Drawings, Dimensions, and Plans

A detailed map is critical to success in the shop, but how much detail you need depends on your experience

The drawings you use in the shop should provide enough information for you to navigate a build without serious missteps. These are not suitable for the shop!

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I know the prospect of creating a new piece of furniture from scratch intimidates many woodworkers, because so many of us do not consider ourselves creative. Not only is it a challenge to generate ideas, but after that you must sketch them out or visualize them in some way. What’s more, quick line drawings generally do not provide enough detail to serve as a roadmap to guide you from a starting point (milling) to your destination (a completed piece of furniture). So, you’ve got to figure out how tall, wide, and deep the piece will be, how thick the parts should be, what type of joinery works best and where to locate it. Using dovetails? Then you need to determine the layout, too. There is a seemingly endless number of questions that require precise and detailed answers. It’s overwhelming.

Design Begins with Limitations

Yes, a design should be completely resolved before you begin building, but does that mean you must know exactly how you’ll lay out the dovetails before you begin milling the rough lumber? Is it ok to put off some things until you get to them during the build? The best I can answer these questions is vaguely, because it depends on how experienced you are. Today, I’ll explain how much detail (in terms of dimensions, joinery location and layout, etc) I work out before I enter the shop to start a new project, and provide the drawings I made for the box that I’ll be making to share with you here.

Let's Make a Box