Is it OK to copy projects from the magazine?

I’ve been a longtime reader of Fine Woodworking and I’m extraordinarily grateful to the many gifted woodworkers from whom I’ve discovered virtually every little thing I learn about woodworking. Recently, I spent a while scrolling by an energetic dialogue on Finewoodworking.com on the “ethics of copying.” At the root of the problem is the query of whether or not or not it is ethically or morally proper to construct another person’s design. When I learn your journal and see an article a few construct, I see it as an invite to construct, and I’ve developed a number of good abilities from doing so. But I’m struck by the strongly held views of some that placing your work into Fine Woodworking just isn’t permission for readers to go forward and construct it. I’m undecided what to assume. What are the limits of the use of the info you publish? Can I construct a featured venture for myself? Do I want to contact the unique builder for permission? Can I construct one for a charity public sale? Can I construct one to promote? What rules ought to I exploit to information my selections after I’m contemplating copying the work of others?

—Gerry Giesbrecht, Calgary, Alta., Canada

Editor’s reply:

The brief reply is that it’s high quality to construct a bit for your self or household and buddies primarily based on a venture printed in the journal. I really feel that’s completely OK, even if you’re being compensated (lumber isn’t low-cost!). However, if you’re embarking on an expert profession, you must get permission from the writer earlier than replicating a selected piece of labor.

For me, an even bigger query to take into account is why a woodworker would need to make an actual copy of another person’s work. I believe that this defeats the goal of constructing handcrafted work, and extra vital, it misses a possibility to make investments your personal artistic imaginative and prescient into the work you make. Designing unique work is usually a large problem. When you begin woodworking, it’s a good suggestion to use an present piece as a reference. But the extra you construct, the extra you’ll start to develop a library of strategies and design particulars from earlier projects you can draw from in future projects. In this manner, you may chart a path from basing work on present designs to constructing work that extra intently displays you as a maker. Just about every little thing I make now nonetheless owes its type to many items and influences that got here earlier than it. In the finish, whereas constructing from an present plan will be an instructive train, you’ll see better rewards in the future when you as a substitute use it as a jumping-off level to an unique design.

—Michael Pekovich

From Fine Woodworking #296