Stephen Kirk
I have followed a number of magazine plans in the past, and I'm using one for some bookshelves right now, but I'm starting to shy away from them. For one, even most plans for a hobby shop still seem to require the need of big machines. Sure, such and such is simple with a drum sander, but I dont have one. I agree with everything said about the lack of "why". For instance, on the bookshelves I'm making, the construction is frame and panel. The panels are 56" tall by 5/8" thick. Since most of us have access to 8 or 10 foot stock, that means a lot of wasted wood. Didn't realize that till I got into it. Plus, why 5/8" thick? I'm modifying the design, adding a midde rail to create an upper/lower panel, limit wasting wood, and switching to 3/4" ply. Seems like by the time I finish I've nearly redesigned the whole thing anyway. The top called for 1 5/8" thick stock, which means 8/4 stock and planing/resawing and waste ( yeah, I don't like wasting stuff).

Also, cost of a piece is never discussed. When I'm working on pieces for myself, it'd be nice to have a ballpark on cost, since I don't want to break the bank. This is a big reason I like cut lists (Yeah, Popwood, keep 'em OK?) because it's easy to do a quick calculation and get my lumber needs and determine cost.