Looking for a source for mission style furniture plans

[Damon Stathatos]

Not sure if you're interested specifically in Greene & Greene, but if you are, Darrell Peart's a good guy to check out. He's based in Seattle but teaches classes periodically around the country. I took a one week class from him last year when he was 'down here' at William Ng's School of Fine Woodworking. It was a great class and once 'walked' through one project, you're able to begin to understand how to tackle others (although I've yet to attempt more, I know a couple in our class have gone on to more G&G projects). His website is a veritable wealth of inspiration and information with a good links section as well. One of the links is a virtual library from Columbia University with a lot of G&G's original plans, drawings and such, although not of much practical use for your purposes, interesting nonetheless. He's published one book with another one on the way. Not at all a step by step guide but a valuable read with many aspects of (Craftsman) furniture making covered.

All the best to you on the journey which lies ahead.

Darrell's website: http://furnituremaker.com/

[Kent A Bathurst]

Thanks Bill

I ordered the "Mission Oak and Cherry Collection" catalog from the Stickly Co. It's a great source of inspiration; someone more experienced in Stickley construction techniques could probably build many of the pieces based on the pics alone. At my level, unfortunately, I need detailed plans to get going.

Scott - FWIW:

When I got started in WW, my focus was exclusively on A&C in general, and Stickley - Ellis repros in specific. I got Bob's 2 books. And - for a couple specific items I was most interested in, I also got his detailed plans.

Off to the races. Came out great - especially a pair of No 700 bookcases. His books are on my reference shelf, and get used often. For ideas, for proportions, and most recently, for some general guidance on joinery options for the arems on arm chairs.

After those bookcases [which were preceded by some "learner" projects such as tabourets, etc] I was able to take whatever was in his books, and tee it up from there, and in very short order, photos or sketches of pieces, combined with my own thoughts, and plow new ground.

Once you've built a couple A&C items, the "rules" are very straightforward. I am as proud of those Ellis bookcases as anything I've built - thanks to Bob for his help - but I've moved beyond precise repros and enjoy taking an idea and rolling my own from there, as it were.

You won't have any trouble. Make something - or a couple somethings, and then off to the races.

[Bob Lang]

Will the book be available through Amazon?

It will, but I would really appreciate it if you would consider buying the book directly from me, and this applies to any book where you can get a copy directly from the author. The author gets a small percentage of what the publisher sells the book for. Because of Amazon's clout, they pay less than anyone to the publisher. If you buy from the author, the author then makes the money that an average retailer would make. That's 10 to 15 times what the author would get if you buy the book from someone else.

Yes, Amazon is the cheapest place to get most books, and I certainly understand what a tight budget is like. People write books about woodworking because they want to share what they know with other woodworkers, you don't make money as an author until you sell the movie rights. If you want to encourage those of us who try to earn a living doing this, this is a great way to help. I can't compete with Amazon on price, but I usually have books available a couple of months before they do.

Bob Lang

[Rick Potter]

Bob,

I, too, am interested in Craftsman and G&G styles. Any chance you might be doing some videos for those of us more visually oriented??

Gonna find your website for the new book.

Rick Potter

[John Piwaron]

Scott,

Check out this company:


http://Www.americanfurnituredsgn.com

They state they hav step by step plans and large CAD generated drawings.

There are some Arts and Crafts plans.

I have one of those drawings. It's the Aurora table desk that Darrel Peart makes. It looks pretty nice but after looking at it I chuckled a bit at it's "advanced" skill level recommendation. I just got some books about Greene and Greene furniture. One is Darrell's book and the other is "Greene and Greene Furniture, Poems of Wood and Light" Both have some drawings in them.

Most of the time nowadays I draw my own. and/or put into 3D CAD to get a real good look at what I'm going to do.

[Alan Wright]

Scott, I really like Mission furniture and so that's primarilly what I make. I'm fortunate to live in Syracuse, NY. Stickley is headquartered in Manlius, NY, which is a suburb or Syracuse and about 10 miles from my house. Sticikley also has a massive retail showroom here locally. They are aggressive salespeople, but I've asked and been given permission on numerious occassions to take pics and measurements of their pieces. I explain that I a, a hobbyist, and that I'm onlymaking one piece for myself I go in with a pad of paper, a ruler, and my phone to take pics. Befor I go in, I usually do some rough sketches, so when I get there I can take measurements and plug them in on the sketch fairly quickly. I take pictures for every conceivable angle and usually I'm in and out in 20 minutes.

I like this approach, because I get to see the real piece and determine if I really like it up close. I have to do some tinkering here and there with joiniery, but when I get home, I print the pictures off, redo the drawings with dimensions, tape them up in my shop,and get busy. I know I'm really just copying, but it makes you really focus on how the original was put togerher and how you're going to duplicate a joint or look based on the tools you have. I've done at least 10 projects like this, and no one at Stickley has ever denied me access. Often times I'll get one of them shooting the breeze with me while I take pics and measure it up. If you see a piece in a retail setting you like, just ask. It's not like you're going to be competing with them.

Alan

[Walter Smith]

Damon
Take a look at woodcraftplans.com. There are some on this site, I have used some from the Furniture Design section and liked them.
Walter Smith