Spent 3 weekends chasing a 1/16 inch gap on a face frame before I figured out my miter saw fence was out
Built a 6 foot white oak vanity for a client in Naperville and the doors would not sit flush no matter what I did. I recut two stiles, shimmed hinges, even blamed the plywood, and burned 3 full Saturdays on it. Finally put a machinist square on my miter saw fence and it was off by a hair over the whole length, which threw every crosscut just enough to show. Swapped the fence and re-squared it, and the doors closed dead flat in 20 minutes. Lesson cost me about $180 in oak and a lot of pride. Anyone else ever chase a gap for days before checking your setup instead of your work?
The "$180 in oak and a lot of pride" line got me because I did the same thing last spring on a set of kitchen cabinet doors. Kept shimming hinges and trimming doors by hand for like four days, and every single cut was coming out just a hair off. Turned out my table saw blade was tilted maybe a degree off square to the table, which I never would have caught without putting a square right on the blade with the power off. Re-trued it in like ten minutes and every door hung perfect after that. Now the first thing I do before any cabinet job is check the square on every tool, saves me way more time than it costs.