A few years ago I picked up a woodworking projects book at a Woodcraft store that had the exact Adirondack Chair that I saw online and wanted to make. So I started on making a prototype out of Poplar and had to put it on a shelf as other things got in the way. So now I am starting to get back to that project and got my shop cleaned up (enough so I can get to my saw and workbench) and went and picked up some Poplar to make the prototype. Well, when I started to pull the templates off the shelf in the shop I found that I had already cut out almost all of the pieces and had made up the needed templates out of hardboard. So needless to say I was totally surprised. The answer to this is that there had to have been some Elves that came and  cut the pieces out because I would never have forgotten cutting these pieces out. After all I have a mind like a steel trap, but I have come to the conclusion that my mind, like a steel trap, is rusty and illegal in a number of states. 

 

So now that I and/or the Elves have gotten all these pieces cut out, I guess it is time for me to go inside and grab a sandwich and cold beverage and enjoy my, or the Elves hard work.

Don't remember if I did or not...

i once forgot what i was making and cut out 8 corner pieces for a box.....a 4 sided box......sigh.....more for the scrap bin....

Hey looks like this chair is going to be a lot easier with half the work already done. My problem is that once I set a project aside I never seem to get back to it.

Why, yes, I did mow the grass, wait, what??

Sure have, Allen. And within the last two weeks. Forgot what they were for, cut them up for different parts. Then stumbled on those, now duplicate, parts.

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

I have and then made two and gave one to my mom.  It was a box.  Now it is boxes.

Allen, It's with remorse I have to tell you this, but had the Elves cut out the parts, in all probability, they would have completed the chair. I would like to tell you it get's better but knock on wood...Uh, sorry I've gotta go...sounds like somebody is at the door...

I have absolutely never done anything like that!

My steel trap is now only a pile of rust, so I compensate with super-planning.  I create a computer file for every project, put all the pics and plans in it.  I keep a record of all finishes used (% of mixed colors, etc.).  For each project, I create a narrative of each and every operation planned, including the tool used and any special dimensions (like "don't cut off the tenon") .  I also use the CutList program to layout the parts on the blanks, and then the program output of parts allows me to check them off so I can see which ones are done.  I keep all the papers for a project on a clipboard.  Sometimes I have multiple clipboards going.  As I execute "the plan", I redo the document (it's in a text format) with any improvements and corrections; the clipboard copy of the current plan has a pencil line(s) across the page to mark steps completed.

 

I still make mistakes, but fewer of the obvious ones (obvious is always in retrospect).  It requires more sit time at the table, but that's a good activity for inside when it's 105 in the shop.  And you can drink beer when the tool is a pencil.

By the time i read all of the responses, i forgot what the op was about

I come across parts of forgotten projects every time I clean up the shop. Don't know what they're for..... heck, I don't even know who left them! 

John

It's like Christmas all over again when I've found something that I've cut out for a project.

Then I have to remember how to construct it.

I did that at a job site.

Cut them out, turned around, gone.

3 times.

A guy yelled down I need 3 more without the notch and 1/2 inch shorter.

 

Next one hit him square between the eyes......

On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 10:12 AM, PeteM said:

My steel trap is now only a pile of rust, so I compensate with super-planning.  I create a computer file for every project, put all the pics and plans in it.  I keep a record of all finishes used (% of mixed colors, etc.).  For each project, I create a narrative of each and every operation planned, including the tool used and any special dimensions (like "don't cut off the tenon") .  I also use the CutList program to layout the parts on the blanks, and then the program output of parts allows me to check them off so I can see which ones are done.  I keep all the papers for a project on a clipboard.  Sometimes I have multiple clipboards going.  As I execute "the plan", I redo the document (it's in a text format) with any improvements and corrections; the clipboard copy of the current plan has a pencil line(s) across the page to mark steps completed.

 

I still make mistakes, but fewer of the obvious ones (obvious is always in retrospect).  It requires more sit time at the table, but that's a good activity for inside when it's 105 in the shop.  And you can drink beer when the tool is a pencil.

 

When I buy cabinet grade plywood, I have to buy a minimum $$$ amount o get the discount. On my last buy, I wound up with the material to build 4 projects so sat down and sketched up the components on some paper and went ahead and broke down the sheets into the various components. I started on the one cabinet and then had to set it aside for various reasons, just now getting back to working on it. My problem - I lost the paperwork where I had sketched out the various projects and now have a stack of plywood parts that I keep moving every time I need to use the TS and no idea of how they need to get put together.  I'll probably find the paperwork after I've finished putting everything together - and find that the end product looks nothing like my original sketches.

I scan the final sketches and put them in the project (computer) file.  Also, I chalk mark the part nos on all pieces as they're cut.  I've had delays of 3 months between activities, and it takes some studying of notes, but I can pick up the tune.