Where to get plans for general woodwork projects?

[BareBear]

Hi there.

I wonder if you can recommend websites for plans for the smallest projects like planters, benches or gates, all the way up to sheds and workshop buildings, etc.

I have trawled the web and maybe I’m using the wrong search words, but I always end up getting US plans and not UK ones.

Happy to purchase good ones as well as look through shared or free plans.

Hopefully you can point me in the right direction. Thanks.

 

[Beginner.]

Hoping your in UK. Have check you local.charity shops. Under the book section DIY or carpentry.
Found lots of good stuff there

 

[BareBear]

Hi, yes I’m in Scotland. Good idea. I have some second hand book stores around me. I’ll take a look.

Is there such a thing as a website that sells plans individually?

 

[johnnyb]

over the years I've occasionally used magazine plans. some are good and many aren't. having sizes missing etc. fine woodworking or even fine gardening are about the best. the British mags are usually quite poor( with exceptions) sometimes a woodworker will be giving away a stack of magazines or you can buy a digital copy. American stuff is usually very professionally produced but in a slightly different style.

 

[BareBear]

Thanks. The main problem I find is that the most commonly available plans are US plans and are in imperial sizes. I’m looking for metric. There are some cool designs out there but mostly imperial.

 

[sams93]

I like woodsmith and have bought one of their plans before. I find that you can usually look at a design though and work out what you need to make it mostly so I tend not to buy them, rather copy a design i've seen.

Oh I should have said these are still US plans but I just convert to metric.

I have made the mistake before in not accounting for some conversion changes and it caused me to have to rebuild from scratch, I like to think I won't make that mistake again but watch this space....

 

[Beginner.]

Just remembered. Have you looked at "Pinterest"
Search Wood work plans

 

[Jameshow]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outdoor-Wo...97&hvtargid=pla-491799985584&psc=1&th=1&psc=1
Something like this?

 

[RobNichols]

Some of the American sites dimension their plans in metric. For example Workshop Companion

 

[johnnyb]

I wouldn't get hung up on dimension of stuff tbf. one fww plan had shapes in grids with instructions to copy at say 300% put me off for years till I realised I could measure with a steel rule and times by 300!( all in mm) easy peasy

 

[ColinDeVelen]

WoodArchivist for scans of lots of magazine articles.

 

[mwinfrance]

it's not hard to convert from imperial to metric.

 

[thetyreman]

really depends what you want to make, start with simple projects and gradually make something more complex, I like books more than any other medium for learning how to make things, because you are not distracted by all the other stuff that comes with the internet.

 

[Elapid]

it's not hard to convert from imperial to metric.

If you're good at spreadsheets, you can use one to convert everything and even write a ratio formula so if you increase the length/width etc everything else increases accordingly.

 

[BareBear]

Some great advice here thanks. I agree that I have been quite narrow in my thinking. I’ve got to find a way to work with multiple resources. Books, magazines, Pinterest, Etsy, and in imperial as well as metric.

The more I look, the more it seems obvious that I’ve got to find a way to convert the dimensions easily. I like the spreadsheet idea by the way

My wife has shelves filled with recipes in books and printed sheets in dozens of folders and ring binders. They are in all sorts of measurement formats and I’ve never had a bad meal yet. She loves cooking and always finds a way to convert, so why shouldn’t I? I’ll just need to build some shelves in the workshop for my future collection.

 

[Ollie78]

Just as an alternative to "plans" think of something you actually need, draw some sketches and make it.
You only really need a couple of images of something for an idea of how it's made.

Ollie

 

[sams93]

Some great advice here thanks. I agree that I have been quite narrow in my thinking. I’ve got to find a way to work with multiple resources. Books, magazines, Pinterest, Etsy, and in imperial as well as metric.

The more I look, the more it seems obvious that I’ve got to find a way to convert the dimensions easily. I like the spreadsheet idea by the way

My wife has shelves filled with recipes in books and printed sheets in dozens of folders and ring binders. They are in all sorts of measurement formats and I’ve never had a bad meal yet. She loves cooking and always finds a way to convert, so why shouldn’t I? I’ll just need to build some shelves in the workshop for my future collection.

I do find that whatever project I am doing, even if I find inspiration from another person's work or some plans, I always have to customise the dimensions anyway to meet my requirements. Maybe understanding the scale/ratio of measurements is of some help from an aesthetic perspective.

I think what I learn from plans and the like is more about the joinery and the method of construction etc, rather than the measurements.

 

[alan895]

If you end up buying plans online make sure you avoid the 16000 woodworking plans scam. There have been plenty of articles published over the years about it.