ABOUT ME
PROJECT DESIGNS FOR THE BUILDER
I am a designer and builder. I spent the first 10 years out of school designing, building and testing torpedoes for the US Navy. I then decided to chase a dream and immigrated to New Zealand. I wanted to build boats and it’s nothing but islands, so go figure. Instead I found my start in the oil and gas industry charging billable hours as a pipe stress engineer for New Zealand Worley. It was a wonderful experience. The country is beautiful and the people awesome. I moved back to the states (Houston) in 1998 and spent a year reviewing pressure equipment designs at the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) before joining SOFEC ‘s family designing and building turret moorings for some of the largest ships in the world.
Garnero Project Plans are much simpler by comparison, however they are created with good engineering practice considered in their design, construction and documentation. The drawings have a casual professional look, providing all the dimensional detail required to cut and assemble the project. The plans are created by a builder (myself) for a builder (you) and include the type and amount of information required to successfully complete the project. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a turnkey project, provide my plans to a builder you trust and let him or her have at it.
WHEELCHAIR WOODWORKER
I am a wheelchair woodworker. Working from a wheelchair presents some unique challenges to access, mobility, and construction, but also provides different perspectives as well as strong motivation to finding solutions. These plans have been developed considering constructability from a wheelchair whenever possible. Refer to my Adaptive Mobility plans for tools and other designs to make project work easier from a wheelchair.
I was born in Oregon and raised in Alaska, completed my college in Seattle, and then immigrated to New Zealand. I am now climatized to the Texas summers.
The majority of these plans include woodworking although other materials are specified in some design plans such as stainless steel for a coffee roasting barrel, or the multiple type brick, mortar and cement used in construction of a wood fired pizza oven.
There is a wide range of things to build using these plans, including some unique pieces of large Outdoor Furniture, Barred Owl Box and a Santa Sleigh Christmas project.
On a physical level, I continue to overcome the challenges of a spinal cord injury and resulting lower body (partial) paralysis. At age 15 in 1976, I broke my back in a motorcycle accident and now use a wheelchair to get around some 45 years later. Leg strength and control very slowly improved after the accident. I used a set of walking canes most of my younger life, and got around fine. After the accident, it didn’t take long to realize the importance of an education and I found my calling as a mechanical engineer. Made it on foot using two canes with 10 minutes between 300 attendee classes at the UW (go Huskies!). I was getting around best on foot at that time, lots of exercise! It’s been a challenge, but I’m a better man for it. I accept challenges and solve them as they come, in some cases literally engineering a solution. I would like to be a positive example for wheelchair users. Blogs and other posts include wheelchair user tips for woodworking and the like. It’s not entirely altruistic…I am selling plans on the Adaptive Mobility page.
The sets of plans available from this site are a work in progress. The number of plans being sold will continue to grow as I properly document what I’ve already built, which is a matter of producing 2D (dimensional) drawings from the 3D models used for my builds. There is always at least one new current build project underway, so come back soon to see what’s been added.
Garneroprojectplans.com is a project in itself. Over the past 10 years, I’ve designed and build a number of ‘things’ around my home, workshop and yard worth formally documenting and sharing with others interested in building the same. This site sells plans of these things, designed and built by me. Not all plans are completed yet. Formal documenting means producing 2D (dimensional) drawings from the 3D model used during my build, but also adding my construction notes, materials requirements, etc. into a single downloadable PDF file for each individual set of project plans. A half dozen sets of plans are available at launch of this site and my goal is to produce a new set every month for the next 2 years .
My goal is to share ideas and encourage others to build things they would otherwise not think of or even consider possible. As a wheelchair user myself, my designs consider the ability to complete the build myself from a seated position, or sometimes with a friend’s help. Able-bodied or not, you too can build some cool things using my project plans.