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Example · the starter side table

Model the furniture. Take the drawings to the shop.

GrainDraft is a parametric woodworking modeler that runs in your browser. Design with real stock and real joinery, then print a dimensioned shop packet, cut list and Shaper Origin files from the same model.

Open GrainDraft Sample shop packet · PDF, 41 pages

GrainDraft is meant for a computer or tablet. On a phone it works, but the screen is tight.

Open GrainDraft on this phone

Or look at the sample shop packet (PDF).

Free. No account. Projects stay in your browser unless you share or publish one.
Meant for a computer or tablet; a phone works, but it is tight.

P20 P14 P02 P11 P13 P09 P01 P07 P05 P10 P03 P12
P03

Front Right Leg

Side Table Frame

21" × 1-1/2" × 1-1/2" finished

0.33 BF · $1.97 at $6.00/BF · joints J3 J8 J13

The starter table, drawn by GrainDraft's drawing engine. Choose a part reference to see its finished size. Open this table in GrainDraft →

Overall, inches
19 × 16 × 21-3/4
Parts
24
Joints
30
Board feet
7.77
Material at $6.00/BF
$45.58
Packet pages
41
01

Change one number. The table follows.

overallHeight · Dimensions preview

The starter's sizes are named and linked by formulas. Change overallHeight and the legs, upper rails, drawer box and fascia resize together, while the drawer stays inside its opening.

Before anything changes, the Dimensions preview lists the parts and joints it will touch and checks them again. At 19-3/4″ it reports 14 parts that resize or move, 28 joints checked, and no new findings.

Each drawing is GrainDraft's own output for that value. Board feet and material cost come from the same model.

overallHeight
overallHeightParts that changeJoints checkedBoard feetMaterialNew findings
19-3/4″ 14 28 6.68 $39.01 None
21-3/4″ · as shipped — — 7.77 $45.58 —
23-3/4″ 14 28 8.87 $52.15 None
25-3/4″ 14 28 9.96 $58.72 None
02

Every page comes from the model.

Make → Shop packet

Shop packet turns the model into a build guide in the order you work: a shopping list, a cutting list, a layout for every part that locates each joint from one marked corner and names the part it takes, a drawing of each joint pulled apart and in section with its sizes, machine setups that group every cut sharing a setting, glue-ups in an order you can clamp, and a review of anything the model could not settle. The numbers are in shop fractions, and the same model exports a CSV cut list and Shaper Origin SVGs with matching setup pages.

What this sample leaves to you. Its review pages report 0 joint errors; 0 warnings; 1 part without modeled attachment; 1 software geometry note (2 parts). The table top is not joined in the model, so how you fasten it is your decision. What the geometry check reports is listed as it is, and stays in the packet on purpose.

Download the sample packet

PDF · 41 pages · 5.5 MB

Shopping list: solid lumber by thickness with net and buy-about board feet, the plywood sheet for the drawer bottom, hardware and the tools the chosen method needs.
Page 2 Shopping list Lumber by thickness, hardware and tools, before the first cut.
Part layout for the lower side rails: face and edge views drawn the way up the rail sits with the tenon waste hatched, an end view dimensioning the tenon, a numbered cut order in gauge settings that names the legs each tenon goes into, and a table locating each tenon from DATUM 0.
Page 13 Part layouts Each part drawn as it sits, its tenons from the end, and the cuts in order.
Machine setup S1: one cutter, fence and depth for all fourteen mortises, listed by leg with each length and its layout page.
Page 26 Machine setups Set the router or saw once, then cut every part listed.
Box-joint setup page: a detail of the drawer corner and CUT and KEEP patterns for each wall.
Page 30 Box-joint patterns Which fingers to cut and which to keep, wall by wall, with tool depth.
Assembly: glue-up 1 builds the left frame, drawn with the rails pulled apart from the legs along their joints and each joint numbered, beside a table of each part, what it goes into, its joints and the page of each joint's card.
Page 32 Glue-ups Frames first, then the parts that join them, in an order you can clamp.
Review and coverage: what to decide before building, here only the unattached top, then the model notes.
Page 37 Review & coverage What the model could not settle stays in the packet.
Sample: the starter table with the default packet settings · 41 pages02
03

Nine joint types, from brad nails to mortise and tenon.

Assemble → Joinery

Choose two boards and the joint between them. GrainDraft cuts both halves from one relationship, previews them assembled, exploded and in section, and checks the fit before the joint reaches the packet. There is no dovetail yet.

Measured illustration · not a cutting template

A frame that pulls tight at the shoulders.

Connect a rail to a leg. Set the shoulders and engagement, then inspect the tenon and the receiving mortise.

Make your first joint: the two-board exercise →

04

Your projects stay in this browser.

No account · uploaded only if you share or publish

Saved as you work

Every change is saved on this device, with two rotating recovery copies and a journal for refreshes. Nothing is sent to a server unless you choose Share or Publish to Gallery.

Kept, and backed up

GrainDraft asks the browser to keep your projects and shows whether it agreed. Download a .graindraft backup to move to another device.

Safe when something breaks

If the app hits an error, the recovery screen downloads the model that was open, and saving stops so your last good version stays put.

Want someone else to see it? Share uploads a copy only when you press the button and gives you a link — no account for either of you.

How saving, backups, recovery and sharing work →

06

Learn it on real work.

Guides and the latest release
Exercise · 2 boardsYour first jointA rail, a leg and a mortise and tenon, inspected in section. Walkthrough · 12 stepsA drawer side tableA formula-driven table from its first leg to cut files. Shaper OriginFrom setup to cut fileFaces, datums and SVGs that match their setup pages. Changelog · October 23, 2026Splayed legs carry their end aprons**Splayed legs, part two.** When a table's long aprons grow, splayed legs move outward with them; now the short aprons seated between those legs come along too and stay seated, instead of being left behind. The gallery's L-shaped desk has been re-saved with every apron seated, so resizing it is clean.

Start with the side table, or with a single board.

Free. No account. It runs in a modern browser and is meant for a computer or tablet, and your projects stay on your device unless you share or publish one.

Open GrainDraft Open the side table

Opening the side table asks first and saves the project you have open to your Project shelf.

GrainDraft is meant for a computer or tablet. On a phone it works, but the screen is tight.

Open GrainDraft on this phone

Or look at the sample shop packet (PDF).