Archive for the ‘Woodworking Plans’ Category

By Peter Wilson

So think you’d like to build a bathroom cabinet. Perhaps a new curio for the front room is in order. You even recognize how nice it would be to make a captain’s bed with a full set of drawers underneath and a headboard that holds books. If you have big plans for building something out of wood, then make sure you have the right woodworking plans and patterns so that you can do it like the professionals.

What’s In a Woodworking Plan

Commercially sold or free woodworking plans found online take all the guess work out of a project. A good plan, not only list the lumber you will need – type and quantity, but it can give you estimates on how long the whole project will take and evaluate it by skill level. For example, a beginner may not be ready for a curved wood curio cabinet top, but could really do nicely making a lighthouse style birdhouse.

Wood working patterns also contain a hardware and accessories list. You will know ahead of time just how many hinges, knobs and drawer rails your project requires. It will give a description of the best materials to use and even where to get them.

A tool list helps you make sure you have everything you need to work with your supply list. Many plans don’t assume you already own any of the tools so the list is comprehensive and complete. If you need a particular saw blade, the plans will let you know right there in black and white.

Another helpful part about using a woodworking pattern is that all your measurements are there. If you are making the captain’s bed with underneath storage drawers, you will not need to calculate or guess the width each drawer needs to be in order to fit three across. The figuring has been done for you. Even better than just planning, the plan author has most likely made the project several times, so they know from experience.

How Hard Is It To Read Woodworking Plans?

Many plans are created to overcome the language barrier. Pictures illustrate each step and are often all that is necessary without added written descriptions. For those steps that may need the additional explanation, written directions are usually in several of the most common world languages.

You don’t need to have a degree in hammering and gluing to understand how these directions work. If you have every put one of those “some assembly required” toys together, then you will be pleasantly surprised that reading woodworking plans is actually easier!

The Finishing Touches

Many wood working patterns come with illustrations or photographs of the finished project. Line drawings are always included, but it is also nice to see the finished piece in a photograph. This will give you ideas for staining or painting the finished wood project. Also you can get an idea of how it might look in a room in your home. Don’t be afraid to take on a wood working project just because you can’t see how it’s all put together from the outside. Chances are somebody has wanted to make one of their own and has drawn up just the pattern you need.

About the Author: Peter J. Wilson routinely makes papers on problems dealing with free woodworking patterns and scroll saw patterns. You might find out more about his writings on woodworking plans over at http://www.insidewoodworking.com

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=102359&ca=Arts+and+Crafts

This is another plan from the July 2009 edition of Wood Magazine, it is featured on page 70.  I like projects that are useful.  Growing up I used to go to craft shows and fairs with my mom.  A lot of times you saw a bunch of people selling paper towel holders and goofy stuff that did not make sense to me.  I like items that add value to the house and are useful.  This is another good item that would be great to build and sell online.  I talked about this concept on this blog post about woodworking.

The Highlights of this project are:

• 10 1/2″ wide x 8 3/8″ deep x 17 1/2″ tall
• Materials needed are 3/4 walnut; 1/4″ birch plywood
• Hooks provide the place for jewelry to hang from like a showcase
• Two drawers are featured for misc. items that you would want to put in them.

Like case construction, you start by building the carcass, there is a good exploded view of this in the magazine and in the plan.  If you really want to get fancy, you can cut and match stock with a bandsaw and match the pieces for acustom professional look.  Building this is like building a mini cabinet or entertainment center.  Building two at the same time would probably give you a nice extra unit for a gift for just about the same amount of work time.  The Plan utilizes custom cutting of brass for unique parts.  I have found that you can find these parts at your local hardware store for an extra short cut.  I never felt the urge for metal working, but you may be different.  It also features velvet with a self adhesive back, if you are feeling sporting, you can try a custom flocking kit.  This is a bit messy, but it really makes your piece stand out like a pro.

Woodworking Plan, Jewelry Chest

Woodworking Plan, Picnic Table

When I was growing up in michigan we had a picnic that we used outside in the summer.  In the winter we use to take it apart and put it into the basement so that it would not get ruined.  I really cannot think of a better woodworking project because it is so darn useful.  Because we stored it in the winter time, it lasted over 20 years.  This project is very durable and will give your family years of use.  It is feutured in July 2009 of Wood Magazine, page 60.

One of the best things about this woodworking project is that it usese dimensional lumber, or lumber you can buy already cut. (like a 2 x4)  This makes the job a lot faster and finding the stock is easy since you can buy them just about anywhere.  There are some great joinery techniques that are show in the plan and the magazine has a nice blow up of the assembly.  You basically start from the bottom of the frame and work your way up the assembly

With the prices of outdoor furnture these days, building this woodworking plan can be a great investment.  If you take care of it, it will last a lifetime and you can hand it down to the next generation.  The one my dad built was not as nice as this, but as I get older, I wish I had it for personal reasons.

Woodworking Plan, Picnic Table

It is funny how just having your clamps in the way can cluter your whole shop.  I have tried to make my own clamp rack several times.  I had one work for a while until I started adding numberous clamps and it became too heavy.  It is good to just build the rig and go onto the next thing.  Everyone has clamps in their shop and it seems like your collection will always grow.  Woodworking clamps are probably the most useful tool or accessory in the shop.  You might as well get organized now, it will only help you with your woodworking later.  This plan is featured in July 2009 of Wood Magazine on page 56  it shows some good details but you still need to get the plan.  You are basically making he support rods that connect into the stand wall brackets.  As usual, Wood does a good job with this woodworking project.  They also show you where you can get the brackets which is always good. A cutting diagram is also included and you can make as many of the support rods as you need for your clamp requirements.  If you are looking for a great woodworking plan, this is it.  It will not only get you organized, but it will give you another excuse to be covered in sawdust.

Woodworking, woodworking plan

I love using scrap wood in my woodworking shop to make items that are attractive and useful.  This plan is a featured plan from Wood Magazine and only costs $2.75 for the PDF plan.

You can also see a cutting diagram in Wood Magazine July 2009, page 20.  It gives you a nice exploded view of the cut diagram.  You can cut six parts from one blank piece of wood.  I dont know about you, but I always have a bin of scrap wood lying around for just such an occasion.  Combining different woods will also give you some spectular results.

One of the best things I love about these types of plans is that it gives me ideas of what to build that I can actually make and then turn around and sell online.  I love offerring items like this on Ebay since they are handmade and if you keep the price reasonable, people will buy them.  The key of course is using your scrap wood, this makes the time spent on the item the only cost condsideration.  What your time is worth is up to you to decide.  Try making several at once, this will help you streamline your woodworking process and allow you to work faster and produce more in a set amount of time.  I like making six at a time with different woods, this allows me to test what colors sell best and what days are best to close the auctions on.  If you have your own woodworking site, you can feature them there as well.

There is a nice shop tip in the magazine for routing small parts.  It shows the authors using woodworking clamps to hold the smaller pieces while it is on the router table.

You can find the candle holder plan at this link or by clicking the photo.  May you be covered in sawdust!  Woodworking Plan

Here is a site that offers free woodworking plans, its called Vintage Internet Plans.

You can find it by going to their site at http://vintageinternetplans.com/

They have a collection of free mission style furniture plans taken from publications dating back to the late 1800′s.  If you are interested in mission style design, this site definetely caters to it.

So what makes it different or interesting?  Well there is a lot of information and a lot of designs on the site.  You can see quickly a visual listing of the projects and a small picture of what that project is.  This is good for a quick glance if you are looking for something.  I like it because you don’t have to figure out where it is hiding, its just there for your reference

Then you can more or less just choose based on what you are interested in.  It is interesting to note that they do have a pdf drawing available for each one of the plans.  This is helpful and can give you a better perspective of what the projects entails.

There are lot of other links to free plans on the page as well, so you really could keep very busy opening up and searching all over for something that interests you.  We will try to give you a composite list to keep everything located in one reference.

This  section of site is going to cover a lot of information about woodworking plans.  Now you may be asking yourself, do they mean free woodworking plans or plans that I have to buy?  The answer is both!  Everybody likes something for free, but there is the adage of “you get what you pay for.”  Instead of searching all over the Internet and spending all that time chasing links and finding plans, let us do the work.  We will:

• List the sites, both paid plans and free plans
• Give you a brief summary of what they offer
• Give you overview of the actual site for value
• All with no pitching!

This section will be fairly long since it contains a tremendous amount of information.  There are links to references and some good to know information along the way.  Be sure to check back often since we will try to update this section frequently.  Each new post will show on top of the old and you can find all previous posts in the archive.  Of course if you find a site that we have not yet covered, feel free to leave a comment and we will check it out.

Wood Magazine has made a step to help out woodworkers.  They are having a recession type sale that can help woodworkers and do it yourselfers, get more value for your money.  If you have already figured out, most woodworkers have made the value switch of making their own furniture instead of buying it.  Plans, books and reviews all help you accomplish this more easily.

Deal of the week and woodworking plan blow out.