Over the past few years, I have developed a number of woodworking plans – primarily as a way to prepare for building these designs myself. In some cases they are only designs, and not plans – at least, not yet, By that, I mean they may provide detailed drawings and dimensions of the parts, but they are not complete plans since they do not provide step-by-step directions. [Yes, you may be hearing a bit of a bugbear from me, in that I have bought several “plans” from reputable companies and services that turned out to be only designs and not plans.]
Over the next year, we will start to offer some plans and designs in our online catalog. I am excited about the idea of this offering because it presents a way to promote woodworking services in a whole new way. While I love to work in the shop and create attractive furniture, crafts and artistic pieces I also enjoy the challenge of creating it in a non-destructive 3-d environment first, and then refining both the physical product and the design through the production process.
To kick off our new line of product, we are uploading several plans for products that I have made for the annual 2×4 contest at our woodworkers association meeting. In fact, this year, instead of building something with 2×4, I did a presentation on designing a virtual 2×4 production and promised the group that I would make available three of my favorite 2×4 designs for free to the members. Without any further ado, I would like to offer those below. They will include the Tulip rack (can be used as a magazine stand, or for towels, bread, wine, whatever you would like), the Planter (plant stand), and last year’s entry – the router bit cabinet.
As far as possible, the full plan set (.zip file) that we will offer via the catalog will include scale drawings of all parts, a cut list and pictures of the final product. Eventually I would like to build the item again, capturing key parts in photos or video to illustrate the actual building of the piece. These free plans below may not include the full set of materials. However, being fairly simple and intended for a product made from a single 2×4. they should be sufficiently detailed to present all one would need to build the intended design.
Please feel free to download the designs and/or plans below and let me know what you think of the work being presented. What else would you like to see in a plan set, and what would you see as an acceptable price for work of this kind?
routerbitcabinet – requires WinRAR or WinZip. Includes plan in PDF – requires Acrobat Reader
Planter Project Plans and 2 x 4 Challenge (pdf) – requires Acrobat Reader
Magazinerack2x4challenge – requires WinRAR or WinZip. Includes plan in PDF – requires Acrobat Reader.
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