# Is it just me? Just wondering.



## Howie (May 25, 2010)

I've been reading and making blueprints for 35 years. It seems like about every other plan from a magazine I try and use there is a critical dimension missing or I'm unable to combine other measurements shown to come up with it. Very rarely is there a scale that is usable. For the price of the mags now a days I would think they could be a little more accurate.


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

Probably the same reason they have typos, misspelled works and sentence fragments.


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## TheWoodenOyster (Feb 6, 2013)

Amen. What happenned to spellchek?

And nobody nows where to, put commas anymore right?


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

Howie … I keep asking myself the same question.

Just like the factual errors I see/hear in the news all of the time. Why do I know this stuff, and they don't?

I'm not sure if it is a dumbing down of society, or if people are trying to go too many directions at once.

The lack of attention to detail just drives me nuts.


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

About 15 years ago I used a set of plans to build a baby bed. Marked on the plan was a note to contact the author with any questions. I ended up with one question. I emailed the author and the reply stated, the answer can be found on the plans.


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

I don't use plans…I just use my ability to design and figure things out. It keeps your mind functioning better and your creative ideas flowing.


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## RonInOhio (Jul 23, 2010)

Nice ones Crank and WoodenOyster. *8*o). Whether intentional or not.


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## SeattleD (Jun 22, 2013)

Just in terms of writing errors in general, I think the online world has made the situation worse. I have a Yahoo email account, some of the typos, misspellings, wrong word choices, etc. on their "news" feeds are jaw dropping.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

Once I started building guitars, I approached Fretboard Journal about an article. They bit, as long as I wrote it, sent in my own photos, and received no compensation save for it being posted on their website. It did sell a number of guitars for me, I can't complain. But I found out how cutthroat the magazine business currently is, and how thin their margins are. The pay sucks. Only the largest publications do any good, like Cosmo, some food mags, maybe Golf Digest. Most magazines run on a razor thin margin due to so much being available on the Internet, forums like this one, etc.
So they hire accordingly.


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## Hammerthumb (Dec 28, 2012)

I see it all the time in architectural construction drawings. I have notice that it has gotten worse over the last few years (decade). I attribute this to the fact that everything in construction is now drawn in CAD. Architects are not as carefull as when they did it by hand.


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## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

I think Wood magazine is the worst offender in this regard as far as mistakes on drawings. I think spell checkers make things worse as people get lazy and rely on them and they don't catch words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly.

Here's a tongue in cheek example.

Candidate for a Pullet Surprise
by Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar

I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it's weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checker's
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we're lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know fault's with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.

Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped word's fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw's are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.


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## jimmyb (Mar 21, 2013)

LOL love it bondogaposis. What I have been complaining about for ages. Everyone of those words are "spelled" right so spellchecker did its job. 
it is the lack of grammar usage that now prevails. Like:

there, their, they're
it, its, it's
good, better best NOT good, better, bestest
your, you're

and I could go on


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

RonInOhio, good catch, I thought no one was going to notice.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

"Amen. What happenned to spellchek? And nobody nows where to, put commas anymore right?
-The Wood Is Your Oyster"

I've gotten pretty good with the speeling… What I need for my computer is *STUPID check*!


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Several years ago, while reading a popular woodworking magazine, I noticed a critical dimension was NOT on the Plan Drawings.

I emailed the Editor (who was the author too) and brought it to his attention… would have been easy to fix because the drawing was in its own Page/file.

*I actually got a reply.*

*"The information is covered in the article".*

I replied… in so many words… *"Well, why don't you just make a simple update to the Drawing file?"...*

*Got the same answer!*

*The ONLY reason, that I could think of, was to leave an OUT so the Article had to be present along with the Drawing in order to be able to build the project… Forcing more advertising, possible sales, etc. etc.*

All of a sudden I lost all respect for the Editor and the Magazine… which I no longer subscribe to… and will never again… even though he has moved on to other pastures.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

I think it's the *Texting Generation* where everything is in a different language…

... Lazy English…


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

I new it weren't all me.


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

+1 for Joe Lyddon. I don't think the texters are writing for magazines yet but give them a few more years. If we are around then we won't be able to read what they write. It isn't lazy English. It is a new language.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Nope Howie, it ain't you!

Bondo, I agree that Wood's plans are the worst offenders. I now use them as "suggested guidelines" only. Their cutlists are even more frustrating than their plans!


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I have run across a lot of plans that are incorrect, the dimensions don't add up, or the explanation doesn't make sense. I have made it a habit that if I am using a plan by someone else, I read it, re-read it, and re-read it, before starting to be sure I know what dimensions are correct. It's clear a lot of publications don't have a good proof reader that knows what they are doing.


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

Howie, I completely understand and agree.
You have to realize that most people who make the so called manufacturing drawings have NEVER had an formal training as draftsmen, who understand ALL the information that is needed to manufacture something.

Its all part of the current trend where trained and educated people are put aside in favor of "Monkey see, Monkey do" mentality where a novice is regarded at an expert. .....yeah right.

I feel the pain most, being an apprentice Design Draftsman, then after, a degreed Mechanical Design Engineer …..but what do I know?


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## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

I get a laugh out of the CL postings where commas don't get a space after-like this,you know what I mean,you know?


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

I agree with Hammerthumb. A lot of this can be contributed to CAD drawings. While I had to work with CAD drawings at times, I never found them to be as accurate as a hand drawn architectual or a hand drawn isometric. Another problem I think is the lack of a strong math, reading background today. Computers are a wonderful thing but they are only as good as the info put into them.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

As "The Dane" mentioned, the news casters on TV are professional talkers and make horrible errors in grammar and I spot it with my high school education. I am a retired construction worker and not a word smith.
I have seen on a set of HVAC construction blueprints, the word Duct spelled "Duck" throughout. Even spell check is sometimes wrong in spelling, as I am.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

I suspect when changes are made between drawing and building that not all those changes make it into the final plans.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

When I was still working I sent the CAD model to the model/machine shop and models do not include any human readable dimensions as it is a virtual representation of the part to be made. I was told that the model shop could use 2D prints but would rather use the CAD model.

My CAD program creates 2D prints and, if I select a view, it will put in EVERY dimension, some of which are not needed and/or redundant. I can the delete the ones I do not want/need.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

Dimensional errors on drawings are very common. I'm retired after 50+ years as a ship designer. Many thousands of dollars and many man-hours go into developing a single drawing for a billion dollar U.S.Navy ship. Even after the most careful checking of a drawing, often several times, errors will still pop up. What do you expect from a drawing in a magazine that might have cost a few hundred dollars to create. It's not unusual to discover errors on drawings that have been in circulation for years. When an error is discovered, the error has to be corrected and a revision noted and issued. All this costs money; it is sometimes better to let the error slide than it is to correct it. In the case of a plan in a magazine, errors are corrected after the fact and that is a minimum of a month past the issue of the magazine.

The only way to fix this is for each person using a published plan to review the drawing from top to bottom to insure the project will turn out correctly before starting a build. One must keep in mind that many drawings involve building materials that list sizes as "nominal". Plywood is a good example of this as it never measures what it is supposed to be. Accumulative errors when added up, won't equal the overall dimension.

Designing and drafting is a skill that requires a good engineering background. If you can't put it on paper, they can't build it.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

This is one of my pet peeves. There's a member who posts regularly here (no reason to name them) on subjects I am interested in. The postings are often completely illegible … words left out, poor or no sentence construction, etc.

I do not believe this person is intellectually challenged, but rather is either just plain lazy or uses their own private short-hand and expects everyone else to put extra effort into deciphering what they have to say.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

*TheDane*, I know what you mean!

I spent a number of years doing technical writing so that someone not technically trained could understand the topic. Slight changes in word order and/or sentence structure can twist the actual meaning totally out of reality. Left out words or misspelled words are even worse.

Granted that these forums are not at that level, after all we are all wood workers, but clarity is extremely important when one is trying to explain a process or procedure that they want to share.

I must say that there are a number of LJs that are extremely proficient at descriptions and clarity when explaining their processes and this proficiency is also evident in their projects.

On the other hand, some spell checkers do cause some problems; i.e. the one I have on my tablet, which I am using to write this post, is one of the worst I have ever seen as it not only over corrects it tends to break up words in weird ways!


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