My Uncle Henry is the ultimate woodworker. Unlike me, he has no need for downloadable woodworking plans. He is ninety years old and still works in his shop a few hours every day. He selects his own trees still standing in the woods and has a friend with a sawmill who cuts them into lumber for him.
My Uncle Harry
His lathe work is outstanding -- his lamps and bedposts turned from pecan and cherry wood rival the products of the finest craftsmen. Uncle Henry also has an eye for design. He can draw plans for the most intricate china cabinets, dressers, and dining tables I have ever seen. His expert craftsmanship turns them from drawings on paper (he has no use for computers) into stunning pieces of furniture.
No More Shoddy Store Bought Furniture
At the other end of the spectrum is the shoddy mass-produced stuff that passes for "furniture" in your local retail outlets. Made of cheap veneer over heavy particle board and held together with staples, this furniture is not built to last a lifetime. My personal preference is for the high quality art my uncle makes, but I compromise by building a lot of my own furniture. I don't have Uncle Henry's eye for design, so I rely on downloadable woodworking plans for choosing and planning my projects.
Why Downloadable Woodworking Plans Are a Better Choice
When you build a woodworking project from plans, you need to be sure you get the best quality plans available. You can find many books with plans, but downloadable woodworking plans are usually a better choice. For the price of a single woodworking book at your local bookstore, you can buy plans online that include thousands of different projects to choose from. Many downloadable woodworking plans also include interactive capabilities so you can see the project in three dimensions from many angles as you go through the building process.
You Get What You Pay For
You can find a lot of downloadable woodworking plans for free, but you might find it much better to pay a little money for high quality plans. Free plans are often unprofessional and leave out critical details in the building process, so you end up wasting a lot more time and money than you would have spent buying good plans to begin with.
A high quality set of woodworking plans will include a complete materials and parts list, so you can buy everything you need at the outset without having to stop a half dozen times to run back to the store for something you overlooked. They should also include scaled drawings and patterns along with detailed instructions for each step in the project. High quality plans may also include tips for special techniques you can use to make construction easier.
Downloadable Plans For Any Project
Downloadable woodworking plans are available for almost any project you can think of. Whether it is a coffee table, a guitar, or a decorative wooden windmill for your garden, by building your project with your own hands using high quality materials and tools, you will have finished products to be proud of.
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