Cheat sheets
Some things are so simple that they’re impossible – in my shop, anyway – to remember.
Some things are so simple that they’re impossible – in my shop, anyway – to remember.
I can remember the most arcane stuff from the most obscure movie, full lyrics to TV show themes half a century old, directions to places I haven’t been in a decade, even my first phone number (PR1-4634… yes, they had letters at the beginning back then). But when it comes to remembering simple little procedures in the shop, I need help.
Cutting crown molding flat on a miter saw? It’s easy: 33.9° bevel, 31.6° miter, and take turns putting the top and bottom edge against the fence. But unless I refer to those simple directions on the Post-It Note I stuck inside a shop cabinet, it’d take hours of trial and error to get it right.
For wiring a lamp, the white wire is neutral and the black one hot. That couldn’t possibly be easier to remember, but I can’t. That’s why I wrote that right on the side of my electrically supplies box in permanent marker.
Which way does the router bit spin? If I hadn’t marked an arrow permanently on the top of all my routers, I’d have to look at the bit every single time I used it to jog my memory on that simple little item.
Yeah, I have cheat sheets and reminders all over the shop for these and dozens more similar things, and I refer to them constantly or else I simply wouldn’t get it right. On the other hand, if you wanted to know the entire opening song to “Mr. Ed,” I’m your guy.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.