On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:24:40 -0600, Dave Balderstone
wrote:



I guess I find working from plans, well, *boring*. I don't want to make
something that's been made before by somebody else. I like looking at
plans to get ideas about how things have been done before and learn
from history, but that's really the extent of my desired involvement
with them.

I guess I am more pragmatic in this regard (at least right now). My
desire is to create things of utility as well as well-crafted and good
looking. Thus, if I need something, for example an entertainment center,
and can find a plan that has all the details worked out that fits my (and
of course the Overlord's) esthetics, then I will use the plans. I may make
modifications; for example, for the entertainment center, I replaced the
somewhat simplistic lower shelves with drawers in order to assure reduction
in future clutter, but for the most part, the plans are a means of laying
out the design without having to spend the design time to get there.

On the other hand, if I can't find plans for something that is going to
meet my needs, then I will design my own and draft up my own plans. I do
go to the extent of making drawings to make sure that the dimensions and
proportions look right and to identify any issues that might occur in
construction. I do not draft in the joinery methods or dimensions for the
joinery -- that I do when building the piece; I don't have the patience to
do 3D CAD mortise & tenons. Once the drawing is complete, I will start the
real construction. This is where your method does have its advantage --
there are times when, shall we say, adjustments need to be made because a
mortise was cut in the wrong location or a rail was interchanged with a
different rail of different dimension. While the end piece comes out
looking fine, there is still that paper trail showing that it wasn't
exactly as designed. (It was an engineering change -- yeah, that's the
ticket).



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If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

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