Installment one, Thanks to the trailblazers and some basic layout and preliminary thoughts
This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.
I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).
A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.
I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.
I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.
This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.
I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).
A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.
I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.
I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.