This woodworking tips card is called Don’t Rush Your Project. When you rush through something, you increase the chances for making a big mistake. This mistake can end up costing you more time than you would have saved by rushing. Here is why.
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Don’t Rush Your Project
Anything worth doing is worth doing well. It’s also worth doing in the amount of time that it takes, not an invented deadline that gets the project done quickly. For most people, woodworking is a hobby, not a job. That means you should be enjoying the craft, not rushing it to the end.
If you find yourself frustrated, or rushing, just stop and take a break from the shop. It’s not worth ruining your project, having an accident, or getting stressed out over something that is supposed to be a hobby.
Rushing leads to a lot of things that can be really bad for you as a woodworker. The worst of which is an injury, and the best of which is a mistake that adds time to the build.
If you hurt yourself rushing through a project, it can really hurt your desire to do more work in the future. If you rush and make mistakes, it ends up adding time to the build…which was precisely the thing you were trying to reduce.
Rushing Adds Time More Often Than Not
Most of the time, when you rush you will start making mistakes. You will forget to complete a small step, and it will become really important later on. Also, you may just think that something is set correctly, when in reality it’s not, and you will end up ruining some wood.
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All of these things add time to the build. They don’t take time off. In fact, if you were to just slow down a little and think about your next move, you would actually move the project forward faster, because you will make less mistakes. The simple act of rushing is actually more harmful than beneficial.
Rushing reduces the time that you have to think about what you are doing. When you start reducing your thinking time, you put yourself in a really tough spot. As a beginning woodworker, things that appear obvious to experts will not be as easy to notice until you have some mistakes under your belt.
Rushing Ruins the Experience
Woodworking is about enjoying the creative process, making things that make you happy, and enjoying the peacefulness of the shop. Why would you want to rush that? It’s like going on vacation and not slowing down to enjoy the sights. The experience is a large part of why people get into woodworking.
A hobby is meant to be enjoyed and meant to calm you. If you are rushing all the time, then you are making your hobby like work, which is the exact opposite of a hobby. Enjoy the time you have in the shop, because you have no idea how long that is going to last.
Life changes quickly, and sometimes our ability to do our hobbies goes away for a number of different reasons. You may have a life change and lose the time to work on a hobby. It may be that you find something else to fill your time. It could also be that you find that you can’t do the work anymore. Until then, don’t rush. Enjoy the process, and enjoy your hobby.
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