I have completed the base assembly finally. The stretchers and legs are permanently attached using the drawbore technique. I still have to cut the pins flush and chamfer the edges. I made dowels from an oak board using a dowel plate. What a forearm workout! Other than assembling the base, I have been getting a game plan together for the top and face vise.
The next thing that I need to do is prep the boards for the top. I have cut the boards a little over 6ft. long and will begin hand planing them this week. I looked at the boards this evening and only a couple seem to have significant twist. I am thankful that I had the foresight to get extra boards for instances like this. I should have more than enough to build the top. Once the top is built and everything is set in place, I will be building ashelf into the bottom stretchers for storage of hand tools.
The face vise screws decision is still up in the air. I am beginning to think that I should make the vise screws myself. I am feeling the pressure to get this completed because I want to move on to other “ideas” that I have, but I want to take my time and do it right. I think that by making the screws myself, I will be learning another woodworking skill. Only time will tell.
Well, that’s what has been going on in my shop so far. I have been putting together a post that I will post at the end of this series with tell all pictures and mistakes that I have made for the education of others. Here is my advice for newbies like myself. “Do not try and cut a 5/8 mortise with a 3/8 mortising chisel.” I only have a 3/8 chisel and have been building this bench with only hand tools except for ripping boards on the table saw. I didn’t want to buy the chisel since I already had the 3/8 one. This was a bad idea. It is super time consuming to tune the mortises if done like I did. Now I know better! “Do as I say, not as I do.”
-- A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. ~Benjamin Franklin
3 comments so far
Mike
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141 posts in 282 days
posted 263 days ago
Very nice. Looks good
-- Mike, VT
sIKE
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1094 posts in 653 days
posted 263 days ago
Man that looks sturdy. Most builds I have seen started with the top (upside down) and then they build the base and flip it over. Here I can see the base without the top and it just looks massive like a Right Guard on the Offensive line….very tough to move.
Can’t wait to see the next post!
-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"
cylis007
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55 posts in 368 days
posted 263 days ago
sIKE.. I built the base first because I already have a table and I wanted to practice hand planing before building the top. It has been a lot of work, but I feel a lot more comfortable with the hand planes. The only drawback I have realized with building the base first is that it takes up floor space without providing a utility like having a table top that you could use. Thanks for the comments!
-- A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. ~Benjamin Franklin