Easy build Plans

Backyard screens and fences may be made from many different materials including wood, bamboo, metal or even just wire. But when it comes to DIY (do-it-yourself) and beginner woodworking, wood is usually the material of choice to build a fence in your yard.

When it comes to wooden garden fencing, there are a large number of different types to choose from. So before you start working with fence plans, decide what sort of fencing you want to build. Your decision will depend partly on where you are going to build the fence and why. For example a solid wooden fence will double as a windbreak while an ordinary post-and-rail fence will simply indicate where the boundary of the property is.

Apart from the type of fence and its function, you should also consider style so that it doesn’t look out of place in your particular garden environment. While solid wood fences generally work with most garden styles, a post-and-rail can look quite rural while picket fences work well for a cottage. Trellis and lattice-work fences and screens suit traditional-style homes.

If you aren’t sure how to build a fence or what type or style of fence to build, you can often get ideas from fence plans that are included with many simple woodworking projects. But also look for pictures of different sorts of wooden fences and screens for inspiration. You will usually find photographs as well as beginner woodworking plans and projects in books, magazines and on web sites on the Internet. Look for fence plans that have a lot of detail and give you step-by-step instruction of how to build a fence. If you need to incorporate a gate, make sure there is one included in the fence plans that you choose. Usually woodworking plans for fences will describe how to build one section of the fence, or possibly how to build panels that are then fixed to upright posts or poles. You will then need to work out how many sections you need to build the fence in your own backyard. But this really isn’t difficult.

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Since generic fence plans are not intended for any specific site, you will also have to work out a site plan for yourself. A good way to do this is to use graph paper so that it will be to scale. Draw in all existing structures, including your house and garage. Also show any large trees that might have an effect on the way the property is to be fenced. If you are planning any other woodworking projects, show these structures on your plan too. You may be considering building a pergola, or perhaps a wooden shed. If these are going to be located near the boundary it could affect the way you build the fence. Alternatively you may want to screen a pergola for privacy or screen a shed to keep it out of view. Screens would not normally be included in shed building plans, but they might be.

Once you have drawn a site plan and marked where the new fence will go, you can refer to your fence plans to see exactly what you need to buy to be able to start work.

While any sort of fence could be used to screen an area from view – or to create a more private area within your backyard, a trellis is an excellent option. If you know how to be build a trellis you might not need plans, but if you don’t then you will probably find trellis plans alongside fence plans or even in how to plans for woodworking.

Building a pergola in your backyard is one of the most rewarding projects you will find. It can be as simple as you want it to be, yet can become a challenging how-to woodworking project for an experienced carpenter.
Pergolas, overhead beams and arbors of various types have been built since the earliest times, initially to support grape vines and other climbing plants, and more recently as garden features and backyard structures. Many people today include a pergola in their landscape design to provide shade and even shelter over patio areas and decks. Others learn how to build a pergola so they can create a purely decorative feature.

Perhaps the simplest pergola structure you can build is a roofless type made with wooden poles. The upright poles are secured into the ground and then a series of cross-beams are fixed to the uprights. Building a pergola this way requires minimal carpentry skills. If you buy the poles ready-cut and drilled, all you have to be able to do is bolt the lengths together. Otherwise you’ll need to know (or learn) how to cut and fasten wood, and will need the appropriate tools & pergola plans to do this.

More elaborate pergola designs are made from planed wood that may have ends that are scrolled or cut to shape with a jigsaw to form what some people call a rafter tail. A more elaborate design would probably also involve using more complicated joints as well, although even planed wood pergolas may be bolted together, as you will see in many how to build projects.

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Another ambitious pergola design incorporates trelliswork along the sides in imitation of a period-style structure. You can buy ready-made trellis panels, but if you want a project that is more demanding, then accept the challenge and make up your own panels using lath. Whichever route you choose to follow, a trellis will provide a great support for plants that you can then train over the pergola beams for shade.

If you have bricklaying skills, you could build a pergola with brick piers and wooden beams that can be a simple or elaborate as you wish. The great Edwin Lutyens, one of the world’s greatest landscape architects who worked with the equally famous British garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, was regarded as the master of the pergola. He often used it to link the house and garden together with a pergola or two, usually combining stone or brick pillars with overhead wooden beams.

Another traditional approach is to build pergolas over walkways and use a central pitched pergola roof as a central feature. This isn’t particularly complicated to do because all it involves is creating a wooden framework of four sloping timbers that meet together in the center, and are fixed to four horizontal beams that are attached to form a square that rests on top of four equally spaced pillars. A series of lathes, or perhaps slightly thicker cross-pieces, are then used horizontally, from top to bottom, to strengthen the roof structure.

If you want to know how to build a pergola or how to do simple woodworking projects, there are some really inspiring woodworking plans that you can buy. If you buy a good package that offers access to multiple plans, once you have built your pergola you might decide to build a gazebo or even build a garden shed. There are some really great  pergola plans and arbor plans that you can buy.

Sheds are popular backyard structures because they can be used to store all kind of items from wheelbarrows and garden tools to outdoor furniture. You can also use a shed as a workshop or even as a greenhouse, which makes them very versatile backyard structures.

So if you are looking for small woodworking projects that you can tackle in your own backyard, and that are genuinely achievable, have a look at some of the shed building plans that are available. You might be surprised to find out that there is quite a bit of choice and some great ideas to get you started.

Well presented plans for woodworking will show you exactly how to build a shed using wood. Shed building plans will also show you exactly what you need in terms of materials and quite often in terms of tools as well. Most will have a range of projects, some of which are suitable for beginners and others that will appeal to more competent woodworkers.

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But before you decide which garden shed plans or storage shed plans to use, you need to be clear in your own mind in terms of what you are going to build – or at least what you want to build. The considerations you need to be aware of range from the size of the structure to what it will be used for. Storage sheds, tool sheds and in fact any type of garden sheds may be used for storing things, but you can also use a well-built shed as a workshop or a place for outdoor hobbies. Some people even build quite substantial garden sheds and then use them for an outdoor playhouse instead of one of the mini Wendy house designs that are scaled down for children.

You also need to think carefully about the design you are interested in and what the finished structure will look like. Garden sheds come in a myriad of styles, some with concrete floors and others with suspended wooden floors. Roof designs also vary from being almost flat, with just enough of a slope to accommodate rainwater run-off, to having a relatively steep pitch. The most complicated roof design is the gambrel roof which is a popular and quite traditional one for barns. The beauty of a gambrel roof is that it can be constructed on top of a girder or top plate assembly with a suspended floor below. In effect this becomes a mini attic that you can use to store items you seldom use.

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You might even decide to include other wooden structures alongside your shed, to help make it blend more naturally with your backyard environment. For this reason you may be interested in shed building plans that include other simple woodworking projects as well, for example those that show how to build a trellis or how to build a gazebo. With that in mind, you could use your garden shed as a storeroom for the tools you are going to need for your how to build projects.

Making one’s own furniture is not something that appeals to everybody, but it can be very rewarding especially when you have some good woodworking plans and projects to work from.

Generally furniture-making does not fit into the category of simple woodworking projects, and it will help if you have some good carpentry skills. The techniques you need to learn include cutting wood, chiseling wood, planing and routing wood and drilling wood. Of course you will also have to learn how to join wood. If you want to make something quite fancy, you should learn how to turn wood and how to work from scroll saw patterns.

Unlike many beginner woodworking projects for the garden, like basic pergolas, fences and even simple garden sheds, furniture making generally entails slightly more involved joints to ensure that the item will look attractive and be strong enough to stand up to use.

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Traditional craftsmen use many different joints for woodwork, some of which are quite complicated to cut. But with today’s sophisticated wood glues, you can often get away with reasonably simple joints. Well presented furniture woodworking plans will show you exactly how to make the required joints.
Some of the joints you might need for furniture include:

* Bridle joints for furniture frames, where the wood meets at a corner to form an L- or a T-shape. You might find these on sleigh bed plans.

* Housing joints, often used for shelving, where a groove is cut in the side timbers to support the horizontal pieces that become the shelves. Fireplace mantel plans might incorporate housing joints.

* Tongue and groove joints which are sometimes used for the backs of cupboards, where each length of wood has a groove in one side and a thin tongue in the other, so that the tongue fits snugly into the groove.

* Dowel joints, where a dowel fits into holes drilled into two pieces of wood to strengthen a joint. They are commonly used in chairs as you will see if you study chair woodworking plans, and are often used to mend furniture.

* Mortise and tenon joints where a tongue (or tenon) at the end of one piece of wood fits into a hole (or mortise) cut in a second piece of wood, to fit the tenon. You will find that mission furniture plans feature mortise and tenon joints.

* Traditional wedge-shaped dovetail or box joints that are carefully cut so that two pieces of wood interlock and form a strong connection. These are the most difficult of all to make. Traditionally they were cut by hand, but nowadays they are usually cut using special machines. Simple woodworking projects and furniture woodworking plans are unlikely to use these, but if they do you can get the edges professionally machined.

* Butt joints, where two pieces of wood are literally butted up against each and glued and either nailed or screwed, may be used for simple shelving, table tops and simple outdoor furniture. Even Adirondack chair plans show how wood can simply be screwed together in this way.

* Halving joints are stronger than butt joints because two sections of wood are cut to exactly half their thickness at the point at which they meet, so that they slot neatly together. This is the kind of joint you might find if you follow plans that show how to build a picnic table. You could also use these joints to build a bunk bed.
Of course you will often find that there are several different types of joints in woodworking project plans, so study them carefully and follow the cutting instructions accurately. If you do you will be rewarded with furniture you will be proud of.

A dog house is generally regarded as being a utility structure, especially for people who keep their dogs outdoors. It is intended primarily to give them a place to hide away and seek shelter when it rains, snows or is unpleasantly windy. But this doesn’t mean that a dog kennel should look like a utility item.

Most commonly built using wood, dog houses can look attractive if they are constructed with imagination. In fact homemade dog houses can look a lot more attractive than those that are mass produced. So if you have some basic wood working skills, why not knock up a dog house for your doggie this weekend?

While simple woodworking plans and projects for dog houses will show you how to build dog houses, here is a quick rundown of what you will need, and what you will need to know:

• The tools you will need include a tape measure, a hammer and screwdriver, a level and a carpenter’s square, at least one saw (you can use a hand saw, but an electric circular saw will enable you to cut the wood quickly and accurately while a jigsaw will enable you to cut out simple scroll saw patterns), and a drill.
• A work bench is recommended, especially a relatively small portable model that you can use to clamp the wood while you cut and drill it.
• An ability to interpret simple woodworking project plans.
• An ability to cut wood to size using a hand or power-saw.
• An ability to drill holes in the wood so that you can easily screw or bolt the structure together.
• Be able to competently use the level and square so that the dog house looks professionally constructed, with straight walls and a level floor.

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Have a look at some of the dog house plans that are available to see the different styles. In addition to style, there needs to be sufficient room for the animal to lie inside comfortably and there should be a roof of some sort for protection. Designs range from simple A-frames to box-like homes with low pitched roofs. Dog houses don’t have doors, but they do need an opening that is large enough for the dog to get in and out of its house.
Dog house plans, like all small woodworking project plans, should give you drawings and illustrations that show how you cut the wood and put the elements together. Some how to build projects feature more elaborate drawings or even photographs that show you how to assemble the structure step-by-step. There should also be a comprehensive list of the materials you need. These should give you the dimensions of the wood you are going to work with as well as the size of items like bolts and screws – even the size of nails if they are required.

Assembling a dog house roof is probably the most complicated part of this type of project, but if you follow the instructions in a logical way, it shouldn’t be difficult at all. Most dog houses have simple roofs made with roofing felt-covered wood, quite often plywood. To make your dog’s house extra special, why not consider covering the felt with shingles and cutting out some scroll saw patterns from plywood and attaching them to the front of pouch’s new house? That will give your dog’s house a real touch of class!

I get the question a lot lately about cutting dado’s and grooves for larger projects such as shelves. If you are a beginner woodworker, you spend a lot of time just trying to figure out which tool you need to build the project you are interested in. It’s nice if you have someone there with you to ask your questions to, but it does not always work that way. If you go to a website to purchase the tools, you probably will not be able to speak to someone knowledgeable about how to make a part or cut a certain type of joint. The one question I get asked about a lot pertains to router tables. A lot of people want to use the table to cut the larger grooves to hold the horizontal shelf portion for a book case. Usually these items are longer, averaging about 72 inches in length. Most router tables are only about 30 to 35” long.

The problem you run into is that the project is longer than the table and you cannot support the work piece. This is a common problem, so you’re not alone. Unless you work in a cabinet shop, you are going to have to figure out a way to support your work piece. You can always go out and by a roller stand for the support. I recommend setting up some sort of bench stand. Even boxes that help hold your work piece have worked. The whole idea is to make something work and then take it apart. Again this is very common.

Cutting the grooves is left best to two different tools. The first is the table saw. You really need to have a dado blade set up in the table saw to do a decent job that will not take you all day. The table saw allows you to cut the grooves in one or two passes. Again because the pieces are larger you will have to fashion some sort of support. The other tool you can use is a handheld router. You will need an edge guide for this method. An edge guide is a nice tool that is basically a straight edge with a clamp built into each end. You can even substitute a straight piece of wood if you do not have an edge guide. You will want to install a straight bit into your router and line up the edge of the cutter with a line you have drawn on your project. Next clamp down your edge guide so that your routers base plate will move along the cut line as you have it drawn. It only takes one complete cut before you will be flying through this type of joint. The time is spent in the setup and in figuring out how you want to make the cut. Make sure you only take the stock out in small bites so as not to bog down the router. This is better for the tool and for your router bits.