Followup Poll to How Good Are You?

[John Hunter]

Do you need a plan at all, or do you just draw your own, and how long did it take to get to that point?

I took up wood working after I retired. I made my own plans from the start but I did have drawing skills so that I could put on paper what I had in mind. I enjoy drawing up the plan as much as I do the wood working. Even now I look at plans on line to get ideas then alter them to meet my needs and the way I want to build them.

[leehljp]

Plans? Plans? When I started there were no plans. I started at a very young age watching my dad and uncles. I watched my uncles build houses with less plans than many people use for making a table today. AND the houses are stronger than most of todays houses too!

For projects (furniture, table or remodeling) We started with a need. We had the "end vision" in mind. Along with the purpose for making something. We worked back from there and started with the wood.

I built a lawn swing with a cover from some wood from a house that was being torn down. I had a picture in my minds eye of what I wanted - similar to the way an artist paints a picture from what he sees in his mind.

For the swing, I measured the width of my but t and my wife's also. Really! and then I added 2 inches between and 3 inches to each side. That became the width of the width of the seat. The frame had to accomodate the seat. The swing was built that way with no problems. I was asked to build a couple of more after that. I never drew a picture outline or wrote down a single piece of measurement on this project. Not a brag, it is just the way I do things.

The Swing link is below; I cannot get clubphoto to give me a jpg link, so I am posting the link directly. Just click on it.


On my router table, I had the design in my minds eye and about 90% of the measurements in my head before I wrote down the first sketch or figures.




For me, too many figures on a piece of paper complicate things. I have to see it in my mind first.

[crokett]

Plan? Define Plan. Is a plan drafted with straight lines, to scale and has complete measurements and cut list? I've never done that. What I have done is taken a random scrap of paper, scribbled some measurements as I am building and gone from there. So I will say I've never used a plan.

[leehljp]

Mildoc: So, let me re-phrase the question: Do you need a plan at all, or do you just draw your own, and how long did it take to get to that point?

The swing I made above took about two weeks of designing and getting the measurements in my head.

The router center was something I thought through for two years before I made my first cut. I thought through it on several 12 hour plane rides, many many 1 and 2 hour train rides and often on 2 to 6 hour drives. I think of the size and joints and how each corresponding dimension change will change something else. I also think and plan the joints and wood thickness, re-enforcements for weak areas.

I do mark down the major dimensions when cutting individual boards so I can remember which piece I am cutting - that is the one area that I get mixed up.

Am I the only one that does this?

[Black wallnut]

I draw my own mostly as I always have done. I have, however purchased one plan for the high chair I just finished.

[Thom2]

I've never needed a plan ....

... to produce firewood ....

does that count as 1 year or less???

[L. D. Jeffries]

Didn't see this until "follow-up"; so here is my 2cents. My answer would be I use both. Commerical plans and my own creations. Recent example: saw a picture for a hanging, swiveling wall mounted plant hanger in a catalog. When queried them about ordering they tell me plans no longer available. Soo, took the picture and after studying it sat down and drew up what I thought measurements should be; then proceeded to make a drawing and went ahead and built one. Since then have built two more for gifts. If I can see a picture I can pretty well duplicate anything "now". Took about 5 or so years to get to this stage however.

[charliex]

A ramble

I'm with Hank & David. I build things (mostly shop items) with scraps left over from other projects. I can adjust dimensions on the fly to fit the wood that I have available. To build a piece of furniture where I purchase lumber, I draw a plan / sketch and fill in the major dimensions. The reason I don't get too detailed is because my MO is that as I build, I make changes; like a trim detail, type of joint or the size of a part if it don't look right. I can easily become mired in detail so I try not to obsess over the small stuff. I do know that plans followed to the Tee will produce an object exactly like the picture, but if it needs to sit in a certain location it can look all wrong. Same as the table that looked great at the store but looked wrong when I got it home. If I follow a plan I feel I'm just "doing" someone elses idea. Part of the fun / challange of WW'ing, for me is creating something of my own. I enjoy watching Norm do period furniture but I really have no desire to build any myself. It might be fun to try with tools of the same period. Some of the work done back then was incredable considering the equipment available. I also have to belive these craftsmen made many an error and then worked around it. I doubt they were any more prone to tossing good wood than we are today. There may have been more raw product around but it was much harder getting it to size than it is today. I think the referance jabe made to the "1/8" off" was to something I said in an earlier post. If I built a table and the plan calls for a 54" long top and I error and cut it 53 7/8" it may be an error but to quote an old friend "it didn't kill ya", get over it. If the base isn't completed I could adjust it to fit, but to me 1/16" on each end isn't a big deal. The actual case I was refering to was on my daughters table. The top was to be 54" long but when I measured for the last cut it was only 54 1/4" I decided to just leave it as is.
If you're a pro and building for a customer who is annal retentive these thoughts do not apply, but I avoid those people all together. Of course that's why I don't get rich. I would not try to build a house, garage or maybe even a shed without a detailed plan.
PS. I am paranoid about spending money on exotic wood because I could screw it up. (note to self) Get over that too.
Have a good one.
Chas

[Bruce Cohen]

Usually I start with a "plan" in a magazine and then alter it to either the size I need, my abuilding abilities (or lack thereof), or to add my own embellishments or delete something I don't like in the original.

When I lived in Manhattan, I designed a lot of furniture, but not having any place to set up a shop, I would have it built for me. Doing it yourself is a lot more fun, and you get to use lots of four letter words everytime you mess up.

Sometimes, I'll go so far to do the shop drawings in Adobe Illustrator, lets me really get detailed with the joints.

Coming out of a Graphic Design background, I suck when it comes to doing the math, so using a program like Illustrator, I can specify line length to the thousandth, but I still screw it up.


Bruce

[JimD]

For me it totally depends on what I am making. I've made several bedroom sets and a complete kitchen, etc. but I will still pay for plans if I like the look of the end result. It saves me time and I can always improve the plan some. If I am doing something simple like a little rack I made from my son when he was home to hold CDs in his little truck, a plan would be pointless. The rack had to fit into an existing opening of the dash and we could not readily measure it accurately enough. Far easier to cut and try until we got a good fit. On the other hand, I would not build something like a dresser without a plan. If I do not at least sketch it out, I may not like the proportions when I am done and then I've wasted wood and time. I often sketch more for appearance than anything else. Like the doors in my shop. I knew they would have mortise and tenon joints and the size but I wanted to see how the rails and stiles would look - did they need to be wider or narrower. Sketching in advance saved time and probably material. I have a little parallel line board do it does not take a lot of time to do a sketch.

Jim