Don’t Be That Kind Of Rock
Most things are not nearly as complicated as we think. Straight forward problem solving usually proves to be the right one in the end. The KISS method has been used in business since Methuselah was a small boy. When I get the chance to do a spinning top demonstration (I’ve made in excess of 13,000) one of the most common questions is about the disks. Do I take time to trim the corners from the square slabs first, or do I turn them from completely square all the way to round on the lathe?
It takes about 6 seconds to get from completely square to completely round the way I do it. If I had to set up the table saw or band saw to trim all of the corners before I glued the disks to the stems, I would have wasted another hour. And, I still have to turn an 8 sided slab to round.
I’ve done tons of production work over the years, I once turned 800 hickory golf club handles, I recently made a friend 100 porch balusters 4” x 4” x 32” from SYP. Every step you can eliminate compounds together to eliminate a significant amount of time. If I eliminated a 1 minute step on the golf club project, that added up to 13 hours.
What I’m recommending is to not over think something even if it is just for fun. Keep it as simple as possible. Get started, it will probably be easier than you thought. I tend to try and anticipate all of the things that could possibly go wrong in advance and develop solutions ahead of time. That is like worrying about something that probably will never happen. Take a freshly cut bowl blank for example. You want to make a natural edge bowl from it. Cut the ends reasonably square, mount it between centers, start slowly with sharp tools and make shavings. Worry about what does happen, not what might happen.
As you probably know, I love to invent and design widgets for turners. I think I’ve finally learned my lesson. When I have an idea and have considered it for a reasonable amount of time, I go make one. It is never right the first time, but it is almost never as complex as I had imagined either. Most issues which actually do come up have surprisingly simple solutions. Rocks have very few problems, because they never do anything. Don’t be like that rock, get started and do something, because wherever you go there you are.
Here is my inspiration for this message.
Prov 8:12 KJV I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
Matt 5:37 ESV Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Proverbs 2:15 MSG Traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.
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