazing to me how many creative ways I can get it wrong. I must have made three or four attempts where the sides turned out to be too short because of one mistake or another.  Then there were the mitres that didn't quite come together. The version I worked on last night really looked like it might be successful until I cut the grooves for the bottom in the wrong location despite measuring twice and cutting once.

One I didn't intend to make

Because of all of this I am learning. I usually don't make the same mistake in exactly the same way: I find new and exciting ways to make it. I've also learned that I have a choice at each juncture: I can throw up my hands and quit, get annoyed and throw wood, get annoyed and quit for the day, or laugh and try it again remembering Thomas Edison and the light bulb. I suppose you might say I'm learning patience. I'm learning that nobody is going to fix it for me although I can ask for help to unravel a problem if I'm stuck.  Nobody is going to make me redo it. I can walk away any time I want or I can choose to, "Chalk it up to experience,"(one of my mother's favourite sayings) and try it again. Most of all, I've learned that I probably won't do it right the first time and that, in fact, most people don't do it right the first time.

I've been fortunate enough, through the the kindness of friends and internet, to hang out in various woodworkers' shops to watch them work. These folks are far beyond my skill level and they still make mistakes. Often their mistakes don't require them to start from the very beginning  but they do require a certain amount of head scratching to figure out what do do next. As skill increases the standard of what is acceptable increases. Maybe there are some people who can complete a project without having to redo anything but I don't think I'm going to aspire to that. If it happens I'll get out the fireworks and have a huge celebration and if it doesn't, I'll shake my head at my infinitely creative ability to get it wrong, give myself a break and then return to the shop to try again. Woodworking is what I love to do. It is fascinating enough to keep at it even as the burn bin fills up and the line of boxes I didn't intend to make lengthens. I'll head back into the shop later today and maybe this will be the day I finish the napkin box.