After that I got on a roll and forgot about the camera until the base was fully assembled.

Everything is mortise and tenon. The bottom stretchers are also held to the legs with bench bolts.
I have 1/2” plywood glued and stapled to the back, 3/4” on the bottom.
The leg sets have 1/2” plywood dadoed into the legs and stretchers, then stapled.

Once the top was glued up I wrapped it in hard maple, except where the double vise will be. There I used Jatoba, only because I needed 1×8 and that was the only good hardwood I had for it.

Added an end vise.

Then came the Double pipe clamp vise.

It’s starting to look like a workbench!

I divided the base in half and added a cabinet door on the left.

Then added 2 drawers on the right.

Now all I have left to do (I think) is add dog holes, a board on the end that will pop up to hold material while I plane it and then oil.

I will have more pictures when she’s all done.

In part 1 I installed my skirt boards, end caps and started my rail.

Now to install the starter newel to the starter step.

Newels and rail installed.

Throw in some balusters….

And the final product (less carpet).

A couple bonus pictures of the continuous rail in the basement._

Thanks for viewing. All comments are welcome, positive AND negative.

This balustrade was a real challenge. Not because it was an OPT or a winder, but because the landings are at 45 degrees, and they are both set up different.

Starter step.

Skirt.

End caps.

Building the rail.

45 degree caps are a real problem. So I make my own buy cutting 2 opening caps at 22.5 degrees.

In part 2, Newels and balusters!

Not a style I would usually make, but I was VERY limited in the width, thanks to the framers.

I used a locking miter bit to make the legs.

Then I made all the details with a stick-&-cope set.

Here is leg ready for install.

Legs laid out with the shelf and frieze.

Start of the install.

Finished install. Ready for paint.

And a picture with paint. Notice that they did not like the extra stiles I made for the frieze.

(photos are of 2 different mantels back to back)

While putting together a lumber take-off at my usual lumberyard, I asked my rep if they had any scrap pieces of lvl. Well he did…... and then some.

How about 2-8’x16” lvl’s and an 18’-9”x 16” Glue lam. (yellow pine).
I went home, got my chainsaw and headed back. Now I needed a plan.

I decided on a 6’x3’ bench with a tail vise on one end and a 2’ dbl screw front vise (made with pipe clamps cause I’m not about to spend $250 on a vise). I also wanted some storage underneath.

At this point all I needed to purchase were some bench bolts and I was golden.

First thing I did was rip down the lvl’s to 3 1/2”, joint and plane.

Double some up for the legs, drill out mortises and re-square.

I connected my legs (front-to-back) with top and bottom rails. I ran a dado on each piece first so I could insert a piece of 1/2” plywood for added strength.
Then milled up some stretchers.

You can see a glued up leg set behind the stretchers.

Now to get started on the top.
I took each 6’+ section over to a friends and ran them through an 18” woodmaster.
Then (by myself) ran each edge through a 6” jointer (with a make-shift out-feed table/ drill press).

As you can see there was a bit of a cup in the glue lam. I made sure one side was perfect, then took as little as possible off the other side.

Everything is milled. Stay tuned for assembly.