FREE Woodworking plans/projects to download

[CharlieH]

If like me, you enjoy pottering in the workshop and making thngs with wood, here are some FREE downloadable pdf's of many different things for woodworking. 

 

Hope you find this of use. I certainly did, and whats not good about FREE ????

 

https://woodworking.royfoley.com/download-bench

[Crossy]

These plans are great as an "ideas box". 

 

I probably wouldn't build directly as described, match to local materials and whatever is "in stock" and "pine" may last long enough to finish the job before the bugs ate it.

 

Our pool-deck (above ground pool) started life as a web design built in wood. Ended up in steel and conwood, but the idea came from the timber version. And it's loved by us oldies as it's easier to go in and out.

 

Now, if only I could remember what these "inch" things are ????

 

[Kwasaki]

Yeah inch from American these days still I believe, Thai use CM, having use metric calculations drawing up roof & building projects we always used mm's because of tolerancies.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

These plans are great as an "ideas box". 

 

I probably wouldn't build directly as described, match to local materials and whatever is "in stock" and "pine" may last long enough to finish the job before the bugs ate it.

Most of the plans are like that for people whose have done enough. I mostly design and build my own versions now.

 

i was rather amused by the second tool though as I try never to drop saws, it’s probably an idiosyncratic name for a chop saw or mitre saw, but if you don’t know much about the craft it is very confusing, and similar to the apprentice being sent to the stores for a long weight.

 

i would also be rather wary of the 16,000 free plans as that is exactly like a scam that has been around for many years.

[CharlieH]

3 hours ago, Arjen said:

I am looking already quite a long time to make (or buy) bee hives.

 

The idea is to give home to local bees, end get some honey from them. The local bees are quite small, and I know their honey production skills are not that great. But better then nothing.

 

I hoped to find bee hive plans here, but unfortunately, not.

 

Arjen.

Plenty of good things on You tube about this.....

 

 

[Metropolitian]

Great plans.

Only, not easy to find wood the same way as in Europe, for a 'DIY' price.

For metal it is the other way round

 

Some of the plans do looks good, and some of them are plausible doable with iron.

[Metropolitian]

Used to easily buy oak, pine, douglas fir, maple and spruce.
The best I can find here is bamboo or those wood which easily spall like those used for banners outdoor along the streets.

Even the plywood here, once water touch it it chips.

 

This is what it looks like in the stores where I got the wood.

The Thai version is drywall and iron in those racks. ????

 

 

 

 

A picnic table is easy made out of that.

 

 

 

 

[Pogust]

12 hours ago, Arjen said:

I am looking already quite a long time to make (or buy) bee hives.

 

Arjen, if you are going to make hives for apis cerana, the smaller Asian bee you need to make them smaller than Langstroth hives. There is also a different comb distance. Info available on the net, but you might already know this.

 

I'm thinking of the same when I get some time to do it.

[sometimewoodworker]

8 hours ago, Metropolitian said:

Used to easily buy oak, pine, douglas fir, maple and spruce.
The best I can find here is bamboo or those wood which easily spall like those used for banners outdoor along the streets.

Even the plywood here, once water touch it it chips.

 

This is what it looks like in the stores where I got the wood.

The Thai version is drywall and iron in those racks. ????

 

 

 

 

A picnic table is easy made out of that.

 

 

 

 

Humm

you are looking in the wrong places and paying the wrong prices then.

for boards 

 

and mouldings

and really good plywood 

 

don’t forget that wherever you are good plywood costs good money. Plywood can be made to almost any quality/price point, so unless you are paying more than about ฿2,000  for a 2440 mm x 1220 mm 20mm board you are buying really cheap plywood.

 

that size can range from around ฿600 to ฿26,000 for a single sheet, though the more expensive ones will probably be special order and destined for the expensive boat building trade 

[Farmerkev]

15 hours ago, Arjen said:

I am looking already quite a long time to make (or buy) bee hives.

 

The idea is to give home to local bees, end get some honey from them. The local bees are quite small, and I know their honey production skills are not that great. But better then nothing.

 

I hoped to find bee hive plans here, but unfortunately, not.

 

Arjen.

Look in instructables plenty in there, also loads of other projects as well to make

[CharlieH]

11 hours ago, Metropolitian said:

Great plans.

Only, not easy to find wood the same way as in Europe, for a 'DIY' price.

For metal it is the other way round

 

Some of the plans do looks good, and some of them are plausible doable with iron.

Obviously not suitable for all things but I get great use out of "pallets" .Cheap to buy, break down, plane them up and you got reasonable wood for many things.

[Metropolitian]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Humm

you are looking in the wrong places and paying the wrong prices then.

for boards

 

 

These are really good looking, and haven't seen them around here.

I assume this wood was prepared or old timber and will not change shape.

Will wait till the curfew is over and driving far more on the quest.

 

2 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Obviously not suitable for all things but I get great use out of "pallets" .Cheap to buy, break down, plane them up and you got reasonable wood for many things.

Absolutely, with glue and clamps good boards can be made out of that.

Pallets cost around 70thb and not far from here. (From company that sells bricks and iron...:) )

[CharlieH]

Just now, Metropolitian said:

 

Absolutely, with glue and clamps good boards can be made out of that.

Pallets cost around 70thb and not far from here. (From company that sells bricks and iron...:) )

The shop in my area, you can either buy the pallet, or they sell the wood already planed and sized etc in bundles of 10 pc. Great for smaller jobs and playing around in the workshop.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Metropolitian said:

These are really good looking, and haven't seen them around here.

I assume this wood was prepared or old timber and will not change shape.

Will wait till the curfew is over and driving far more on the quest.

I doubt that it’s old timber there are a quiet a few species available as I recall; oak, beach, maple, ash and quiet a few others. I didn’t ask about price but it could be similar to Europe or USA plus so not at all cheap.

 

I have a few beautiful 2440 x 1220 sheets of Thai teak hardwood plywood that while a bit expensive are almost certainly value for money. I haven’t started the project that they will be used in yet so am only going by looks.

 

the area’s for the mouldings are near the PanFar boat stop and along soi 24 in bangpho. The hardwood shop is almost at the beginning the plywood shop is about ¼ of the way down.

Edited April 17, 2020 by sometimewoodworker

[sometimewoodworker]

44 minutes ago, Arjen said:

About Plywood,

 

I worked for a company and we made machines to calibrate plywood, and particle wood, after gluing them. Usual customers needed a tolerance from 0,05 (and yes, I only use metrical, so no units needed!!)

 

The sanding, and calibtating process happened with a feed speed from 20m/s (around 70km/h) Measuring is done pneumatical, Mostly on 40 lines over the width, every mm.

 

When I buy here plywood, and I measure they are usual at least 0,5 under the nominal size. When I complain they tell me, it is difficult to produce wood so accurate, this is a standard deviation.....

 

I also know, direct after calibrating, you can have good results.  (And our machines only had to calibate) I also know that after calibrating, and let the panels rest for one hour they where out of spec. But usual within 0,1

 

Special when you calibrate solid wood, (floorings!!!) One year after calbrating, you can find differences of 1mm, wood cut from the same tree, but from different places. 

 

So I understand why really good plywood is so expansive. Usual the layers are around 1,5mm thickness. The middle layers are only for the strength, so damages are not that important. The outer layers are very important.  It is them what you see when you buy your sheet.

 

Yes, and then, still many things can go wrong.... Once, one of our customers had a reject from several shiploads plywood.

So all plywood went through the process, was packed, loaded and shipped.

It turned out the plywood was very low quality. They use two componet glue to glue the sheets together. They never added the hardener.... So the glue was no glue, but only a sirup.......

 

Arjen.

Just a few points about the Teak plywood I have

One sheet that I can easily measure is actually 21.5 and the surface veneer is an amazing 1.5 not the usual 20 microns and they are sliced not rotary cut. It is also quite probable that it’s substrate layers are also hardwood conceivably even teak, although even though it was expensive I don’t think it was expensive enough for that.

 

I have 2 other cheap sheets 1 is 20.0 the other is 19.0 they cost about ¼ of the price.

[Metropolitian]

4 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

I have a few beautiful 2440 x 1220 sheets of Thai teak hardwood plywood that while a bit expensive are almost certainly value for money. I haven’t started the project that they will be used in yet so am only going by looks.

 

the area’s for the mouldings are near the PanFar boat stop and along soi 24 in bangpho. The hardwood shop is almost at the beginning the plywood shop is about ¼ of the way down.

thanks for giving out the location ????  will look when everything has turned a bit to normal.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

18 minutes ago, Metropolitian said:

thanks for giving out the location ????  will look when everything has turned a bit to normal.

 

The hardwood shop is probably just about opposite the hardwood cafe, it is this one.

 

Sor Samakee is the plywood shop I used they had the really good stuff on the first floor almost straight ahead of you if they let you go up in the lift.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by sometimewoodworker

[canopy]

Panels are a weak area in Thailand. This is what I have learned about panels sold locally.

 

Plywood. Comparing notes with others I categorize plywood as completely unsuitable in Thailand and would never use it for anything. Bugs love it like candy. Some claim that in theory if the plywood is hidden or inside it's fine to use and the glues make it unattractive to bugs anyway. Don't fall for this because in practice it's not true. Nothing scares me more than the powder post beetles. They fly to where they need to go and once they find it it's game over.

 

MDF. Can stretch and mold badly in the wet season even when indoors in a well ventilated area. Worst of all is if it gets real wet just one time it falls apart and is ruined. May as well build with cardboard.

 

Finger jointed rubber or pine panels: Susceptible to mold, bugs, and very dimensionally unstable season to season. If you lift a few panels at the hardware store you can often see bug trails already eating them before they are even delivered.

 

Cement board. Very long lasting material if you are ok with the look. Does not mold, is fireproof, and bugs do not eat it. Much heavier and more difficult to cut, drill and work with than others. Does not have good tensile strength so cannot be used as a direct replacement in some applications. Cement board is brittle and needs lots of supports.

 

Here is what the mold is like in the rainy season after I buy one of these panels and let is stay completely in a shaded, well ventilated area:

 

 

Teak heartwood does not mold. Teak sapwood will mold only if it gets wet unlike the above panels that mold when keeping them dry all the time. Adding a finish can protect any panel from mold but it can be tricky to get the moisture out of the wood before finishing without mold forming first.

 

What I ended up doing is gluing teak boards fitted together with splines using Franklin Titebond III to make panels of needed size. It's time consuming but I haven't found anything else that I can trust to hold up to the rigors of Thailand. I can make 20mm thick panels for 1000 baht/sqm which isn't terribly more expensive than buying the above prefabricated type panels.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

22 minutes ago, canopy said:

Here is what the mold is like in the rainy season after I buy one of these panels and let is stay completely in a shaded, well ventilated area:

Our experiences are different. None of my sheet goods, some of which I have had for years shows any mould at all.

 

for MDF the panels are also in perfect condition and can make OK items though the structural problems restrict its use, it’s OK for cabinet doors. 

[canopy]

Mold is always the worst the first year. I've even seen cases of bamboo indoor furniture molding badly the first year or two after it is cut. Once the moisture is completely gone from inside any of these materials (and given you prevent water contact) they no longer mold. This takes a good year or so. Thai's are pretty bad about drying these things. Woods aren't kiln dried and panels are stacked tightly together so the moisture can't escape. Whether and how much mold you see is a function of how much moisture is in the material, what the climate is like (wet season is worst), how protected it is from additional moisture, and ventilation. Mold loves damp things.

 

[bbudd]

If your serious about bee keeping the check the plans for-"plans for topbar hive"

Just google it

Its another option-easy to construct-great for a variety if bees due to no pre-set foundation

I added a landstrop size box to one end to easily introduce bees from a standard frame size comb down from the top bars

[DPKANKAN]

On 4/16/2020 at 3:03 PM, Kwasaki said:

Yeah inch from American these days still I believe, Thai use CM, having use metric calculations drawing up roof & building projects we always used mm's because of tolerancies.

Yeah. I just done 2 house designs for my mates. Had to change them!! Also granite work top and shelves for my kitchen to be made. Had to overwrite those at the shop as already printed!!5555????????????????

[Metropolitian]

Is this why in America everything is bigger?

Did they used the plans from Europe or the East and measured everything with their inch rollers? ????

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, Arjen said:

  On 4/16/2020 at 3:03 PM, Kwasaki said:

Yeah inch from American these days still I believe, Thai use CM, having use metric calculations drawing up roof & building projects we always used mm's because of tolerancies.

 

 

@KwasakiTolerances makes now difference, as in both system you must put the tolerances on the drawing.

But just doing calculations in metric system is so much easier, because all units are connected to each other. Weight, power, pressure, name them. And conversion to other standards (like electricity) is very easy.

 

Once I made a drawing for a local shop to have something made. Sizen in MM, what also was stated on the drawing. The person who was supposed to make the thing looked at the drawing. Turned it around many times. Got his calculater and did many complicated calculations. Finallyhe came back to me, "can you please convert the measurement to cm?" Yes, I could. He made a perfect product. And to be sure, there is no difference in tolerance when you give measurements in Micron (I do not have the symbol here), mm, cm, m or even Km. Theoritical you can give sizes even in lightyears, with exact the same tolerance.

 

Arjen.

Yeah OK but I'm talking about drawing up a building project in UK.

Not quite sure where your coming from, tolerances would be site checked before certain jobs were undertaken.

[Metropolitian]

34 minutes ago, Arjen said:

That is the point.

When using a standard unit, (and I prefer metrical) it does not matter where you are from. There is only one country in the world what uses imperial. 

 

And they are way behind. There is a huge difference in where Fahrenheit scale origins from and where Celsius scale originate from. Same as the definition from an Inch and a mm. 

 

Arjen. 

Only one country? I doubt that.

 

The inch is a commonly used customary unit of length in the United States,Canada, and the United Kingdom.

It is also used in Japan for electronic parts, especially display screens. In most of continental Europe, the inch is also used informally as a measure for display screens. _{source wiki}

 

I in my personal life I am using both, whatever it is the easiest to remember when measuring.

Also when I draw tables on paper, I decide which unit to use depending on the scale.

If I want to draw eight squares on A4 (yeah not letter ???? ) I tent to use inch and each square 1 inch wide. If I need 10 squares I use cm and each square would then be two cm wide.

 

And I am not from the Americas.

 

In 2020, the U.S. NIST announced that the survey foot would be deprecated from 2022, and by implication, the survey inch with it.

[sometimewoodworker]

7 hours ago, Metropolitian said:

The inch is a commonly used customary unit of length in the United States,Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The only imperial units in general use in the United Kingdom are distance and speed for road vehicles the inch and most other imperial measurements was phased out over a period starting in 1965

The only 3 countries officially using the metric system are Liberia, Myanmar and of course… the United States of America.

[Fruit Trader]

9 hours ago, Metropolitian said:

The inch is a commonly used customary unit of length in the United States,Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Guess old habits die hard. Not so long back I recall people in the UK frequently using imperial measurements even though products are sold using the metric system by law. The exception is beer I believe which is ordered by the pint.

 

The US failed to adopt the metric system because at some point in the 17th century a French guy failed to deliver the measurement standards. His ship blew off course and eventually got chopped up by the Brits.

[Crossy]

3 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The only 3 countries officially using the metric system are Liberia, Myanmar and of course… the United States of America.

 

Did a "not" drop out somewhere?

 

Being of a certain age I'm fine with inches, ergs, mhos, BTUs and other non SI units, I just don't use them much.

 

Actually, when I'm measuring something if the length is nearer a whole inch than a whole cm I note the inches.

[Fruit Trader]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

Actually, when I'm measuring something if the length is nearer a whole inch than a whole cm I note the inches.

Its best to work only in millimeters rather than break down into meters and centimeters. It also reduces ambiguity when passing on measurements.

[Crossy]

3 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Its best to work only in millimeters rather than break down into meters and centimeters. It also reduces ambiguity when passing on measurements.

 

My tapes are all marked in cm (and inches) so it's logical to tell the man 107.5cm. We rarely go any more accurate than 5mm anyway.

 

It works for us, but I know exactly where you are coming from.