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Thread: Pros and Cons of building with plans

  1. #16
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    So what is a "plan"? I make drawings, then add overall dimensions, then add dimensions of key details-- I'll often draw versions with different proportions several times to try to get them right on paper prior to building to double check my assumptions about what is going to look good. These days I almost never draw joinery, there just doing what makes sense works just fine without having to draw it out. I've never built anything from a published plan but I do generally start with 3-6 photos of pieces that have elements and overall shapes I like as "inspiration" for what I end up sketching. Often a particular piece of wood dictates important elements of the final shape of the piece. Curves on pieces are frequently adjusted "on the fly" to look best with the patterns in the grain.

    So I do a lot of planning of pieces, and I do make sure they will fit the spot they need to go or will contain that which they are intended to contain. I never get to the point of having something that looks like a blueprint or that you could feed to a CNC device or even hand to another person and expect to get exactly the same piece back. Do I use "plans"? I'm not sure.

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Stan, what you describe really isn't anything to do with you being a "hobbyist". It's just a matter of what you experienced and what you felt comfortable with. The fact that you're willing to tweak what's on a plan is evidence that you moved up while still taking comfort with having that plan there to help guide you. It reinforces my point above that plans can be part of the learning process. But I'll add that everyone learns at a different rate. And that's ok!
    Jim, I throw that in a lot, because I think the answer to a lot of questions is different whether you're a pro or hobbyist. If you make a lot of the same or similar things you might not need someone else's plans. You can size things or figure out joints from experience. Most of the things I've done have been one-time projects, or sufficiently different that plans help me learn from experienced others what works and looks good. I know if I follow a plan, it will look good, and there were reasons for how it was done that way.

  3. #18
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    Repetitive work can certainly help with the "woodworking muscle". But I'll bring up that many of us who do work for others are not involved in repetitive work; rather, we're doing one-off projects just like you mention you are doing. Other than my tack trunks (which vary in features) and some components I cut for another maker on the CNC, every single project is something "new" or different in some way from previous efforts.

    But please don't misunderstand me, either. Working from a plan is a perfectly sane approach for anyone...even a so-called professional. Just be sure to be honing your skills and more importantly, your mind, so that if your next project isn't supported by a plan, you can be confident in working things out. That may even mean building a full or partial prototype, too. I've done that for some tricky things, particular where some funky angles were involved. I'd rather "waste" some inexpensive stuff to build a "working plan", aka a prototype when it makes sense. Plans are not just on paper.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    I do not purchase plans, although I have and do use magazine plans and cultists. Even then, I generally sketch it roughly and re-calculate dimensions as there have been errors in some I’ve seen. If the idea does not come from a magazine, I draw it roughly probably a few times, depending on complexity of joints, from different views. As Glenn said, at some point in the building phase, I measure from the piece itself, but then compare to the plan looking for acceptable differences. This is to avoid big errors that waste material. For example, I may draw the plan to use a 1-1/4 x 1-1/4 piece for a corner, but I may stop at 1-5/16 if the milling looks excellent. This may then require shortening a different component by 1/16 or it may not. It just depends.

  5. #20
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    Feb 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by roger wiegand View Post
    So what is a "plan"? I make drawings, then add overall dimensions, then add dimensions of key details-- I'll often draw versions with different proportions several times to try to get them right on paper prior to building to double check my assumptions about what is going to look good. These days I almost never draw joinery, there just doing what makes sense works just fine without having to draw it out. I've never built anything from a published plan but I do generally start with 3-6 photos of pieces that have elements and overall shapes I like as "inspiration" for what I end up sketching. Often a particular piece of wood dictates important elements of the final shape of the piece. Curves on pieces are frequently adjusted "on the fly" to look best with the patterns in the grain.

    So I do a lot of planning of pieces, and I do make sure they will fit the spot they need to go or will contain that which they are intended to contain. I never get to the point of having something that looks like a blueprint or that you could feed to a CNC device or even hand to another person and expect to get exactly the same piece back. Do I use "plans"? I'm not sure.
    I should have made it clearer in the OP that “plans” are plans made by someone else.
    I see most of us do not use published plans or even ones that are tweaked.
    I have often changed my own plan by 1/64 to 1/8 to accommodate or get rid of something on an edge inherent in the wood or a missed line cut on the miter saw. I don’t think sitting at the computer for hours making a drawing is going to save me any time. If my profession had been CAD work I would look at it differently.

  6. #21
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    I also don’t build from measured drawings. If it’s that critical or unfamiliar I will build the piece from Popler to get any detail I need figured out.
    A full sized drawing on my assembly table is about as close as I get to a measured drawing.
    Aj

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
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    Piercefield, NY
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    I sometimes draw part of a project to scale on graph paper, but mostly I know the outside dimensions or other specifications that are required and make everything else fit them, in my head as I go. My biggest problem is forgetting a requirement. I have taken to printing a list of attributes for each month's instruments so I can pin it on the wall in the shop and look at it often. Once I forgot that a banjo neck was to have a bound fretboard until the neck was assembled, so I had to pull the frets, cut a ledge all the way along both sides, put in the binding, level the binding and put the frets back in, and it was all much harder than it would have been if I had remembered what I was doing and bound the fretboard at the right time. No material was wasted, but a lot of time was.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Cedar Park, TX (NW Austin)
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    I don’t use plans and really enjoy the figure it out as you go process. However, I look at lots of images online and really life examples and incorporate various elements. It is close as I will ever get to being a creative.

  9. #24
    My post was not on point since it was more about directions to be followed by product buyer than builder. I'm sorry.
    Ive seen some really botched installs on things I made. In one case an elliptical cased opening I sold with
    carefully written install instructions was installed with the highest point of the jamb head ...where the "spring-line"
    should have been. It looked like a really big dog house door. But our contractor-customer was the buyer, and we had been paid. So I was out of it.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
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    11,248
    Hi Bruce, it depends upon what I’m building.

    Something simple, maybe just a few measurements on a pad.

    More complicated will be drawings down to the component level, I can’t remember ever purchasing plans, I would make my own at the drafting table, now on the computer....Rod.

  11. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce King View Post
    I should have made it clearer in the OP that “plans” are plans made by someone else.
    I see most of us do not use published plans or even ones that are tweaked.
    I have often changed my own plan by 1/64 to 1/8 to accommodate or get rid of something on an edge inherent in the wood or a missed line cut on the miter saw. I don’t think sitting at the computer for hours making a drawing is going to save me any time. If my profession had been CAD work I would look at it differently.
    Is a story stick a plan? Even with a one-off project, it can help to machine and coordinate parts, easily helping with dimensional changes of components (e.g. with hand planing, do I _really_ have to make that part 3/4” thick? etc.)

    They can also be a surprisingly powerful tool for visualization, giving you a sense of scale for various aspects of the project.

  12. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    Either is fine as long as your truly at peace with the process... For me at least, ritual, in anyones life, should be stomped out with the utmost of force. Ritual = the utmost of hackerdom for the sake of perceived sanity.
    This is a really interesting comment, Mark.

    Personally, I enjoy ritual and find that it gives me peace -- starting with the ritual of making morning coffee, and bringing some to my sweetie. It's taken me years to start incorporating mindful awareness of my own sensations and behaviors into my process. I was very suspicious of it, yet increasingly I don't regret the inefficiency it brings to my life. Even something as simple as feeding the dog is a richer experience when I pause to look into her fuzzy face and and appreciate how much she's anticipating her chow. I even finally learned to enjoy sharpening (a formerly annoying time waster) by appreciating the edge as it comes up to a gleam.

    OTOH, I don't make a living with my woodworking, and I do understand the necessity to balance awareness against a sense of urgency in a professional environment. For me, right now, ritual serves two purposes: it settles my mind and lets me enjoy what I'm doing with less hard-driven panic about outcomes, and it reminds me to "checklist" my process as I go. For me, those checks along the way result in fewer errors and less re-work.

    That having been said, my project plans often are literally "sketchy," and if I could get away without drawing anything, I probably would.
    --Jack S. Llewyllson

    Gratitude is a gift to yourself.

    Purity tests are the bane of human existence.

    Codeine takes the pain from every muscle but the heart.

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Jack Llewyllson View Post
    This is a really interesting comment, Mark.

    Personally, I enjoy ritual and find that it gives me peace -- starting with the ritual of making morning coffee, and bringing some to my sweetie.
    Ritual can be good! I start each day with a prayer to my wife, who is a Goddess, the bringer of peace (and coffee.)

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
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    I usually just work from the top of my head and then draw something up so I can figure out how much I need of what. But there's times when I do use plans, or at least parts of a plan. For example making a frame for a king size bed. I can come up with my own design but I might look at someone elses plan to see what they think is the right size wood. On a bed frame the rails come to mind. If you aren't sure if a cherry 1x6 will span the 80" needed for the side rails I might take a look for a plan vs ask a question here and wait for an answer. I personally ask a lot of others here so I try not to ask the simple questions unless I can't find an answer by searching. Being a hobbyist it's easier for me not to work with plans as time isn't "money" and if I get it wrong (and the side rail on the bed can't hold the weight) I'm not a business so I don't have to worry about liability like a business would.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
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    924
    The product just seems more 'mine' when it comes from my head. I rarely draw more than a sketch but often feel bad about this after taking so long to get it done.
    Rustic? Well, no. That was not my intention!

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