I have never been a detail person. It's not that I don't care about the little things and I understand their importance, I just tend to look at the big picture and sometimes those little details don't get the attention they should get.

My wife has always said, "The devil is in the details.” And, many times, this has proven correct.

A job can go out looking stunning, with fine joinery and a sweet finish. But there is something that causes most people to say something like, "There's just one thing …" More often than not, it's some small detail that could have been easily (or sometimes not so easily) remedied. Maybe there was not enough time to deal with it and/or maybe you just hoped they would not notice it. Bad idea. They always notice it. And the better the project looks, the more this little detail stands out.

I had a German friend who told me of his Dad saying, "Never you have time to do it right but always you find time to do it over." I have learned the hard way the wisdom of this. Once or twice having to haul a piece back to the shop to fix some little thing that should have never been there in the first place should be enough to get the point across.

D.D.