# free woodworking plans



## hankh (Jun 25, 2013)

Is anyone familiar with this site: Free Woodworking Plans
Mikes Woodworking Projects ? Mikes Woodworking Projects
150 Free & Highly Detailed Plans. Free & Instant Download Now.
You need to register, for free, to get the plans. Since I've long since learned that there are no free lunches, I am leery about registering on a site I don't know. One the other hand, our old time ideas of privacy, are just that on the net - old-time and out of date. But still . . .


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

I don't know about that site, but steer clear of anything mentioning Ted and his thousands of free woodworking plans ---scam, scam, scam.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

too big of a gamble for me...


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## herrwood (Apr 19, 2014)

As the internet grows so does the scammers and spammers . There are still some good sites that give away good plans but plenty more that just want you email or other personal information. 

That are some good sites one is steve goods scroll saw patterns link below 
Scroll Saw Workshop Catalog


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

herrwood said:


> As the internet grows so does the scammers and spammers . There are still some good sites that give away good plans but plenty more that just want you email or other personal information.
> 
> That are some good sites one is steve goods scroll saw patterns link below
> Scroll Saw Workshop Catalog


I agree Ed.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Hank most of those are scams so beware. If they don't ask you to register then it's more likely to be legit and there are free ones out there. I bought a book on H. H. Windsor's furniture plans that had been published in Popular Mechanics shortly after 1900. Not long after I found the same thing on line for free. I'm guessing the copyrights ran out decades ago. Truthfully, if you see a picture of something you like, you should be able to reproduce it within reason (I have no hopes to ever be able to reproduce a Roentgen piece because I lack the skills). The Windsor furniture was meant to be produced by novice woodworkers with moderate skills from lumber available at the local lumberyard so the basic design may not be something you want to build but they can be a great source of inspiration. Gene Howe recently built a chair in that design but his had curved arms, something you would never see on an original.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I agree on the scam artists. I prefer to look for pictures of things I want to make then look for drawings and schematics for that kind of piece. But after awhile, you'll be able to figure out how to do things. There are ultimately a finite number of ways to do a particular project.


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## herrwood (Apr 19, 2014)

The shopsmith site has some plans
Other Shopsmith Sites


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## lowracer (May 22, 2015)

I think I have filled in my spam account details for a mike's site, which gave me a link to the 150 plans, and subsequently tried to sell me the 14000 plans for Ted's woodworking.

An easy way to pick up crappy sites I found was to search on the site 3 or 4 times for the same terms, and get back different results each time. I was looking for "wing back chair". and was expecting 5 results max. but when you get responses on the same search terms of 34, 67 and 98 respectively, (or something like that) - you realize its a randomised result "count"

soon the scammers from teds will most likely start a payload for ransomware - which pays better than a ted's plan subscription


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

We've had a few scammers post on this forum offering a prize for best woodworking plan. They of course sell those plans that are submitted on sites similar to those mentioned or maybe even the same sites. Whether anyone collects the prize I don`t know. We (the Mods) give them the boot when we see them.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Like my dad told me , if something seems to good to be true , it probably is


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

If you really want to check it out, get an extra, disposable email address especially for signing up for things like that. If you get too much spam, scrap the address.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

DesertRatTom said:


> I prefer to look for pictures of things I want to make then look for drawings and schematics for that kind of piece.


I prefer images also, I've probably got several thousand, at least, saved right now, for various projects I am planning. For my pig bank design alone, I probably had well over 100 saved, and it's a pretty simple design. Discarded them after I came up with my final design. On the other hand, for my monster truck bank design, I don't think I had more than a dozen images or so saved, and it is a considerably more complex design than the pig. 

I do look up plans on occasion. However, I don't think I have actually followed any, of the small amount I have used. I prefer to just get ideas of how something is done, if I don't know just how it is done, and then go from there. I just don't like working from someone else's plans.

Remember, google is our friend.


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## hankh (Jun 25, 2013)

Thanks all. You confirmed my suspicions. And I like the advice to find pictures and work from them. A little above my skill level, but I think doing so will bring me up to the next step of skills and self-confidence.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

hankh said:


> Thanks all. You confirmed my suspicions. And I like the advice to find pictures and work from them. A little above my skill level, but I think doing so will bring me up to the next step of skills and self-confidence.


Hank, my wife said I want one of these in our kitchen. See sample pic below.

It took me all day to build it, and lots of measuring and head scratching, but I got 'er done. She's happy, so I'm happy! :grin:


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

excellent Mike...


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## hankh (Jun 25, 2013)

MT Stringer said:


> Hank, my wife said I want one of these in our kitchen. See sample pic below.
> 
> It took me all day to build it, and lots of measuring and head scratching, but I got 'er done. She's happy, so I'm happy! :grin:


The "copy" so far exceeds the "original"! Really nice.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

hankh said:


> The "copy" so far exceeds the "original"! Really nice.


Thank you.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Excellent work. Definitely one to consider as we're rolling through a kitchen upgrade.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I take a picture and guess at one dim. and use that to scale the rest of the piece. It might be the height,width,length, just need one and then the others just fall into place. Some times the dimensions of the piece is given then it is easy to use those to figure out the rest.
Herb


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## Biagio (Mar 2, 2013)

Warning! Allanmc’s link goes to Ted. Is Allanmc legit, or has he been hacked?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Not legit - gone!

David


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Biagio said:


> Warning! Allanmc’s link goes to Ted. Is Allanmc legit, or has he been hacked?


Don 't know about link, but a LOT of links go to Ted. And as far as I know any plans Ted has can be found free on the web. 

This thread popping up again reminded me of some years back I found a guy selling plans for a knock-down picnic table. Only thing wrong was, that plan is copyrighted by the Boy Scouts, and available free. Told him that, the plans vanished the next day.


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## PhilBa (Sep 25, 2014)

Many years ago when I first started looking at internet plans, I actually looked at what "ted" had available. They were almost all terrible plans. Poorly thought out, poorly described and used terrible techniques (like nailed butt joints). In fact, the vast majority of plans you can find on the internet are like that. Woe be to the beginning woodworker that gets sucked into the "ted" realm.

Not only is there no free lunch but it tastes terrible and makes you sick!


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## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

herrwood said:


> As the internet grows so does the scammers and spammers . There are still some good sites that give away good plans but plenty more that just want you email or other personal information.
> 
> That are some good sites one is steve goods scroll saw patterns link below
> Scroll Saw Workshop Catalog


A scroll saw is a real skill. My hands are not steady enough to work a scroll saw. Too jittery. Maybe from decades of caffeine?!? :grin:

These patterns are interesting though, because all of them can easily be transferred to a CNC router. Thanks for pointing me to them. I did not know they exist!

Joe


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