Do we learn from past mistakes?

No. No, and No.
Cannot blame the FUF's visits.

I am making two small trays, frame from Pine scraps and will do a WIP. The scraps were thicknessed and a groove routed for the floor. The corners would be overlaps. All nicely marked and a template to set the saw height.


Parked the project for other work (accounting).

Move on some weeks ……….

Use the template to set the saw height (RAS). Line up the two pieces (one top and one bottom) and cut. As pulled the saw through, so I realised that the blade was too low, template was wrong way round and destroyed the joint. Blue air.

Move on and calm down. Need to cut some hardboard for another project and also the tray floors on the table saw.

First three cuts no problem, the last piece for the trays “somehow” lifted by the blade and sent the two pieces flying back. Instant pain as both pieces hit me in the gut. Fortunately, well padded. Some blood and bruising that took long to go away. The sores have healed and just one lump left.



Park that project, need to buy more hardboard.

Others will comment on the table saw accident, no doubt. Sorry to hear of the pain.......

Yes, of course we learn. But what we tend to learn is less about avoiding the cock-ups altogether, and more about how to fix things when they go wrong. It's fundamental to hand-tool woodworking to mark a face and an edge to use as references. I know this is a pain when you're pushing stuff through a machine, but it really would save time and materials in the long run.

Repeating the same action expecting change is my forte.
Good excuse for a beer gut though.

My head is currently a no go zone so being in a distracted state is currently making safe accurate use of tools a challenge