One Woodworkers Design Tools....

[Stick486]

From LeeValley...
Techniques to Help with Project Planning...
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One Woodworkers Design Tools....

[Bushwhacker]

My projects usually begin with an idea or I see some thing that interest me. Some times while shopping with Sandra, I will see a piece that is for sale and I will stop to look at it , check how it was put together and just run my hands over it to see how it feels. If it interest me and I think that I may build some thing similar one day, I will have Sandra take a picture of it for me.
Later at home, I will take another look at what ever pictures we took and if it still interest me, I will print it up and keep it in a drawer in my shop.
Other times I simply draw a rough sketch of what I want to make or what is needed and then begin to cut it out. The finished project may not be exactly the same as the original sketch, but it it makes me happy, and is functional , that's what counts.

Bushwhacker

[Herb Stoops]

I have done that for years, when running crews, I would freehand draw a detail, give it to a carpenter and tell him to go build that. Sometimes I would come back later and it didn't look right,so I would tell the carpenter he built it wrong, and he would reach into his overall pocket take out my sketch and say well it is just like you drew. I had made a mistake on a dimension, then I ate crow.
Herb