Solutions imagined in your sleep?

[Dave H]

I am making some cabinet doors for some friends, the doors need to match the existing doors in their kitchen. The existing doors were cut with a cope and stick set and have an ogee on the inside rails and styles. I had to do this in a 2 piece applied molding the first piece was easy peasy but the second piece was a very thin and narrow round over 9/16" running this through the router table and then cutting this profile off with the table saw was inconsistent in both processes.

I quit for the night and somewhere in the night I came up with the solution in my sleep, a carrier board to run the thin 9/16" blank through the router table an get a consistent result! I have come up with solutions to woodworking issues in my sleep several times in my life I just love waking up to the answer to the problem, have anyone else had this experience?

[Tpt life]

All the time when I was building. Plan the next day, and wake up with a better plan. 

[treeslayer]

Yep all the time, I just have to remember to get up and write it down on paper so that I remember what the solution was 

[Dave H]

I guess because it's hard to think up a solution when your frustrated and tired. I'm glad others have this also, I've told other people about this waking to the solution thing and, they look at me like I'm crazy (they're probably right about the crazy) or maybe they think I'm full of sh%t.

[Mark J]

Yes!  But more often in the shower or when driving my car.

[Mark J]

2 minutes ago, Dave H said:

I've told other people about this waking to the solution thing and, they look at me like I'm crazy

Actually, I think it is a well known phenomenon, hence the expression:  "sleep on it".

[Chet]

Like Mark my aha moments are mostly in the shower but sometimes in my sleep.

[Tom King]

Always.

[curlyoak]

Me too

[Tom King]

When Pam and I were doing a lot of sailboat racing, in different places and often in boats we'd never sailed before, we never did not win races on Sunday.  We didn't always win every race on Saturdays, but after sleeping on it Saturday night, we were deadly on Sundays.

[Coop]

I had to share this thread with my wife as she thought I was weird! I have a sticky note pad next to the coffee pot so that I can see to write without waking Sleeping Beauty. 

[Dave H]

On 5/10/2023 at 6:26 PM, Coop said:

I had to share this thread with my wife as she thought I was weird! I have a sticky note pad next to the coffee pot so that I can see to write without waking Sleeping Beauty. 

Coop you crack me up brother

[gee-dub]

Yep.  I too wake up an ah-ha moments floating around in my head.