Evolution

 Here are two clocks that I built twelve years apart.  Can you guess which one was the first?  Right, the top one.  While nice, it is easy to see the evolution of form and the improvement in skill level.  Also, a better eye and sense of proportion give the bottom clock, well, quite frankly, it's just a while lot better.  The pieces are in scale with each other, the golden ratio is at play, I could go on.  The point is not to point out how nice my current work is.  The point is that everything evolves, skills, joint cutting, everything.  If you do anything enough, and long enough, you get better and faster, be it turning a leg or playing clarinet.  Think of when you get a new remote for the T.V.. You look at the directions, press a button, stare, read, press--and after two months you can change the channel, Tivo, and check the weather without the lights on.  So don't be afraid to tackle a project that you think is over your head, it is the only way your skills will evolve.   You will get there, just always do your best and the results will improve.

One pitfall that should be avoided is to overbuy tools, and especially jigs.  And I'm as guilty as anyone, maybe more.  Beware the siren song of the magic jig, because every jig you buy or build has a learning curve (remember the remote?) and if one jig doesn't work as effortlessly as advertised, it usually gets relegated to the shelf, or replaced with a newer, even easier jig, but this one isn't any better.  Like I said, everything has a learning curve, and if you are constantly changing the tooling, then you really can't learn the skill.  I think, and it's only my opinion, the best way is to pick a method or a jig, and stick with it, learn it, and even if it's not the best way, eventually it will become your best way.  I must have four different jigs for dovetails, and I have tried every conceivable way to cut them, but after a while I realized I was only learning different ways to cut dovetail, not coming up with an efficient way to cut them.  So I picked one way to cut them, and I do it that way every time, every time.  It may not be the best way, but it's my best way.