The Old Drawing Board

[Jim Koepke]

I don't think I have shown this here before. These are some 60-30 triangles that are adapted to mount on my workbench. I made these a long time ago and first used them with a B&D WorkMate.

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There are 3/4" dowels at the back and the front is attached with a clamp or in this case with some dogs dropped through holes in the front. Sometimes I use a piece drilled for the pegs on the front so there is a lip at the bottom of the board to hold pencils and triangles.

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Recently decided to do a bit better quality of drawing for a project. Most of the time they are just bits and pieces drawn out on scraps of paper. If something is being done that will be done again it sometimes gets drawn out on the board.

jtk

[Winton Applegate]

Nice
Thanks for posting those.

I hesitate to go to computer drafting programs because I have come to love using my real world drawing tools so much.
Takes longer but still.

Funny thing. When I first walked in the door of a computer store to shop for my first computer, about 1989, they said what do you want to do with it. I said desk top publishing for work on a small format, I might want to even send an email or get on that web thing.
oh
and I want to be able to someday put a drafting program on it. I know it won't be long and I will be able to do that.

They just laughed and laughed.
Thought my drafting program comment was so funny.

The store was called some thing like Micro Age or computer age some such. I called the store Stone Age from then on when ever I referred to it and went in search of a forward thinking store.

Now I have drawing programs on my iPad but use a pencil and paper mostly.
I find I am a sylus person even though I am a Mac person.
Apple . . . are you listening ? Stylus STYLUS STYLUS
OK I got it out. I think I feel a little better now.

PS: do you have one of these yet ?
Good stuff. Very small diameter compass.
The blue and stainless one takes various pens from 1mm & 3 mm leads and ink.
The black one I use for scribing on metal through blue dye and has the beveled steel stylus

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/noydb1/IMG_2577_zps16e49292.jpg (http://s801.photobucket.com/user/noydb1/media/IMG_2577_zps16e49292.jpg.html)

[Tom M King]

I still use a real drafting board too. A Vemco drafting machine is a big help. I'm sure it's close to 40 years old. Every house I ever built came off of it.

[Jim Koepke]

PS: do you have one of these yet ?
Good stuff. Very small diameter compass.

Yes, my dad always called it a drop center compass. I use it for concentric circles.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

I became a draftsman in 1955. I've used every kind of drawing board and drafting machine known.

I use AutoCad and Sketchup now.

I will loft a chair on plywood though using straight edges and large triangles.

[george wilson]

My post seems to have vanished. We called them drop pen compasses. I taught drafting as part of my classes as a teacher in the 60's.

I have a swing down drafting board in my shop. It swings up out of the way. Need to get around to putting on some vinyl drafting board covering that I've had for some time.

[lowell holmes]

The drop pen compasses were used when we were drawing with ink on linen.

An interesting story is about a chemical company on the Gulf Coast that flooded during a hurricane. They had drawers full of drawings, pencil on linen.

The file room flooded and washed all of the starch off of the linen and the graphite with it. After that, we drew with pencils on vellum. After the drawing was IFC (Issued fo Construction)
they would microfilm the tracing and destroy it. The drawings on microfilm were able to be copied on Auto Positives or sepia reproductions . The reproductions were revised, issued and the whole routine repeated.

What media did you draw on at Williamsburg?

[Tom Vanzant]

I worked my way thru college in the mapping department of a drilling company in Houston. I wish I had a penny for every circle I spun with a drop-bow compass. We worked on paper, starched linen, vellum and matte-finished plastic maps covering the Texas/Louisiana Gulf coast, a three county (parish) wide band. All of our work was in ink, hand-lettered with #103 and 104 pen points, from well-spotting to completion. I still have my K&E drafting toolset...definitely that drop-bow compass.
Lowell, I'm just down the road from you, and between you and George age-wise.

[george wilson]

I was not making formal drawings in the instrument maker's shop. More or less idea sketches. When I made drawings for inlay work I got more serious. The Bookbinders shop made me 2 large sketch books with hand laid acid free paper I still have them.

I like to use Caslon Vidalon for drawings of complex marquetry,such as the backs,sides and neck of the marquetry guitar I have posted here before. The drawings were made freehand.

I will first lay out the basic curves for the inlay pattern to gracefully fill out the area to be designed. Then,I go back and add the details.

Caslon Vidalon is a tough,vellum like paper that I could glue directly onto the veneer. It was tough enough to help keep the small details from cracking and falling off. After the work was done,and glued over a ground layer,I could sand and scrape the vellum off.

The drawings below are on the vellum. Parts of the neck,peghead and body are seen. The vaulted back of the guitar was made in 4 staves,fitted together.

These drawings were all made freehand.

[Bryan Robinson]

Wow, George. What a talent you have.

[lowell holmes]

George,

Your work is the work of an artist, not a draftsman. Of course, with the talent you have, you would be able to make mechanical drawings.

I'm impressed.

[george wilson]

I have made many mechanical drawings. I just don't have pictures of any. I designed my workshop to go with the house. As mentioned,I taught drafting back in the 60's,and had 3 or 4 students go to college to study architecture thereafter.

To sharpen my skills,I went to work for a local architect after hours. But,all he did was trace drawings from a huge bunch of drawings that I suppose he had made in his earlier career. They traced windows,doors,and all the parts in whatever house was being designed. I didn't learn much there,except how to trace!!

[Winton Applegate]

Free hand drawings
Aaaaaaah ! ! !
That's
ah nice ah ! ! !

George,
Are you sure you didn't pick up some of Leonardo's genes along the way.

[Mike Hutchison]

Jim L
I had the drafting board/B&D Workmate thing going too many years ago.
My version was too steep so I built a table at a more conventional drafting
board angle and bought the white covering and put it on the surface.
Right about then was when I started using AutoCad LT for drafting.
Was just thinking a couple of days ago I should start at least doing
rough sketches for shop on the drafting table.

[Jim Koepke]

Was just thinking a couple of days ago I should start at least doing
rough sketches for shop on the drafting table.

Most of the time my rough sketches are done on the closest piece of paper with enough blank space to use. A few note pads also get used. Mostly my sketches are of joint details that haven't yet been determined. Mostly just to see what strikes me at the time as the best way to get through a sticking point. Often I'll make a very rough drawing using single lines to figure how much wood will be needed on a project.

jtk

[george wilson]

All of my design ideas for my wife's jewelry are done on post it notes.:) She's got all these post it notes in her notebook. Kind of pathetic!!!:)

[Daniel Rode]

Jim, your drawing board setup looks really useful. Thanks for posting it.

I took a basic mechanical drawing class in high school. I wish I would have taken drafting. I didn't realize at the time how useful it would have been. I can't really draw freehand but I can layout a project with pencil and paper.

I like Sketchup quite a bit but paper still has some advantages. It may seem counter intuitive but it's sometimes easier to make changes on paper. Moreover, I can't sketch easily in Sketchup. Despite my dearth of drawing ability, I can still make rough pencil sketches and try out 4 different curves to see which looks best in 30 seconds. I can't easily or quickly do that on the computer.