Old Style Woodworking Plans

[Jeff]

Here's a 2007 idea from Larry Rose...

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9787

...and he built it too...

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10266

 

[Jeff]

An Irish real deal tea table circa 1770 (about 28" high). You can buy it and bypass all of this design stuff. Check out the pics of the tilting top details.

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/t...ny-pie-crust-tilt-top-tea-table/id-f_4767223/

 

[StephenK]

An Irish real deal tea table circa 1770 (about 28" high). You can buy it and bypass all of this design stuff. Check out the pics of the tilting top details.

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/t...ny-pie-crust-tilt-top-tea-table/id-f_4767223/

Where's the fun in that?

 

[bob vaughan]

Where's the fun in that?

I think that seller is off by about 100 years, and even then, the level of quality of that hardware and screws is suspiciously high for that.

The old hobby woodworking magazines had surprisingly well dimensioned drawings. Enclosed in a Carlyle Lynch book I picked up at an estate sale were drawings from 1950s "The Home Craftsman" magazines done by Lester Margon. There were also torn out pages from a 1965 "Workbench" magazine by the same guy. He was great in showing how a piece of furniture was made but he gave little or no suggestions on how to make it. That would be the maker's job

When I started to build furniture in the 1970s, I had to use ratio and proportions from photographs of pieces I liked. That was just the way it was done. Computers were still running Fortran 40 and slide rules were still in use. One had to use one's imagination a lot more. The down side then as it is now, a woodworker can perpetuate awkward looking designs if the dimensions are followed to the letter.

 

[Dave Richards]

It is interesting to compare the old woodworking magazines with newer ones. Look at early Fine Woodworking Magazine issues, for example. The same exploded views and other illustrations but fewer actual dimensions in those old ones compared to today.

 

[Rick M]

If people like the piece they will build it whether you include dimensions or not but if you are publishing it as a technical drawing or "plan" then I think you should include all the dimensions. If there are parts where the dimensions are not particular that should be notated. If you expect the builder to take license (such as the tea table column) then I wouldn't include any dimensions. Including distances between coves but excluding the diameters makes the drawing look amateurish and unfinished (no offense).

 

[Dave Richards]

Including distances between coves but excluding the diameters makes the drawing look amateurish and unfinished (no offense).

No offense taken. I only created the image based on what was shown in the original from 1921. I guess, then, Mr. Frederick J. Bryant, Supervisor of Manual Arts, Auburn, Maine, et al are the amateurs since this is the way many plans were presented back then.

There is a scale included with the drawing that would let the builder pick off other dimensions they might need or want.

 

[Rick M]

No offense taken. I only created the image based on what was shown in the original from 1921. I guess, then, Mr. Frederick J. Bryant, Supervisor of Manual Arts, Auburn, Maine, et al are the amateurs since this is the way many plans were presented back then.

There is a scale included with the drawing that would let the builder pick off other dimensions they might need or want.

Well if he was the supervisor then this must be the right way to do it.

The scale is a fair point. I suppose it is that most of my training in technical drawing was of the type you would present to a machinist, fabricator, or cnc, so there was no 'scale it from the drawing'. Thinking back to my class on architectural drawing, maybe there were times we didn't dimension something, not sure, too long ago. I still think it looks wrong to have length but not diameter.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Usually when my wife wants me to make something she brings me a picture cut out of a magazine and says can you make this to fit in a certain space. I measure the space and guess at the rest. So, basically I know one major dimension.

+1. This is exactly how I build almost all my furniture. I have a picture, w/ changes the customer wants, and a space to put it. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I get two dimensions. From there I go to SketchUp and start working out the details. The 'Orbit' feature in SU is great because it allows me to look at the piece from all angles to see if all the proportions look right.