After altering the legs we were able to assemble the bench pretty easily. The build consists of 2 4×4 cut into 4 32 inch legs. 4 2×4 made up 8 runners, 1 4×8 sheet of 3/4in plywood cut to size for the lower shelf and bench top. The top is two pieces laminated and screwed to make a 1 1/2” thick top. 4 3/8 steel rods with 16 washers and nuts make up the 8 stringers. The bench top is edged with 1×2 pine just to dress it up a little. Top is sprayed with 3 coats of poly acrylic sanded between each coat. I may epoxy coat in the future. The rest of the bench is left natural.
Top is birch, the legs are red oak and the runners white oak. I can jump up on the bench and it does not move with all 195 lbs of me on it.

Used the table saw for the first time after installing the new fence. I had to dial in the fence since I did not make any test cuts after installing it last week. The fence was off by a 64th out of the box. After I adjusted the measurement marker it was consistently 1/1000 off from 1 – 12 inches using a digital caliper. Cut the shelf to 24 inches wide and was exact. Now i am happy I replaced the fence.

I have to say the router has to be one of the best all around tools. I used it to trim up the top of the bench exact to each other. I also cut the 4×4 cutouts in the lower shelf and used the router to straighten it. I used it for all the dados.

Still haven’t gotten the planer out, my wife spilled the beans and told me she ordered the stand for it. My switch for the table saw should be hear wednesday, the one I had bought originally is strictly for 220v, I will use the bracket and housing from this one and swap the switch. When I do the electrical upgrade to the house I will rewire the saw to 220v and use the switch then.

So last thursday i went and picked up my new fence. Saturday we installed the new fence and added a new style power switch to the table saw. After doing this we decided to build a new work bench. So off to Home depot we go. Buy 2 4×4 8 2×4’s, peg board, hooks, dowels, inexpensive forester bits, steel rod.

While looking around the tool section i stopped to look at the dewalt planer. They had the 734 as usual but none in a box. I had seen the 735 sitting on the floor under the shelfs but no price. I had seen it there 2 or 3 weeks ago and didn’t see it on the website. had thought about asking the price then but didn’t. So this time I did. Talk about hitting pay dirt, I bought the 735 for less than the 734. I asked for a price check, pointed out that the planer was the higher model, she said the price was 354, I said are you sure, she says that is what it scans in as, i ‘ll take it. My wife looks at me and nods her head take it and run. We pay for everything and I am out the door and loaded.

We get home cut and route all the pieces between sat and sunday. Open the planer and make sure everything is in the box. Have to find an area to put it. the workbench has to be finished then i will have a table to put the planer on temporarily.

Picks to follow.

Case in point, jointing a piece of oak using two push blocks to run the board through, the board exploded the blocks flew away and my left hand went into the blades. I amputated the top of my ring and middle finger and part of my index finger. It could have been worse.

I am on blood thinners so this posed a whole bunch of complications.So I am stressing my fellow jocks, if you are not comfortable with a certain procedure do ita different way.

I am selling my jointer because of this and will continue woodworking after I heal.

Glue up and have some issues, figure I will do a down and dirty trim of top and bottom sections with tendon jig. This is not working so good, have a ridge that shows up in different points. What is going on? Check the saw over again blade is not stoping at 90 it is like 88 degrees. Adjust the stops for 90 and 45. A bit better. Check the tenon jig and has a bit of play, not tailing much so I thought. I adjust the allen screws on the rail for the miter and off we go.

Moral of this is if one thing is off by a 100th it will only resonate thru out the project.

Making the planters that i posted I never noticed that the saw was off, they came out looking real good. Working with close tolerances showed me how far off the saw was.