# Question Of The Week... ( 2017 Week 5 )



## ripjack13 (Jan 29, 2017)

*Do you draw/sketch up plans or pictures of the projects you make? *


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## Lou Currier (Jan 29, 2017)

Most things I do are either from plans (drawn by others) or evolve as I am making them.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tony (Jan 29, 2017)

Very seldom do I draw out anything. Generally I have an idea of the outside size I'm going for and wing it from there. Probably not the way to go, but it's my way. Tony

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## Fsyxxx (Jan 29, 2017)

Since most of my work is turned I don't sketch anything. Mostly I let the timber kinda do what it wants.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 3


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## Mike1950 (Jan 29, 2017)

Depends- Kathie draws concept and size of what she wants and I build it. Me, I usually just start and it evolves into what it is supposed to be. I have made over 100 of my coved boxes and not one is the same. wood- feet -cove-profiles-lid- they all change as I build. size is never the same. The wood tells me what it wants to be. very subtle changes can make a huge difference. Making them all the same from plans would be more like work instead of woodfunning....

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1 | Creative 1


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## Blueglass (Jan 29, 2017)

Sometimes and if I do it is usually repeated drawings until I'm happy.

Reactions: Like 1


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## NYWoodturner (Jan 29, 2017)

A new knife design I will sketch. Very often I just do it on the billet of steel with a sharpie. If I'm doing a custom order I will always sketch it and send for approval. Turnings I never sketch.

Reactions: Like 1


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## rocky1 (Jan 29, 2017)

They typically look like Brink's cartoons if I do; square box with measurements wrote around it, maybe spacing between shelves if there is a purpose or intent in it. Mostly it's figured out on the fly. Easier to change your mind, than to change all those drawings!

Reactions: Like 1


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## woodtickgreg (Jan 29, 2017)

Depends on what I am making. A complex build or something with a lot of joinery then I will make a drawing to work out the details so I don't waste wood by making errors with cuts or joints. Turnings I don't usually make a drawing, the exception being for a finial, I will sometimes sketch one out to get the size and proportions right. Cabinets call for plans, especially a whole kitchens worth, which I will be doing one day in this house. It seems that you need to types of plans for kitchen cabinets, one for the layout and cabinet size, and another plan for the actual cabinet build based on the first plan. I would like to learn how to use sketchup, I just can't seem to find the time to play around with it and learn it. When i was a kid in school I had a drafting class, something that does not exist anymore, as all shop classes have gone away it seems. The kind of drafting where you actually drew things with pencils on paper to scale, not with computers. So my drawings or plans are based on what I know, old school drawing.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Schroedc (Jan 29, 2017)

Sometimes, depends on the project.

Reactions: Like 1


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## DKMD (Jan 29, 2017)

Not often. I've got a sketch book somewhere that I used to doodle in when I was big into hollowforms, but I haven't made many hollowforms recently. 

I take pictures of round things that I like and use them as visual references occasionally.

One of the things I like about turning is the lack of planning necessary for many turned things.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Jim Beam (Jan 29, 2017)

DKMD said:


> One of the things I like about turning is the lack of planning necessary for many turned things.




Amen. No planning needed, just a little time. Got an hour? Make little bowl or a spinny top. Got all day? Make lidded box or a hollow form

Reactions: Like 1


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## Sprung (Jan 29, 2017)

I tend to for most flatwork projects. Sometimes it's a rough sketch. Sometimes it's a drawn out to scale plan on graph paper. Right now I have several plans I've drawn out that are waiting for me to get building sometime.

Reactions: Like 1


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## phinds (Jan 29, 2017)

Always. My motto is "measure twice, then screw it up anyway". Without detailed plans in advance, I'd have to measure at least 3 times to screw it up.

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 2


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## CWS (Jan 29, 2017)

I don't make any plans before I start. Ever time I do they are wrong

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tclem (Jan 29, 2017)

I drew a picture in 8th grade and got expelled

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Mike1950 (Jan 29, 2017)

Tclem said:


> I drew a picture in 8th grade and got expelled


Yep, all 3 yrs you were in 8th grade...

Reactions: Great Post 1 | Funny 1


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## Tclem (Jan 29, 2017)

Mike1950 said:


> Yep, all 3 yrs you were in 8th grade...


You're jealous because you were in the 8th grade 80 years ago. Now go back to your weekly bingo session before the orderlies come looking for you

Reactions: Funny 4


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## Blueglass (Jan 29, 2017)

Tclem said:


> I drew a picture in 8th grade and got expelled


I'll bet that was a good one!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Brink (Jan 29, 2017)

I always have a drawing.

Some are in crayon on a cocktail napkin, but I always have one

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## David Hill (Jan 29, 2017)

Not for turning-usually have a pic in my mind.
For flatwork, yep I do sometimes-- helps to have right materials and tools.

Reactions: Like 1


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## kweinert (Jan 30, 2017)

Turned, not usually unless it's segmented.

Otherwise, yes I do tend to have drawings, at least to a sketch level. I *still* haven't gotten the hang of any of the drafting programs - there's just something in my brain that doesn't sync up with them. Kind of odd for a computer guy, I know. I do have a T-square, scale, etc and I draw things out that way.

I still cut long and then sneak up on it but I guess I'm more of an engineer than an artist when it comes down to it.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Don Ratcliff (Jan 30, 2017)

I do on flat work and furniture. I have scratched a few pen blank ideas. When I turn it go with what the wood wants to be. (In Hawaii it's called "honor the tree spirit")

Reactions: Like 1


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## DKMD (Jan 30, 2017)

Don Ratcliff said:


> I do on flat work and furniture. I have scratched a few pen blank ideas. When I turn it go with what the wood wants to be. (In Hawaii it's called "honor the tree spirit")



The wood wants to be smaller and rounder... sheesh!

Reactions: Funny 4 | Sincere 1


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## Brink (Feb 19, 2017)

Sometimes I make real drawings.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 2


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