I've been spending a large percentage of my time the last few weeks reading books on tools and woodworking. I can't say how many times I've read that you should always mark the pieces of your puzzle so you always know which end is up and which end should match up with other ends ... I just cut a mortice for the tenon on one side of a brace for my new workbench, saw that it fit reasonably well and was happy so I went to the other side and marked the mortice using tenon I had already cut. I carefully chiseled out the mortice using my disappointing chisel, which is still a good deal sharper than the Marples 5/8" straight from the package I tried next to it. I then went to test fit the joint and saw that I had flipped the brace upside down before marking the mortice.
The joint is almost completely hidden even if you are looking at the bottom of the new bench so it's not that big a thing. I extended the mortice and cut a filler piece to glue in and it's solid. I'm still kicking myself for not taking that 30 seconds to mark everything so it wouldn't have happened though.
Anybody want to sell some good habits? I would also be interested in purchasing experience if any of you have too much. I would be willing to trade some youthful exuberance if I could figure out what I did with it.
-Chris