If you want to get ahead in carpentry then you should use joinery plans.

Would you hate most smacking your thumb with a hammer or having to give up on a joinery project because you got the design or measurements wrong? In fact scratch that, having an unfinished project is probably the worst thing ever!

That is why I only start a job now with well drawn plans to work with.

Some key reasons why you would need plans 

1) Save time – Obvious but true. With quality joinery plans you will save a huge amount of time. Well written they will break the job down into logical stages so you do the job right first time. You can actually create your own but my personal recommendation is that you use tried and tested joinery plans, preferably drawn up by a professional joiner.

2) Reduce Your Costs – For me a key reason that I got into joinery was to save money. I am passionate about the art of woodworking, love the smell of wood and all that. But bottom line I want to be able to make furniture for my home instead of buying it and save money in the process. Well thought out joinery blueprints will achieve this exactly. With the right joinery plans you will buy materials more efficiently and reduce wastage. In my experience plans for domestic items such as shelves, furniture and so are made with economy in mind as well. On average I probably reduce overall production costs by an additional 20%. This of course is on top of the savings I enjoy by manufacturing items myself compared to paying retail prices.

3) Creative Ideas – Good plans will inspire you and give you great ideas. Actually this is a real joy for me. I have a library of 14000 joinery plans which I refer to, this gives me lots of flexibility and means that if I want to build a particular item I can view lots of different design ideas and choose on a whim exactly what I fancy building. For example I recently built a dressing table for my daughter bedroom. This included 4 drawers that required tenon joints, which was the first time I attempted these. Using the plans I had made doing these a whole lot easier.

I hope this article has inspired you to rethink your approach to joinery. It is such a rewarding pastime so by investing in joinery plans you should expect to improve your overall experience and of course enjoy the items you craft with your hands.