LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner
108K views 109 replies 21 participants last post by  helluvawreck 
#1 ·
Day 1

After debating with myself for the past 6 months or so, I finallly decided on a design and got the nod from my CFO to go buy the lumber (it helps that my local Menards had a sale on everything in the store, including lumber). I won't go into all the details and back story on the blog here, I'll reserve that for my full up woodworking blog over at:

vaughtwoodworks.wordpress.com

Feel free to visit that site for all the details, more photos, my thoughts, etc. I will endeavor to post pictures and keep an abbreviated work journal here (just to save myself hassle. I set up the Wordpress account last month and I just can't bring myself to update 2 blogs of the exact thing).

So, that said, this is my first workbench, heavily influenced by Chris Schwarz and his famous Workbench book (also from the ever popular Scott Landis book as well). Since this is my first big project, and I haven't really established myself as a woodworker to the finance department (which is critical for my continuance in this hobby!!!) I needed to accomplish a few things with this work:

  1. do it right, and make it look good
  2. do it inexpensively (not neccessarily cheap, per se)
  3. make it last
  4. make it suitable to typical homeowner DIY projects, not just woodworking
  5. establish my "street cred" so to speak with the CFO to pave the way for future work (and tools!)

With those goals in mind, I came up with the following design:

  • 36" high
  • 6' long (to fit the available space in my garage/workshop
  • 27" deep (again, to fit space)
  • laminated 2×4 top for weight, stability and $$$
  • 4×4 post legs for same reasons
  • all wood construction (drawboring with oak pegs)

I want to include a leg vise and I'm still working on the design for that one. I just now saw a project here on LJ that showed a DIY leg vise that looks like it will fit the bill (don't have a link because I clicked away too fast by accident, now I have to find it again to study in detail). I don't have $300 to spend on a vise so this will be homebrewed. I realize with the all wood construction I have set myself a HUGE challenge but I feel confident that if I take my time and have patience, I can do it

I'm also fascinated by the sliding deadman and want to try my hand at one of these and some homemade benchdogs. So, all in all this thing will be very much cobbled together from inexpensive wood (when I can slip in a board here or there at the BORG when shopping for other stuff for our reno projects :) ) and I can promise you she won't be the prettiest girl at the dance but she'll be mine and I hope to learn a whole lot from this experience.

If I'm lucky, you might get a few laughs out of it (for all you more experienced lumberjocks) or pick up a few lessons from my (inevitable) mistakes (for you fellow noobs).

So, Day 1 was all about hunting/gathering. I went to Menards and got the lumber (after an hour of sorting through their bins), glue and oak dowels and hauled it home. After careful sorting and stacking, here's the workbench so far:

Property Plant Wood Waste container Beam


You'll notice I have some of it (the stretchers and other scrap) stored above the garage door: the previous owner (we've lived here about a month) put that little storage jig there and I had no idea what to do with it until today! I lucked out in that the previous owner (who also built the place 17 years ago) loved wood: all the paneling, trim and doors are solid oak…we have lots of scraps and leftovers in the garage for me to play with now!

So, that's it for day one--if you want to read more see vaughtwoodworks for more pics and details. Gotta skip town for the next few days for my wife's class reunion and bring the kiddos to visit the grandparents, so the wood can rest and acclimate while I'm away. Next week I will work on jigs to prep the wood, and hopefully start getting things rolling! I can't even describe how excited I am, I have a whole list of projects I'm ready to work on once the bench is done…
 

Attachments

See less See more
2
#2 ·
Day 2 The cross cut jig

I'm letting the wood acclimate to the garage a bit and focus on other tasks around the house before we head to my wife's class reunion.

But, I did manage to make a nifty little cross-cut jig for my circular saw to prepare for trimming the 2×4s to length for when I build the top.

For details and pictures, please click here.

Can't wait to get started on the top!
 
#3 ·
How I learned to stop worrying and love the miter saw

OOOH I had fun today! After a few days off visiting relatives, I was finally afforded time back in the shop today and spent that time cutting the 2×4s to make up the bench top. I broke out the new miter-saw (well, new as of 2 years ago…) cut all 16 2×4s to rough length (73"). Once I finish the glue up, I'll trim the top to length with the circular saw.

Here's the result:
Window Building Wood House Floor


To see the details and my comments on the Harbor Freight 10" compound miter saw, click here.

Also got my hand planes in shape and ready for working on the bench in the next few days.

As always, thanks for stopping by!
 

Attachments

#4 ·
Day 4: Just Plane Fun

Got some more time in the shop today working on my bench…now that all the boards for the top are cut to length, it was time to start planing and getting things crisp.

I decided to follow the advice of Paul Sellers and try and use my hand plane to smooth out the sides of the pieces to prep for gluing up the top. I like his simple technique of using two saw horses as a support and straddling the wood to start planning on the end. Once you get a foot or so planed, you simply simply push the end of the board against something rigid and using that as a planing stop. In my case it was one of the exposed studs in the wall of my garage…and from what I can tell, the method works great!

Wood Automotive tire Bumper Automotive exterior Gas


Long story short, I got 3 boards planed (mostly) and a nasty blister and had to sharpen my blades in the middle which chewed up more time than wood…buuuut…it's progress and I learned a lot. For more pics and details, click here.

Thanks for looking!
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Day 4: Just Plane Fun

Got some more time in the shop today working on my bench…now that all the boards for the top are cut to length, it was time to start planing and getting things crisp.

I decided to follow the advice of Paul Sellers and try and use my hand plane to smooth out the sides of the pieces to prep for gluing up the top. I like his simple technique of using two saw horses as a support and straddling the wood to start planning on the end. Once you get a foot or so planed, you simply simply push the end of the board against something rigid and using that as a planing stop. In my case it was one of the exposed studs in the wall of my garage…and from what I can tell, the method works great!

Wood Automotive tire Bumper Automotive exterior Gas


Long story short, I got 3 boards planed (mostly) and a nasty blister and had to sharpen my blades in the middle which chewed up more time than wood…buuuut…it's progress and I learned a lot. For more pics and details, click here.

Thanks for looking!
I too am building my first real workbench. I'm happy to see someone else spending hours in the garage planing down the boards. Looks great and look forward to your progress.
 

Attachments

#7 ·
Day 5: Slugging it out

Today was all about slugging it out. I ended up smashing my knuckles against the wall stud I'm using as a brace when I was thinking ahead to the glue-up and not paying attention to how far I was reaching with the plane…then, I promptly sliced another finger on the sharp corner (how did that happen?) of the plank I was working on.

Arm Human body Gesture Finger Wrist

Just a flesh wound…

So, got a little bloody today, but, well, these things won't plane themselves…

Great thing about today though, I sat and thought about what I was doing wrong (specifically about how I took so much material out of one of the planks yesterday), and how to fix it. So, I resolved to just slow down and use a 3 foot long level to try and make sure I didn't take too much off one spot.

You know what? It took longer, in a way, because I was taking less off with each swipe, and therefore had to do more movements, but…as the wood came off in tiny (I hesitate to use the word "gossamer" like Roy Underhill, but darn it that's what it reminded me of) little whisper thin curls, I had time to check my work with the level. I ended up doing less work and getting it square faster!

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Composite material Hardwood

Not bad for only 2 days experience at hand planing! And for the record, they really are flush with each other, it's what they're sitting on that's not level…

I then realized I should just plane the faces of as many planks as I could until I got to one I could plane the edge and get it ready for the glue up. Turns out, I got 5 pieces prepped for the circular saw and 2 planks ready for the glue. That means I have 4 planks ready to glue (which is a major milestone as I plan to build the top out of 4-piece chunks, to keep things manageable!).

Rectangle Wood Wooden block Natural material Hardwood

One section, ready for gluing…only 3 more to go…and they're right underneath.

I'm over halfway with getting the planks planed on the faces. I hope that with my new technique I'll be able to speed things up a bit tomorrow. Well, I guess what I'm doing is not really a technique, but more like…I'm getting a better feel for the wood and a better realization of which way the grain runs. And by the way, wow is it easier to go with the grain!!!

So what's next? More of the same! Yay… Tomorrow I'll be able to prep the rest of the 2×4s (I hope) and maybe by Saturday, I can start cutting and gluing. If (and that's a big if) that schedule holds, by Saturday or Sunday I'll begin work on the base while other parts dry!
 

Attachments

#8 ·
Day 6: Short on time...

Didn't get nearly what I wanted accomplished today. Must have jinxed myself yesterday by posting a proposed timeline for the next few days.

All in all, I got 3 of the remaining 2×4s face-planed today, with minimal fuss and sweat and time. In fact, I got them smooth in less than 30 minutes ( a new record for me!). Which is good, because that was about all the time I had to spare today!

Sadly, that meant there was really no need to take pictures. I have continued to make progress though--there are only 3 of the 2×4s left (finally) to face-plane. That means tomorrow, I can set up the old Porter Cable circular-plane, er, saw, and cut off 1/2" from the edge of the boards that need it, then finish off the remaining few with the hand plane.

With all my talk about patience, you may be wondering why I'm suddenly thinking about timelines and what to do tomorrow, etc. Well, the Sky Fort will be shipping next week (!!) and the clock is running. When that bad boy gets here it will be all hands on deck to put it together (sometime before it starts snowing!)...I'd like to have the workbench done so we can, I don't know, have a place to work.

No pressure…
 
#9 ·
I want a SkyFort too! You have a great motivator to get that work bench completed - maybe your wife will give you a hand as practice for the SkyFort - you know, working together and coordinating your moves and making allowances for height and strength differences while still at ground level.
 
#12 ·
Day 7: Progress and lots of it!

Got a lot done today. My wonderful wife got up with the kids this morning to allow me to get down early to the garage and continue work on the workbench.
My first task was to rip the 2×4s for the top by about 1/2" to make nice flat edges, which will (in theory) make a nice smooth, sharp edged top.

(Just a note to my fellow Lumberjocks--this is just copied from my wordpress blog which is riddled with pictures which took me a long time to edit and post…so since I have to resize them all smaller for this blog since it doesn't auto adjust image sizes, if you want to see the pictures, just click here)

First step was to set up the jig I imagined weeks ago, using scrap poplar and clamp it down.

The poplar strips were just the exact width neccessary to put the circular saw base on it and have the blade land exactly 1/2" from the edge. No measuring, no fuss. Awesome. And…even better, after getting all safe with glasses, ear plugs and a dust mask, it worked!

Biggest pile of sawdust I've ever made, and there were 2 of these! What fun!
So yeah, about an hour or so later, and two massive piles of sawdust (and dusting myself off) I had all the boards ripped. Luckily for me it was pretty mundane. Nothing crazy happened, no accidents, just the tedious clamp, rip, clean, replace board, clamp, rip, clean, etc...

But…I got it done.

So I lined everything up on the temporary workbench and got what you could call a dry fit going. I noticed right off the bat that while the top of the bench may have a nice uniform surface, the underside of said top will be all kinds of fugly. The boards that I had hand planed flat on the edge are about 1/2" too thick compared to the others, and even the ones that were cut with the circular saw are not exactly uniform. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles. I'll deal with that soon enough! 

I figure that as long as the top is nice and flat, the underside of the top can have a bit of play in it. This may give me some issues when mounting the through tenons for the legs, but I'll see what magic I can work then. First up, I had to get the top glued up in sections before the poor little plastic workbench they're on breaks.

So I busted out the Titebond and got my sawhorses level in the garage to each other, covered the ground in newspaper and following methods I've seen in my research, put out a lot of glue and used scrap wood to spread it out. A few nerve racking moments later I had all the boards glued and stacked. I put one f-clamp in the middle, rotated the suddenly heavy mass flat onto the sawhorses, lined up the boards on end and clamped it further from the middle. I worked my way up and down the length, quickly adjusting and clamping until I had this:

I checked and everything from the right side (in the picture above) all the way to within a foot of the left side was nearly perfectly square…then I got to the other end and saw that one of the boards had really warped since I cut it.

Well, that jacked up the first piece nicely. I knew things were going too smooth! After a few moments of cussing and realizng there was nothing that could be done at this point (the glue was already setting up tight), I decided to accept fate and my mistake and just plane it when all is said and done. So, that will be a bit of elbow grease later…but the rest of it looked great!

So, while that first section was drying, I moved on to cut the legs and stretchers (two short for the bottom sides, and two long for the front and back…I'm going topless in the stretcher department and using the Roubo design in Schwarz's book as a guide here…).

Using Roy Underhill's sawing methodI was quickly able to reduce two 8' 4×4s into four 3' 4×4s.

Actually they were about 38" to give me some wiggle room when mounting the top because I know there's going to be issues with the uneven bottom…of the top.

Then I followed suit with the stretchers, and taking another bit of inspiration from The Schwarz, I angled the bed on my circular saw and cut a nice 45* angle on the top of the front stretcher for….wait for it…a sliding deadman!

This was the trickiest cut of all.
And to top it all off, before I went to bed, I went back out into the garage, removed the clamps (that had held the first glue up for roughly 5 hours) and glued up section number two of the top--which came out even better than the first (shocker).

I am immensely satisfied with the amount of progress I made and really look forward to cutting some tenons and mortises and getting down to the nuts and bolts (not really) of this project!!!

(A reminder, if you want to see the pictures, just click here)

Thanks for stopping by!
 
#13 ·
Day 8: Still gluing the top...

To see this post with pictures, please click here!

Nothing nearly so exciting as yesterday's progress for today. I got up early and glued up section number 3 of the top and did nothing else until the early afternoon. That's when section 4 got glued up--the best, smoothest one yet! It was going to be the back of the workbench, but because it looks so nice, I may make it the front!

Then I decided to try my hand at smoothing out the tops of the individual sections to see if that would make it easier on me when I got everything all assembled. And to my surprise and joy, it took less than 10 minutes of light planning and frequent checks with a 3ft level to flatten out an entire section!

I've seen all the great pictures of workbenches at places like Lumberjocks and admired the skill and ability people have in making such nice flat, sharp edged bench tops but…I never thought I'd come close to that myself. Yet, here it is--not nearly perfection (it is my first attempt after all) but for me, it's the best work I've ever created!

However, that doesn't mean that I haven't made plenty of mistakes so far. For instance, I realized last night that I probably should have put all the hand planed edges (resulting in thicker boards, about 3.5") in the middle of the bench and surround them with all the circular saw-trimmed boards (which are all a uniform 3" thick). Then the tennons for the legs would have a nice uniform surface to contact. Now, because I decided (looking down on the bench top) that I want such and such board here, and that one in the front, the hand planed, thicker boards are scattered all throughout the various glued up sections. The result? Nice looking on top, but underneath, she looks pretty ragged.

Will this affect my ability to seat the legs properly? Only time will tell. Maybe by Tuesday.

I can't dwell on it, though. I've got to focus on shaving the sides of the glued up sections for a nice snug fit, planning the tops to get it about as smooth as I can before the top appears as a whole, and assembling the base. That should keep me busy for a while I think.

However, I am left with a bit of a problem. Glue up #2. I admit, it was sloppy.

Not as bad as the first one, but not nearly as nice as the third and nowhere near as nice as the last glue up. So…I don't think I'll have too much problem planning down the high points (the rest of the length of the 4 boards is pretty similar as far as squared up on the top) at the end.

This is the real kicker: click here to see the pictures.

This is the left end of glue up #1, which I originally thought would be the front left corner of the bench. How I let this slide out of square so bad I don't even know (and may not even want to know).

My question to all you more experienced woodwrights out there is what is the best way to fix this? The first plank (farthest to the left) is up about 1/8" over the top of the others. The next, is about that far below the level I want for the top. The next two are back about where the first plank is. I get that I could simply plane the three boards down to meet the lower board…but won't that make the entire top lopsided or will I have to angle it so this side of the bench will just be thinner? Or, is there some way to…I don't know, fill it in to bring it back to level?

This section may end up ultimately against the wall, so as far as ugliness, I'm not all that concerned. No dog holes or mortises for the legs have been cut at this point. So I have a little wiggle room.

I ask you, what would you do?
 
#16 ·
Day 9: Still gluing...and my first tenon!

Note: To see today's pictures click here.

My goal for today was to smooth out the tops of the 4 sections a little (nothing perfect, mind you, that will come later when the top is assembled) and prep them for gluing together.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see how quickly the glued up sections planed with my #4 plane. About 10 minutes per section and they were all nice and smooth, with the exception of the last section, the one with the big gap from my last post. That one was also warped pretty good towards the edge. So, I decided to flip it around (which reversed the direction of the grain of the top for the last 4 billets…but hey, I got 14 others going in the same direction and they're all towards the front). It fit much better that way. There is still that gap to worry about, but I have been getting suggestions from fellow woodworkers and I think I have come up with a solution. I will try it out in the next couple of days….

Then it was on to the sides. I noticed when I dry fit a few sections together that the joint was no where near as flat as I wanted, so I had to take the plane there and shave off the high spots for a bit. As a result, I got into some interesting new positions for planing the sections today, including standing it up against a wall stud in the garage and planing vertical-like, reaching straight up…weird but it worked. Also had to put it on the floor at one point and sit on it in order to plane the end. The glued up sections were just too tall on edge on top of the saw horses for me to straddle it like before. Things are definitely getting interesting, but I've been able to figure out a way around every problem so far. Made another pile of shavings for the fire pit today!

Once satisfied with the fit, I glued and clamped the first 2 sections together (man this thing is getting heavy!). This will dry overnight. I'm getting a good feeling about this. It's looking more and more like a real work piece, not just something I cobbled together!

While half the top was drying, I decided to start work on the base. I figure my first step is to cut the mortise and tenons for the stretchers. Seeing as how I won't know the final dimensions of the top until it's all glued up, I'm not going to work on the short side stretchers. Instead, I know exactly how wide the front and back stretchers will be, so I can go ahead and cut and fit those. By tomorrow afternoon if all goes according to plan, I should be gluing up the entire top and can take an accurate measurement of the width. This way I can ensure that (at least) the front legs will be flush with the top. The back legs I want to be flush, but if they aren't, I'm not going to cry.

So, following the excellent advise of Roy Underhill and Christopher Schwarz (again…sorry to anyone who disagrees with these fine gentlemen, but you're going to see their names referenced a lot in this blog…they are the two bright guiding lights for my woodworking skills going forward) in an episode of the Woodwright's Shop I watched online (click here to see which one) I tackled my first ever tenon!

It only took me about 40 minutes of measuring and trying different saws to realiaze which one worked better. I just don't have the vast array of saws that Roy has in his shop. I have an Irwin 20" hand saw (which laughably I got for free from Menards during a rebate promotion a few months back), a Stanley miter box saw (the one that comes with the plastic yellow miter box), and a few hack saws. Oh, and a door jam saw from Irwin.

Turns out, a hack saw is not the best saw for ripping. It squealed like a cat giving birth to an armadillo. I figured the big Irwin saw was just too coarse for a job like this (after all I used it to cut the 4×4s to length and to cut the 2×4 stretchers to length and while it was very smooth cutting, I thought it was a crosscut saw) so I tried the miter saw. It took forever, but had plenty of teeth to give a fine cut so I was confused (and a little sweaty). I soldiered on (thought about a cold beer) and got about halfway down the cheek before I decided the hellwith this. So I tried the big Irwin out of desperation and it ripped the board easy as eating pancakes. I was amazed, but it left a pretty good cut, actually.

Well, when I went to crosscut the tenon cheek, the miter saw cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Aha! This is clearly a crosscut saw. I had found out a little information about my tools! (yeah yeah, I'm a noob…go ahead and laugh (I did), because I realized I could have just looked at the teeth of the saws to figure out which one should be used for what…after all, I did just finish watching that episode linked above of Roy's show)

So, with that all sorted out, I continued cutting with the two saws and eventually got my first ever tenon!

Granted, it probably would have looked a lot better had I used maple, or well, just about anything by Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4s. But, I had to remind myself, this project is not only about building an inexpensive, stable, sturdy workbench, but about learning as much as I can along the way.

Right about then, the baby monitors went off. So I packed it up for the day and cleaned up my wife's side of the garage. Tomorrow, I'll continue gluing up the top and hopefully cut the matching tenon on the rear stretcher that I started today. Hopefully it won't take 40 minutes, now that I know (sort of) what I'm doing!

So far this build has been amazingly educational. To see the pictures for today, please click here.
 
#17 ·
That's a pretty hefty shaving for a #4 to be taking. Ideally, if you need to remove a lot of wooden order to flatten you'd use a #5 jack with a cambered iron. The added mass helps when you're plowing through that much timber.

Looks like you're making good progress do far. Good time, too.
 
#19 ·
Day 10: Glue up finished, starting on joinery

If you want to see the version with all the pictures, please click here.

I got up with the sun today to get a head start on bench before the munchkins got up. First order of business was to unclamp the 2nd half that I glued up last night. Then, after a quick run with the plane to smooth out the mating faces, I glued up the two halves.

It's now one massive slab of wood where a little over a week ago, it was just a collection of 16 2×4s. This thing is gratifyingly heavy as well. I'm estimating it's at least 150, maybe 160 pounds (the wood along should be about that much, plus all that glue…). It's not going to be fun to play with this thing during the assembly, I can tell that right now.

While I had the glue drying on the top, I decided to try and shim the top thanks to a suggestion I got from a fellow Lumberjock (thanks Robb!). I used one of the thinner pieces of offcut from when I trimmed the 2×4s edgewise (see Day 7) and wouldn't you know it, it fit perfectly! Somehow, the thing was trimmed to a paper thin sliver and widened out to exactly the depth I need. After doing a little happy dance at 5:30am in the garage, I realized that I should be slapping my forehead in disgust instead. Obviously, the piece that fit so perfectly in the…ah…divit?...was the very piece that was cut out of that spot creating the problem in the first place. So, I just corrected my mistake with some glue and clamps.

I have come to realize a BIG takeaway from this project already: I over planned this project and I'm making it harder on myself. For example, the problem slice I just fixed. If I hadn't cut the edges off the 2×4s and just hand planed every board, I would have a much nicer looking bench. The top would be nice (which I think it will be when it's all said and done) and the bottom of the top would have been nice too (like all the other fantastic benches out there). Mine will look a bit…rough…on the bottom. Ah well. It's a workbench, not a Chippendale, right?

Thinking out loud here, the main reason I was planning on using the power tools to rip the edges to width was to make a sharp edge without all the planning. There are a number of knots on the edges (or there were) of the 2×4s that would have required me to plane a LOT to get a flat surface, and even then, now that I think about it, I would have ended up with uneven boards! I know for a fact my planning skills are no where near good enough to plane 16 planks to an even thickness. At least I don't think they are…Hmmm….well at any rate, the Sky Fort looms in the not so distant future and we're going to need a workbench--pretty or not--possibly as early as next weekend depending on how fast and when it ships. Planing the entire thing by hand would push the completion date back to December at my speed!

That's when I heard an odd noise come from outside the garage. I walked to the window and this is what I saw:

After watching my feathered visitors for a few minutes, I realized I was getting hungry…yeah, the one on the left looks delicious! So, it was time for breakfast and get ready for the kiddos to wake up.

This afternoon at nap time I got back to work. The weather here in Wisconsin is absolutely gorgeous. Had the garage doors up and the breeze was perfect. The clamps came off as it had been about 7 hours since gluing the two sections. This thing is rock steady (I'm still not going to do anything stressful with it, turning, etc., until I get 24 under my belt on letting the glue dry) and HEAVY. The top is already pretty darn flat (for my standards at least!). I can tell, thanks to the shim on the right side, the top will not be that big of a deal to flatten with the plane. My hard work is paying off!

So. The dreaded next step. Mortise and tenon time. Following guidance from Roy Underhill and Christopher Schwarz (those two again!?) I marked the dimensions of my tenon from yesterday on the appropriate face of the left rear leg (gotta start somewhere). I decided to use the measurement from Schwarz's Workbenches book, that is the bottom of the stretcher is 5" from the floor. Once I got the lines transferred from the tenon to the leg, I took a deep breath and prepared to cut the mortise.
I don't have access to a drill press or a brace and bit. But I do have a corded drill and a 5/8" paddle bit. So…I gritted my teeth, lined up the drill and started making holes. I originally was going to have through-tenons on the stretchers, but realized (just now!) that doing that will force me to move the short stretchers up or below the long stretchers, making an asthetically ugly bench. That layout certainly wouldn't help a future shelf for bench appliances between the stretchers either.

So, some quick adjustments and I decided to do half-blind tenons (I think that's the right term). The (new) plan is for the tenon to go halfway through the leg. The short stretcher tenon (when it's cut) will do the same thing at a perpendicular angle. If I do this right, then the two mortises should meet in the middle of the leg, without crossing the streams and blowing up the neighborhood. According to the Schwarz, if I make my tneons a hair shorter than the mortise, that meeting of the mortises will provide just the right amount of space for excess glue to pool. That's the idea, at least.

I hollowed out the mortise with the paddle bit as much as I dared and left what you see below.

Next up, I took my chisels and started to shave away the nubs that stuck out into the void, then began to pare away at the mortise walls and creep up on the mortise layout lines. Then continued to shore up the first side…And started to work my way around the mortise, slowly creeping up on the layout lines…

When I was almost there, I checked the fit of the tenon. It was too tight to squeeze in. That's when I remembered my block plane. I figured this would be a good time to break it in. I chamfered the edges of the tenon and test fit the joint a half dozen more times, shaving a little off the tenon cheeks, the mortise walls and everything in-between until…

It FITS! I did it! And as soon as I shouted my excitement, I heard Harrison Ford in my head say "That's great kid, don't get cocky."

Ahem.

However, I had just enough time left in my work period to lay out exactly how long the bench will be after trimming the ends, measure for the other side of the long stretcher and locate where the tenon will be. And the kids started to wake and my excitement could hardly be contained.

I hope tomorrow's mortise and tenon won't take me an hour and a half! Feeling a lot more confident about my skills (such as they are)…as long as I can remember Han Solo's advise and not get cocky and impatient, I feel like this is all going to come together nicely.

To see all the pictures, please click here!
 
#20 ·
Reading your blog, it's strange to see how we overlap. I mean, you're a somewhat younger guy, apparently a fairly recent parent, who digs Roy and The Schwarz, and refers to The Holy Trilogy in everyday conversation. Dude, are you me?

Apart from that, a tool tip - From the photos in your blog, it looks like your chisels have the original factory bevel grind, but not a honed edge. They may seem sharp enough if you're not used to the ridiculous levels of sharpness that woodworkers aspire to. But trust me on this, if you spend a little time to get those chisels sharp, you're gonna wonder how you could ever try to use them any other way.
 
#24 ·
Day 11: Mortises, Tenons, Sharpening, oh my!

Please click here for the version with pictures.

After a few friendly reminders, I realize that it is indeed time to take a break and sharpen my chisels before I continue. I want to make sure the mortises are as sharp and clean as I can make them to ensure a good fit with the tenons. To do that, I need to get rid of the (gasp) factory edge that has so far lived on the tip of my chisels.

To do that I decided to make a little sharpening station, based off of something I saw in Dan's Shop--an awesome resource for an aspiring galoot like me. His version is just gorgeous--and takes up a LOT more space than I have available. So, I decided to make a version of my own with cutoffs from the edge of the workbench 2×4s and a piece of cutoff 1/4" plywood. I use 3 6"x6" tiles for sharpening and while I'd love to have 12" beasties, when I bought them I was on less than a shoestring budget and for 60 cents a piece, I couldn't lose. They are not granite or marble or glass (because I always love sticking my tongue out at purists….no, really just because that was too expensive at $5 a tile and I was still dipping my toes in the hand tool water so to speak and wasn't ready to fully commit) but they get the job done (my planes seem to be sharp enough, at least!).

There's not much to tell with this thing…just a slab of plywood 24" long, about 8" wide. I measured, cut and countersunk holes for #8 1/2" wood screws.

Once everything was screwed down tight, I took my block plane and put a slight chamfer for comfort along the edges (whcih also trimmed the uneven cut that was left on the plywood from a previous project) and used some sandpaper to smooth out the rest. All in all, I think it took me about 20 minutes, 10 of which were spent cutting wood.

Ready for duty. Well, almost, the coarse tile needs another sheet of sandpaper, but the other two are ready!
Now I'm all set for sharpening the chisels and can leave the whole set up together. Even better, when the bench is complete (well, even before that…when the legs are on…) I'll be able to clamp this baby down and use it to finish the bench. I think it's pretty solid for a scrap-together project. And the fit of the tiles is pefect--nothing is needed other than friction. I can fold the sandpaper over the edge of the tile and when it's wedged home, the sandpaper is nice and snug. The blue painter's tape in the above photo is from the last time I sharpened my planes.

And let me tell you, this thing works great! I clamped it to the benchtop because my temporary bench was too wobbly when I tried moving the chisels over the sandpaper. Once it was locked down, I had the chisels sharp and shiny in about 30 minutes.

I had to spend some time with each of the 3 chisels I have to flatten and polish the back first. But once they were shiny, sharp and polished to a nearly mirror finish…(cue George Takei): Oh my!

I now had 3 wonderfully sharp chisels (waaaaay sharper than they were out of the box, which, to my inexperienced eyes was sharper than anything I'd used before to begin with).

That left me with just enough time to tackle another mortise and tenon--this time the right rear leg and the other tenon on the rear stretcher. So I whipped out the trusty Black and Decker woodwrecker and set to work with a 5/8" paddle bit.

Thanks to a long career at an arts and crafts store, I now have the freakish ability to judge whether something is level and square just by looking at it--almost never need to check if I'm drilling straight down. I eyeballed both mortises, for the record and they are good to go. Seriously! This photo is off slightly because I was trying to do it one handed and hold the camera too…

I followed the same procedure as yesterday, namely, slice the walls of the mortise with the chisels and creep up on the layout lines. When I got fairly close, I started dry fitting and shaving the mortise and the tenon to get things nice and snug. And may I say, holy crap those chisels are sharp--they literally went through the wood like a hot knife through butter. I know that's a tired old cliche, but I couldn't think of a better cliche to use…it did not take hardly any pressure at all (unlike yesterday) and the blades just kind of slid down in the mortise on their own. It was amazing!!! Thanks to my fellow Lumberjock Brian for giving me the nudge to sharpen my tools. WOW was it effective. I'll never use dull chisels again! This time it only took me 30 minutes to do what took an hour and a half yesterday!

And the picture says it all:

Tomorrow should be an interesting day. Those sharp chisels turned a sweaty, nerve wracking chore into a real pleasure. I can't wait to tackle more mortises! Bring it, base!
 
#25 ·
Nothing in the world like freshly honed steel, eh? Your response is exactly like mine when I first sharpened my tools, I was just looking for a reason to chisel out a mortise or make a board shine like glass with my smoothing plane.
 
#27 ·
Day 12: More mortises.

(Only one picture for this short update today so I decided to post it here too!)

Nothing special today, just more working on chopping mortises and 3 more tenons…lots of sawing. Lots. But I have to say I'm seeing a little improvement in my abilities to feel when the wood is telling me I'm going to fast or off angle on the saw strokes. It's getting easier to saw too--I'm not putting near as much pressure as I did on the first cut of this project. It feels like I'm hardly pushing the saw at all sometimes, but that's precisely when it cuts the fastest. Crazy.

On the upside, I have 3 legs connected by tennons now! Every joint is getting sharper and tighter. I completed 3 joints today in the time it took me to fit the first one!

Wood Flooring Hardwood Gas Wood stain

So close!

I noticed some twist in the short tenon and I'm trying to decide if the top will straighten everuthing out (with it's own half blind mortises connected to the legs) or if I should add 2 more short stretchers up high on the legs.

I will ultimately have to wait and see what she looks like when I get the last leg and final two stretchers hooked up for the dry fit dress rehearsal. My gut tells me the top will be plenty solid enough to stabilize everything--and the extra tension between the legs may actually help rather than hurt the overall strength of the bench.

Am I way off base on this or am I just getting the halfway self-doubts?
 

Attachments

#28 ·
Day 13: Dry fit the base!

As usual, for the pictures, click here.

Today was very exciting! I decided to finish the base joinery prep once and for all and powered through the last 3 tenons and mortises. I wrapped up with a dry run of the base and I am very happy with the results (though there are a few minor glitches to take care of tomorrow…more on that below).

To begin with, I was not at all thrilled with continuing the tenon cutting. I have been using a makeshift saw horse (2 pieces of offcuts from the 4×4 posts stacked on top of each other on the garage floor) to cut all my tenons and it has been a bear (on my back and my knees…that concrete floor is hard!). I hit on the idea of using my workbench top (duh) and clamping the stretchers to it in order to saw the tenons. It wasn't quite as hard as doing it hunched over or kneeling on the floor, but it wasn't as easy as having a nice face vise either.

Speaking of vises, if you've been following along the comments, David asked me about my vise plans (if you haven't read the comments of previous posts, he's been supplying me with a steady stream of information, advice and encouragement almost from the beginning and has been invaluable to this project! Thanks man!). I have always liked the looks of a leg vise (yup, the Schwarz converted me pretty quick) but if you've been following this blog at all you also know this bad boy is definitely considered budget friendly. Put it another way, the $300 Benchcrafted leg vise (okay, maybe not $300 but it may as well be if it's over about $10) is just right out. Enter the Lumberjocks projects page.

I saw this project by Don Broussard, and knew it was the one for me. While I'm not going to announce I will flat out copy his design, it is going to heavily influence my own. The idea is just genius. I'm still in design phase though, but I should have it wrapped up and ready to start constructing either this weekend or early next week after the base is ready to go (with the exception of the vise, of course). I have the wood. I have the hardware. I have the epoxy. I just need the time. And the design. That might help.

Anyway, back to the base. To get to the vise stage, I realized I had to get the tenons and mortises done on this thing.

So I went at it and clamped the last few stretchers down, hacked out the tenons (I shouldn't say that, because these were the best tenons I've ever made, but it went so much faster that it felt like I was just hacking the wood off!) and grabbed the Black and Decker Woodwrecker. These mortises simply flew by, because they jut up into the other mortises I already drilled, cut, and chopped out. Before my work-time was up today, I had finished all the tenons and all the mortises. That was good sweaty fun, and the garage smells like pine!

So, the last step before the kids got up was…drum roll please…the dry fit of the base! After some gentle persuasion with the rubber mallet (making a proper wooden mallet is one of the first projects on my list to complete when the bench is done), here is what I had:

Right away I noticed why I thought some of the stretchers were twisted (as mentioned in a previous post or two). I didn't have the silly things seated properly. After getting every joint as tight as they would go, I noticed that the twist was all but gone. I had been worried that my eyeballing the measurements for alignment when I cut the mortises had let me down, but no, my record of near perfection still holds.

What I did notice though, was that at every joint the tenons touched and wouldn't seat properly. There was about 1/8" gap on the side stretchers from being fully tight in the joint. Turns out I made things a little too tight. So, instead of chopping off 1/8" from the ends of the short stretchers, I did a little half-lap joint inside the mortises so the short stretchers would sit on and around the edges of the long stretchers (which I would rather have the full length embedded in the mortise…why? I don't know, just seemed right). I only got one side done today and forgot to take pictures, so tomorrow I will do the other and get some photos to show you exactly what I mean.

Once the joints are tight though, things can really get moving. Next up would be prepping the base to receive the top--measuring the final height of the legs, tracing out the mortise points on the underside of the bench top, and cutting…sigh…more tenons and mortises.

At that point I will work on the vise for a change of pace and hopefully start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (hopefully it's not the headlights of the truck delivering the Sky Fort, because I'm not done yet!)


 
#29 ·
Day 14: Trimming Tenons and legs...

For all the pictures, please click here.

Note: This was supposed to have been posted Saturday the 25th…

I wasn't sure how much time I'd have today to work on the bench so instead of charging ahead with measuring the height of the legs to get ready for installing the top, I decided to do some more mundane tasks. They still are in general preparation for the top, but I just wasn't planning on doing them first.

Before I get going though, I had mentioned yestrday about having to trim the thickness of some of th tenons to make a tighter joint. This is what I was talking about:

All I did was take my crosscut saw and cut out a notch the appropriate thickness, then take my chisels and pop off the waste. It took all of about 10 minutes to get all the joints cut like this. Once I had everything trimmed, I put it all back together and now every joint is crisp and tight. That's much more satisfying to me. I mean, yesterday I thought to myself, self, you know this is going to be just a workbench right? It's going to get abused and used and left out here int he garage…so what if 3 of the 4 joints are off by about 1/16"?

But no. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities. While it may not be much to look at in the end anyway, I will at least have no small amount of pride in the fact that there was nothing short of throwing money at the darn thing that will have made it better. Cause throwing money at a problem always makes it better. Right?

Anyway, once I was happy with the tenons and joints, I turned to another task I've read a lot about. Beveling the edges on the bottom of the legs. I understand that doing this prevents the wood from catching on stuff as you move the bench around the shop or what not. That's the last thing I want is to have a splintered leg after all this work. So I whipped out the block plane and went to town. I figured 45* would work, so I drew a line 1/4" from the edge on the all sides and the bottom to give me guides and started to slice it off.I was quite pleased with how well this Douglas fir sliced. It was much easier to work with than the SPF that the 2×4s are made of have been. Within about 30 minutes or so, I had all four sides of all four legs beveled:

Next, it was on to figuring out how to connect the top. My original idea was to borrow the technique from Chris Schwarz's Workbenches book and do half-blind mortises into the bottom of the top, then drill and peg from the front. But, his top is a lot bigger and a lot more evenly dimensional than mine (another lesson learned!).

The other option I've been kicking around since I started designing this thing was to use the Ian Kirby method of a cross-piece under the top at the legs, bolted through the top. In fact, I've received a number of suggestions so far that entail that method. With the irregular bottom surface of the top that I have, I think that's ultimately the best choice.

Now that the decision is made, how to go about doing it? I mean, look at it…I flipped it over for this picture and you can see the slight bow, which I'm confident I can flatten out, but look at all the uneven 2×4s left after my over-engineering!

That's when I hit on a solution. Tack one of the little strips cut off earlier to make the top (that's some payback right there) to the side and make a level platform from the front to the back to rest another cut off piece of 2×4. This way the cross piece that will be under the top from front to back will support the whole top, not just the high points (or low points, I guess, once the top is flipped back over):Then rest a piece of 2×4 offcut which happens to be the right length on it and trace the profile of the raised portion of the bottom.

Then once I have the profile, cut it! If I've done this correctly, I believe I'll have a nice tight fitting support under the top that I can drill through and bolt down. The actual cutting out of the pattern will have to wait though…daddy duty called!
 
#30 ·
What about making a kind of dado in the few board that are deeper. You don't need to flatten the entire bottom although it might help in keeping the top stable.

You will find a lot of how to in the serie of Paul sellers :
How to Build a Workbench
http://paulsellers.com/2012/06/making-your-workbench/
including how to make a poor man router with a chisel to make the wide dado in part 11 Apron Receses.

If I am right Paul sellers planed the bottom before the top.
 
#32 ·
Day 15: Working on the top.

For the version with pictures, please click here.

After reviewing tye excellent advice I recieved from David and Sylvain, I decided to scrap my overly complicated idea to trace the profile of the top onto a 2×4 rail and just chop out the space required to fit the rail into the top. Genius.First things first, I made the measurements and drew lines to show me where to cut and which planks needed trimming. Only 6 or so of the planks needed to be cut. I pulled out the crosscut saw and went to town.

Nice and easy now…
Since I was only cutting a few planks and only going about 5/8" deep it only took a minute or two to get the paralell cuts I needed. Next I took my 1" chisel and rubber mallet and just hacked out the waste.

The chisel really chopped out the waste fast!
Easy! So much faster than carving the profile in the rail. Thanks again guys!

A nice snug fit that had to be persuaded with the mallet to find it's home. Tight enough for my likes but not so tight it will never come out. Perfect!

Then I shifted sides and moved on to the other side. I followed the same formula and within 10 minutes or the the other rail's bed (is that the right phrase for this?) was chopped out and ready.

Since I had a little more time (thanks to my wonderful wife, for taking the kids!) in the shop I went ahead and figured the height I needed for each of the legs (taking into account how kuch each side was bowed and assuming I have to remove 1/8" at most to level the top) and measured and cut the legs to length. This was actually pretty easy. These cuts were easily the most accurate of the whole project. I didn't take any pictures because, well, they just look like a piece of wood with a straight edge… Slow and steady pulls, light pressure on the saw and keep it level…the saw did all the work. Nice.

I think I'm getting close to being ready for assembling the base…feels like only another day or two away…
 
#33 ·
Day 16: Winding sticks and cutting rail tenons.

For the pictures, please click here.

I had some time this morning with kids out playing with chalk in the driveway to make some winding sticks for when I level the top (hopefully this week!). I had some 1×2 dimensional poplar left over from a project that was never used (8 feet of it sitting in the garage taunting me to make something out it). So I found the two ends were the straightest and cut 2' off each end.Then I used a chisel to bevel the edges slightly.

I tried to figure out a creative way to clamp them to the bench so I could use the hand plane to flatten them identically, but it proved to be too challenging watching the kids.

I think it will work, I just need to be able to focus.
I had to constantly keep an eye on the boards to keep the whole thing from falling off the edge of the bench top. When I got distracted by making sure my daughter didn't eat some chalk, it fell off the bench with some suppressed cussing. Once I get the leg vise built, this will be no problem. Until then I will just get them as flat as possible and wing it!

Here they are, as flat as I can get them without a vise to hold them. I think they are pretty darn close to being comlpetely flat and will have to do when I level the top. Perhaps I'll tune them up before I finish leveling the top to make sure everything is nice to start.

Of course, I still need to figure out a way to get some dark color on one of the sticks to give me some reference when I'm sighting down them. I was thinking an inlay or…maybe a magic marker. We'll see what I come up with. I have at least a few days before I will attach the top so I've got time to ponder this little side problem.

For the main event today, I needed to cut the last tenons for this project on the rails that will support the top. This was brutal because the wood I had leftover and was planning to use was full of knots (which was why I cut them off in the first place). So…I tried to cut the tenons just like I did all the others, to no avail. The knots were throwing my saw blade all over the place. So I resorted to using a chisel and hacking them out. Surprisingly enough, the ends (the only part you will see on the completed bench) look fine. The rest of the tenons…well, there's no pictures for a reason. They are structurally sound, but ugly. Good thing all the ugliness will be hidden inside the leg posts.

Next, following Ian Kirby's design in the Landis book, I measured the first leg for bridle joints. And that's when my daughter woke up screaming from her nap. She got her little foot caught in the rails of her crib and nap time and shop time were over for the day!

That was all I could get accomplished today, and I'm glad I have gotten this far, because we received word today the Sky Fort cometh! This morning we were told delivery would be Wednesday, but then we got a call a little while ago that informed us the delivery will be next Tuesday (the only day of the week a semi-truck with a lift gate is available in our area…wow this is serious!). So. I have a set deadline. The bench must be assembled by next Monday.
 
#34 ·
Day 17: Cutting the Bridle Joints...

To see the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have much time in the shop today, but I do what I can, when I can!

There was just enough time to cut the first two bridle joints in the legs (I did both the left rear and left front legs). I had put the layout lines on the first one yesterday so I was ready to grab the saw and have at it today. But man, my arm is sore! That 4×4 Douglas Fir is no joke to cut a 3.5 inch by 1 inch chunk out with handsaw and chisels.

It took me the better part of an hour to get the first one cut well enough that I could set the rail in there for a dry fit:
Not bad…could be better (it always could!) but for the first try not so bad as I thought it would be. No where near what you see online and in books but I'm working on it. I had to cheat a little with this one too. I got the two sides cut all the way back (sort of…the saw was jumping all over the place and I ended up with three kerfs on one side and two on the other) it all cleaned up with a chisel but man it was labor intensive. That still left the middle to be hogged out. I tried my coping saw and everything else for that matter, to no avail.

Out comes the Black and Decker Woodwrecker. Chucked in a 1/2" paddle bit and one long drill and the whole chunk popped right out. I thought to myself, I have a system!

So on the next leg I used the hand saw to make the long cuts--this time I'm pleased to report the kerfs went from a 3-2 ratio to a 1-2 ratio. Much cleaner--I took my time and focused on steady strokes, not power. Actually, I had to, my arm was burning from cuttin gthe first one! However, when I tried to run the dril to cut the waste out, it started to wake up the baby--power tools are a big no no with open windows!
That's when I hit on the idea of using a chisel to chop it out. And wouldn't you know it, 5 minutes later I had a much nicer bridle joint ready to go, with no power tools. Should have thought of that the first time. Even with the drill, it took longer because I had to go back and clean up the mess it left in the wood.

Right! On with leg number 3 and a new system. I stepped up and worked on the long cuts again and got everything ready for the chop out when both kids woke up for good. So, time to pack up, clean up and take one picture of the legs as they stand right now.

You can see the first cut on the left, the 2nd next to it, the last leg to be cut is next, and the one I cut just before quittin' time is last on the right. With any luck, I should have these beastly joints cut tomorrow. With my new system, I may have time enough to dry fit everything and drill for the pegs!

I can feel assembly just around the corner. That's why I'm also feeling so frustrated--it feels like the last week has taken longer than the whole project to day because these massive joints just take so much time and energy (and sweat!) to hack out. I hope that means (1) I'm doing it right, and (2) it will be strong. I would assume if I was able to go fast (given my current experience and skill set) it would be wrong and/or structurally weak.
Either way, it's time for a cold one and to hope that tomorrow brings the end to these bloody big joints. Oh wait--I forgot, I also have to prep for the leg vise (doh! Another cut clean through the 4×4 for the leg vise chop guide). So maybe assembly is another two days away. Maybe I'll have it glued up and assembled by the weekend. That would give me just enough time to level the top and get the leg vise and deadman on board before the Sky Fort arrives…maybe…no pressure…
 
#35 ·
Day 18: The big dry fit!

To see the picture heavy version of this post, please click here!

Very excited today because I got a lot accomplished! I ended with a dry fit of the entire bench and started work on the leg vise.

To get started, I finished sawing the bridle joint on the last leg…best cuts to date!

Straight as an arrow!
When the last legs were cut, I grabbed the rubber mallet and chisels and hacked out the joints in about 10 minutes. So much faster than before!

Sharp chisels are a joy to work with…I can't believe I did all that work on the house a few months back without sharpening…
Once I was satisfied with the last bridle joints and the right rail was trimmed for a nice fit, I took a deep breath and began to assemble the entire base. A little grunting and some gentle persuasion by the mallet and first one side…

Then the other….

Then the entire base was assembled in the garage!

And I was feeling so good about how well everything fit together, I couldn't resist putting the top (man that thing is heavy!) on for a dry run. I figured it would be the most difficult part, trying to align the slots cut for the rails underneath and all, but it clunked together with a satisfying thud in seconds! I all but did a jig right there in the garage!

My vision takes form for the first time!
I really like the way the right front bridle joint came out (the last one I cut)...looks awesome to me!

I did that!??
The other joints don't look this nice, but I kind of like the rougher look too--it is a reminder that I can do great work in the future.

I noticed as well that the bench has a bit of rake side to side (front to back this thing is rock solid) and it kind of made me nervous. Then I realized that none of the joints were glued or pegged, so of course it's going to wobble a bit. Then I slapped my forehead in a "Coulda had a V-8" moment when I realized that the top wasn't bolted on yet and that will add a lot of stability. I think, therefore, that it will be sufficiently stable…but if it's not, I'm already getting plans in my head to add some stretchers lengthwise under the top between the legs. They will be about 3.5" under the edge and probably hidden from view most of the time. That's if they're needed…

Once I celebrated for a few minutes I began to drill holes in the legs to secure everything with oak pegs during the glue up. I really didn't have time to do the final glue up today so rather than rush the process I decided (with a mighty effort) to be patient and take everything apart to be prepared for tomorrow. Something told me to just call it quits for today (it may have been the cold beer in the fridge). I knew I would be pressing my luck with the napping kids if I decided to press on. But man, I really wanted to glue up…oh well, I guess I'd rather grit my teeth and wait than be called away in the middle of the process. I'll just relax tonight and assemble and glue tomorrow.

However I did have a few more minutes left so I decided to figure out how to attach the leg vise. While I haven't quite settled on a final design yet, I do know the position where it's going to be. With that knowledge, I made some measurements and set about cutting a slot for the parallel guide that will live at the bottom of the right front leg.

I made the slot 3.25" long by 5/8" wide and hogged out the space with a 1/4" paddle bit and the Black and Decker Woodwrecker. I then used a combination of chisels and small modeling files (which I acquired during my wooden model ship building days) to smooth out the slides and make everything shipshape, so to speak.

With that accomplished I said about finding wood for the parallel guide itself. I had some half inch cutoff of the oak trim that I made when my wife and I were remodeling bathrooms when we moved in to our new house in June:

There's still some finishing nail holes in these strips…I think it gives them character. And I love re-tasking the wood. One side is finished, the other isn't. When it's dry, I will plane it all down smooth anyway and strip the finish.
Conveniently enough I had 4 of these strips and realized if I glued them together lengthwise I would have a perfectly sized parallel guide made out of oak.

This became the last act of the day. When they were glued, though, I noticed they were a little cupped, so I applied extra clamps and scrap 2×4 pieces. I think they straightened out nicely! They will still need to be planed for uniformity, but I think I'll have a nice little oak plank tomorrow.As a bonus, the Saran Wrap stuff that you see there was actually from 2 huge roles of the stuff that the movers left behind when they packed up all of our belongings at the old house. I realized (only today!) that this stuff is great for gluing wood because the glue will not stick to it and it keeps everything clean.

Also I pulled down the wood that will become the leg vise chop from the overhead lumber storage and noticed the sticker on it says that it was made in Sweden… Since I have the same wood (just a wider plank) for the sliding Deadman, I'm thinking of calling it the sliding DeadSven….

Tomorrow is the big day, then! I will have the entire time the kids are napping to glue up the base!! I will, however, have to go out tomorrow or Friday to pick up hardware to attach the top to the base and then on Friday hopefully this thing will be finally put together…then the real fun can begin.

With that in mind, I think it's time for making a list of the future tasks connected to the bench that need to be done for it to be 100 percent complete:

1. level the top with the hand plane

2. make and attach the leg vise

3. make and attach the sliding DeadSven (ha!)

4. cut notches in the top to attach the Hickory planing stops

5. make said Hickory planing stops

6. drill holes for bench dogs

7. make said bench dogs from dowels and blocks of wood

8. finishing (this one I haven't quite figured out exactly how I'm going to proceed…still researching what type of finish-if at all-I'm going to apply to the bench when all is said and done)
Obviously, this list is subject to change and is not in any particular order. And all of these things are secondary to actually assembling the bench because once the Sky Fort has arrived that will take up the majority of my shop time for the forseeable future!

To see the picture heavy version of this post, please click here!
 
#38 ·
Day 19: Assembling the base!

To see the version with pictures, please click here.

Finally, the day I've been working towards for the last three weeks or so has arrived! I was able to successfully glue up the base and insert the oak pegs. It is no longer a collection of parts and sawdust…it is now a collection of glued together parts and sawdust!

I started by making 4" pegs out of the 3 ft long oak dowels that I had purchased with the initial lumber investment. I haven't really worked with ok so to speak other than gluing up the guide for the leg vise yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the dowels cut and the nice dense feeling of the wood. Completely different than the light SPF, not nearly as dense as the hickory, but nice.

I really like red oak. I cut quite nice. I love trying new (to me) wood!

Once I had the first 8 dowels cut I proceeded to glue up the left side of the bench and hammered in the dowels with a little more glue using the rubber mallet. Although the mallet let me down after the fifth peg. It bound up a bit inside the hole and the mallet just bounced off the peg to no effect. I tried to put a piece of scrap 2×4 over the peg and pound on that with the mallet, but that did nothing but drive peg sized holes into the pine 2×4 (LOL and dammit at the same time). So, I brought out the big guns--my great-grandfather's hammer. He was a blacksmith in Indiana around 1900 and made this hammer, which has since been passed down from father to son until it reached my dad who put a new handle on it back when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Now it's in my toolbox and today was the day I had to repair it (at long last--it's been getting progressively looser on the handle since our first house in Florida, nearly 10 years ago and I kept promising myself I would fix it but never did). I will be doing a write up on the hammer and it's story in a seperate blog entry, because while I did get a little sidetracked with that project today, I don't want to sidetrack this entry…

With the hammer repaired and ready for action, I glued up the right side of the bench.

I then proceeded to attach the rear stretcher to the left side. It was at this point that I almost made a fatal mistake. I was about to attach the right side to the rear stretcher and had the glue in place and the pieces in my hand when I heard a voice in my head say, "If you do this…you won't be able to attach the front stretcher (well, not easily)."

So I quickly grab the glue and got the two sides ready for the front stretcher and begin to put it all together at once up everything at once. That's when the entire right side of the bench (suspended in the air over the left side on the ground) decided it didn't want to really be attached to the left, stretchers or no stretchers. That's right, the glue in the joint was causing the…snug…fit to be downright tight. I reached for the hammer--only to realize it was behind me resting on the bench top on saw horses…a good 10 feet away. I could literally see the glue drying on the half fit joint, so I pivoted and grabbed for that hammer and swung back just in time to catch the right side of the bench as it tried to swan dive off the stretchers. Yeah, that got an enthusiastic visit by the hammer. I was notpleased with that performance. It was my own fault--I will remember the next time I'm doing a glue up to have the mallet or hammer within arm's reach while you are assembling. That was almost a catastrophic failure on my part. I had to ignore the fresh sheen of sweat on my palms I developed as a result of my sudden kick into high gear to finish the glue up, but finally everything went together and all the dowels were hammered home.

And there's the hammer that made it all happen today…

Once the base was finally glued and drying, I put some saran wrap on top of the rails and then placed the top on top of it to make sure that the base dried in the proper position (in my gluing, I got a bit carried away in the moment and there was some…spillage…).And I have to say for those of you keeping score at home that the bench is now literally 200% (that's right, not 100%, not 150%, not 300%--that's right out, like the Holy Hand Grenade--but 200%) more stable than it was yesterday when I attempted the dry fit . The glue and pegs virtually eliminated any racking that is going on…and what little amount of slop that is left I believe will be completely taken care of when I finally bolt the top down to the upper rails. Once complete this thing is going to be really solid.
Stay tuned for the story of how I fixed Herbie's Hammer. In the meantime, bask in the glow of the just born bench!
 
#41 ·
Day 20: Leveling the top is a full body workout.

For the dramatic (or not so dramatic) before and after pictures, please click here.

A busy weekend with the kiddos and my wife happily trumped all other activities (except cutting the grass) for the weekend. But today is Labor Day so…what better way to celebrate than by doing some labor!
I had just enough time to squeeze in some work on the still unfinished bench today. It has been sitting, base assembled and dry, with the top merely resting in place now for 3 days. Time to get back to work.

First up, I used the coping saw to trim all 24 oak pegs just proud of the legs and stretchers.Then I used my 1/4" bench chisel (and sometimes the rubber mallet…can't wait to make a wooden one--the bounce back on this thing is heinous) to trim those pegs flush, or as close as I could get without too much damage to the surrounding wood!Next up, I intend to drill holes for bolts to attach the top to the base, then it's time to level the top! Or maybe level the top first, then bolt it down…hmmm, at any rate, I figured I better sharpen my planes again.

So I did. It was so easy to sharpen them on the bench. Didn't need to clamp the tray at all…friction held it in place! Once the #4 was nice and sharp, I started to shave off the high spots on left side of the bench. It was ugly.

Wow…that's a big gap and a good workout.

That's after 15 minutes of sweaty planing. You can see I have hardly made a dent in the cupping on this half of the bench. Luckily the right side of the bench, where the leg vise will be and where I-being left handed-will do the majority of my work, is pretty flat already! But the left side…whew!

So I kept at it, and kept at it, and kept at it. The shavings and the sweat really flew when I got into a rhythm. A few times the plane struck a knot or the grain reversed on me and the bench actually jumped (the right side began walking around behind me in a semi-circle as a I pushed towards the left side). I was really worried at first that the bench wouldn't work--then I realized two things: (1) the top isn't bolted down yet, so even though it seemed pretty stable, it's not…yet. And (2) when I hit those knots I had a lot of force and momentum behind that hand plane--not nearly the level of of force I will have on a single peice of wood being planed (plus, the bench will be the clamp, not the thing being planed). Hopefully those two theories will come true….but for the time being, they calmed my fears and let me continue the grind.

An hour and a half later….there is a huge pile of shavings on the floor. My hands, shirt, pants, everything is sweaty. Normally I shrug off this kind of drenching because I'm working outside (or I'm working out) and it's just to be expected. But when the tools and the brand new bench-to-be are involved, it's dangerous and disgusting ('cause then I think, "Great, now everything's gonna rust…"). The plane is very difficult to keep straight because my grip is so slippery. I'm getting frustrated. The crazy thing is adjusting itself mid-pass. Halfway down a section of the top, the thing starts to dig in on one side or the other, leaving real ugly gashes that I then have to go back and smooth out after fiddling with the controls. The left-right adjustment arm has always been loose on this plane and I figured it was just a price to pay with Groz--after all, I got two planes for the price of a Hock blade! But it seems when in use for more than about 10 minutes or so of constant planing, the thing just slowly creeps one way or the other, letting the iron turn on itself. Then the chipbreaker started clogging (it's not the best in the world--it's angled instead of straight across where it follows the tip of the iron…I don't know enough to know if that's bad, but my instinct says yes it is…). Instead of continuing to fight the plane and get more and more frustrated, I decide to go zen on this thing and calm down and throw in the towel today. Time for a shower, a beer, air conditioning and one final picture of my so-called progress. That'swhen my spirits rose!

Okay, so I have a long way to go, but that there is starting to get flat!!!

I looked at the before and after pictures…progress! Real progress! Woohoo! Luckily, the right half of the bench already is flatter than what you see here. So, I'm about a quarter of the way across (I just happened to put the winding stick at the end in this picture). Love that smooth-as-glass feel to the wood! But man this is hard work. A better reminder to do a better job of jointing and gluing your wood I don't think I could find…next time…next time.

For the pictures version, please click here.
 
#42 ·
Day 21: More planing...more sweating.

For the picture heavy version, please click here!

Today was all about the grind. Just grit your teeth and push through the burning in your arms and hands. To get going, though I had just had to settle my differences with the onery plane (it caused me to stop prematurely yesterday). I took my time and examined the thing to see what was amiss, because it wasn't acting like this when I was planing the individual planks for the top a few weeks ago.

Then I noticed it--the frog had shifted forward, lifting the iron and everything attached to it a few milimeters. That was allowing wood shavings and chips to get under the blade, reducing performance and making it really hard to get the iron actually out past the sole. Try as I might, the adjustment screws on this thing are just not all that great (I know I know--it's not a top of the line plane and this is what I get). So, what to do? Wallow in self pity and pine away after a Lie-Neilsen or Veritas plane? I think not. Well…maybe just a little. I mean, they are pretty freaking slick…hey, I can dream, right?

Anyway, I grabbed the bastard mill file (that is just about the perfect name for this thing…mostly because that's what I called the frog I was grinding down…) and ground that sucker down. It felt good to release some frustration on this puppy too after yesterday. So within a few minutes, the adjustable (hah!) frog was flush with the mouth of the sole and the iron was fitting much nicer. Score one for me. While I had the file out, I flattened the edge of the chip breaker tood--no since not doing that. Score two for me. I put everything back together and BAM, even better than before. Hat trick.

Back to work, then…Plane the top. Shhhkrt. Shhhkrt. Shhhkrt. Over and over. First diagonal one way, then diagonal the other. Then to the left, then to the right. Then rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Ad infiniutm, ad absurdum.

And then celebrate the quickening pace of real results!

So here was the scene after a half hour today of planing the top. Notice, for the first time, I can't see an easily defined cup on the left side. This is a major milestone for me!

Here is a closeup of the top after some diagonal planing with the #4 pretending to be a jack plane.
An hour later, I had good news! The left and right sides of the bench are now almost totally equal--here is the right side (which only got a few passes with the plane):

If you look closely, the little slice I glued in to the top right corner in this picture is almost gone--the plane nearly erased my mistake from a few weeks ago.
Here is the left at the end of today's session (HUGE difference compared to when I finished the glue up):

Amazing what sweaty and a hand plane can do…
And here is the left 1/4 mark…

Almost equal to the far left side…this is good progress here.
This is the middle:

Getting better…
And the right 1/4 mark…I think it's obvious that the middle 1/2 of this bench is now the worst part. A major improvement from just a few days ago I think.

Finally, here is the right side again, after really hitting it with the plane.

Now we're cookin' with gas!
This is now the control point--I want the rest of the bench to be at least as flat as this side is. It's really getting there. I can't believe it!

And last but not least, here's a picture of the carnage from today's session. Note the nice glossy gleam on the bench (I never noticed that before). The plane is leaving a nice glassy surface now…love it!

Whew…slaughtered some wood in here today!
I'm seriously debating putting the planing of the top on hold until I make myself a jack or scrub plane just to hog off the high points faster now. But then again…I feel I'm almost there with the #4 and while I think the top is perfectly usable now (maybe not for real nice projects--not that I have any in the pipeline) I think another day or two and I might just be done with flattening. I don't know…the internal debate rages.

Please click here to see all the pictures from today's entry.
 
#43 ·
I would seriously consider holding off until you buy/make a jack plane. Bringing down rough stock is what they're made for. You're going to kill yourself with the smoother.

In all honesty though, it's probably more cost effective to find an old Stanley/Millers Falls/Sargent/whatever jack plane and tune it up. It'll take a couple hours of cleaning (minus letting it sit in Evapo-Rust overnight), but you'll have a tool that will last longer than you if you treat it right. Considering how much time and material you would have to put into making a new plane, I think you'll end up ahead buying a used jack. I've seen Stanley #5s at flea markets for ~$20-40, so it shouldn't break the bank.
 
#44 ·
Day 22: Attaching the top!

For the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have a lot of time today, maybe an hour and a half. So, I spent the first hour going at the top again with the #4 plane. I made the executive decision last night to do what I can and call it. In theory, given unlimited energy and time, I could get this top to flat-level with the #4. By the time my kids are in college.

Or, I could do the best I could, get it reasonable (for a first time effort) and bolt the sucker down so it's not a safety hazard any more, since Sara and I are starting work on the Sky Fort in the garage and the workbench will be used as a…workbench. And a drying rack, and a tool bench and on and on. Point is, I wasn't comfortable with the top merely resting on the base, and I didn't want to bolt it down until the top was as good as I was willing to make it. Decision made.

So, after an hour, I got the top within 1/16" of flat/level. I took out the little twist that was left using the winding sticks and there was a sudden moment when I just sighed and said, "It's done."
Does that rule out getting better or different planes in the future and coming back to completely level this puppy? No. In fact, that is probably what will happen. I will, at some point in the future, be doing something that requires a really flat top and realize that my bench is only 98% there. At that point, I will likely stop the project I'm on and flatten the bench once and for all. But, that is then and this is now and I need a stable bench. Now.

Once I wiped the sweat from my eyes, I measured out where I wanted the bolts to go, taking three measurements for each location to make really sure I wasn't going to miss the rail underneath but hit it dead center.

Oh I hope I don't screw this up…
Very quickly, the Black and Decker Woodwrecker showed me why it has that name. Four holes drilled through the top. Nice.

The drill just eats this wood up.
I lifted off the top and finished the holes through the rails underneath lickedy-split. Then it was replace the top and countersink the holes so the 3/8" bolts I got could sit below the surface of the top. The paddle bit was messy--I admit it, I didn't do as nice a job as I should have on the first hole. It was a little ragged, but nothing a sharp knife or sandpaper couldn't tidy up real nice. Hole #2 was just plain ugly. So ugly, you'll just have to take my word for it…I'm too embarrassed to photograph it! The bit wobbled and made a ragged edge. Hmmm. The center had no support. Oops.

So, the light bulb went on over my head and I found one of the 3/8" bits of dowel from the pegs I sawed off a few days back and put it in the remaining holes. The paddle bit went right in and I had 2 smooth countersinks. Why oh why didn't I think of that before starting out?? Ugh.

In truth, the two ugly holes aren't all that bad, and in fact, I don't intend to do anything fancy to fix them--I want to look at them as a reminder to freaking think about stuff like this that I think is simple before I charge ahead. Next time I'm at the BORG I will pick up a 7/8" dowel (and a 1" just in case) and make plugs, then plane them smooth with the top.

With the 8" bolts hammered home, I have plenty of space underneath to attach washers and nuts to secure the top nice and tight, and still have room for seasonal expansion (if I (a) notice and (b) care).

And with that, the workshop session is up! This also marks the point where I have put in 30 hours of work on the bench. Amazing to think that only 30 hours of work and 24 hours of dry time separated the pile of wood I brought home from Menards and the nearly usable bench in the garage right now.

Tonight, Sara and I are going to officially start the construction of the Sky Fort. Awesome!
 
#48 ·
Day 23: Plugs for top anchors.

For the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have a lot of time today between getting batches of Sky Fort parts prepped for installation. But, I did have just enough time to work on plugging the bolt holes in top.

I picked up a 1"x36" oak dowel from the BORG and measured the depth of each bolt hole individually. Then I transferred the measurement to the dowel and used a coping saw to get a nice clean cut.

After some pounding with the rubber mallet (being real careful not to hit the surface of the top for fear of leaving an ugly black mark!) I got the first one to fit with minimal sanding. That says a lot because the dowel was 1" in diameter and I used a 7/8" paddle bit. That was a wobbly hole indeed.

Anyway, once the first one was in, it was just a matter of paring it close to the top with the chisels until flush. Not much to say really. Here's what it looked like when it was all said and done (and I gave it a kiss of 220 sandpaper to smooth the rough spots).

Then it was a pretty quick job on the next one (the other bad hole). The third one was the first of the good clean holes and it took a lot longer. I had to sand the 1" dowel quite a bit for it to fit, but fit it did, nice and tight.

The last one was the hardest of all (and it was the prettiest to begin with).

In the end, I had 4 plugged bolt holes. I think the oak makes a nice contrast to the white(er) pine. Now that the bolts are secured (finally) to the bench with washers and nuts, the plugs complete the top 100% I think.

Next up is the sliding DeadSven and the leg vise…then the planing stops, dog holes…man the list just goes on and on…

Thanks for looking! For the pictures click here...
 
#49 ·
Day 24: Starting the leg vise.

To view the post with pictures, please click here.

Had to start sometime I guess! I didn't do a whole heck of a lot. More like prep work, I figure.

First, I took my 1×6 plank of pine and cut two 36" lengths. The bench is just a hair over 36" tall so the vise will be just off the floor.

Next, I drew out the design I wanted. Nothing too fancy, just a slight curve (I drew it without a compass or round object) and a few straight lines. I decided since I will be gluing the two boards together to make the chop, why not practice bevels by paring down the edge of the top board to 45. I used a trick I saw on am episode of The Woodwrights Shop and measured the thickness of the board (3/4") in from the side. By paring away to the line and the edge, I will make a perfect 45 bevel. In theory.

Then I marked 12" down from the top of the chop for the placement of the whole for the screw.I took some sage advice offered by David a while back and beefed up the hardware from a single 3/8"x10" carriage bolt to a 5/8" threaded rod that is 24" long. Only cost me $5 at the BORG! Score! Getting it to work and making the various parts…that will keep me up at night.

Anyway, with all the pencil work and planning put down, I glued the two sides and clamped it up. So tomorrow I will have a proto-chop ready for shaping. This I think, will be the easy part…

Can I just say how much fun (and how comfortable) it is working on something on the workbench I built from scratch? So rewarding! If I wasn't hooked on woodworking before, I sure am now!
 
#50 ·
Leg Vise shaping part 2

To see the post with pictures, please click here.

I got back to work shaping the chop for my leg vise today. I have had one too many instances of thinking, "mam, this would be a lot easier if I had that vise done…" on various projects in the last fee weeks. Right! Time to get to work!

I spent about 45 minutes paring away the side today trying to match the bevel and shap of the first side I did a while ago.

I think it came out pretty good…

And here it is from a different angle.

Not much to tell about it really--just clamped it to the bench and had at it with chisels and rubber mallet. Slowly the waste came off to the point the block plane became effective.

Last thing I did was to chamfer the upper edges of the chop with the block plane. You can see the results (very slightly) in the above photo. I will apply another bevel along the endgrain…maybe to match the sides or maybe not…either way, its almost time for the decorative carving I'm planning, then installation!

The pictures can be seen here.
 
#51 ·
Looks good Steve, I hope the fir chop doesn't flex too much. And let me shamelessly tell the new readers about the chain leg vise, it can be found here ancorayachtservice.com click on the heading on the top tool bar. Good luck on the bench build. I'll watch your progress.
 
#54 ·
Day 27: Utility Shelf

For the version with pictures, please see this page.

I got a hold of some more quality time in the shop today so I made the most of it by doing something that's been on my short list for about 3 weeks now: building a utility shelf for the bench. Besides being able to store stuff under the bench I think it will look cooler too. Also, I had purchased the materials about a month ago and they've been sitting in the overhead storage, staring at me every time I go into the garage. I got tired of feeling their dejected eyes on me so…

I started by cutting some 1"x2"s to length to fit inside the long stretchers on the front and rear of the bench. I used some speed clamps to hold them in place while I leveled them out and decided how deep I wanted the shelf to be. I decided on having about 1/2" lip all the way around (from the top of the stretchers).Once I was happy with where the rails were situated, I used the drill to put in some pilot holes, then used the impact driver (it's just too much fun not to use, and it's really fast too) to power some screws into place and lock the rails down. I debated with myself whether or not to glue and screw, but in the end I decided just to use screws. If I need to change positions or remove it, it'll be easier with just the screws to remove. Plus, I don't anticipate putting super heavy objects down there anyway. If need be, I can always take it off and add glue later I suppose.

With the rails in place, I pulled down the 1"x4" board I had on hand and started cutting them to length after measuring the width of the shelf front to back all along the length I was pretty surprised to find that it was the same measurement the entire length (18 1/2 inches)! So, after making one test board, I used that as as template and cut 13 more boards. With all 14 cut and the rough edges removed, I proceeded to put them all in place:

That left the little gaps on the sides. Oddly enough, this was on purpose--I wanted to be able to get rid of sawdust, etc., so I planned on leaving gaps at either end to sweep the debris out. But these gaps are too big. Solution? Cut two strips of the leftover 1"x2" and attach in place like the other rails, only lower these rails to the depth of the shelf itself:This effectively cut the gap by about 3/4 and left just a little bit of space (maybe 1/4") for sawdust, etc., to be pushed out.
I also decided (for now) to leave the planks loose, that is, not to nail/screw/glue them down. There are a few reasons for this--first, my measurements (and more importantly, my improving hand sawing abilities) allowed me to get those planks pretty tight fitting--they're not going anywhere without some force. Second, if I need to access the underside of the bench, I can just pop some planks up like this:

And when I'm done, just put them back. If I start having things come off and planks pop up on their own because of weight, then I'll fasten 'em down, but I kind of like this setup. Of course I'll also have to think about how much more rigidity fastening them down will give me, but so far, the bench hasn't started walking…

Here's a shot of the entire bench so far:

For the blog with pictures, please click here.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top