It is nice to find out that someone apparently have noticed that I have started to blog again, though I much prefer regular readers and comments from those instead of all those fake comments that once in a while seem to flood in.
Today I had 37 comments, all pretty much using the same words, and all completely irrelevant to the blog post where the comment was posted.
It seems that Ted McGraths 16000 woodworking plans have changed its name to woodbex. I guess it is the same scam, and I sincerely doubt that all the plans are some that he made himself.
Here's an earlier warning about the site from woodworkweb.
I guess I'm not alone in once in a while seeing something nice and wondering, wow, I'd like to know if there is a plan available for that. But I think there's a much better chance of finding that out if people ask in the comments field about it - rather than forking out 67 $ to a scammer and risk that maybe that plan isn't part of the 16000.
If you want to make chairs there are several well respected chairmakers out there who has got plans for sale, heck I think some of them even wrote a book about making chairs. Get those plan in a legal way instead of being part of a scam.
The same goes with a bunch of other stuff. Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking all have made great plans, if you haven't got the issue and can't borrow it at the library, well, then pay the amount of money the publisher would like for a back issue, and then go on and build a set of barristers bookcases with a good conscience.
Truth be told, I didn't read all those 37 comments today, I kind of stopped after reading the comment that was posted on my post about building a coffin for my dad.
That comment read something like: I built something similar with help from ...
Hmmm, I bet you did!
Stay safe for New Years Eve, don't drink and drive, use safety glasses and DONT support the scam sites
Haha, I got one of those comments today on my blog, too. I wonder how many people buy these plans, and I wonder what they get for the money?
ReplyDeleteYes, I have to admit that I am a bit curious as well, but I would guess that you get a crapload of bad scans with hard to read measurements and none of the accompanying instruction.
DeleteSo I think I'd rather use the money on buying treats for Prop and Bertha.
Hopefully, I don't need plans as I adapt the dimensions to what I need and the material available.
ReplyDeleteBut it seems some absolutely need plans. I have read on a blog somewhere something like "my friend is a better woodworker than I but he can not work without plans".
On the Paul Sellers video, they convert precisely inches to mm. I don't need that feature. And, IMO, for those needing it, it would be better if dimensions were slightly adapted to make more sense in cm.
(Although in the big store in Belgium, we find boards 19mm thick...)
I must admit, adapting to material available has once given me a surprising result. But that is acquiring experience.
I once made a Paul Sellers item, in advance of the videos, just looking at the teaser pictures on the blog. I have used too tick boards. So, while it is undeniably strong, the space inside the box and drawer is smaller then it should be.
I have made another one after. Some techniques used by P.S. were different than what I used for the first iteration.
Happy new year.
ps nice Captain stripes.
Hi Sylvain
DeleteHappy New Year
I seldom work directly to a plan, because it dictates so much about the thickness etc. of the wood.
I like to look at a plan to get inspired and to get some ideas of the rough measurements
But I can see that to someone new to woodworking, it is nice to start out following a plan. that way you will end up with something that works and looks like you had imagined it.
It doesn't take long to find out where you can alter measurements to suit you own needs and materials.
Brgds and thanks
Jonas
Faithful reader checking in!
ReplyDeleteHi Chuck,
DeleteNice to hear from you, and thanks for the continuous support :-)
Happy New Year
Brgds
Jonas
This past week, I received a bunch of bogus woodbex comments, too. Pretty annoying. Thank goodness Blogger held most of them for moderation. HNY to you, Jonas.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why all of those comments came through to my blog? But at least it is fairly easy to get rid of them.
DeleteThe problem with those scam sites is that it costs so little for them to advertise for themselves, and if one single person takes the bait, well - they get a bunch of undeserved money.
HNY to you as well :-)
Brgds
Jonas
Happy New Year Jonas! It’s a shame that people feel the need to scam others. Thanks for the warning. I could not agree more about buying plans from reputable folks and companies. For your readers I can highly suggest plans from Curtis Buchanan. Professionally done by chairmaker Jeff Lefkowitz and Caleb James. As for books on chair making well there are several but a great one stop shop would be Lost Art Press.
ReplyDeleteHi Ray
DeleteHappy new Year to you too!
I bought the "Chairmakers Notebook from Lost Art Press, and it is a really great book.
I often compared prices to pizzas, when we sold out some of the stuff from my parents home, people would think that this or that was too expensive, and right after that they'd go to a café and pay 8$ for a cup of coffee, so often I would say that this or that is just the price equivalent of two pizzas. And people often fell for that argument and bought the stuff.
If they'd only think the same way for a chair plan. I mean you buy a pizza without thinking of it, and that is a short lived joy (unless you get a bad seafood pizza). So paying something like 3 pizzas for a chair plan that you can use over and over isn't bad at all.
Brgds
Jonas
What a great way to look at it. I may have to use that in the future. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHappy to once in a while being able to contribute with something remotely useful :-)
DeleteI've gotten in the habit of blocking any Instagram account that mentions 16000 plans. My mother, bless her heart, got scammed by that one trying to give me a graduation gift.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting.
DeleteEarlier on it used to be easier in blogspot to mark someone as a spammer, but for some reason now I have to mark each spam comment separately and remove it.
But I think that yor suggestion sounds like a good one. I was actually discussing a bit with myself whether or not to do a blog post about it, since I don't want to give those jerks any attention. I just hope that by once in a while raising peoples awareness about that they still exist can hopefully help someone with not falling into their spam trap.
Happy New Year
Brgds Jonas
My blog also get spammed once in a while. Lately I got a lot of that same Woodbex BS spams on a multitude of posts. When I find them, I deleted them, but it is a scourge i could do without.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year Jonas. Looking sharp in that uniform my friend 😁
Bob
Happy New Year Bob :-)
DeleteI often suspect that the scam sites kind of pays someone to make a spam comment action once in a while, since those attacks always seem to come in waves.
I suspect that is why it is also mostly a new blogger profile that advocates for the plans every time.
I'm glad you like the uniform, I have to admit that it looks a bit better with the original cap instead of a Santa's hat :-) But it was Christmas Eve after all, so no need to look too official.
Brgds
Jonas
Glad to see a new blog post (maybe I should get my stuff together and make a post again as well.) I never really have understood this particular scam. Personally I rarely want any plans, let alone 16k to sort through. Glad to hear from you again, even if it was a bit of a (justified) rant.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeremy
DeleteThank for commenting :-)
You are right, it is actually kind of a weird scam, I just guess that a lot of people think that with that many plans there sure has got to be something for them, and then they'll never have to buy another plan in their life again.
I often wonder though, if the head scammer offers someone a free access to the plans if they spam comment at least 200 blog posts. Or Perhaps they have to prove that someone actually took the bait and signed up for the plans.
It could also be the head spammer/scammer himself that does it. I don't know but that is for me the most interesting thing about those plans :-)
Brgds
Jonas
If you're looking for a resource for back issues of diy magazines, as well as books, the internet archive at https://archive.org/ is fantastic. And, all above board.
ReplyDeleteHi,
Deletethanks for commenting.
I just checked out that archive.org site, and it really does have a lot of information.
I think it just requires a bit of practice (like most other things) to be able to easily navigate and find what you are looking for.
Brgds
Jonas
What a great way to look at it
ReplyDelete