After a rip, a carpenter can see the kerf. After a week of leftover work, most people cannot. Money lands on a different day from the hours. Costs hide in a subscription. The day job absorbs the tired evening and no one writes it down. The next Saturday starts as if the last one never happened.
A weekly record is the mark in the kerf. It is short on purpose. Hours used, money that arrived, costs that left, and one line on whether the trestle held. That is enough to see if leftover time is still leftover.
What to write
- Hours that sat on the beam, including unpaid setup.
- Money that arrived this week, even if the work was done earlier.
- Costs that left this week, even if they belong to several jobs.
- Whether the written maximum was kept.
Do this on the same day each week, after the Saturday block or on Sunday evening. A record written “when there is time” will not exist. Keep it next to the rate, not in a separate system that needs its own leftover hours.
What the mark is not
It is not a promise of growth. It is not a score. Sawbench makes no earnings promises. The mark tells you whether the leftover boards still fit the trestle. If they do not, the next week needs a shorter beam, not a louder offer.
More on the beam: leftover hours on the sawbench and a rate that stays after the cut.