Frequently Asked Questions From Traditional Woodworking


 

!Q: How long have you been selling plans?

A: We started selling plans in the 1980's in several builder's suppy stores. In 1998 we built our first plans web site On.Site Designs and still use it today with our Traditional Woodworking Plans.

Q: Are all your plans drwn in CAD?

A: Yes, all our plans are drawn in CAD and drawn in 2D. When we first started selling plans they were drawn by hand on a drafting table.  Now that our plans are drawn in CAD we can change the dimensions for our customers where we couldn't after they were drawn on a drafting table and then printed.
Designing and or measuring an antique and then drawing the piece can be very time consuming. On some of our larger more complex plans it took as long as 40 hours to draw them and make the material cut-list.

Q: Do your plans have detailed build instructions?

A: Some of our older plans have instructions. Our plans are highly detailed dimentional drawings for mortise and tenon and glue pin joinery depending on your level or preferred method of woodworking. We have many Beginner's that have built some of our more complex pieces of furniture. If you can read drawings then you will have no problem with our plans.

Q: Where do you get your designs?

A: Some are measured antiques, some our designs and some our customers have given us.

Q: Why do you have more Chippendale than other styles?

A: That just sorta happened to us over the years. You can find anything Shaker, Mission and other styles all over the internet but not a great amount of measured drawings of antiques in the Chippendale style. We very seldom get a call for anything other than the Chippendale style so we put our energies where our designs are most wanted by our woodworking customers.

Q: Do you mail your plans to foreign countries?

A: Yes, we have plans customers all over the world. We also offer to our foreign customers a PDF download of our plans because of the high price of mailing internationally. See our International Plans Customer's Page on our web site for more details.

Q: Are you Woodworkers or Designers?

A: We're a family business established in 1946 as prefessional woodworkers and professional designers.
Designing and selling plans is fun for us and we do not make our living selling plans. At least 90% of all plans monies are donated to Baby Orphanages in several countries.

Q: Why does it take you 7 to 10 days to mail some of your plans once ordered?

A: We do not keep a stock of our plans printed and ready to mail. Once we receive an order for a set of plans we send the plans from a computer to Batch Plot on our large format printers. On some of our more complex and detailed drawings it can take up to an hour or longer to print them. There may be a lot of plans ahead of your order and we may be printing a set of designs for our workshop. After your plans are printed they have to be proofed and matched with the material and cut-list.
Our plans are not folded and mailed in an envelope, they're rolled and mailed in a mailing tube.
You'll receive fresh printed plans wih no folded creases in them