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A Claw & Ball Foot in SketchUp
David Heim, the editor of my eBook on SketchUp, has recently sent me a method of making the claw and ball feet so typical of 18th Century furniture. His method was much easier that I had envisioned...
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Modeling a Windsor Chair - Part 1
For next semester's class at Mount Diablo Adult Education Center, I'm developing a model and accompanying design documents for a Braced Comb-Back Side Chair. I like to replicate actual 18th C...
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Williamsburg's Queen Anne Leg
As mentioned in my last blog entry, I attended this year's Williamsburg conference "Working Wood in the 18th Century". The theme of the conference was Asian and Oriental influence on 18th Century...
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The Curule Construction - and Ancient X-frame Chair Design
4 commentsWhile developing the Jefferson Campeche Chair (first in SketchUp, then in the shop), I ran across an interesting 20-page document titled, "The Campeche Chair in The Metropolitan Museum of Art". This...
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Maloof and Templates by SketchUp
4 commentsI believe it is a record for me - that is, the number of templates used in one piece of furniture. Without them I would be lost...
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Seat Frame for a Maloof Occasional Chair
2 commentsSome of my students and I are reproducing a Maloof Occasional Chair that has a tufted leather seat. I don't have information on Sam's design, and particularly whether he used a solid or a...
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Placing a Leather Sling on the Campeche Chair
3 commentsI'm progressing with the construction of the Campeche Chair. All of the components are dry-fitted, so glue-up, shaping, finishing, and finally leather fastening are yet to do. I found a large piece...
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The Campeche Chair Upholstery Rail
2 commentsIt was early in 2010 that I first reported on the Campeche Chair shown in the Williamsburg conference "Working Wood in the 18th Century". I modeled-up the chair but never completed the design...
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Sculpturing a Windsor Seat with Plug-in
For years I've struggled with shaping (in SketchUp) the seat on a Windsor, or for that matter a Maloof, chair. I continue to look for easier ways than my brute force method using shaped "cutters" along with...
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A Maloof Chair Animation
3 commentsI must confess not having made a SketchUp animation. So using the Maloof lowback chair, I created a series of scenes in my SketchUp file. The scenes were in a sequence of construction steps in the...
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Thomas Jefferson's Campeche Chair
22 commentsThis past week I attended the "Working Wood in the 18th Century" conference in Williamsburg, VA, as I have done for the past five years. Each year the conference has a special theme, and this year it...
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Would You Like a Front, Side, and Top View?
2 commentsIt seems a paradox, while producing a complete detailed 3D model, there still is a benefit to having the old standby top, end, and front orthographic view. In the beginning with SketchUp, I abandoned...
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Replicating a Maloof Design from Pictures
4 commentsOften I'm faced with replicating an existing piece of furniture, but without detailed information or access to the original piece. In fact, the only information available, may be a couple pictures...
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A Listing of Windsor Chair Entries
1 commentA reader remembered reading specific blog posts on Windsor Chairs, but was unable to locate them in Design. Click. Build. I can understand the difficulty of retrieving and locating specific...
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Making a Windsor Settee Arm/Crest Rail
3 commentsI'm continuing my repertoire of Windsor chairs by adding a two-seat, low-back Settee. This one from Connecticut, circa 1820. As usual I start with the design in SketchUp and found a unique situation...
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My Strategy with SketchUp
4 commentsThere are a number of ways SketchUp is used in woodworking including:1. The development of a conceptual design2. Creating views and images for client review3. Working out a complex joint4. Estimating...
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Dilemma with Maloof Rocker Arm
2 commentsI was not satisfied with my first attempt at the Maloof Rocker Arm as shown in last week's blog entry. So I re-read the FWW # 42 article, "How to Make a Rocker". Each time I read Maloof's text, I...
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Maloof Rocker - Roughing into SketchUp
29 commentsReaders who know me will recognize my shift into contemporary with this blog entry. I admit being stuck in the 18th C with my furniture interests, but this excursion was too tempting. Some of my...
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Bending a Continuous Bow
2 commentsWhile struggling to steam bend fresh ash lumber in the shop, I'm also striving for better and easier methods of bending on the computer in SketchUp. For "real" bends, I'm learning to appreciate key...
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More on Mirroring with Flip Along
2 commentsLast week I showed how to mirror table legs using the Flip Along feature of SketchUp. As pointed out in comments to the post, there are conditions which will affect the results of Flip Along. In my...
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About Design. Click. Build.
Learn the art and science of designing furniture in SketchUp with Fine Woodworking's official blog. Moderated by a devoted community of woodworkers, we feature step-by-step SketchUp tutorials on designing components, downloads of pre-built 3D models of furniture parts, and news and information about the evolving world of digital furniture design.
Basic SketchUp Tutorials
Learn the basics of building furniture in SketchUp with these classic posts from the Design. Click. Build. blog.
Creating a Project Plan in SketchUp
How I Draw in SketchUp
Axes in SketchUp
The SketchUp Move Tool
The SketchUp Rotate Tool
The SketchUp Scale Tool
Materials, Colors, and Textures
Applying Wood Grain Skins in SketchUp
Easy Dovetail Joints in SketchUp
Digital Project Plans
Download and modify SketchUp files for select projects from Fine Woodworking. View all. Top Sellers: Matt's Monster Workbench New England Pine Cupboard Garden BenchMeet the Authors
DaveRichardsI am a Biomedical Equipment Technician. I maintain anesthesia and respiratory equipment for the largest medical facility in southeast Minnesota. I...
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Tim KillenI am retired from Bechtel Corporation after 36 years in Engineering and IT management. I grew up among woodworking machinery in...
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