Just hit 1000 finished drawer boxes and my hand still hurts

I was counting up my work orders from the last 2 years and somehow I've made exactly 1000 drawer boxes for custom kitchens. That number hit me weird because I remember struggling with my first one back in 2022 when I couldn't get the dovetails to line up right. My boss at the time said I was wasting good wood and he'd give me 3 more tries before cutting my hours. Now I can knock out a set of 10 in a day but my right hand still cramps up after cutting dovetails for a few hours. The funny part is I never planned to be the drawer guy but once you get known for tight joints people keep requesting you. Has anyone else accidentally become the specialist for one specific thing in their shop without meaning to?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.eric1mo ago

Get yourself some of those compression gloves for carpal tunnel... wear them at night and while you're working. I switched to doing my dovetails with a left-hand router setup half the time and it spread the wear out enough that I stopped getting that deep ache. Also check if your vise height is right, having to hunch or reach weird will mess up your hand more than you think.

hollywhite1mo ago

Good call on the vise height @king.eric, that's a sneaky one that gets overlooked all the time.

james_bell1mo ago

I built my workshop back in 1998 and had my vise at what felt like a comfortable height for years. Then I read an old Fine Woodworking article from 1985 that argued the traditional recommendation is actually wrong for most people. They made a good point that if your vise is too high, you end up working with your elbows down and shoulders forward which creates its own set of problems. I dropped my vise by about 2 inches and it forced me to stand straighter. My carpal tunnel actually got worse for a month before I adjusted. The real issue is usually grip pressure and tool sharpness more than vise height. People spend too much time chasing ergonomic fixes when they just need to sharpen more often.