Replies

1. 
   saschafer | May 24, 2008 07:22pm | #1

   How about making a simple box? You can buy some easy-to-plane lumber (e.g., cherry or maple), and build a nice little box with dovetailed corners. No plans required.

   -Steve

    

2. 
   BG | May 24, 2008 07:54pm | #2

   Zappa,
   With a good workbench, hand tools and bandsaw you can do lot of things to hurt wood. Personally I seek out spaces in my house that will tolerate additional clutter, in the form of a wood project Once I discover that opportunity I seek out a design.

   Smallish stand alone cabinets seem to get the most comments. I made one for the space between the bedroom and bathroom door(they are perpendicular to each other)and measures about 24" tall, 15widex12deep. Its got a nice drawer and a two door cabinet underneath.

   I'm mentioning this because its small enough to build with scraps. In my case I used donnage (old 4by4's). I resawed on the bandsaw all the panels, legs, etc. and worked with planes and chisels. There is not a lot of good grain in donnage so sometimes I need to buy some wood but not a lot of good grain is necessary on a small project like this. This piece looked so good I built a shaker clock to hand on the wall over it (also a nice project conducive to your aimes)

3. 
   SawdustSteve | May 25, 2008 05:33am | #3

   Start small.... How about a nice 'foot stool (9 x 14 top, 8 - 9" high) with through motrice & tennons to attach the legs to the body? Quick, easy and if you goof, it won't use up a lot of wood.
   SawdustSteve

4. 
   Napie | May 26, 2008 08:51am | #4

   Hand tool only plans???  Just pick any small project, the plan and the tools have little relation to one another.  Or better yet, learn to four square a board with that new plane and go from there.

1. 
   AdamCherubini | May 26, 2008 06:19pm | #5

   the plan and the tools have little relation to one another. That's not exactly true and I'll bet if i push you, you'll agree. For Zappa,Take Napie's comments in the spirit they were meant. You can take any plans to a point. But hand tools do have limitations and certain areas of inefficiency. Butt joints or butt rabbet joints can be tricky. Especially those that are screwed together. Projects involving sheet goods are tricky. I'm thinking you don't really have all the tools you need and may lack the skills to complete a project satisfactorily. This is not a criticism. Of course, the other point of view is to just go for it and you'll figure it out. My advice is to consider carefully what specific operations you have to do. Sawing lumber is job one. You'll need good hand saws for that. If you don't buy new expensive saws, you'll need to learn to sharpen them. Straightening and squaring stock is next. Joinery is last. I think you should start with some good books. I was recently teaching my 8 yr old son. We built a simple nailed together box. It seems like a project like that is so simple why would anyone bother. But a simple nailed box includes a ton of basic hand tool skills from sawing to planing to the use of marking gauges. Even swinging a hammer. I think a lot of folks just assume that because we're male, we can use a hammer effectively. Nailing together a small box (made up of thin components) actually takes a fair amount of skill. Boxes like these can be used to hold scrap wood, stickers, hardware, tools etc. So I think you should make some really crude stuff for your shop before you even think about building any furniture or any thing you need plans for.AdamP.S. The box was a fun project. We found some pine scrap, cut two pieces for the ends, then resawed the remainder of the board for the sides and bottom. To add a bit of complexity, you could make up the bottom out of multiple pieces, hide glued together.

   Edited 5/26/2008 12:04 pm ET by AdamCherubini