Just realized I was sanding in the wrong direction for 10 years

I was finishing a kitchen island for a client in Oakville last month, running the orbital with the grain like I always do... and the guy's dad who used to do this for 40 years walks up and asks why I was 'polishing scratches into the wood.' He showed me that on figured maple you gotta go diagonal then straighten out, not just follow the grain blindly. Never noticed how much extra time I wasted fixing my own mistakes. Anyone else have an old timer drop a simple tip that changed everything?

2 comments

2 Comments

jake_wilson121mo ago

That old timer advice is usually rooted in just doing more reps than us. Most trades I've been around have these little shortcuts that come from burning through enough material to spot the obvious patterns. It's the same with any skill really where the short path is hidden behind years of muscle memory.

sam_thomas1mo ago

Why does everyone assume repetition is the only teacher? I've seen plenty of old timers who just parrot the same bad habits for decades and call it wisdom. @jake_wilson12 the real pattern I notice is that some people mistake time served for actual learning. The shortcut isn't always hidden behind muscle memory, sometimes it's hidden behind the fact that the old way was just the only way they knew. Plenty of guys in my line of work still do things the hard way because that's how they were taught in 1982, not because it's better. You can burn through a lifetime of material and still miss the obvious if you never stop to question why you're doing something. Being experienced doesn't automatically mean being right.