Tuesday, September 9, 2008

I Could Spit Nails!

My new favorite saying prompted me to list all the commonly-used phrases and metaphors I could think of that involve some aspect of woodworking. Here's what I came up with:
These phrases have been around for a while and are as worn out as 30-year-old band saw tires, so I feel it's our duty to coin some new ones for the good of the craft. If you come up with one, feel free to share. I mean, surely we couldn't have exhausted all possible woodworking clichés.

(Knock on wood.)
at

18 comments:

  1. LitcritterSeptember 9, 2008 at 4:25 PM

    Don't forget the proverbial loose screw.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2008 at 4:26 PM

    Working blue....

    She's a carpenter's dream...
    Flat as a board and easy to @#$^%

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2008 at 5:06 PM

    And then there are all of the sayings involving wood structures like barns(big as), and barrels (round as a) et al.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2008 at 5:09 PM

    How about...
    Dumb as a bag of hammers

    ReplyDelete
  5. mdhillsSeptember 9, 2008 at 5:40 PM

    When you've got a hammer, everything looks like a (thumb)nail?

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2008 at 5:55 PM

    Blockhead

    Skinny as a rail

    Sharp as a tack

    Straight as a 1x3 from Home Depot. What? Oh nevermind.

    ReplyDelete
  7. willSeptember 9, 2008 at 7:21 PM

    .. wrenched my back

    .. hewn out of mountains of guilt

    .. Hoist by your own petard

    .. whet my appetite

    .. mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow

    .. Bend like a willow or break like an oak

    .. Spare the rod and spoil the child

    .. eat my dust

    .. Beam me up, Scotty

    ReplyDelete
  8. Vic HubbardSeptember 9, 2008 at 7:40 PM

    Keep working and you'll rout it out....I'll have to keep mulling this one over. By now you should know I'm OCD. Why would you want to do this to me?:D

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownSeptember 9, 2008 at 8:32 PM

    There's always:

    That's cut and dried

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kari HultmanSeptember 9, 2008 at 9:50 PM

    I'm impressed! I've now added a few of these sayings to my repertoire.

    ReplyDelete
  11. RogerSeptember 10, 2008 at 8:27 AM

    Tried & true.
    Varnish over.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousSeptember 10, 2008 at 10:00 AM

    Speaking of Beam Me Up Scotty... how about Warp(ed) Factor Nine?

    Ok.. so it's reaching some.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Kari HultmanSeptember 10, 2008 at 10:22 AM

    Or how 'bout:
    "For God's sake, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a woodworker!"

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousSeptember 10, 2008 at 12:46 PM

    Shouldn't that be:
    "For God's sakes Jim, I'm a woodworker, not a Doctor!"

    ReplyDelete
  15. rooksterSeptember 10, 2008 at 3:16 PM

    "Everything's a hammer except a chisel, and that's a screwdriver."

    I've a set of chisels that came to me after obviously being used as screwdrivers, and it hurts to think about the condition they were in. But they were great no-guilt tools for regrinding with custom profiles.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Metalworker MikeSeptember 11, 2008 at 5:47 AM

    Some of the ones here so far are really from other trades (like blacksmithing), not wood at all, but here's one I like:

    '"I see," said the blind carpenter, who picked up his hammer and saw.'

    M.Mike

    ReplyDelete
  17. Vic HubbardSeptember 16, 2008 at 10:08 PM

    "He couldn't see the forest, for the trees." See Kari, this post was like a week ago and I'm still obsessing. Nice, thank a lot.:D

    ReplyDelete
  18. Keith JulyJune 23, 2010 at 8:14 AM

    As tight as bark on a tree

    ReplyDelete