Mock Ups

[Matt Wolboldt]

Howdy Ya'll, I'm a newbie to this whole larger furniture scene. I was wondering how many of ya'll build mockups before you touch the final material. Thanks in advance.

[brian j waloweek]

i dont usally make a mock up of the full size piece, just certain parts of the project, to see if it will function or have the look i am hoping for. i make it out of scrap wood or ply. what i do more is lay out the project on a piece of ply, front and side veiws, so i can get a size of parts and a sense of how tall,wide, and or what ever , my project will be. hope it helps and have fun.

[Jamie Buxton]

I don't need mockups much except for seating furniture like chairs. I can develop most designs in my head and on paper (well, a computer now), go the shop, build it, and it comes out the way I intend. For chairs, I can't do that. I have to develop chair designs with a series of prototypes. I have to be able to sit in them.

[Ed Jolin]

I am by no means an expert, but I've done it both ways. For me, paper/pencil usually works out pretty well for everyday construction, but I did do a full size mockup using particle board and drywall screws of a drysink I intended to build (never finished, long story), and was glad I did; it really showed some glaring errors in proportions that were less apparent on paper.

A guy I took some classes from had another interesting approach. He suggested doing full size mockups of all the joinery that would be required in a project, particularly for things like chairs, off angle, and visible joints. It helps to make sure the joint is really going to work with the tools you have, as well as any jigs you might want to make.

[Jim Becker]

I use mockups more and more, both to work out certain joinery details and sometimes to work out compete design features. I did a full-size prototype of a chair, for example, but only did some abreviated components for how the corner posts meet the base of the vanities I'm currently working on.

Mock-ups and prototypes are excellent ways to improve the quality of your work as well as insure that your designs "work" before committing to very expensive materials.

And WELCOME to SMC, Matt!!

[Brian Hale]

I make full size drawings on a 4' x 8' piece of cheap white board i got from home depot and that's normally enough to get the proportions set. When it comes to joinery, full size mock ups really help me get things figured out. The also act as a template so all the joints are consistant in size and also for machine set ups.

Welcome to the Creek!!

Brian :)

[Glenn Clabo]

First of ... welcome to the Creek Matt...
Because I don't do this for a living...and tend to need a little practice with much of what I do...I make mockups 90% of the time. Sometimes the "cheaper material" mockups get used. I built a "mockup" of a table out of pine with the intent to make the "real" one out of cherry. Well... DrLOML loved it so much we ended up with a pine bedroom.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=1038

[Art Mann]

When the project is challenging and the wood is expensive or scarce, I have been known to build two of them, including a prototype in pine or poplar. There have been occasions where the first one turned out better!

[Tom Hamilton]

Hi Matt: Welcome to the Creek! I'm a hobbiest like you and have learned that scale drawings and mock-ups are really helpful. I can see how things look, get a sense of scale and proportion and have a practice piece. Especially on first time projects.

1/4 inch hardboard, ply or foam core all make good mock-up material.

Best regards, Tom

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Howdy Ya'll, I'm a newbie to this whole larger furniture scene. I was wondering how many of ya'll build mockups before you touch the final material. Thanks in advance.

Closest I have ever come to that is using an inferior wood to check a set up. If I have complex piece planned with lots of parts each to receive many complex cuts I'll make some extra parts from inferior lumber - and often from a harder wood too just so I can sacrifice pieces to set up errors while I'm chugging my way through the process.