If you are like me, I'm constantly finding things to build in my wood shop. Wood working is by far one of the most rewarding hobbies I know of and I can release a weeks worth of stress in one evening in the shop.

And searching the internet you will find a wealth of project plans free to whoever wants to download them. But sometimes there are projects I'm wanting to build that can't be found over the net. My solution is to create my own plans from whatever research I've done on the subject I want to build. One of my professions is that of drafter. A drafter (used to be called draftsman) is someone who draws mechanical and architectural plans professionally, so at least I'm qualified to do the task.

One of the things I wasn't able to find plans for was a water wheel. I own a farm and wanted to pump water from my spring to the barn without installing an electric pump. So I researched online to get all the facts, decided what size wheel would work in my spring, and started making a prototype drawing. After a few days drawing was able to come up with not only the water wheel but the braces and stand and also the pump frame to mount on the bottom of the stream.

From these drawings I was able to also build cut sheets for each part of the wheel and then start fabricating. Within a day or two I had a functional water wheel. After you build a concept drawing, you can dissect the drawing to come up with all the parts and their dimensions. That's by far better than using the old trial and error method many attempt in the shop. And the wheel works fantastic by the way.

Searching around the internet you can come up with plenty of woodworking plans like tables, desks, birdhouses, bookshelves, dog houses, doll houses, etc. So how do you know if it is a good plan? Well, no matter the type of drawing, a good, usable drawing has a few things that you should look for:

1. Are the dimensions and notes readable if drawn by hand? There are some pencil drawn illustrations out there. Some good, some not so good and unless the drafter took care to make his lettering plain, there could be a problem as you try to build from it. The drawings should very clearly show dimensions and notes in such a way that it leaves no question as to how they relate to the subject.

2. Do all the views of the drawing look like they belong to the same piece? In other words, the quality of the projections will many times tell you if there was thought put into the design or if somebody was just doodling.

For instance, say you have a table top that measures 24 inches by 36 inches but the top looks like a square instead of the rectangle it should be. In other words, it's disproportionate. This can really cause confusion. Actually, the best drawings were drawn in a CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) program or on a drafting board with some controls over the images.

3. Is there a cut sheet attached to the drawings? A cut sheet takes the project apart and illustrates the various parts of the piece with specific dimensions for each piece. This is very important as it will cut your trial and error time down to a minimum.

4. Not always necessary by the way, but did the one making the drawings give specific notes about what types of fasteners and glues to use? How about special joints needed to make the project sturdier. This is a big plus.

5. The really good drawings have an exploded view that shows parts placement. This is where the drawing is made in an isometric (3D) view with the parts out just beyond where they fit together. Another good example would be a finished photograph that shows most or all of the thing you are building. This helps you get a better feel for the overall project.

Hey, there are very few plans that are perfect. Whenever a human hand is involved in the creation of something, you have to expect some omissions or errors from time to time. But sloppy drawings can inspire sloppy end results if left unchecked.