have you ever?

[steven c newman]

Just looked at a stack of boards, and come up with a plan to use them....without ever needing to draw out a plan?

For some reason,I can just look at a board, or a stack of them, and then work out a plan in my head.

The Infamous Single Brain Cell Sketch-up

Rarely do I use a plan, or even draw something up. Maybe jot some measurements down...maybe.

I look at the wood itself, if there is something interesting to show off, or just note the available sizes in the stack.


After awhile, something like this comes out of a handful of odd boards
316804
So, just wondering.....does anyone else use just the brain to do this sort of thing? Anyone look at a stack of wood, and say" there is a table in there..."

Or, am I the only one working this way?:eek::confused:

[Archie England]

No, not yet. Evidently I don't have that problem.... :)

[Frederick Skelly]

I do it your way sometimes, but find it helpful to have a sketch. Sometimes, I have to build a prototype.

If eyeballing it works consistently for you, you're a lucky man - saves time, etc.

[Jim Koepke]

I do it that way sometimes, depends on what project is at hand. Sometimes the dimensions are unimportant.

jtk

[Barry McFadden]

I do mostly turning but have made quite a few things without plans....I wanted a clock for the kitchen and took a look at the watch on my wrist and came up with this deciding on the dimensions as I went along..

316820

[Jerry Thompson]

I do not read plans well. I have to have my wife interpret the for me. If each piece was shown and only one cut, mortise, etc., on it I could probably to OK. When there is so much clutter in a plan it all freezes up in my mind and become one and I cannot separate the individual items.
I used to try and hide it thinking it would get better as time and experience passed. Not so. So I live with it.

[Art Mann]

Being an engineer by trade, I tend to err in the opposite direction. If a project is very complicated, I will create a true 3-D Sketchup model of what I am about to build, even if it is from a plan in a magazine.