Kamusta ka Gary? Sabi ko na nga ba at may bumubulong sa iyo kung ano isusulat mo dyan. hehehe. Just the same, nagagalak ako at kahit papaano ay naipapakita mo at naipaparamdam ang pagmamalasakit mo sa mga kapwa mo LJ. Try to translate that for me without any help ;-) Just the same, I appreciate it very much. Salamat.

As for the others, I am still counting on you. A blog is supposed to be participatory. This will be a lot more informative and educational if you all can share your experiences.

The box joints for the top were probably the toughest I’ve encountered in my otherwise short woodworking bio. Never really knew if I can until I tried…

After dry fitting all the joints, glued it all up. I really don’t know if the dowel on the joints is necessary. Did it anyway. What’s your call? BTW, those bamboo chopsticks have yet to fail me and they are cheap. Perfect size (1/4”) for the kind of application I use them on, carcass construction.

I want the aprons to sit flush with the legs on both sides but I forgot to take measurements of the final width of the legs before glue up above. So I made two full notches on one side and partial notches on the other side and I also trimmed the mating part on the leg uprights….

At this stage, this is how it looked like with the top mounted on the legs…

I then laid out the lines for the dado to accept the crossmembers, routed it and squared it up with a chisel…

The crossmembers installed. I also added the feet at this stage. I used the cut-offs from the 2 X 3 crossmembers. Routed a stopped groove following the thickness of the legs. Put some glue and slipped it on…

I also drilled holes through the crossmembers (the top’s and the leg’s). 3 bolts sized 5/16” secured each leg to the top. It aint wracking no more.

It is not finished yet but already serving its purpose. This is the reason why I constructed my bench with its top plush with the legs. It is very easy to work on an edge of a large workpiece clamped to a bench like in the picture below. Here, I am trimming the edges of the plywood top to fit the rabbets…

The first layer of the plywood top glued and doweled..

I never really intended to dowel and glue the top layer but the contact cement I used to attach the second layer to the first layer failed when I applied stain on it. The plywood ends curled up. At this point, I was too lazy to take out the top layer and redo it besides there might be areas that the contact cement had not failed yet. Taking it out might damage one or more plies of the plywood. The wood filler made the top look bad. It made the gap more noticeable.

I then drilled a hole for a 3/4” pipe vise. That’s a US$2.00 forstner bit on my drill.

The pipe vise on. I will probably drill another hole on one end. Sort of an end vise. I don’t know about dog holes though. I still do not have a need for it. Time will tell….

It is already stained and varnished. Still have not taken a picture though.

I hope you enjoyed the ride…. like I did!

Time to pick up where we left off. Finished with the legs and stretchers. Time to build the top. Nothing similar to any bench I’ve seen posted on LJ so far. Doubled up 3/4” marine plywood on rabbets cut on 2” X 6” hand cut box jointed aprons. It won’t win any beauty contest but cost effectivity wise and practicality wise, it is hard too beat. Plus it gave me the practice that I need and a big confidence boost that I really can do it. And I think GaryK is also getting his TAGALOG/PILIPINO sharpened as well by commenting in it. I appreciate it very much Gary.

The 2×6 had a bow of about 1/4”. I trimmed close to the lay out line with a portable power planer…

Straightened it out with a router. The router’s base rode on the straight edge of a 1/4” X 24” X 96” sheet of fiber cement board. Did the same on the other length of 2 X 6. Then with the router’s edge guide riding the just cleaned up edge, straightened the opposing edge of the workpiece.

I then put one over the other, let the router’s edge ride the edge of the workpiece on top like so…

...and made several passes to rout the rabbets. I did not see this split when I bought the 2 X 6’s. Fixed it up with dowels. Free beer to the first one who could say what I use for dowels.

Cut the workpieces to the desired lengths and then laid out the lines for the box joints.

I exercised great caution when I made these cuts. Made sure that they are on the waste side. A real bummer to make it on the wrong side. I used a coping saw to cut most of the waste out. Cleaned them up with a chisel.

The very trying part was fitting the joints. Nibbled on the tight parts with a chisel, smoothed it out with a piece of sandpaper then test fit. These went on till I find the fit acceptable to my taste. Final tweaking came when all the joints are dry fitted. By the way, the rabbets really tried my patience. I failed to take into consideration the depth of the rabbets. I have to repeat and cut each end of the joint 3/8” longer. I ended up with top 3/4” shorter and 3/4” narrower than I originally intended it to be.

I’ve made mitered box joints for 2 door jambs and a window sash by hand but this I got to say is the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far. And it is by far the most rewarding…

Antayin ang susunod na kabanata…. ;-)

Nice to see you again. Welcome to the third part of my series. I’ve noticed that I am getting many reads. OK I stand corrected. I mean views. :-) I hope you find it interesting. I am dedicating this series to all the beginners out there. I hope that this may serve as an inspiration to you that it can be done. A few basic tools and a lot of determination and resolve would do it. Ok enough of the rant and on with the work.

After completing the M & T work on the legs, I thought it is not that difficult at all. It is well within my realm. I thought why not raise the ante to make it even more exciting. I decided to make a pocket screwed double mortise/tenon joint for the stretchers.

I layed out the lines on the legs. The mortises are 1 1/4” long 3/4” wide and 1” deep. I think. And again, used my router with an edge guide. I then placed the necessary stops and plunged away. I was too busy with the job at hand that I forgot to take pictures how i did it :-( ....

I then transferred the layout lines to the stretchers as in the picture above. With a speed square clamped on the workpiece, aligned the tip of the bit with the lay out line and chewed most of the waste out. I then used a hacksaw to cut close to the line….

Then chiseled out the waste on the middle. (Does anybody know what to call that part?).

Here is how it looks after taking most of the waste out …..

I then rounded out the corners with a chisel and sandpaper…...

Voila! I now have a double mortise and tenon joint….

I then dry-fitted the legs and the stretchers. I am sorry. I again forgot to take pictures. Rest assured it really did happen. It’s tough to be the actor, the director and the crew. ;-) Marked the holes where the bolt will pass through and drilled the hole…..

Because my bit is not long enough to reach the pocket hole in the stretcher, I drilled to maximum depth disassembled the legs and the stretchers and continued on …..

So far, so good. Hope to see you again in my next installment.

It is very functional but the limitations are obvious. I gotta build something better…..

The LEGS:

From a piece of 2” X 4” X 8’, I cut

1.) 25 1/2” lengths – 4 pieces for the leg uprights
2.) 14” lengths – 2 pieces for the top crosspieces
3.) 21” lengths – 2 pieces for the bottom crosspieces

I used my router to true up the edges riding the only straight edge I have around, a carpenter’s square. After routing one edge of the these eight pieces, I used the router’s edge guide to true up the opposing edges. Final width came to 3 1/2”.

After truing up the edges, I laid out the lines for the mortises. If I remember right, the mortise is about 2 1/2” X 3/4” wide X 1 1/2” deep.

I chewed most of the waste out with my US$100 drill press and a 1/2” bit….

Cleaned the jaggedness with a chisel…..

This is how it looked like after I am done with the chiseling…..

Then routed the mortise to final dimension. Eight in all. To speed up the process a little, I drilled all eight mortises first, then the chiseling, then the routing and the final step was to square up the mortises with a chisel. I did it in a three step process so as not to tax my router. It is fast becoming my favorite tool. Sorry folks, I forgot to take a picture of the finished mortises. I

I would have fabricated a jig to do the mortises. I just can’t find the right material. The router’s edge guide served the purpose. I just Flipped the workpiece to work the other side. It was tedious work and I had to be very careful so as not to allow the router to dig into the workpiece the wrong way.

Then, I also used my router to make the tenons. I again forgot to take a picture how I did it. I clamped a speedsquare on the workpiece aligned the tip of the router bit on the lay-out line and plunged away.

One of the legs assembled. Not bad eh?

More to come….

My father saw me struggle with what I was doing. He just watched and went about his ways. He was the kind who’d let you discover and find it out for yourself. But I was not making any progress and maybe to prevent me from hurting myself any further….He said “Son whatever it is you are doing to that piece of wood will probably take a lot less effort, will probably be more accurate, will probably be done faster and most probably be a lot less painful too if you keep the workpiece immobile”.

Fast forward to Lumberjocks.Drooooooooooooool!Those workbenches are magnificent. Fine furniture to build fine furniture. Perfect combination. Gotta have one. But there is one hitch. My conscience told me “manila boy you’re a mere mortal. You can’t afford any of those pretty benches! Cost is a formidable constraint for me. So is the size of lumber that will fit in my car as well as the size of my shop.

No plans. Built on the fly. Hand-cut box joints. Doubled up plywood top on rabbets. Mortise and tenon joinery on the legs. Tenoned stretchers pocket screwed to mortises on the legs.

Materials (cost me about P3,000, US$75):

2 pcs – 2” X 4” X 8’ Tanguile S4S for the legs
1 pc – 2” X 4” X10’ Tanguile S4S for the legs
2 pcs – 2” X 5” X 8’ Tanguile S4S for the top
1 pc – 3/4” 4’ X 8’ Marine Plywood

Tools:

Handsaw
Coping saw
Hammer
Chisels – 1 1/2”, 7/8”, 1/2”, 1/4”
Planes – Stanley # 3, Stanley Block
Router – 1/2” X 2” straight bit
Drill Press – 1/2” bit
Jig Saw
Portable power planer

I hope you will all stay tuned.