A Workbench's Progress #7: The Base Begins

Well, the next phase of the workbench project is now under way. I went to a local lumber yard the other day (the real thing, not a box store—I learn pretty fast) and picked up enough southern yellow pine to build the base. I’ll have to give these guys credit – they take care of their customers. Even though the yard crew was busy loading up 18-wheelers, they had time for me. When I told the “guy inside” what I was building, he wrote on the pull ticket, “PICK GOOD”. The yard guys let me pick through the pile (or part of it) to find the better stuff. It wasn’t perfect, being #2 common, but MUCH better than the “premium” stuff from Home Depot. I got a few extras just in case I don’t get it all right the first time (no Norm here!). Total cost: $39.38.

Back at the shop, I skip-planed the 2×4’s down to get a smooth gluing surface, and cut the pieces for the feet and legs to rough length:

You’ll notice that one of the foot groups and two of the leg groups consist of three boards instead of two. These will comprise the center group, and are wider to accommodate 2” mortises from the left and right. Judging by some of the end grain, I need to re-arrange the combinations somewhat. Next I’ll glue the individual pieces up, using biscuits for alignment. Due to my limited number of clamps, this will probably take a over a week (one set per night). Of course, this slow pace allows me to get in enough honey-do’s to keep my brownie points at an acceptable level. This will be followed by clean-up and squaring of all the pieces.

More as this progresses.

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle