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Noticed a shift in my weekend woodworking after I started timing my glue ups
I used to rush through clamping joints and always ended up with misaligned boards. About 8 weeks ago I started using a cheap kitchen timer to give each piece exactly 5 minutes of clamp pressure before moving on. My miters fit way tighter now and I stopped having to sand down gaps. The timer changed how I think about my shop time versus my real job where everything is go go go. Anybody else found a tiny habit that cracked the gap wide open?
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allen.kai15d ago
Oh man, the timer thing is genius. I started doing something similar but with sandpaper grits. I used to just grab whatever grit was closest and go at it until my arms got tired. Then I realized I was spending 20 minutes with 80 grit when I should have switched to 120 after like 5 minutes. Now I literally set my phone timer for 4 minutes per grit and move on. My final finish is way more consistent. But here's the weird part - the timer trick bled into my cooking too. I started timing my roux for exactly 7 minutes instead of guessing and now my gumbo tastes completely different. Same principle I guess. Less guessing, more doing.
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violar3515d ago
oh man the timer thing hits home. i do the exact same thing with my glue ups except i use a stopwatch on my phone and i give it 7 minutes instead of 5 because the humidity here is pretty high. the real game changer for me was syncing it with the weather app to see if i need to add 2 more minutes on damp days. it sounds stupid but tracking the temp and humidity really dialed in my joint fit. also started timing my stain drying before i wipe it off and that stopped me from getting blotchy finishes.
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