A bad day woodworking is better than a good day working. – Author unknown

Who answers when you knock on wood? – J. Drummond, People, 1969

Lang or ye cut Balkland wood with a pen knife. – Scottish proverb, said when people work with improper tools, c.1500s

The civil law cannot provide but by common measures… all their rules are made by as common a measure as they can, and they are the best rules that have the fewest exceptions: the best Carpenters make the fewest chips: but some there must be. – Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, or The Rule of Conscience, 1659