Woodworking Patterns and Plans
I’m a great fan of downloadable woodwork plans and patterns - one big reason is because I live in France.
Getting woodwork patterns from the US or Canada - where most of the patterns are produced - costs an absolute fortune by traditional methods, often as much or more than the actual woodowrk plans themselves, and the delay can be three or four weeks. Downloadable patterns can be accessed and transferred to my computer in minutes and without any packing or delivery charges either.
Unfortunately at the moment there are not too many suppliers - but the number is growing. I do a lot of scrollsaw work and people like IntarsiaDesigns.com and ScrollsawSegmentation.com provide some plans that I like. A quick search of the internet will find several more and not just for scroll sawers. There are clock plans available via Murray Clock Plans and Barley Harvest provide not only clock but furniture and game patterns too.
For me, another great advantage is that I can print them from my pc - no more tedious trips to the copy shop. There is the associated advantage that I can not only print them as many times as I like but I can also vary the sizes so I can make a pattern any size I like. Sure, I have to get out the sticky tape sometimes to assmeble the various sheets that the printer chucks out - but that’s hardly a problem if you’ve got the manual skills attributed to most woodworkers!
There are other things too. I never have to worry about spilling coffee or finish on my “precious” plans - I can just print another copy. I don’t have to consider how I’m going to store them if I don’t want to - the file is always there on my pc, ready to be produced again. Short of breaking the computer or the printer I can do pretty much what I like with them. I even lost a copy once, but I had the email receipt so I just contacted the company who sent me a replacement.
I understand that there is some concern about quality, and some like their plans on trace paper. Well there’s nothing to be done about the second as far as I know - trace paper doesn’t like my printer very much and blurs horribly. If you have a solution, please let me know.
The quality issue is more easily addressed. I have sometimes found that quality is not what I would like from a particular supplier - but usually if the company has any confidence in their product they will offer a free sample. Even if they don’t, I’ll often buy a cheap pattern - say $3 or $4 - to check the quality that way. If it’s not good enough, they simply don’t get my business in future. There are plenty more out there.
So go on - give downloadable patterns a try. they’re easy to use so they’ll make your life a little easier and you’ll probably save a few dollars as well. What more could you ask?
