Wood Magazine

Woodsmith

Workbench

Spoon-Fed URL's for the Impatient Woodworking Surfers

• A great source for plan URLs: http://nespal.cpes.peachnet.edu/scripts/redirect.dll?target=%2FWoodScripts%2FPlans.idc

• Another great source for plan URLs: http://theoak.com/woodlink.html
  - at "The Oak Factory" web site.

• Fine Furniture Plans for the Home Craftsperson http://www.dalcraft.com/

• Plans for sale to benefit Amanda's trust fund Woodworker's Services

• Woodware Designs http://www.charm.net/~jriley/compfurn.html
  - We have 15 different low-stress designs for computer furniture at shareware prices.
  - We have a few freebies too.

• Cap't Zoom's Mission Furniture Plans http://www.hipponet.com/~hippo1/images/mission/mission.htm
  - Some FREE plans.

• The CAD Wood Shop http://www.login.net/craig/craig's.htm
  - Plans toys and furnature can be ordered for $3-$25 each.

• FRIENDS AT HEART http://www.gfw.k12.mn.us/~paulmf/index.htm
  - Plans toys and furnature can be ordered for $3-$25 each.

• Super Scooper http://www.mech.utah.edu/~dlinford/super/superscooper.html
  - Plans for Sandpile Backhoe available for a fee.

• Black & Decker http://www.blackanddecker.com
  - Reported to have a few plans.

• The Weekend Workshop Inc. http://www.the-weekend-workshop.com
  - Rather large supply of plans for reasonable prices.

• 1-Off Wood Designs http://1-offwooddesigns.tierranet.com
  - Several plans for reasonable prices.

• Gold Country Woodworks http://www.gcwoodworks.com
  - An Amazing collection of Full Scale Woodworking Plans for sale & some freebies.

• Sears - Craftsman http://www.sears.com/craftsman/shoptalk/projects.htm
  - A few free plans.

• American Scrollsawing http://www.scrollsaw.com
  - Patterns, plans and resources for scrollsawyers and woodcrafters

• Strictly Swings http://strictlyswings.hypermart.net/index.html
  - WOODEN SWING AND GLIDER DESIGNS - Measured drawings for you to build

• Poole's Plans http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/sbpoole/index.html
  - A List Of Poole's Woodworking Plans

• "Woodbooks" plan slinging web site http://www.discount-books.com/plans.htm
  - Submitted by Russ Allen

• Lake Superior http://www1.minn.net/~mozart
  - Fine Quality Woodworking Plans

• Couts-Gould Designs http://www.2xtreme.net/jcouts
  - free Woodworking Plans

• Just Plans http://www.justplans.com
  - For pros & hobbyists who just want plans,

• L&R; Designs http://www.choosefreedom.com/doityourself.html
  - Woodworking Plans For Sale

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• New Yankee Workshop Norm Abrams plans available via US mail.
  Address: Norm Abrams, New Yankee Workshop, PO Box 9345, South Burlington 05407-9345.

For those with enough brains to think:

The Bad News

The Good News

Woodworking Magazines

There are many monthly and bimonthly woodworking magazines that all have at least several sets of plans in each issue. I personally subscribe to Wood, American Woodworker, Woodsmith and Shop Notes. You don't event have to subscribe to magazines to take advantage of these plans. I often buy other woodworking magazines off the newsstand when I see plans for a project that I like. Bookstores and newsstands that carry a lot of woodworking magazines are a great place to shop for plans out of magazines.

Another good place for finding woodworking magazine plans is a library. Several of the city public libraries in my area have subscriptions to woodworking magazines. I have used the Periodical Guide to Literature to find plans for a particular type of project that I wanted to build. Sometimes this requires calling around to several libraries in the area to find one that caries the magazines I'm looking for. Don't forget about collage or university libraries in your area, they often have a vary large collection of periodicals.

Networking with friends can also be a good way to get a hold of magazine plans. Between several woodworking friends any myself, we have quite a good selection of woodworking magazine subscriptions and we all keep all of the back issues. Although I've never been part of a woodworking club, I assume this would be a great way to make more woodworking friends if there is a club in your area.

If you find out about a particular plan in a magazine that you want, you can often buy a back issue or a reprint of plans from the publisher. Some publishers have web sites and may offer project plan indexes or an email contact that may be able to help locate plans.

Here are some links to woodworking magazine's home pages:

• Wood Magazine: http://www.woodmagazine.com/
• Woodworker's Journal: http://www.woodwkrsjrnl.com
• Woodsmith & ShopNotes Magazines: http://www.augusthome.com/
• Today's Woodworker: http://todayswoodworker.com
• The Earl of Wood: http://wildrose.net/earl/EARL.HTM

Woodworking Books

There are tons of good books with woodworking project plans. A few years ago, the only bookstores in my are were B.Dalton and a few independents. None of them carried much of a selection of woodworking books. Now we have a Media Play and Barnes & Noble, both have great woodworking sections. If there aren't any bookstores in your area with a good selection of woodworking books, try and find a Media Play or Barnes & Noble or other super-bookstore next time you travel to bigger/different city.

You can order books on the Web. With the price of books today, I can't recommend buying sight unseen, but if you know of a book that you want to buy, you might try the Amazon.com Books web site. I found 213 books when I did a subject search on "woodworking".

There are often books with a bunch of plans in a single style or theme. For example, Norm Abrams has a whole book of shaker style furniture. I have books with dozens of plans for toys. I've seen book with many plans for beds or chairs or tables. There are even books full of plans from woodworking magazines along a particular theme. I've seen these from both the publishers of Wood and Fine Woodworking, there may be others. Most of the plans that I see in books are pretty good, but I have thumbed through a few books that had a title like 101 Weekend Woodworking Plans that obviously had traded off quality for quantity. Take your time to make sure the book has the quality and type of plans your looking for.

Woodworking Stores

Some woodworking stores have indexes of plans that you can look through or files of plans for sale. Some carry a good selection of woodworking magazines and possibly some back issues. If you are looking for a particular plan, ask the owner or manager of the store. I'm sure they would be happy to help you find a plan, maybe even one that requires a tool they carry that you don't have.

Plans Available on the Web

Unfortunately there are not very many plans available on the web. It would be cool if there were hundreds of set of plans available as postscript files or WordPerfect files, but it seems most authors of plans are trying to make a living at it and don't want to give them away for free. Here are the links I have been able to find. Web Sites with Woodworking Plans

• A great source for plan URLs: http://nespal.cpes.peachnet.edu/scripts/redirect.dll?target=%2FWoodScripts%2FPlans.idc
• Fine Furniture Plans for the Home Craftsperson http://www.dalcraft.com/
• Woodware Designshttp://www.charm.net/~jriley/compfurn.html - We have 15 different low-stress designs for computer furniture at shareware prices. We have a few freebies too.
• Cap't Zoom's Mission Furniture Plans http://www.hipponet.com/~hippo1/images/mission/mission.htm - Some FREE plans.
• The CAD Wood Shop http://www.login.net/craig/craig's.htm - Plans toys and furnature can be ordered for $3-$25 each.
• FRIENDS AT HEART http://www.gfw.k12.mn.us/~paulmf/index.htm - Plans toys and furnature can be ordered for $3-$25 each.
• Super Scooper http://www.mech.utah.edu/~dlinford/super/superscooper.html - Plans for Sandpile Backhoe available for a fee.
• The Weekend Workshop Inc. http://www.the-weekend-workshop.com
  - Rather large supply of plans for reasonable prices.
  
• The Weekend Workshop Inc. http://www.the-weekend-workshop.com
  - Rather large supply of plans for reasonable prices.