Free Stickley Book Rack Plan-Format Experiment

Posted on by October 7, 2014

I’ve been selling plans online for 10 years through craftsmanplans.com, large format printed plans. They’re nicely done, but if you’ve never made any furniture or worked with measured drawings, they can be intimidating.

Over the years, there have been requests for plans that contain detailed, step-by-step instructions. Never one to rush into anything, it has taken me a while to get around to experimenting with formats for that type of plan. Here is my first attempt, and I’m offering it as a free download in Adobe PDF format. I’m hoping to get feedback to see what people think.

The file is 9 pages of illustrated instructions, one page with a measured drawing, and two pages that are full-sized templates. 12 pages in total, and the file is 1.33 MB

Click this link to download GST74BKRK

Take a look, tell a friend and let me know what you think.

Comments

Free Stickley Book Rack Plan-Format Experiment — 4 Comments

  1. Thanks for this, Bob. I’m pretty new to woodworking and this looks like a good project to build some skills. I’ll be happy to report my experience back to you.

    Do you have any suggestions for doing this project exclusively with hand tools?

    To make it a bit easier to get started, I thought I’d try it using dimensioned oak from the big orange. Other than adjusting for the thickness of the material (and allowing for the low grade appearance of the stock) do you see any problems that might cause?

    Again, thanks for sharing this.

    c~

  2. Hi Carl,
    If you’re just starting out, you might want to try poplar for your first attempt, especially if you’re getting lumber from the big box. The oak they have is red oak, and generally it’s pretty nasty. The coarse grain would make it difficult to get good results, although it is possible. Poplar is a bit softer, and the grain is usually more even and workable. After you get some experience you can tackle harder, coarser stuff.
    White oak, especially quartersawn is much better behaved, although it is on the hard side.

    –Bob Lang

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