In this category of our website you can find a number of furniture plans which are suitable for both experienced woodworkers and beginners, and also for different types of woodworking courses.
Basic function of the furniture is to make our life easier and to make it more beautiful with its appearance. Industrially designed furniture made out of the cheapest materials is the most present on today’s market and it can be found for popular prices, but its quality standards are on the lowest acceptable level (the woodworking joints are not solid and long-lasting, but added just to assemble the furniture simply and quickly; plywood is commonly used instead of wood, etc.). This kind of furniture will surely not last for generations and will rarely withstand even one relocation. The handmade furniture is the most wanted and expensive today. Its artistic value will bring warmth and sophistication to the living area, but such furniture can be purchased only from the professional woodworkers, or it can be made by you.
Manufacturing the furniture is one of the most complex crafts, because manufacturing the good quality furniture requires a lot of skills, tools and rich experience. As the part of interior, the furniture is always on the visible place and it is often the main element of interior decorations. Because of this, its manufacture does not allow any mistakes. Just a tiny error on a visible place can often ruin all the effort that was made to produce that piece of the furniture. Because of that, a quality furniture plan is one of the basic things for reducing the risk of errors.
Here is a free project to help you make several varieties of beautiful and very practical footstools adorned with scroll saw legs.
With the free furniture making project that you can download on this page you can make beautiful gateleg table (thousand leg table).
On this page you can download a free woodturning project called Hat and coat rack in turned work.
Here is a plan for making a really nice and practical stool. We named it ’Hexagon Stool’ because its seat is of hexagonal shape.
With this plan you can make a multi-purpose kitchen stool, a practical addition to your kitchen.
On this page you can find two plans that you can use for the making of kneeling chairs intended for ergonomic seating.
If you want to make the simplest possible coffee table that is also collapsible, here you are presented with such a construction.
If you have a CNC laser cutting machine and want to make this fretwork corner shelf, on this page you can download all the necessary files for its production.
On this page you are offered a plan for the making of a chair that looks very similar to the famous ‘curule armchair’ which used to be popular in Ancient Rome and during the Middle Ages.
If you need an all-purpose table that will come in handy for various needs, then the occasional table that you can make according to this plan is the ideal choice for you!
With the woodturning project that you can download on this page you can make Oriental lattice work.
On this page you can download free furniture making project according to which you will be able to make a nice and convenient piano bench.
On this page, we present you a free DIY project for making a piano stool, a perfect seat for playing the piano.
In this woodworking project we present a stool which is not only very pleasing in design, but is extremely useful.
This unusually adorable wooden stool/table set will definitely drawn attention of all the people that visit your home.
In this free woodworking plan we present a rustic stool which is not only very pleasing in design, but is extremely useful.
With the woodworking plan that you can download on this page you can make a nice and cheap chandelier.
On this page you can download free laser cutting project for making a Scroll saw corner shelf.
Fans of scroll saw and laser cutting can find patterns on this page with which they can make uniquely beautiful and unusual wall shelf.
This webpage contains drawings and instructions for the making of a wooden ship wheel, which is a beautiful decoration for any wall.
To keep the shoes you use most tidy, taking up little space and yet be easily accessible, make a shoe rack.
This plan can help you create a beautiful and practical stool named the Shogun stool, because stools of similar shape and construction have been often seen in Japan throughout history.
With the free woodturning project that you can download on this page you can make a nice and convenient wooden stand.
Here we are presenting a woodworking plan that will allow you to make a simple and practical stool that we named the Timber stool.
By downloading these free furniture plans you will make only one step in passing the challenge that you will meet during the manufacture of the furniture project that you choose.
Before you start making the furniture, you should consider and plan a number of things:
The choice of wood: The choice of wood depends largely on the purpose which it is to be used and personal taste. We will recommend the type of wood in most cases, but since there are many wood types that fully satisfy the set quality standards for each piece of furniture, the final selection of wood type will depend on your taste, the accessibility on the market and the price. In the furniture manufacture you can use both hardwood and softwood, but if you want your piece of furniture to last for generations, we recommend a good quality hardwood. The quality of wood is one of the most important things that have to be considered when making furniture. A numerous wood types are being used for the furniture manufacture. Traditionally, the most frequently used is a good quality local hardwood, so – depending on which part of the world you are living in – you can usually found the furniture made out of maple, figured maple, cypress, redwood, walnut, cherry, mahogany, oak, birch (yellow, red, flame birch), beech, alder, aspen, elm, hickory, teak, pine and many other wood types. In the past, when demand for the furniture was not so big as it is today and when the furniture was made to last for generations, only the most hard and durable woods were used. Today, when the furniture is no longer made to last for a hundred years, it is often made out of the less durable woods, which are less expensive, and can endure for a long period with good care and maintenance in modern living conditions. Choose good quality and well dried wood with grain and color characteristics that you like, get to know its treatment characteristics and features and you will fulfill the first condition to own a beautiful piece of furniture.
Selection of other materials: The quality of glue, furniture fasteners, paints and lacquers are equally important as the quality of wood. Get to know the properties of the listed materials as well as all the other related things needed to make furniture, to be sure that they meet your needs and to use them properly.
Selection of furniture project: You should choose only the project that will satisfy your needs and suit your capabilities and experience, but it should also be the project that you like.
Selection of furniture plan: Before you start making furniture based on some plan, analyze it thoroughly. Make sure if the furniture plan has all the necessary dimensions and information, and is it made properly. A bad and incomplete furniture plan will result in the poor quality of the final product and you will spend more money finishing it. If the dimensions of the furniture pieces do not match and you realize that only during its assemblage, you will have to throw away all the material, not to mention the time that you’ve lost with it… Choosing a quality furniture plan is another basic requirement to make the quality furniture.
Reading technical drawings: In order to make the furniture projects by our furniture plans, you should have the basic knowledge of technical drawing, so you could read drawings of the parts and assemblies. We do not stick strictly to exact rules of technical drawing in our plans; instead, we have adjusted the content and appearance of the drawings and plans, so they can also be understandable to the less experienced woodworkers.
Furniture construction: The shape of the piece of furniture will generally determine its construction. Furniture construction is no less an important factor in the ultimate beauty of a piece of furniture than is its design. The best-designed article may be ruined by poor construction. When making our furniture plans we tend to include a variety of woodworking joints and various types of constructions. Of course, if you are not experienced in making those kinds woodworking joints or you do not have necessary tools and machinery for their manufacture, you can analyze the construction and customize it to your needs and abilities.
The dimensions of the furniture in our furniture plans can be usually easily customized. Do this carefully, especially if you do not have enough experience in making similar pieces of furniture. Analyze the facts about how the change of dimension of one furniture part affects the position and dimensions of other parts, as well as the stability and functionality of the finished project. Dimensions of the furniture have direct effect on whether the piece of furniture will be comfortable and useful for all of us. Any experienced carpenter should be familiar with the basics of the ergonomics and anthropometry.
Making the furniture requires a greater precision of the manufacture than the most other crafts, and so the special attention should be given to measuring and marking. Any incorrectly cut part will result in assembling problems and it will reduce compactness of the whole assemblage. If you make a mistake in cutting on a visible place, it will ruin the aesthetics of the entire piece of furniture or you will have to throw that part away and make it again.
Hand tools and machines: In our furniture plans, you will find only dimensions of the furniture and directions for their construction; we do not suggest manufacture techniques. We recommend that you decide for yourself how you will make particular parts of the furniture – based on your experience, skills in specific techniques and operations and depending on the machines and tools that you got.
While manufacturing the furniture, another important thing besides the precise parts manufacture is the assemblage. The pieces, when fitted, should come together easily, and not require to be twisted, sprung or bent in order to put the piece article together. It is the practice with skilled cabinet maker to put a piece of furniture completely together once (without glue, screws or nails)to see that everything fits right, before putting together permanently. After fitting the parts of a piece of furniture and before gluing, smooth such parts as cannot readily be smoothed after putting together permanently.
Other necessary skills: Each woodworker should have a basic knowledge of metalworking. Although most of the home furniture is made out of wood, in this category you may occasionally find some projects made out of metal, or the wooden furniture projects that have a decorative metal parts or fasteners. In our opinion, the combination of wood and wrought iron makes the most beautiful furniture.
In our furniture category we try to present the projects which are easy to manufacture and have firm and simple construction. Such projects are ideal for the incorporation of decorative features. Simple chip carving, leather paneling or upholstering can give completeness in appearance to the piece of furniture.
Most of our projects are ideal for the beginners and woodworking courses, because when making furniture by our plans, they will be able to practice all the mentioned skills and get to know all the steps and challenges in furniture manufacture.
One of the best things that you got when making handmade furniture is the personal satisfaction, but also a guarantee that every single part is made well. An individual furniture manufacture lets you to make yourself the furniture that suits you best, and to cost you just as much as it is worth.
If you want to find out more about the techniques of furniture making and furniture styles, or to get more furniture plans, just visit our website categories: Furniture styles books, furniture making books, general woodworking books, woodworking plans books.