Hit 500 cabinet doors matched to existing grain and thought I'd be faster by now

I hit 500 doors matched to existing grain last week. It's a weird milestone cause I've been doing this 8 years and I still spend way too long staring at the grain trying to figure out if it flows right. My buddy said I should be able to eyeball it in 30 seconds by now but I'm still taking 2 or 3 minutes per door. Is that just me or does matching grain always take longer than you expect?

2 comments

2 Comments

lilyfisher27d ago

Nah man 2-3 minutes is totally normal for matching grain. I've been doing this 6 years and I still catch myself flipping the door back and forth under the light like 4 times before I'm sure. The trick I learned is to stop looking at the whole door at once. Focus on one specific knot or curl pattern near the edge, find that same feature on the cabinet, then let the rest of the grain fall into place around it. Saves me about 45 seconds per door when I remember to do it. Your buddy probably isn't accounting for the fact that some species just have wilder grain than others either.

zara_miller27d ago

People really overthink this stuff @lilyfisher, it's just wood grain not brain surgery...