# My First Workbench



## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 1*

After debating with myself for the past 6 months or so, I finallly decided on a design and got the nod from my CFO to go buy the lumber (it helps that my local Menards had a sale on everything in the store, including lumber). I won't go into all the details and back story on the blog here, I'll reserve that for my full up woodworking blog over at:

vaughtwoodworks.wordpress.com

Feel free to visit that site for all the details, more photos, my thoughts, etc. I will endeavor to post pictures and keep an abbreviated work journal here (just to save myself hassle. I set up the Wordpress account last month and I just can't bring myself to update 2 blogs of the exact thing).

So, that said, this is my first workbench, heavily influenced by Chris Schwarz and his famous Workbench book (also from the ever popular Scott Landis book as well). Since this is my first big project, and I haven't really established myself as a woodworker to the finance department (which is critical for my continuance in this hobby!!!) I needed to accomplish a few things with this work:


do it right, and make it look good
do it inexpensively (not neccessarily cheap, per se)
make it last
make it suitable to typical homeowner DIY projects, not just woodworking
establish my "street cred" so to speak with the CFO to pave the way for future work (and tools!)

With those goals in mind, I came up with the following design:


36" high
6' long (to fit the available space in my garage/workshop
27" deep (again, to fit space)
laminated 2×4 top for weight, stability and $$$
4×4 post legs for same reasons
all wood construction (drawboring with oak pegs)

I want to include a leg vise and I'm still working on the design for that one. I just now saw a project here on LJ that showed a DIY leg vise that looks like it will fit the bill (don't have a link because I clicked away too fast by accident, now I have to find it again to study in detail). I don't have $300 to spend on a vise so this will be homebrewed. I realize with the all wood construction I have set myself a HUGE challenge but I feel confident that if I take my time and have patience, I can do it

I'm also fascinated by the sliding deadman and want to try my hand at one of these and some homemade benchdogs. So, all in all this thing will be very much cobbled together from inexpensive wood (when I can slip in a board here or there at the BORG when shopping for other stuff for our reno projects  ) and I can promise you she won't be the prettiest girl at the dance but she'll be mine and I hope to learn a whole lot from this experience.

If I'm lucky, you might get a few laughs out of it (for all you more experienced lumberjocks) or pick up a few lessons from my (inevitable) mistakes (for you fellow noobs).

So, Day 1 was all about hunting/gathering. I went to Menards and got the lumber (after an hour of sorting through their bins), glue and oak dowels and hauled it home. After careful sorting and stacking, here's the workbench so far:










You'll notice I have some of it (the stretchers and other scrap) stored above the garage door: the previous owner (we've lived here about a month) put that little storage jig there and I had no idea what to do with it until today! I lucked out in that the previous owner (who also built the place 17 years ago) loved wood: all the paneling, trim and doors are solid oak…we have lots of scraps and leftovers in the garage for me to play with now!

So, that's it for day one--if you want to read more see vaughtwoodworks for more pics and details. Gotta skip town for the next few days for my wife's class reunion and bring the kiddos to visit the grandparents, so the wood can rest and acclimate while I'm away. Next week I will work on jigs to prep the wood, and hopefully start getting things rolling! I can't even describe how excited I am, I have a whole list of projects I'm ready to work on once the bench is done…


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 2 The cross cut jig*

I'm letting the wood acclimate to the garage a bit and focus on other tasks around the house before we head to my wife's class reunion.

But, I did manage to make a nifty little cross-cut jig for my circular saw to prepare for trimming the 2×4s to length for when I build the top.

For details and pictures, please click here.

Can't wait to get started on the top!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*How I learned to stop worrying and love the miter saw*

OOOH I had fun today! After a few days off visiting relatives, I was finally afforded time back in the shop today and spent that time cutting the 2×4s to make up the bench top. I broke out the new miter-saw (well, new as of 2 years ago…) cut all 16 2×4s to rough length (73"). Once I finish the glue up, I'll trim the top to length with the circular saw.

Here's the result:









To see the details and my comments on the Harbor Freight 10" compound miter saw, click here.

Also got my hand planes in shape and ready for working on the bench in the next few days.

As always, thanks for stopping by!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 4: Just Plane Fun*

Got some more time in the shop today working on my bench…now that all the boards for the top are cut to length, it was time to start planing and getting things crisp.

I decided to follow the advice of Paul Sellers and try and use my hand plane to smooth out the sides of the pieces to prep for gluing up the top. I like his simple technique of using two saw horses as a support and straddling the wood to start planning on the end. Once you get a foot or so planed, you simply simply push the end of the board against something rigid and using that as a planing stop. In my case it was one of the exposed studs in the wall of my garage…and from what I can tell, the method works great!










Long story short, I got 3 boards planed (mostly) and a nasty blister and had to sharpen my blades in the middle which chewed up more time than wood…buuuut…it's progress and I learned a lot. For more pics and details, click here.

Thanks for looking!


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## RustySpur (Aug 13, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 4: Just Plane Fun*
> 
> Got some more time in the shop today working on my bench…now that all the boards for the top are cut to length, it was time to start planing and getting things crisp.
> 
> ...


I too am building my first real workbench. I'm happy to see someone else spending hours in the garage planing down the boards. Looks great and look forward to your progress.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 4: Just Plane Fun*
> 
> Got some more time in the shop today working on my bench…now that all the boards for the top are cut to length, it was time to start planing and getting things crisp.
> 
> ...


Hey thanks! It may not be as glamorous, accurate or fast as a circular saw but I'm finding (so far…we'll see when my hands are all blistered up) it much more rewarding to do it 70/30 hand tools to power tools. I mean, technically I should have cut all the planks to length with the hand saw, but…that miter saw had been staring at me in the box for 2 years now, all sad that no one had opened it up yet and I just couldn't pass it up.

Thanks for stopping by!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 5: Slugging it out*

Today was all about slugging it out. I ended up smashing my knuckles against the wall stud I'm using as a brace when I was thinking ahead to the glue-up and not paying attention to how far I was reaching with the plane…then, I promptly sliced another finger on the sharp corner (how did that happen?) of the plank I was working on.









Just a flesh wound…

So, got a little bloody today, but, well, these things won't plane themselves…

Great thing about today though, I sat and thought about what I was doing wrong (specifically about how I took so much material out of one of the planks yesterday), and how to fix it. So, I resolved to just slow down and use a 3 foot long level to try and make sure I didn't take too much off one spot.

You know what? It took longer, in a way, because I was taking less off with each swipe, and therefore had to do more movements, but…as the wood came off in tiny (I hesitate to use the word "gossamer" like Roy Underhill, but darn it that's what it reminded me of) little whisper thin curls, I had time to check my work with the level. I ended up doing less work and getting it square faster!









Not bad for only 2 days experience at hand planing! And for the record, they really are flush with each other, it's what they're sitting on that's not level…

I then realized I should just plane the faces of as many planks as I could until I got to one I could plane the edge and get it ready for the glue up. Turns out, I got 5 pieces prepped for the circular saw and 2 planks ready for the glue. That means I have 4 planks ready to glue (which is a major milestone as I plan to build the top out of 4-piece chunks, to keep things manageable!).









One section, ready for gluing…only 3 more to go…and they're right underneath.

I'm over halfway with getting the planks planed on the faces. I hope that with my new technique I'll be able to speed things up a bit tomorrow. Well, I guess what I'm doing is not really a technique, but more like…I'm getting a better feel for the wood and a better realization of which way the grain runs. And by the way, wow is it easier to go with the grain!!!

So what's next? More of the same! Yay… Tomorrow I'll be able to prep the rest of the 2×4s (I hope) and maybe by Saturday, I can start cutting and gluing. If (and that's a big if) that schedule holds, by Saturday or Sunday I'll begin work on the base while other parts dry!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 6: Short on time...*

Didn't get nearly what I wanted accomplished today. Must have jinxed myself yesterday by posting a proposed timeline for the next few days.

All in all, I got 3 of the remaining 2×4s face-planed today, with minimal fuss and sweat and time. In fact, I got them smooth in less than 30 minutes ( a new record for me!). Which is good, because that was about all the time I had to spare today!

Sadly, that meant there was really no need to take pictures. I have continued to make progress though--there are only 3 of the 2×4s left (finally) to face-plane. That means tomorrow, I can set up the old Porter Cable circular-plane, er, saw, and cut off 1/2" from the edge of the boards that need it, then finish off the remaining few with the hand plane.

With all my talk about patience, you may be wondering why I'm suddenly thinking about timelines and what to do tomorrow, etc. Well, the Sky Fort will be shipping next week (!!) and the clock is running. When that bad boy gets here it will be all hands on deck to put it together (sometime before it starts snowing!)...I'd like to have the workbench done so we can, I don't know, have a place to work.

No pressure…


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## Kookaburra (Apr 23, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 6: Short on time...*
> 
> Didn't get nearly what I wanted accomplished today. Must have jinxed myself yesterday by posting a proposed timeline for the next few days.
> 
> ...


I want a SkyFort too! You have a great motivator to get that work bench completed - maybe your wife will give you a hand as practice for the SkyFort - you know, working together and coordinating your moves and making allowances for height and strength differences while still at ground level.


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## DrPuk2U (Feb 15, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 6: Short on time...*
> 
> Didn't get nearly what I wanted accomplished today. Must have jinxed myself yesterday by posting a proposed timeline for the next few days.
> 
> ...


Steve, You might want to think about gluing up the flattened 2×4s before trimming them to length. In my experience, gluing up that many billets and getting them all lined up perfectly is a bear. Easier to do the best you can, then trim both ends with the circular saw.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 6: Short on time...*
> 
> Didn't get nearly what I wanted accomplished today. Must have jinxed myself yesterday by posting a proposed timeline for the next few days.
> 
> ...


@ Kay yeah the Sky Fort is great motivation! We can hardly wait! As for working together, I hit the jackpot when I married Sara…she's 6' and was an all-American volleyball star in college and coached college vb too…she's about the strongest woman I've ever met (which means shes dangerous lol). We work great together, she tells me what to do and I do it! Seriously, we make a good team, we just recently ripped up 2 bathrooms, a laundry and entry
way in our new house, put in tile and paint and fixtures, etc…yeah, I think I'll keep her 

@ Ric, yup, I thought about that….after I made all the cuts! I had to do something if just to be able to move these things around without smashing stuff in the garage. Right now they are a little longer than final size. I still have to trim them up…and, when I glued up the first chunk of 4 boards, I made the mistake of not aligning them 100% so one ended up 1/2" long on one side and short on the other. Oops! Definitely some trimming in the future…but, live and learn! This is my first big project and it's a hoot, mistakes and all!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 7: Progress and lots of it!*

Got a lot done today. My wonderful wife got up with the kids this morning to allow me to get down early to the garage and continue work on the workbench. 
My first task was to rip the 2×4s for the top by about 1/2" to make nice flat edges, which will (in theory) make a nice smooth, sharp edged top.

(Just a note to my fellow Lumberjocks--this is just copied from my wordpress blog which is riddled with pictures which took me a long time to edit and post…so since I have to resize them all smaller for this blog since it doesn't auto adjust image sizes, if you want to see the pictures, just click here)

First step was to set up the jig I imagined weeks ago, using scrap poplar and clamp it down.

The poplar strips were just the exact width neccessary to put the circular saw base on it and have the blade land exactly 1/2" from the edge. No measuring, no fuss. Awesome. And…even better, after getting all safe with glasses, ear plugs and a dust mask, it worked﻿!

Biggest pile of sawdust I've ever made, and there were 2 of these! What fun!
So yeah, about an hour or so later, and two massive piles of sawdust (and dusting myself off) I had all the boards ripped. Luckily for me it was pretty mundane. Nothing crazy happened, no accidents, just the tedious clamp, rip, clean, replace board, clamp, rip, clean, etc..﻿.

But…I got it done.

So I lined everything up on the temporary workbench and got what you could call a dry fit going. I noticed right off the bat that while the top of the bench may have a nice uniform surface, the underside of said top will be all kinds of fugly. The boards that I had hand planed flat on the edge are about 1/2" too thick compared to the others, and even the ones that were cut with the circular saw are not exactly uniform. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles. I'll deal with that soon enough! ﻿

I figure that as long as the top is nice and flat, the underside of the top can have a bit of play in it. This may give me some issues when mounting the through tenons for the legs, but I'll see what magic I can work then. First up, I had to get the top glued up in sections before the poor little plastic workbench they're on breaks.

So I busted out the Titebond and got my sawhorses level in the garage to each other, covered the ground in newspaper and following methods I've seen in my research, put out a lot of glue and used scrap wood to spread it out. A few nerve racking moments later I had all the boards glued and stacked. I put one f-clamp in the middle, rotated the suddenly heavy mass flat onto the sawhorses, lined up the boards on end and clamped it further from the middle. I worked my way up and down the length, quickly adjusting and clamping until I had this:

I checked and everything from the right side (in the picture above) all the way to within a foot of the left side was nearly perfectly square…then I got to the other end and saw that one of the boards had really warped since I cut it.

﻿Well, that jacked up the first piece nicely. I knew things were going too smooth! After a few moments of cussing and realizng there was nothing that could be done at this point (the glue was already setting up tight), I decided to accept fate and my mistake and just plane it when all is said and done. So, that will be a bit of elbow grease later…but the rest of it looked great!

﻿So, while that first section was drying, I moved on to cut the legs and stretchers (two short for the bottom sides, and two long for the front and back…I'm going topless in the stretcher department and using the Roubo design in Schwarz's book as a guide here…).

Using Roy Underhill's sawing methodI was quickly able to reduce two 8' 4×4s into four 3' 4×4s.

Actually they were about 38" to give me some wiggle room when mounting the top because I know there's going to be issues with the uneven bottom…of the top.

Then I followed suit with the stretchers, and taking another bit of inspiration from The Schwarz, I angled the bed on my circular saw and cut a nice 45* angle on the top of the front stretcher for….wait for it…a sliding deadman!

This was the trickiest cut of all.
And to top it all off, before I went to bed, I went back out into the garage, removed the clamps (that had held the first glue up for roughly 5 hours) and glued up section number two of the top--which came out even better than the first (shocker).

I am immensely satisfied with the amount of progress I made and really look forward to cutting some tenons and mortises and getting down to the nuts and bolts (not really) of this project!!!﻿

(A reminder, if you want to see the pictures, just click here)

Thanks for stopping by!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 8: Still gluing the top...*

To see this post with pictures, please click here!

Nothing nearly so exciting as yesterday's progress for today. I got up early and glued up section number 3 of the top and did nothing else until the early afternoon. That's when section 4 got glued up--the best, smoothest one yet! It was going to be the back of the workbench, but because it looks so nice, I may make it the front!

Then I decided to try my hand at smoothing out the tops of the individual sections to see if that would make it easier on me when I got everything all assembled. And to my surprise and joy, it took less than 10 minutes of light planning and frequent checks with a 3ft level to flatten out an entire section!

I've seen all the great pictures of workbenches at places like Lumberjocks and admired the skill and ability people have in making such nice flat, sharp edged bench tops but…I never thought I'd come close to that myself. Yet, here it is--not nearly perfection (it is my first attempt after all) but for me, it's the best work I've ever created!

However, that doesn't mean that I haven't made plenty of mistakes so far. For instance, I realized last night that I probably should have put all the hand planed edges (resulting in thicker boards, about 3.5") in the middle of the bench and surround them with all the circular saw-trimmed boards (which are all a uniform 3" thick). Then the tennons for the legs would have a nice uniform surface to contact. Now, because I decided (looking down on the bench top) that I want such and such board here, and that one in the front, the hand planed, thicker boards are scattered all throughout the various glued up sections. The result? Nice looking on top, but underneath, she looks pretty ragged.

Will this affect my ability to seat the legs properly? Only time will tell. Maybe by Tuesday.

I can't dwell on it, though. I've got to focus on shaving the sides of the glued up sections for a nice snug fit, planning the tops to get it about as smooth as I can before the top appears as a whole, and assembling the base. That should keep me busy for a while I think.

However, I am left with a bit of a problem. Glue up #2. I admit, it was sloppy.

Not as bad as the first one, but not nearly as nice as the third and nowhere near as nice as the last glue up. So…I don't think I'll have too much problem planning down the high points (the rest of the length of the 4 boards is pretty similar as far as squared up on the top) at the end.

This is the real kicker: click here to see the pictures.

This is the left end of glue up #1, which I originally thought would be the front left corner of the bench. How I let this slide out of square so bad I don't even know (and may not even want to know).

My question to all you more experienced woodwrights out there is what is the best way to fix this? The first plank (farthest to the left) is up about 1/8" over the top of the others. The next, is about that far below the level I want for the top. The next two are back about where the first plank is. I get that I could simply plane the three boards down to meet the lower board…but won't that make the entire top lopsided or will I have to angle it so this side of the bench will just be thinner? Or, is there some way to…I don't know, fill it in to bring it back to level?

This section may end up ultimately against the wall, so as far as ugliness, I'm not all that concerned. No dog holes or mortises for the legs have been cut at this point. So I have a little wiggle room.

I ask you, what would you do?


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## Robb (Aug 18, 2007)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 8: Still gluing the top...*
> 
> To see this post with pictures, please click here!
> 
> ...


You could scab in a piece in the void on that second piece in. Once it's glued in, then plane it flat. Otherwise, you'll sacrifice quite a bit of thickness if you bring the other pieces down to meet that misaligned one. Just my .02.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 8: Still gluing the top...*
> 
> To see this post with pictures, please click here!
> 
> ...


You know, I could use one of the thinner cutoffs from when I trimmed the edges of the 2×4s with the circular saw…you might be on to something! Thanks for replying! I knew I'd be able to get some help here.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 9: Still gluing...and my first tenon!*

Note: To see today's pictures click here.

My goal for today was to smooth out the tops of the 4 sections a little (nothing perfect, mind you, that will come later when the top is assembled) and prep them for gluing together.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see how quickly the glued up sections planed with my #4 plane. About 10 minutes per section and they were all nice and smooth, with the exception of the last section, the one with the big gap from my last post. That one was also warped pretty good towards the edge. So, I decided to flip it around (which reversed the direction of the grain of the top for the last 4 billets…but hey, I got 14 others going in the same direction and they're all towards the front). It fit much better that way. There is still that gap to worry about, but I have been getting suggestions from fellow woodworkers and I think I have come up with a solution. I will try it out in the next couple of days….

Then it was on to the sides. I noticed when I dry fit a few sections together that the joint was no where near as flat as I wanted, so I had to take the plane there and shave off the high spots for a bit. As a result, I got into some interesting new positions for planing the sections today, including standing it up against a wall stud in the garage and planing vertical-like, reaching straight up…weird but it worked. Also had to put it on the floor at one point and sit on it in order to plane the end. The glued up sections were just too tall on edge on top of the saw horses for me to straddle it like before. Things are definitely getting interesting, but I've been able to figure out a way around every problem so far. Made another pile of shavings for the fire pit today!

Once satisfied with the fit, I glued and clamped the first 2 sections together (man this thing is getting heavy!). This will dry overnight. I'm getting a good feeling about this. It's looking more and more like a real work piece, not just something I cobbled together!

While half the top was drying, I decided to start work on the base. I figure my first step is to cut the mortise and tenons for the stretchers. Seeing as how I won't know the final dimensions of the top until it's all glued up, I'm not going to work on the short side stretchers. Instead, I know exactly how wide the front and back stretchers will be, so I can go ahead and cut and fit those. By tomorrow afternoon if all goes according to plan, I should be gluing up the entire top and can take an accurate measurement of the width. This way I can ensure that (at least) the front legs will be flush with the top. The back legs I want to be flush, but if they aren't, I'm not going to cry.

So, following the excellent advise of Roy Underhill and Christopher Schwarz (again…sorry to anyone who disagrees with these fine gentlemen, but you're going to see their names referenced a lot in this blog…they are the two bright guiding lights for my woodworking skills going forward) in an episode of the Woodwright's Shop I watched online (click here to see which one) I tackled my first ever tenon!

It only took me about 40 minutes of measuring and trying different saws to realiaze which one worked better. I just don't have the vast array of saws that Roy has in his shop. I have an Irwin 20" hand saw (which laughably I got for free from Menards during a rebate promotion a few months back), a Stanley miter box saw (the one that comes with the plastic yellow miter box), and a few hack saws. Oh, and a door jam saw from Irwin.

Turns out, a hack saw is not the best saw for ripping. It squealed like a cat giving birth to an armadillo. I figured the big Irwin saw was just too coarse for a job like this (after all I used it to cut the 4×4s to length and to cut the 2×4 stretchers to length and while it was very smooth cutting, I thought it was a crosscut saw) so I tried the miter saw. It took forever, but had plenty of teeth to give a fine cut so I was confused (and a little sweaty). I soldiered on (thought about a cold beer) and got about halfway down the cheek before I decided the hellwith this. So I tried the big Irwin out of desperation and it ripped the board easy as eating pancakes. I was amazed, but it left a pretty good cut, actually.

Well, when I went to crosscut the tenon cheek, the miter saw cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Aha! This is clearly a crosscut saw. I had found out a little information about my tools! (yeah yeah, I'm a noob…go ahead and laugh (I did), because I realized I could have just looked at the teeth of the saws to figure out which one should be used for what…after all, I did just finish watching that episode linked above of Roy's show)

So, with that all sorted out, I continued cutting with the two saws and eventually got my first ever tenon!

Granted, it probably would have looked a lot better had I used maple, or well, just about anything by Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4s. But, I had to remind myself, this project is not only about building an inexpensive, stable, sturdy workbench, but about learning as much as I can along the way.

Right about then, the baby monitors went off. So I packed it up for the day and cleaned up my wife's side of the garage. Tomorrow, I'll continue gluing up the top and hopefully cut the matching tenon on the rear stretcher that I started today. Hopefully it won't take 40 minutes, now that I know (sort of) what I'm doing!

So far this build has been amazingly educational. To see the pictures for today, please click here.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 9: Still gluing...and my first tenon!*
> 
> Note: To see today's pictures click here.
> 
> ...


That's a pretty hefty shaving for a #4 to be taking. Ideally, if you need to remove a lot of wooden order to flatten you'd use a #5 jack with a cambered iron. The added mass helps when you're plowing through that much timber.

Looks like you're making good progress do far. Good time, too.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 9: Still gluing...and my first tenon!*
> 
> Note: To see today's pictures click here.
> 
> ...


I had no idea what I was doing…it chattered across the board and I adjusted the knob, thinking I was raising the blade, but as you can see in the photo, it went lower. The next stroke went incredibly smooth resulting in that thick curl. Talk about a surprise! I hardly had put any effort into it and could not for the life of me figure out how that happened. That's when I realized I was facing the othe direction--one of the baby monitors had gone off and I had turned around to check it. After I lowered the blade (by accident) I had approached the wood from the other direction without thinking. Only, this time, I was planing with the grain, not against it. The result, a big honking sahving! That made me nervous about taking too much off so I started paying a lot more attention to the blade depth….amd the run of the grain


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 10: Glue up finished, starting on joinery*

If you want to see the version with all the pictures, please click here.

I got up with the sun today to get a head start on bench before the munchkins got up. First order of business was to unclamp the 2nd half that I glued up last night. Then, after a quick run with the plane to smooth out the mating faces, I glued up the two halves.

It's now one massive slab of wood where a little over a week ago, it was just a collection of 16 2×4s. This thing is gratifyingly heavy as well. I'm estimating it's at least 150, maybe 160 pounds (the wood along should be about that much, plus all that glue…). It's not going to be fun to play with this thing during the assembly, I can tell that right now.

While I had the glue drying on the top, I decided to try and shim the top thanks to a suggestion I got from a fellow Lumberjock (thanks Robb!). I used one of the thinner pieces of offcut from when I trimmed the 2×4s edgewise (see Day 7) and wouldn't you know it, it fit perfectly! Somehow, the thing was trimmed to a paper thin sliver and widened out to exactly the depth I need. After doing a little happy dance at 5:30am in the garage, I realized that I should be slapping my forehead in disgust instead. Obviously, the piece that fit so perfectly in the…ah…divit?...was the very piece that was cut out of that spot creating the problem in the first place. So, I just corrected my mistake with some glue and clamps.

I have come to realize a BIG takeaway from this project already: I over planned this project and I'm making it harder on myself. For example, the problem slice I just fixed. If I hadn't cut the edges off the 2×4s and just hand planed every board, I would have a much nicer looking bench. The top would be nice (which I think it will be when it's all said and done) and the bottom of the top would have been nice too (like all the other fantastic benches out there). Mine will look a bit…rough…on the bottom. Ah well. It's a workbench, not a Chippendale, right?

Thinking out loud here, the main reason I was planning on using the power tools to rip the edges to width was to make a sharp edge without all the planning. There are a number of knots on the edges (or there were) of the 2×4s that would have required me to plane a LOT to get a flat surface, and even then, now that I think about it, I would have ended up with uneven boards! I know for a fact my planning skills are no where near good enough to plane 16 planks to an even thickness. At least I don't think they are…Hmmm….well at any rate, the Sky Fort looms in the not so distant future and we're going to need a workbench--pretty or not--possibly as early as next weekend depending on how fast and when it ships. Planing the entire thing by hand would push the completion date back to December at my speed!

That's when I heard an odd noise come from outside the garage. I walked to the window and this is what I saw:

After watching my feathered visitors for a few minutes, I realized I was getting hungry…yeah, the one on the left looks delicious! So, it was time for breakfast and get ready for the kiddos to wake up.

This afternoon at nap time I got back to work. The weather here in Wisconsin is absolutely gorgeous. Had the garage doors up and the breeze was perfect. The clamps came off as it had been about 7 hours since gluing the two sections. This thing is rock steady (I'm still not going to do anything stressful with it, turning, etc., until I get 24 under my belt on letting the glue dry) and HEAVY. The top is already pretty darn flat (for my standards at least!). I can tell, thanks to the shim on the right side, the top will not be that big of a deal to flatten with the plane. My hard work is paying off!

So. The dreaded next step. Mortise and tenon time. Following guidance from Roy Underhill and Christopher Schwarz (those two again!?) I marked the dimensions of my tenon from yesterday on the appropriate face of the left rear leg (gotta start somewhere). I decided to use the measurement from Schwarz's Workbenches book, that is the bottom of the stretcher is 5" from the floor. Once I got the lines transferred from the tenon to the leg, I took a deep breath and prepared to cut the mortise.
I don't have access to a drill press or a brace and bit. But I do have a corded drill and a 5/8" paddle bit. So…I gritted my teeth, lined up the drill and started making holes. I originally was going to have through-tenons on the stretchers, but realized (just now!) that doing that will force me to move the short stretchers up or below the long stretchers, making an asthetically ugly bench. That layout certainly wouldn't help a future shelf for bench appliances between the stretchers either.

So, some quick adjustments and I decided to do half-blind tenons (I think that's the right term). The (new) plan is for the tenon to go halfway through the leg. The short stretcher tenon (when it's cut) will do the same thing at a perpendicular angle. If I do this right, then the two mortises should meet in the middle of the leg, without crossing the streams and blowing up the neighborhood. According to the Schwarz, if I make my tneons a hair shorter than the mortise, that meeting of the mortises will provide just the right amount of space for excess glue to pool. That's the idea, at least.

I hollowed out the mortise with the paddle bit as much as I dared and left what you see below.

Next up, I took my chisels and started to shave away the nubs that stuck out into the void, then began to pare away at the mortise walls and creep up on the mortise layout lines. Then continued to shore up the first side…And started to work my way around the mortise, slowly creeping up on the layout lines…

When I was almost there, I checked the fit of the tenon. It was too tight to squeeze in. That's when I remembered my block plane. I figured this would be a good time to break it in. I chamfered the edges of the tenon and test fit the joint a half dozen more times, shaving a little off the tenon cheeks, the mortise walls and everything in-between until…

It FITS! I did it! And as soon as I shouted my excitement, I heard Harrison Ford in my head say "That's great kid, don't get cocky."

Ahem.

However, I had just enough time left in my work period to lay out exactly how long the bench will be after trimming the ends, measure for the other side of the long stretcher and locate where the tenon will be. And the kids started to wake and my excitement could hardly be contained.

I hope tomorrow's mortise and tenon won't take me an hour and a half! Feeling a lot more confident about my skills (such as they are)…as long as I can remember Han Solo's advise and not get cocky and impatient, I feel like this is all going to come together nicely.

To see all the pictures, please click here!


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 10: Glue up finished, starting on joinery*
> 
> If you want to see the version with all the pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Reading your blog, it's strange to see how we overlap. I mean, you're a somewhat younger guy, apparently a fairly recent parent, who digs Roy and The Schwarz, and refers to The Holy Trilogy in everyday conversation. Dude, are you me?

Apart from that, a tool tip - From the photos in your blog, it looks like your chisels have the original factory bevel grind, but not a honed edge. They may seem sharp enough if you're not used to the ridiculous levels of sharpness that woodworkers aspire to. But trust me on this, if you spend a little time to get those chisels sharp, you're gonna wonder how you could ever try to use them any other way.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 10: Glue up finished, starting on joinery*
> 
> If you want to see the version with all the pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


By the way, sharp tools are even more important on soft woods. If they're even slightly dull, they crush the wood fibers rather than cut through them.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 10: Glue up finished, starting on joinery*
> 
> If you want to see the version with all the pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


I don't know if I"m you, but I do wear glasses and have dark hair. However I have a goatee and…thanks to a few loooong days recently with the kids now sport The Schwarz's patented (?) scruffy nerfherder look (with shorter hair). And we moved from Fort Worth last year…dun-dun-dunnnnnnnnnn…

Seroiusly, thanks for the nudge on sharpening…that was such an obvious observation, I should have seen it. I mean, I'm more embarrassed that I didn't notice it, than if I were just trying to avoid doing it! I should know better because I got such amazing results with the Groz planes after using the scary sharp method. Out of the box, I couldn't cut cardboard with those things (or hold them, because the screws that hold the totes to the base were installed upside down and the totes weren't even secured!). Now I could probably slice a branch off a tree in the back yard.

The chisels, however, were purchased originally to help me cut some solid oak door jams during our recent reno projects at home. And they worked so well right out of the box that it didn't even occur to me to sharpen them. But now that you mention it, I did get some tear out yesterday towards the end of the mortise cut. I thought it was odd for such sharp chisels, then forgot about it as I realized I had just completed my first mortise…

Like the tag line in my son's favorite tv show says, "I know what we're going to do today!"


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 10: Glue up finished, starting on joinery*
> 
> If you want to see the version with all the pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Wow. The similarities are kinda strange. But yeah, you'll enjoy the hell out of those chisels with a good edge on 'em. Just remember to flatten the backs too.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 11: Mortises, Tenons, Sharpening, oh my!*

Please click here for the version with pictures.

After a few friendly reminders, I realize that it is indeed time to take a break and sharpen my chisels before I continue. I want to make sure the mortises are as sharp and clean as I can make them to ensure a good fit with the tenons. To do that, I need to get rid of the (gasp) factory edge that has so far lived on the tip of my chisels.

To do that I decided to make a little sharpening station, based off of something I saw in Dan's Shop--an awesome resource for an aspiring galoot like me. His version is just gorgeous--and takes up a LOT more space than I have available. So, I decided to make a version of my own with cutoffs from the edge of the workbench 2×4s and a piece of cutoff 1/4" plywood. I use 3 6"x6" tiles for sharpening and while I'd love to have 12" beasties, when I bought them I was on less than a shoestring budget and for 60 cents a piece, I couldn't lose. They are not granite or marble or glass (because I always love sticking my tongue out at purists….no, really just because that was too expensive at $5 a tile and I was still dipping my toes in the hand tool water so to speak and wasn't ready to fully commit) but they get the job done (my planes seem to be sharp enough, at least!).

There's not much to tell with this thing…just a slab of plywood 24" long, about 8" wide. I measured, cut and countersunk holes for #8 1/2" wood screws.

Once everything was screwed down tight, I took my block plane and put a slight chamfer for comfort along the edges (whcih also trimmed the uneven cut that was left on the plywood from a previous project) and used some sandpaper to smooth out the rest. All in all, I think it took me about 20 minutes, 10 of which were spent cutting wood.

Ready for duty. Well, almost, the coarse tile needs another sheet of sandpaper, but the other two are ready!
Now I'm all set for sharpening the chisels and can leave the whole set up together. Even better, when the bench is complete (well, even before that…when the legs are on…) I'll be able to clamp this baby down and use it to finish the bench. I think it's pretty solid for a scrap-together project. And the fit of the tiles is pefect--nothing is needed other than friction. I can fold the sandpaper over the edge of the tile and when it's wedged home, the sandpaper is nice and snug. The blue painter's tape in the above photo is from the last time I sharpened my planes.

And let me tell you, this thing works great! I clamped it to the benchtop because my temporary bench was too wobbly when I tried moving the chisels over the sandpaper. Once it was locked down, I had the chisels sharp and shiny in about 30 minutes.

I had to spend some time with each of the 3 chisels I have to flatten and polish the back first. But once they were shiny, sharp and polished to a nearly mirror finish…(cue George Takei): Oh my!

﻿I now had 3 wonderfully sharp chisels (waaaaay sharper than they were out of the box, which, to my inexperienced eyes was sharper than anything I'd used before to begin with).

That left me with just enough time to tackle another mortise and tenon--this time the right rear leg and the other tenon on the rear stretcher. So I whipped out the trusty Black and Decker woodwrecker and set to work with a 5/8" paddle bit.

Thanks to a long career at an arts and crafts store, I now have the freakish ability to judge whether something is level and square just by looking at it--almost never need to check if I'm drilling straight down. I eyeballed both mortises, for the record and they are good to go. Seriously! This photo is off slightly because I was trying to do it one handed and hold the camera too…

I followed the same procedure as yesterday, namely, slice the walls of the mortise with the chisels and creep up on the layout lines. When I got fairly close, I started dry fitting and shaving the mortise and the tenon to get things nice and snug. And may I say, holy crap those chisels are sharp--they literally went through the wood like a hot knife through butter. I know that's a tired old cliche, but I couldn't think of a better cliche to use…it did not take hardly any pressure at all (unlike yesterday) and the blades just kind of slid down in the mortise on their own. It was amazing!!! Thanks to my fellow Lumberjock Brian for giving me the nudge to sharpen my tools. WOW was it effective. I'll never use dull chisels again! This time it only took me 30 minutes to do what took an hour and a half yesterday!

And the picture says it all:﻿

Tomorrow should be an interesting day. Those sharp chisels turned a sweaty, nerve wracking chore into a real pleasure. I can't wait to tackle more mortises! Bring it, base!﻿


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 11: Mortises, Tenons, Sharpening, oh my!*
> 
> Please click here for the version with pictures.
> 
> ...


Nothing in the world like freshly honed steel, eh? Your response is exactly like mine when I first sharpened my tools, I was just looking for a reason to chisel out a mortise or make a board shine like glass with my smoothing plane.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 11: Mortises, Tenons, Sharpening, oh my!*
> 
> Please click here for the version with pictures.
> 
> ...


I was having so much fun slicing through the mortise I didn't even notice the sides of my paring chisel had been sharpened too! Sliced right through my finger (just a surface cut, no pain at all). Haven't had this much fun with sharp metal since the last time I was caught running with scissors!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 12: More mortises.*

(Only one picture for this short update today so I decided to post it here too!)

Nothing special today, just more working on chopping mortises and 3 more tenons…lots of sawing. Lots. But I have to say I'm seeing a little improvement in my abilities to feel when the wood is telling me I'm going to fast or off angle on the saw strokes. It's getting easier to saw too--I'm not putting near as much pressure as I did on the first cut of this project. It feels like I'm hardly pushing the saw at all sometimes, but that's precisely when it cuts the fastest. Crazy.

On the upside, I have 3 legs connected by tennons now! Every joint is getting sharper and tighter. I completed 3 joints today in the time it took me to fit the first one!









So close!

I noticed some twist in the short tenon and I'm trying to decide if the top will straighten everuthing out (with it's own half blind mortises connected to the legs) or if I should add 2 more short stretchers up high on the legs.

I will ultimately have to wait and see what she looks like when I get the last leg and final two stretchers hooked up for the dry fit dress rehearsal. My gut tells me the top will be plenty solid enough to stabilize everything--and the extra tension between the legs may actually help rather than hurt the overall strength of the bench.

Am I way off base on this or am I just getting the halfway self-doubts?


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 13: Dry fit the base!*

As usual, for the pictures, click here.

Today was very exciting! I decided to finish the base joinery prep once and for all and powered through the last 3 tenons and mortises. I wrapped up with a dry run of the base and I am very happy with the results (though there are a few minor glitches to take care of tomorrow…more on that below).

To begin with, I was not at all thrilled with continuing the tenon cutting. I have been using a makeshift saw horse (2 pieces of offcuts from the 4×4 posts stacked on top of each other on the garage floor) to cut all my tenons and it has been a bear (on my back and my knees…that concrete floor is hard!). I hit on the idea of using my workbench top (duh) and clamping the stretchers to it in order to saw the tenons. It wasn't quite as hard as doing it hunched over or kneeling on the floor, but it wasn't as easy as having a nice face vise either.

Speaking of vises, if you've been following along the comments, David asked me about my vise plans (if you haven't read the comments of previous posts, he's been supplying me with a steady stream of information, advice and encouragement almost from the beginning and has been invaluable to this project! Thanks man!). I have always liked the looks of a leg vise (yup, the Schwarz converted me pretty quick) but if you've been following this blog at all you also know this bad boy is definitely considered budget friendly. Put it another way, the $300 Benchcrafted leg vise (okay, maybe not $300 but it may as well be if it's over about $10) is just right out. Enter the Lumberjocks projects page.

I saw this project by Don Broussard, and knew it was the one for me. While I'm not going to announce I will flat out copy his design, it is going to heavily influence my own. The idea is just genius. I'm still in design phase though, but I should have it wrapped up and ready to start constructing either this weekend or early next week after the base is ready to go (with the exception of the vise, of course). I have the wood. I have the hardware. I have the epoxy. I just need the time. And the design. That might help.

Anyway, back to the base. To get to the vise stage, I realized I had to get the tenons and mortises done on this thing.

So I went at it and clamped the last few stretchers down, hacked out the tenons (I shouldn't say that, because these were the best tenons I've ever made, but it went so much faster that it felt like I was just hacking the wood off!) and grabbed the Black and Decker Woodwrecker. These mortises simply flew by, because they jut up into the other mortises I already drilled, cut, and chopped out. Before my work-time was up today, I had finished all the tenons and all the mortises. That was good sweaty fun, and the garage smells like pine!

So, the last step before the kids got up was…drum roll please…the dry fit of the base! After some gentle persuasion with the rubber mallet (making a proper wooden mallet is one of the first projects on my list to complete when the bench is done), here is what I had:

Right away I noticed why I thought﻿ some of the stretchers were twisted (as mentioned in a previous post or two). I didn't have the silly things seated properly. After getting every joint as tight as they would go, I noticed that the twist was all but gone. I had been worried that my eyeballing the measurements for alignment when I cut the mortises had let me down, but no, my record of near perfection still holds.

What I did notice though, was that at every joint the tenons touched and wouldn't seat properly. There was about 1/8" gap on the side stretchers from being fully tight in the joint. Turns out I made things a little too tight. So, instead of chopping off 1/8" from the ends of the short stretchers, I did a little half-lap joint inside the mortises so the short stretchers would sit on and around the edges of the long stretchers (which I would rather have the full length embedded in the mortise…why? I don't know, just seemed right). I only got one side done today and forgot to take pictures, so tomorrow I will do the other and get some photos to show you exactly what I mean.

Once the joints are tight though, things can really get moving. Next up would be prepping the base to receive the top--measuring the final height of the legs, tracing out the mortise points on the underside of the bench top, and cutting…sigh…more tenons and mortises.

At that point I will work on the vise for a change of pace and hopefully start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (hopefully it's not the headlights of the truck delivering the Sky Fort, because I'm not done yet!)

﻿


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 14: Trimming Tenons and legs...*

For all the pictures, please click here.

*Note: This was supposed to have been posted Saturday the 25th…*

I wasn't sure how much time I'd have today to work on the bench so instead of charging ahead with measuring the height of the legs to get ready for installing the top, I decided to do some more mundane tasks. They still are in general preparation for the top, but I just wasn't planning on doing them first.

Before I get going though, I had mentioned yestrday about having to trim the thickness of some of th tenons to make a tighter joint. This is what I was talking about:

All I did was take my crosscut saw and cut out a notch the appropriate thickness, then take my chisels and pop off the waste. It took all of about 10 minutes to get all the joints cut like this. Once I had everything trimmed, I put it all back together and now every joint is crisp and tight. That's much more satisfying to me. I mean, yesterday I thought to myself, self, you know this is going to be just a workbench right? It's going to get abused and used and left out here int he garage…so what if 3 of the 4 joints are off by about 1/16"?

But no. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities. While it may not be much to look at in the end anyway, I will at least have no small amount of pride in the fact that there was nothing short of throwing money at the darn thing that will have made it better. Cause throwing money at a problem always makes it better. Right?

Anyway, once I was happy with the tenons and joints, I turned to another task I've read a lot about. Beveling the edges on the bottom of the legs. I understand that doing this prevents the wood from catching on stuff as you move the bench around the shop or what not. That's the last thing I want is to have a splintered leg after all this work. So I whipped out the block plane and went to town. I figured 45* would work, so I drew a line 1/4" from the edge on the all sides and the bottom to give me guides and started to slice it off.I was quite pleased with how well this Douglas fir sliced. It was much easier to work with than the SPF that the 2×4s are made of have been. Within about 30 minutes or so, I had all four sides of all four legs beveled:

Next, it was on to figuring out how to connect the top. My original idea was to borrow the technique from Chris Schwarz's Workbenches book and do half-blind mortises into the bottom of the top, then drill and peg from the front. But, his top is a lot bigger and a lot more evenly dimensional than mine (another lesson learned!).

The other option I've been kicking around since I started designing this thing was to use the Ian Kirby method of a cross-piece under the top at the legs, bolted through the top. In fact, I've received a number of suggestions so far that entail that method. With the irregular bottom surface of the top that I have, I think that's ultimately the best choice.

Now that the decision is made, how to go about doing it? I mean, look at it…I flipped it over for this picture and you can see the slight bow, which I'm confident I can flatten out, but look at all the uneven 2×4s left after my over-engineering!

That's when I hit on a solution. Tack one of the little strips cut off earlier to make the top (that's some payback right there) to the side and make a level platform from the front to the back to rest another cut off piece of 2×4. This way the cross piece that will be under the top from front to back will support the whole top, not just the high points (or low points, I guess, once the top is flipped back over):Then rest a piece of 2×4 offcut which happens to be the right length on it and trace the profile of the raised portion of the bottom.

Then once I have the profile, cut it! If I've done this correctly, I believe I'll have a nice tight fitting support under the top that I can drill through and bolt down. The actual cutting out of the pattern will have to wait though…daddy duty called!


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 14: Trimming Tenons and legs...*
> 
> For all the pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


What about making a kind of dado in the few board that are deeper. You don't need to flatten the entire bottom although it might help in keeping the top stable.

You will find a lot of how to in the serie of Paul sellers :
How to Build a Workbench 
http://paulsellers.com/2012/06/making-your-workbench/
including how to make a poor man router with a chisel to make the wide dado in part 11 Apron Receses.

If I am right Paul sellers planed the bottom before the top.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 14: Trimming Tenons and legs...*
> 
> For all the pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Of course! That would be so much more simple than what I started to do…I don't understand why every time I try and come up with a solution it ends up being 3 times as difficult or time consuming as what should have been and obvious, smack my forehead in disbelief answer.

Thanks for the suggestion and the link! I have read through a good chunk of his blog but I skipped the portion on the aprons because I wasn't planning on making any. That will teach me to assume I know what I'm doing!

Thanks again!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 15: Working on the top.*

For the version with pictures, please click here.

After reviewing tye excellent advice I recieved from David and Sylvain, I decided to scrap my overly complicated idea to trace the profile of the top onto a 2×4 rail and just chop out the space required to fit the rail into the top. Genius.First things first, I made the measurements and drew lines to show me where to cut and which planks needed trimming. Only 6 or so of the planks needed to be cut. I pulled out the crosscut saw and went to town.

Nice and easy now…
Since I was only cutting a few planks and only going about 5/8" deep it only took a minute or two to get the paralell cuts I needed. Next I took my 1" chisel and rubber mallet and just hacked out the waste.

The chisel really chopped out the waste fast!
Easy! So much faster than carving the profile in the rail. Thanks again guys!

A nice snug fit that had to be persuaded with the mallet to find it's home. Tight enough for my likes but not so tight it will never come out. Perfect!

Then I shifted sides and moved on to the other side. I followed the same formula and within 10 minutes or the the other rail's bed (is that the right phrase for this?) was chopped out and ready.

Since I had a little more time (thanks to my wonderful wife, for taking the kids!) in the shop I went ahead and figured the height I needed for each of the legs (taking into account how kuch each side was bowed and assuming I have to remove 1/8" at most to level the top) and measured and cut the legs to length. This was actually pretty easy. These cuts were easily the most accurate of the whole project. I didn't take any pictures because, well, they just look like a piece of wood with a straight edge… Slow and steady pulls, light pressure on the saw and keep it level…the saw did all the work. Nice.

I think I'm getting close to being ready for assembling the base…feels like only another day or two away…


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 16: Winding sticks and cutting rail tenons.*

For the pictures, please click here.

I had some time this morning with kids out playing with chalk in the driveway to make some winding sticks for when I level the top (hopefully this week!). I had some 1×2 dimensional poplar left over from a project that was never used (8 feet of it sitting in the garage taunting me to make something out it). So I found the two ends were the straightest and cut 2' off each end.Then I used a chisel to bevel the edges slightly.

I tried to figure out a creative way to clamp them to the bench so I could use the hand plane to flatten them identically, but it proved to be too challenging watching the kids.

I think it will work, I just need to be able to focus.
I had to constantly keep an eye on the boards to keep the whole thing from falling off the edge of the bench top. When I got distracted by making sure my daughter didn't eat some chalk, it fell off the bench with some suppressed cussing. Once I get the leg vise built, this will be no problem. Until then I will just get them as flat as possible and wing it!

Here they are, as flat as I can get them without a vise to hold them. I think they are pretty darn close to being comlpetely flat and will have to do when I level the top. Perhaps I'll tune them up before I finish leveling the top to make sure everything is nice to start.

Of course, I still need to figure out a way to get some dark color on one of the sticks to give me some reference when I'm sighting down them. I was thinking an inlay or…maybe a magic marker. We'll see what I come up with. I have at least a few days before I will attach the top so I've got time to ponder this little side problem.

For the main event today, I needed to cut the last tenons for this project on the rails that will support the top. This was brutal because the wood I had leftover and was planning to use was full of knots (which was why I cut them off in the first place). So…I tried to cut the tenons just like I did all the others, to no avail. The knots were throwing my saw blade all over the place. So I resorted to using a chisel and hacking them out. Surprisingly enough, the ends (the only part you will see on the completed bench) look fine. The rest of the tenons…well, there's no pictures for a reason. They are structurally sound, but ugly. Good thing all the ugliness will be hidden inside the leg posts.

Next, following Ian Kirby's design in the Landis book, I measured the first leg for bridle joints. And that's when my daughter woke up screaming from her nap. She got her little foot caught in the rails of her crib and nap time and shop time were over for the day!

That was all I could get accomplished today, and I'm glad I have gotten this far, because we received word today the Sky Fort cometh! This morning we were told delivery would be Wednesday, but then we got a call a little while ago that informed us the delivery will be next Tuesday (the only day of the week a semi-truck with a lift gate is available in our area…wow this is serious!). So. I have a set deadline. The bench must be assembled by next Monday.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 17: Cutting the Bridle Joints...*

To see the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have much time in the shop today, but I do what I can, when I can!

There was just enough time to cut the first two bridle joints in the legs (I did both the left rear and left front legs). I had put the layout lines on the first one yesterday so I was ready to grab the saw and have at it today. But man, my arm is sore! That 4×4 Douglas Fir is no joke to cut a 3.5 inch by 1 inch chunk out with handsaw and chisels.

It took me the better part of an hour to get the first one cut well enough that I could set the rail in there for a dry fit:
Not bad…could be better (it always could!) but for the first try not so bad as I thought it would be. No where near what you see online and in books but I'm working on it. I had to cheat a little with this one too. I got the two sides cut all the way back (sort of…the saw was jumping all over the place and I ended up with three kerfs on one side and two on the other) it all cleaned up with a chisel but man it was labor intensive. That still left the middle to be hogged out. I tried my coping saw and everything else for that matter, to no avail.

Out comes the Black and Decker Woodwrecker. Chucked in a 1/2" paddle bit and one long drill and the whole chunk popped right out. I thought to myself, I have a system!

So on the next leg I used the hand saw to make the long cuts--this time I'm pleased to report the kerfs went from a 3-2 ratio to a 1-2 ratio. Much cleaner--I took my time and focused on steady strokes, not power. Actually, I had to, my arm was burning from cuttin gthe first one! However, when I tried to run the dril to cut the waste out, it started to wake up the baby--power tools are a big no no with open windows!
That's when I hit on the idea of using a chisel to chop it out. And wouldn't you know it, 5 minutes later I had a much nicer bridle joint ready to go, with no power tools. Should have thought of that the first time. Even with the drill, it took longer because I had to go back and clean up the mess it left in the wood.

Right! On with leg number 3 and a new system. I stepped up and worked on the long cuts again and got everything ready for the chop out when both kids woke up for good. So, time to pack up, clean up and take one picture of the legs as they stand right now.

You can see the first cut on the left, the 2nd next to it, the last leg to be cut is next, and the one I cut just before quittin' time is last on the right. With any luck, I should have these beastly joints cut tomorrow. With my new system, I may have time enough to dry fit everything and drill for the pegs!

I can feel assembly just around the corner. That's why I'm also feeling so frustrated--it feels like the last week has taken longer than the whole project to day because these massive joints just take so much time and energy (and sweat!) to hack out. I hope that means (1) I'm doing it right, and (2) it will be strong. I would assume if I was able to go fast (given my current experience and skill set) it would be wrong and/or structurally weak.
Either way, it's time for a cold one and to hope that tomorrow brings the end to these bloody big joints. Oh wait--I forgot, I also have to prep for the leg vise (doh! Another cut clean through the 4×4 for the leg vise chop guide). So maybe assembly is another two days away. Maybe I'll have it glued up and assembled by the weekend. That would give me just enough time to level the top and get the leg vise and deadman on board before the Sky Fort arrives…maybe…no pressure…


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 18: The big dry fit!*

To see the picture heavy version of this post, please click here!

Very excited today because I got a lot accomplished! I ended with a dry fit of the entire bench and started work on the leg vise.

To get started, I finished sawing the bridle joint on the last leg…best cuts to date!

Straight as an arrow!
When the last legs were cut, I grabbed the rubber mallet and chisels and hacked out the joints in about 10 minutes. So much faster than before!

Sharp chisels are a joy to work with…I can't believe I did all that work on the house a few months back without sharpening…
Once I was satisfied with the last bridle joints and the right rail was trimmed for a nice fit, I took a deep breath and began to assemble the entire base. A little grunting and some gentle persuasion by the mallet and first one side…

Then the other….

Then the entire base was assembled in the garage!

And I was feeling so good about how well everything fit together, I couldn't resist putting the top (man that thing is heavy!) on for a dry run. I figured it would be the most difficult part, trying to align the slots cut for the rails underneath and all, but it clunked together with a satisfying thud in seconds! I all but did a jig right there in the garage!

My vision takes form for the first time!
I really like the way the right front bridle joint came out (the last one I cut)...looks awesome to me!

I did that!??
The other joints don't look this nice, but I kind of like the rougher look too--it is a reminder that I can do great work in the future.

I noticed as well that the bench has a bit of rake side to side (front to back this thing is rock solid) and it kind of made me nervous. Then I realized that none of the joints were glued or pegged, so of course it's going to wobble a bit. Then I slapped my forehead in a "Coulda had a V-8" moment when I realized that the top wasn't bolted on yet and that will add a lot of stability. I think, therefore, that it will be sufficiently stable…but if it's not, I'm already getting plans in my head to add some stretchers lengthwise under the top between the legs. They will be about 3.5" under the edge and probably hidden from view most of the time. That's if they're needed…

Once I celebrated for a few minutes I began to drill holes in the legs to secure everything with oak pegs during the glue up. I really didn't have time to do the final glue up today so rather than rush the process I decided (with a mighty effort) to be patient and take everything apart to be prepared for tomorrow. Something told me to just call it quits for today (it may have been the cold beer in the fridge). I knew I would be pressing my luck with the napping kids if I decided to press on. But man, I really wanted to glue up…oh well, I guess I'd rather grit my teeth and wait than be called away in the middle of the process. I'll just relax tonight and assemble and glue tomorrow.

However I did have a few more minutes left so I decided to figure out how to attach the leg vise. While I haven't quite settled on a final design yet, I do know the position where it's going to be. With that knowledge, I made some measurements and set about cutting a slot for the parallel guide that will live at the bottom of the right front leg.

I made the slot 3.25" long by 5/8" wide and hogged out the space with a 1/4" paddle bit and the Black and Decker Woodwrecker. I then used a combination of chisels and small modeling files (which I acquired during my wooden model ship building days) to smooth out the slides and make everything shipshape, so to speak.

With that accomplished I said about finding wood for the parallel guide itself. I had some half inch cutoff of the oak trim that I made when my wife and I were remodeling bathrooms when we moved in to our new house in June:

There's still some finishing nail holes in these strips…I think it gives them character. And I love re-tasking the wood. One side is finished, the other isn't. When it's dry, I will plane it all down smooth anyway and strip the finish.
Conveniently enough I had 4 of these strips and realized if I glued them together lengthwise I would have a perfectly sized parallel guide made out of oak.

This became the last act of the day. When they were glued, though, I noticed they were a little cupped, so I applied extra clamps and scrap 2×4 pieces. I think they straightened out nicely! They will still need to be planed for uniformity, but I think I'll have a nice little oak plank tomorrow.As a bonus, the Saran Wrap stuff that you see there was actually from 2 huge roles of the stuff that the movers left behind when they packed up all of our belongings at the old house. I realized (only today!) that this stuff is great for gluing wood because the glue will not stick to it and it keeps everything clean.

Also I pulled down the wood that will become the leg vise chop from the overhead lumber storage and noticed the sticker on it says that it was made in Sweden… Since I have the same wood (just a wider plank) for the sliding Deadman, I'm thinking of calling it the sliding DeadSven….

Tomorrow is the big day, then! I will have the entire time the kids are napping to glue up the base!! I will, however, have to go out tomorrow or Friday to pick up hardware to attach the top to the base and then on Friday hopefully this thing will be finally put together…then the real fun can begin.

With that in mind, I think it's time for making a list of the future tasks connected to the bench that need to be done for it to be 100 percent complete:

1. level the top with the hand plane

2. make and attach the leg vise

3. make and attach the sliding DeadSven (ha!)

4. cut notches in the top to attach the Hickory planing stops

5. make said Hickory planing stops

6. drill holes for bench dogs

7. make said bench dogs from dowels and blocks of wood

8. finishing (this one I haven't quite figured out exactly how I'm going to proceed…still researching what type of finish-if at all-I'm going to apply to the bench when all is said and done)
Obviously, this list is subject to change and is not in any particular order. And all of these things are secondary to actually assembling the bench because once the Sky Fort has arrived that will take up the majority of my shop time for the forseeable future!

To see the picture heavy version of this post, please click here!


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## DrPuk2U (Feb 15, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 18: The big dry fit!*
> 
> To see the picture heavy version of this post, please click here!
> 
> ...


Looking good, Steve. Great progress!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 18: The big dry fit!*
> 
> To see the picture heavy version of this post, please click here!
> 
> ...


Thanks! I'm looking forward to getting some more time in on it tomorrow…


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 19: Assembling the base!*

To see the version with pictures, please click here.

Finally, the day I've been working towards for the last three weeks or so has arrived! I was able to successfully glue up the base and insert the oak pegs. It is no longer a collection of parts and sawdust…it is now a collection of glued together parts and sawdust!

I started by making 4" pegs out of the 3 ft long oak dowels that I had purchased with the initial lumber investment. I haven't really worked with ok so to speak other than gluing up the guide for the leg vise yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the dowels cut and the nice dense feeling of the wood. Completely different than the light SPF, not nearly as dense as the hickory, but nice.

I really like red oak. I cut quite nice. I love trying new (to me) wood!

Once I had the first 8 dowels cut I proceeded to glue up the left side of the bench and hammered in the dowels with a little more glue using the rubber mallet. Although the mallet let me down after the fifth peg. It bound up a bit inside the hole and the mallet just bounced off the peg to no effect. I tried to put a piece of scrap 2×4 over the peg and pound on that with the mallet, but that did nothing but drive peg sized holes into the pine 2×4 (LOL and dammit at the same time). So, I brought out the big guns--my great-grandfather's hammer. He was a blacksmith in Indiana around 1900 and made this hammer, which has since been passed down from father to son until it reached my dad who put a new handle on it back when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Now it's in my toolbox and today was the day I had to repair it (at long last--it's been getting progressively looser on the handle since our first house in Florida, nearly 10 years ago and I kept promising myself I would fix it but never did). I will be doing a write up on the hammer and it's story in a seperate blog entry, because while I did get a little sidetracked with that project today, I don't want to sidetrack this entry…

With the hammer repaired and ready for action, I glued up the right side of the bench.

I then proceeded to attach the rear stretcher to the left side. It was at this point that I almost made a fatal mistake. I was about to attach the right side to the rear stretcher and had the glue in place and the pieces in my hand when I heard a voice in my head say, "If you do this…you won't be able to attach the front stretcher (well, not easily)."

So I quickly grab the glue and got the two sides ready for the front stretcher and begin to put it all together at once up everything at once. That's when the entire right side of the bench (suspended in the air over the left side on the ground) decided it didn't want to really be attached to the left, stretchers or no stretchers. That's right, the glue in the joint was causing the…snug…fit to be downright tight. I reached for the hammer--only to realize it was behind me resting on the bench top on saw horses…a good 10 feet away. I could literally see the glue drying on the half fit joint, so I pivoted and grabbed for that hammer and swung back just in time to catch the right side of the bench as it tried to swan dive off the stretchers. Yeah, that got an enthusiastic visit by the hammer. I was notpleased with that performance. It was my own fault--I will remember the next time I'm doing a glue up to have the mallet or hammer within arm's reach while you are assembling. That was almost a catastrophic failure on my part. I had to ignore the fresh sheen of sweat on my palms I developed as a result of my sudden kick into high gear to finish the glue up, but finally everything went together and all the dowels were hammered home.

And there's the hammer that made it all happen today…

Once the base was finally glued and drying, I put some saran wrap on top of the rails and then placed the top on top of it to make sure that the base dried in the proper position (in my gluing, I got a bit carried away in the moment and there was some…spillage…).And I have to say for those of you keeping score at home that the bench is now literally 200% (that's right, not 100%, not 150%, not 300%--that's right out, like the Holy Hand Grenade--but 200%) more stable than it was yesterday when I attempted the dry fit . The glue and pegs virtually eliminated any racking that is going on…and what little amount of slop that is left I believe will be completely taken care of when I finally bolt the top down to the upper rails. Once complete this thing is going to be really solid.
Stay tuned for the story of how I fixed Herbie's Hammer. In the meantime, bask in the glow of the just born bench!


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 19: Assembling the base!*
> 
> To see the version with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Looking good so far!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 19: Assembling the base!*
> 
> To see the version with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Thanks!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 20: Leveling the top is a full body workout.*

For the dramatic (or not so dramatic) before and after pictures, please click here.

A busy weekend with the kiddos and my wife happily trumped all other activities (except cutting the grass) for the weekend. But today is Labor Day so…what better way to celebrate than by doing some labor!
I had just enough time to squeeze in some work on the still unfinished bench today. It has been sitting, base assembled and dry, with the top merely resting in place now for 3 days. Time to get back to work.

First up, I used the coping saw to trim all 24 oak pegs just proud of the legs and stretchers.Then I used my 1/4" bench chisel (and sometimes the rubber mallet…can't wait to make a wooden one--the bounce back on this thing is heinous) to trim those pegs flush, or as close as I could get without too much damage to the surrounding wood!Next up, I intend to drill holes for bolts to attach the top to the base, then it's time to level the top! Or maybe level the top first, then bolt it down…hmmm, at any rate, I figured I better sharpen my planes again.

So I did. It was so easy to sharpen them on the bench. Didn't need to clamp the tray at all…friction held it in place! Once the #4 was nice and sharp, I started to shave off the high spots on left side of the bench. It was ugly.

Wow…that's a big gap and a good workout.

That's after 15 minutes of sweaty planing. You can see I have hardly made a dent in the cupping on this half of the bench. Luckily the right side of the bench, where the leg vise will be and where I-being left handed-will do the majority of my work, is pretty flat already! But the left side…whew!

So I kept at it, and kept at it, and kept at it. The shavings and the sweat really flew when I got into a rhythm. A few times the plane struck a knot or the grain reversed on me and the bench actually jumped (the right side began walking around behind me in a semi-circle as a I pushed towards the left side). I was really worried at first that the bench wouldn't work--then I realized two things: (1) the top isn't bolted down yet, so even though it seemed pretty stable, it's not…yet. And (2) when I hit those knots I had a lot of force and momentum behind that hand plane--not nearly the level of of force I will have on a single peice of wood being planed (plus, the bench will be the clamp, not the thing being planed). Hopefully those two theories will come true….but for the time being, they calmed my fears and let me continue the grind.

An hour and a half later….there is a huge pile of shavings on the floor. My hands, shirt, pants, everything is sweaty. Normally I shrug off this kind of drenching because I'm working outside (or I'm working out) and it's just to be expected. But when the tools and the brand new bench-to-be are involved, it's dangerous and disgusting ('cause then I think, "Great, now everything's gonna rust…"). The plane is very difficult to keep straight because my grip is so slippery. I'm getting frustrated. The crazy thing is adjusting itself mid-pass. Halfway down a section of the top, the thing starts to dig in on one side or the other, leaving real ugly gashes that I then have to go back and smooth out after fiddling with the controls. The left-right adjustment arm has always been loose on this plane and I figured it was just a price to pay with Groz--after all, I got two planes for the price of a Hock blade! But it seems when in use for more than about 10 minutes or so of constant planing, the thing just slowly creeps one way or the other, letting the iron turn on itself. Then the chipbreaker started clogging (it's not the best in the world--it's angled instead of straight across where it follows the tip of the iron…I don't know enough to know if that's bad, but my instinct says yes it is…). Instead of continuing to fight the plane and get more and more frustrated, I decide to go zen on this thing and calm down and throw in the towel today. Time for a shower, a beer, air conditioning and one final picture of my so-called progress. That'swhen my spirits rose!

Okay, so I have a long way to go, but that there is starting to get flat!!!

I looked at the before and after pictures…progress! Real progress! Woohoo! Luckily, the right half of the bench already is flatter than what you see here. So, I'm about a quarter of the way across (I just happened to put the winding stick at the end in this picture). Love that smooth-as-glass feel to the wood! But man this is hard work. A better reminder to do a better job of jointing and gluing your wood I don't think I could find…next time…next time.

For the pictures version, please click here.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 21: More planing...more sweating.*

For the picture heavy version, please click here!

Today was all about the grind. Just grit your teeth and push through the burning in your arms and hands. To get going, though I had just had to settle my differences with the onery plane (it caused me to stop prematurely yesterday). I took my time and examined the thing to see what was amiss, because it wasn't acting like this when I was planing the individual planks for the top a few weeks ago.

Then I noticed it--the frog had shifted forward, lifting the iron and everything attached to it a few milimeters. That was allowing wood shavings and chips to get under the blade, reducing performance and making it really hard to get the iron actually out past the sole. Try as I might, the adjustment screws on this thing are just not all that great (I know I know--it's not a top of the line plane and this is what I get). So, what to do? Wallow in self pity and pine away after a Lie-Neilsen or Veritas plane? I think not. Well…maybe just a little. I mean, they are pretty freaking slick…hey, I can dream, right?

Anyway, I grabbed the bastard mill file (that is just about the perfect name for this thing…mostly because that's what I called the frog I was grinding down…) and ground that sucker down. It felt good to release some frustration on this puppy too after yesterday. So within a few minutes, the adjustable (hah!) frog was flush with the mouth of the sole and the iron was fitting much nicer. Score one for me. While I had the file out, I flattened the edge of the chip breaker tood--no since not doing that. Score two for me. I put everything back together and BAM, even better than before. Hat trick.

Back to work, then…Plane the top. Shhhkrt. Shhhkrt. Shhhkrt. Over and over. First diagonal one way, then diagonal the other. Then to the left, then to the right. Then rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Ad infiniutm, ad absurdum.

And then celebrate the quickening pace of real results!

So here was the scene after a half hour today of planing the top. Notice, for the first time, I can't see an easily defined cup on the left side. This is a major milestone for me!

Here is a closeup of the top after some diagonal planing with the #4 pretending to be a jack plane.
An hour later, I had good news! The left and right sides of the bench are now almost totally equal--here is the right side (which only got a few passes with the plane):

If you look closely, the little slice I glued in to the top right corner in this picture is almost gone--the plane nearly erased my mistake from a few weeks ago.
Here is the left at the end of today's session (HUGE difference compared to when I finished the glue up):

Amazing what sweaty and a hand plane can do…
And here is the left 1/4 mark…

Almost equal to the far left side…this is good progress here.
This is the middle:

Getting better…
And the right 1/4 mark…I think it's obvious that the middle 1/2 of this bench is now the worst part. A major improvement from just a few days ago I think.

Finally, here is the right side again, after really hitting it with the plane.

Now we're cookin' with gas!
This is now the control point--I want the rest of the bench to be at least as flat as this side is. It's really getting there. I can't believe it!

And last but not least, here's a picture of the carnage from today's session. Note the nice glossy gleam on the bench (I never noticed that before). The plane is leaving a nice glassy surface now…love it!

Whew…slaughtered some wood in here today!
I'm seriously debating putting the planing of the top on hold until I make myself a jack or scrub plane just to hog off the high points faster now. But then again…I feel I'm almost there with the #4 and while I think the top is perfectly usable now (maybe not for real nice projects--not that I have any in the pipeline) I think another day or two and I might just be done with flattening. I don't know…the internal debate rages.

Please click here to see all the pictures from today's entry.


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## grfrazee (Jul 17, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 21: More planing...more sweating.*
> 
> For the picture heavy version, please click here!
> 
> ...


I would seriously consider holding off until you buy/make a jack plane. Bringing down rough stock is what they're made for. You're going to kill yourself with the smoother.

In all honesty though, it's probably more cost effective to find an old Stanley/Millers Falls/Sargent/whatever jack plane and tune it up. It'll take a couple hours of cleaning (minus letting it sit in Evapo-Rust overnight), but you'll have a tool that will last longer than you if you treat it right. Considering how much time and material you would have to put into making a new plane, I think you'll end up ahead buying a used jack. I've seen Stanley #5s at flea markets for ~$20-40, so it shouldn't break the bank.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 22: Attaching the top!*

For the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have a lot of time today, maybe an hour and a half. So, I spent the first hour going at the top again with the #4 plane. I made the executive decision last night to do what I can and call it. In theory, given unlimited energy and time, I could get this top to flat-level with the #4. By the time my kids are in college.

Or, I could do the best I could, get it reasonable (for a first time effort) and bolt the sucker down so it's not a safety hazard any more, since Sara and I are starting work on the Sky Fort in the garage and the workbench will be used as a…workbench. And a drying rack, and a tool bench and on and on. Point is, I wasn't comfortable with the top merely resting on the base, and I didn't want to bolt it down until the top was as good as I was willing to make it. Decision made.

So, after an hour, I got the top within 1/16" of flat/level. I took out the little twist that was left using the winding sticks and there was a sudden moment when I just sighed and said, "It's done." 
Does that rule out getting better or different planes in the future and coming back to completely level this puppy? No. In fact, that is probably what will happen. I will, at some point in the future, be doing something that requires a really flat top and realize that my bench is only 98% there. At that point, I will likely stop the project I'm on and flatten the bench once and for all. But, that is then and this is now and I need a stable bench. Now.

Once I wiped the sweat from my eyes, I measured out where I wanted the bolts to go, taking three measurements for each location to make really sure I wasn't going to miss the rail underneath but hit it dead center.

Oh I hope I don't screw this up…
Very quickly, the Black and Decker Woodwrecker showed me why it has that name. Four holes drilled through the top. Nice.

The drill just eats this wood up.
I lifted off the top and finished the holes through the rails underneath lickedy-split. Then it was replace the top and countersink the holes so the 3/8" bolts I got could sit below the surface of the top. The paddle bit was messy--I admit it, I didn't do as nice a job as I should have on the first hole. It was a little ragged, but nothing a sharp knife or sandpaper couldn't tidy up real nice. Hole #2 was just plain ugly. So ugly, you'll just have to take my word for it…I'm too embarrassed to photograph it! The bit wobbled and made a ragged edge. Hmmm. The center had no support. Oops.

So, the light bulb went on over my head and I found one of the 3/8" bits of dowel from the pegs I sawed off a few days back and put it in the remaining holes. The paddle bit went right in and I had 2 smooth countersinks. Why oh why didn't I think of that before starting out?? Ugh.

In truth, the two ugly holes aren't all that bad, and in fact, I don't intend to do anything fancy to fix them--I want to look at them as a reminder to freaking think about stuff like this that I think is simple before I charge ahead. Next time I'm at the BORG I will pick up a 7/8" dowel (and a 1" just in case) and make plugs, then plane them smooth with the top.

With the 8" bolts hammered home, I have plenty of space underneath to attach washers and nuts to secure the top nice and tight, and still have room for seasonal expansion (if I (a) notice and (b) care).

And with that, the workshop session is up! This also marks the point where I have put in 30 hours of work on the bench. Amazing to think that only 30 hours of work and 24 hours of dry time separated the pile of wood I brought home from Menards and the nearly usable bench in the garage right now.

Tonight, Sara and I are going to officially start the construction of the Sky Fort. Awesome!


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 22: Attaching the top!*
> 
> For the version with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


pictures say 1000 words


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## Greenie (Sep 4, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 22: Attaching the top!*
> 
> For the version with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


RK,

Can I suggest a counter bore technique to you? When you have a hole already in place, and need to create a larger "counter-bore", use a Forstner bit. Take a strip of 1/4" plywood about 4" x 12", take your forstner and pre-drill a hole in it, away from where the counter bore will eventually be. Then place the template over/around the first hole and the template will guide the forstner even with out the center point touching any material. This works great and especially in finished surfaces.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 22: Attaching the top!*
> 
> For the version with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


@ thedude50: Yeah, I regret not putting pictures up but by the time I go back and resize everything to not get wonky with Lumberjocks, it turns out to be a pain. I do most of this blogging on my phone with the Worpress app, where I take the pictures and it all gets done for me while I watch the kids during the day. That's why I post the link to the blog over at Wordpress in the first line of my entries so you can click and see the pictures too…it's a pain for readers, I know, but otherwise I probably just wouldn't even have the blog here…what precious little time I find I want to use in the shop, not photoshop…

http://vaughtwoodworks.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/workbench-day-21-attaching-the-top/

@ Greenie: that sounds like a fantastic method! I need to get some Fostner bits--I feel like I'm playing catchup after having a circular saw, drill, and screwdrivers for most of my adult life (and nothing else!). If I decide to fix up the holes and erase my reminders, I will definitely try this out after a purchase of some new bits. The holes will likely end up 1" diamater, but that's not so bad. Right now, they are 7/8".


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 23: Plugs for top anchors.*

For the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have a lot of time today between getting batches of Sky Fort parts prepped for installation. But, I did have just enough time to work on plugging the bolt holes in top.

I picked up a 1"x36" oak dowel from the BORG and measured the depth of each bolt hole individually. Then I transferred the measurement to the dowel and used a coping saw to get a nice clean cut.

After some pounding with the rubber mallet (being real careful not to hit the surface of the top for fear of leaving an ugly black mark!) I got the first one to fit with minimal sanding. That says a lot because the dowel was 1" in diameter and I used a 7/8" paddle bit. That was a wobbly hole indeed.

Anyway, once the first one was in, it was just a matter of paring it close to the top with the chisels until flush. Not much to say really. Here's what it looked like when it was all said and done (and I gave it a kiss of 220 sandpaper to smooth the rough spots).

Then it was a pretty quick job on the next one (the other bad hole). The third one was the first of the good clean holes and it took a lot longer. I had to sand the 1" dowel quite a bit for it to fit, but fit it did, nice and tight.

The last one was the hardest of all (and it was the prettiest to begin with).

In the end, I had 4 plugged bolt holes. I think the oak makes a nice contrast to the white(er) pine. Now that the bolts are secured (finally) to the bench with washers and nuts, the plugs complete the top 100% I think.

Next up is the sliding DeadSven and the leg vise…then the planing stops, dog holes…man the list just goes on and on…

Thanks for looking! For the pictures click here...


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 24: Starting the leg vise.*

To view the post with pictures, please click here.

Had to start sometime I guess! I didn't do a whole heck of a lot. More like prep work, I figure.

First, I took my 1×6 plank of pine and cut two 36" lengths. The bench is just a hair over 36" tall so the vise will be just off the floor.

Next, I drew out the design I wanted. Nothing too fancy, just a slight curve (I drew it without a compass or round object) and a few straight lines. I decided since I will be gluing the two boards together to make the chop, why not practice bevels by paring down the edge of the top board to 45*. I used a trick I saw on am episode of The Woodwrights Shop and measured the thickness of the board (3/4") in from the side. By paring away to the line and the edge, I will make a perfect 45* bevel. In theory.

Then I marked 12" down from the top of the chop for the placement of the whole for the screw.I took some sage advice offered by David a while back and beefed up the hardware from a single 3/8"x10" carriage bolt to a 5/8" threaded rod that is 24" long. Only cost me $5 at the BORG! Score! Getting it to work and making the various parts…that will keep me up at night.

Anyway, with all the pencil work and planning put down, I glued the two sides and clamped it up. So tomorrow I will have a proto-chop ready for shaping. This I think, will be the easy part…

Can I just say how much fun (and how comfortable) it is working on something on the workbench I built from scratch? So rewarding! If I wasn't hooked on woodworking before, I sure am now!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vise shaping part 2*

To see the post with pictures, please click here.

I got back to work shaping the chop for my leg vise today. I have had one too many instances of thinking, "mam, this would be a lot easier if I had that vise done…" on various projects in the last fee weeks. Right! Time to get to work!

I spent about 45 minutes paring away the side today trying to match the bevel and shap of the first side I did a while ago.

I think it came out pretty good…

And here it is from a different angle.

Not much to tell about it really--just clamped it to the bench and had at it with chisels and rubber mallet. Slowly the waste came off to the point the block plane became effective.

Last thing I did was to chamfer the upper edges of the chop with the block plane. You can see the results (very slightly) in the above photo. I will apply another bevel along the endgrain…maybe to match the sides or maybe not…either way, its almost time for the decorative carving I'm planning, then installation!

The pictures can be seen here.


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## Boatman53 (May 21, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise shaping part 2*
> 
> To see the post with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Looks good Steve, I hope the fir chop doesn't flex too much. And let me shamelessly tell the new readers about the chain leg vise, it can be found here ancorayachtservice.com click on the heading on the top tool bar. Good luck on the bench build. I'll watch your progress.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise shaping part 2*
> 
> To see the post with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Ha! I do too. No worries about a plug, the chain leg vise was what got me started down the dark path of non-traditional vise construction! I saw that then branched all over the place before I settled on my design….


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## Boatman53 (May 21, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise shaping part 2*
> 
> To see the post with pictures, please click here.
> 
> ...


Thanks Steve, feel free to ask any questions if you need to. As I said I'll be following your progress.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 27: Utility Shelf*

For the version with pictures, please see this page.

I got a hold of some more quality time in the shop today so I made the most of it by doing something that's been on my short list for about 3 weeks now: building a utility shelf for the bench. Besides being able to store stuff under the bench I think it will look cooler too. Also, I had purchased the materials about a month ago and they've been sitting in the overhead storage, staring at me every time I go into the garage. I got tired of feeling their dejected eyes on me so…

I started by cutting some 1"x2"s to length to fit inside the long stretchers on the front and rear of the bench. I used some speed clamps to hold them in place while I leveled them out and decided how deep I wanted the shelf to be. I decided on having about 1/2" lip all the way around (from the top of the stretchers).Once I was happy with where the rails were situated, I used the drill to put in some pilot holes, then used the impact driver (it's just too much fun not to use, and it's really fast too) to power some screws into place and lock the rails down. I debated with myself whether or not to glue and screw, but in the end I decided just to use screws. If I need to change positions or remove it, it'll be easier with just the screws to remove. Plus, I don't anticipate putting super heavy objects down there anyway. If need be, I can always take it off and add glue later I suppose.

With the rails in place, I pulled down the 1"x4" board I had on hand and started cutting them to length after measuring the width of the shelf front to back all along the length I was pretty surprised to find that it was the same measurement the entire length (18 1/2 inches)! So, after making one test board, I used that as as template and cut 13 more boards. With all 14 cut and the rough edges removed, I proceeded to put them all in place:

That left the little gaps on the sides. Oddly enough, this was on purpose--I wanted to be able to get rid of sawdust, etc., so I planned on leaving gaps at either end to sweep the debris out. But these gaps are too big. Solution? Cut two strips of the leftover 1"x2" and attach in place like the other rails, only lower these rails to the depth of the shelf itself:This effectively cut the gap by about 3/4 and left just a little bit of space (maybe 1/4") for sawdust, etc., to be pushed out.
I also decided (for now) to leave the planks loose, that is, not to nail/screw/glue them down. There are a few reasons for this--first, my measurements (and more importantly, my improving hand sawing abilities) allowed me to get those planks pretty tight fitting--they're not going anywhere without some force. Second, if I need to access the underside of the bench, I can just pop some planks up like this:

And when I'm done, just put them back. If I start having things come off and planks pop up on their own because of weight, then I'll fasten 'em down, but I kind of like this setup. Of course I'll also have to think about how much more rigidity fastening them down will give me, but so far, the bench hasn't started walking…

Here's a shot of the entire bench so far:

For the blog with pictures, please click here.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 28: Leg Vise chop final touches*

To see the version with all the pictures (there's a lot!) click here.

I am forcing myself to finish this dadgum leg vise. I'm tired of seeing the parts sitting around and now that I've pretty much caught up with all the random tasks associated with the bench to get back to the next to last big project (last will be the sliding deadSven).

I spent a little time touching up the beveled edges and getting things where I think I'm at as far as I can push my skills and this pine. I also rounded to top a little…

Then it was on to doing the carving I had planned before actually mounting this thing (because obviously it'll be hard to carve when it's mounted…).

First step was to decide on a design. That was easy. I'll use my maker's mark I've used on all my artwork for years and years, a simple pattern based on my initials S. M. V. Take a look at the top right of this page and you'll see the symbol.

I resized the image in Photoshop, then printed it out.

Next, I flipped it over and covered the back of the design in graphite from a pencil…

Next I placed it on the chop and then traced the image (right side up) as hard as I could without breaking through the paper or the point of the pencil.

When you peel the paper off, if you've done it right, your design is now outlined on the wood. Because of the pencil I used and the wood's soft surface, the deign came out real faint, so I had to go over it again to darken it up.

I then started to carve. First I took my smallest flat chisel (1/4") and made stop cuts all the way around the design. Then I went back and made a stop cut in along the middle of each letter. Next, it was just a matter of cutting from either edge towards the middle, angled down. It created a nice V cut. Here it is as I started:In this shot you can see I added the date as well. Anyway, all there is to it is to keep at it and move you're way along the design, cutting and chiseling. The curves were very tricky, but I found if you use the corner of the chisel and go real slow, it's possible to get decent curves.

The number, about 1" tall were much harder than the letters, but I muddled through it. If nothing else, this is fine practice. I also used the real cheap set of carving chisels (supposedly professional grade…ha!) I picked up for $16 from Amazon about 2 years ago. I couldn't figure out if the crappy gouges were hurting or helping my effort so I scrapped 'em and went back to the straight chisel.

In the end, I didn't like how things were so rough looking so I got out the Dremel, put in a tiny diamond tip teardrop shaped tip and smoothed everything out.

For my first attempt at carving, I'm pretty happy.

Please click here for the pictures…


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 29: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 1)*

Here's the link to the post with pictures.

Today I finally had enough of thinking and worrying about how to mount the leg vise. After all, once I drill that big hole through the leg, there's no going back!

I got out the Black and Decker Woodwrecker and a 5/8" paddle bit, then punched a hole in the chop for the threaded rod. Then i carefully lined up the chop exactly where I wanted it…leveled it and clamped it in place. I marked the spot on the leg where the hole for the rod needed to be and got the chop out of the way.

I used a 3/4" paddle bit to hog out a hole in the wood to seat the massive threaded rod coupler I bought. This thing will be buried in the leg to support the rod/vise. Then I centered the 5/8" bit again and bored out the rest of the hole.

Test fitting the coupler let me in on the fact that the 3/4" hole was still about 1/8" too small all the way around for the coupler to fit. Now I had to use the 1/4" chisel to cut the round hole into a hexagonal shape to seat the coupler into the leg so it would not turn when the rod turns. This turned out to be easier than I thought and it turned out a lot better than I imagined!

After a few test fits with the mallet (had to use a carriage bolt and the mallet from the other side to pop the coupler out, the fit was that snug) I realized that the last part of the hole in the leg (the smaller diameter part in the rear of the leg) was not perfectly level like everything else. So when I put the rod in to test it, I found it was trying to screw it's way through the leg for the last inch or so. Well, that wouldn't do at all.

Out came the chisel again and I carved out the last bit of the hole the correct angle for the rod to work it's way through. After slipping on some nuts (it took three, each rotated in opposite directions to lock in place) and using some pliers, I was able to get the rod to go all the way through the leg. Once it punched through that initial time, I could use my hands very easily to turn the rod. This is promising!

I now understand the reasoning for those wood screws the massive threads--even though this threaded rod is coarse threaded, it still took a loooong time to get that rod all the way through the leg so I could test fit the chop. Whew. Good thing I'm not going to be backing this sucker out the full 24".

And here is the chop on it's first test fit. Everything looks good to me! Next step is to fabricate a handle/lever (I'm still trying to sort out the mechanics of this and how I'm going to do it) and garter.

Speaking of the garter, I found a piece fo scrap metal laying on a shelf and realized it was just barely too narrow for the rod to pass through. I busted out the file and the bench vise and worked on a for a while. Then I got the idea to use the hack saw, cut a notch below the hole and then slam it with a hammer. That bent one "arm" back and allowed for enough space the rod to sit inside. I used the file to make the thickness of the "arms" a little more pointed to fit in the threads on the rod, and I think the garter is now ready to install on the chop.

Here is the full length shot of the bench with the chop installed for the test fit. With any luck, I'll figure out how I'm going to attach the handle/lever I have yet to create and then I'll attach it permanently! It sure is strong though--glad I upped the screw from the 10" 3/8" carriage bolt to the 1/2" x 24" threaded rod! As an aside, the strip of wood laying on the bench is the 4 pieces of oak trim cutoff that I glued together months ago. I planed it down to it's fighting size today and it fit so smoothly into the slot that's already cut into the leg for it. Should be awesome for the support bit down there on the bottom of the chop (the slot for that hasn't been cut yet).

Click here for the pictures!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 30: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 2)*

For the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have much spare time today but what I did have I used to take care of the next couple steps in the leg vise drama.

First I removed the threaded rod and hacked off about 6-8" worth from the end. The rod was just about 2" too long to allow the chop to fully close.

Then I figured out how to mount a handle. It occurred to me while I was trying to remove the rod from the bench from the test fit. If I could carve a hole in the leg to fit the coupler in as a support for the rod…why couldn't I carve holes in some wood to fit around the nuts that will go on the end of the rod--to create a handle?

It's kind of hard to describe, but what I came up with is something like this: after the chop is pushed onto the rod, I'll add a washer. Then there will be a piece fo wood with a nut embedded in it (not too much thicker than the nut itself). Then another nut will be embedded in a second piece of wood with a long handle attached. This second piece will be screwed down onto piece #1 locking them in place. Then a third piece of wood with a nut embedded will be screwed on last, locking all 3 together.

I figure if I shape the pieces of wood, I could make what seems like a decent looking handle. Then just before tightening all of them down, I could glue them all together using the wood surfaces to make a nice solid handle. I also immediately thought is something goes wrong or a handle breaks…well, I just have to remove the wood--hack and slash--and the nuts should pop out (I'm not gluing them). then just make new housing for the nuts. Worst case scenario, I replace all the nuts and threaded rod and start over--that total cost would be about $5.

But what wood to use? Just so happens I had a scrap length of 2"x 3/4" poplar laying about so I used that. I decided to make the wood housings 2.5" squares. Then it was relatively easy to place the nut in the center using the combo square and drill a 5/8" hole in the wood. After tracing the outline of the nut around the hole, I just did what I did for the leg and used the chisel to carve out a hexagon shape to fit the nut securely.

This time it was much easier. I mounted the poplar on a cutting block of scrap wood that had been glued together last year for an air rifle stock I had started to carve then realized that white-wood wouldn't be the best choice (it was a terrible glue-up too). I've been holding onto this sizable chunk of glued-up mess and now I have a use for it…sacrificial block to protect the bench!Above you can see all the holes had been drilled in the 5' board. I carved out the first piece pretty quickly. After a little persuasion by the rubber mallet, I had this:

Awesome. That piece then got cut off from the rest (I even laid out the kerf line for my cheapie Stanley miter box saw (the yellow plastic one). I also discovered the joys of waxing your saw. It was binding something fierce in the poplar on this first cut and I could not figure out why. Finally I decided to try and wax it (never done that before!) using some paraffin (Gulf) wax blocks I got a while ago for…I don't know why…

Anyway, the saw powered through the rest of the cuts like a hot knife through butter. I'm a believer now! I'm going to dedicate some time soon to waxing all my saws. Anyway, in pretty short order, I had all the nuts housed in the wood and all the wood pieces cut free.You can see the shape I'm planning on doing here as well. I used the combo square's 45* angle thing to make consistent angle marks on all the pieces, then laid out lines to trim down the longer middle piece which will be the actual handle.

Next, it was time for a test fit! I threaded the rod a little into the leg again just to get it supported, then started threading on my new wood encased nuts. Here is the result--exactly like I thought, it worked great!The rest is just a matter of making it look pretty. So I took everything apart and started to cut off those angles with the miter saw again. Once I figured out how that saw likes to be held, it literally chewed through that poplar in about 10 seconds per cut. Waaay faster than I've ever been able to get with that saw before. Very happy.

With all the pieces trimmed, I then took out my utility knife (I really need to get a dedicated carving knife…the thin blade on that utility knife just makes me nervous it's going to snap whenever it takes too big a bite and twangs) and started to round the edges and take the hardness off the handle. I was running out of time so I didn't get as far as smoothing the two smaller pieces but I think after a quick scrub with some 100 and 220 grit sandpaper, the handle is feeling pretty comfortable.

Above is a shot of all the parts of the leg vise. The handle, the two locking nuts, the threaded rod and washer, the garter (that funky "V" shaped metal thing I found) and at the very bottom, the side of the chop.

I'm not sure I'm done with the handle. I haven't really settled on a final shape. While I love the dowel-looking handles on traditional vises, that's beyond my skills (patience) at the moment. This thing has been sitting in pieces for so long, I am just ready to be done with it so I can move on to other stuff that is just piling up. We'll see. It feels pretty darn good right now in my hand and I gave it a couple practice twirls to simulate trying to loosen or tighten it quick and it really moves. I think I'm going to smooth out the two locking nuts first and do another test fit to see if I want to shape the handle more or just call it. It kind of looks a little rustic right now…like the rest of the bench (yeah…I still have to trim the excess of the top!).

And another thought occurred to me while I was carving this thing. If I tighten the nuts/wood pieces sufficiently, I may not need to glue anything. That would make removal/repair a LOT easier. We'll see how it goes unglued and just friction tightened first. If things keep coming loose (it's not that big a deal to just twist the wood in opposite directions to lock/unlock) then I'll just glue the wood together.

This leg vise feels like it's just creeping along…oh yeah. It is!

To see the pictures, please click here.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 31: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 3)*

Please click here to see the version with pictures.

I made some good progress for the 20 minutes I had to work on the bench today.

I used the utility knife to chamber the edges of the two locking nut/wood discs I fabricated, then polished off the wood with 220 grit sandpaper for a nice smooth finish that didn't end up overly round.

I also got out the 3/8" paddle bit and started to hog out the slot for the support guide at the bottom of the leg vise. I ran out of time to get this part finished, but the hole is roughed out and I just started to chisel it smooth.

The main event, however, was a full up trial run of the vise. I put the chop on the threaded rod, then 2 washers (I haven't decided fi I want 2 or 1) then the first nut/wood block, then the handle, then the end nut/wood block. I set the end piece to cover the sharp end of the threaded rod in case me or the kids or anyone else happens to get to close to the bench, they won't (read that as I won't) gore themselves. Then it was a simple matter of rotating the handle in the opposite direction until it was snug and tight against the end piece. Then , repeat that process for the last nut and the whole thing got incredibly tight. I don't think I even need to glue it.

And the test? It worked like a dream. I spun the handle a little bit and it was so smooth. When the chop was engaged, I put Jim's lamp mounting plate in it for the first test and man did it get locked down.

The chop wanted to wobble side to side a bit as I tightened it up, but I anticipate that the guide at the bottom that is to be installed with solve that.

I have yet to figure out a way to get a garter on this thing. The first idea I had met with horrible failure. I mortised out a little space in the rear of the chop (the inside face) and placed that little metal piece I worked on yesterday in the slot. Everything fit nice, the threaded rod passed right through…but when I went to test it, the chop just tighten up against the handle (using the same principle as the handle itself) and then wouldn't budge. After some head scratching, I realized that this tack is the wrong course. That's when it hit me that the garter can't touch an actual thread or it acts like a nut. Duh. Ah well, the learning pains. Which means, I think I need to mortise a hole in the front of the chop, cut a thick slice off a thick dowel and hollow it for the threaded rod, then cut a groove in the dowel and mount a garter into that. I'm thinking this will ride with a washer on either end (one against the chop, one against the handle assembly).

But that can wait a while. It's not so bad at all to just tighten things down, then back the handle off and manually pull the chop back. I'm going to live with it for a while and see how I like it. If I don't, I'll rig up the garter. 
At the moment, I don't want to mess up a good thing by tinkering too much!

Please click here see the version with pictures.


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 31: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 3)*
> 
> Please click here to see the version with pictures.
> 
> ...


I would suggest you file out the thread where the garter comes in contact with the rod, in such a way that there no more thread at that spot. In other words making a circular groove with a width just greater than the garter tickness.

It will not weaken the rod as its strength depends of the core diameter.
You will have to get the garter a little bit closer to the core of the rod.
Probably a quarter of an hour job.

edit
I see you have in some way sharpened you garter so that it can slip between two threads; take that bevel out so that it will not engage in the thread.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 31: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 3)*
> 
> Please click here to see the version with pictures.
> 
> ...


Aha! Genius! Thanks so much for the tip! I will tackle that today. I agree, it shouldn't take long at all. The light suddenly just turn on over my head--I don't know why I didn't think of that before. So much simpler than trying to cut a dowel, etc…

Thanks so much!!!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 32: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 4)*

For the image heavy version of this post, please click here.

At last, the day arrived when I could put it all together and complete the leg vise. Or so I thought. This post is actually a combination of a couple days work because I just couldn't bring myself to post nothing but failure after failure until it was done.

With some helpful tips from Sylvain over at the Lumberjocks site, I was able to (almost) complete the task of getting that garter (that I thought was an unmitigated failure) in gear so-to-speak. Thanks, man!

First, I filed off the bevel that I put on the garter itself. Then I marked on the threaded rod where the garter would sit in normal operation. Then I took everything apart and used the file to remove a thread so the garter won't act like a nut. It did not take long to file off a thread, but I made the mistake of following the thread, so the garter slot was slanted. Then I went back and tried to straighten the slot by partially filing the threads in front of and after the slot. That made a nice straight slot and left half-threads in front and behind. No big deal I thought.

Then I realized when I tried to test fit everything that no matter how I tried, the garter kept getting pushed up by the half threads and was threading itself like a nut. No good. I monkeyed around for over an hour on this, taking a little metal off the garter here, some more off the threads there. It kept getting tantalizingly close to working. I actually got the garter mounted a couple times and did a full on test fit only to have ti work for 2 or 3 turns of the handle, then the garter got on the thread and locked everything up.

In frustration, I decided to cut one of the big washers I got to fit the threaded rod in half and cut it in half to see if a rounded shape (the garter I have, being scrap, is more of a V shape) would fit the garter slot better. I had mixed results again. So I tried a smaller washer, cut it in half and realized I think I had a winner. But…how to mount it? The washer is so small compared to the rod that it may have to epoxied in place or something. May have to bust out the Dremel and try and get a pilot hole started for a screw or something…more to think on.
I had to take a break before I screwed something up so I got to work on the leg vise guide. While everything was apart, I finished the guide. I took the oak piece I glued together back in August (scrap pieces of trim) and sanded it nice and smooth, rounded the edges, then used the combination square to cut 45* angles in the end of it.

After consulting the Schwarz's book on the placement of the peg holes, I got those drilled.

But how to attach it to the chop? Chris Schwarz and lots of others suggest using side pegs. That would require drilling through the chop. In my case, I don't have a bit long enough (I didn't fully taper the chop like everyone else does…now I see why! Lessons learned for next time!). so, enter plan B. I had a scrap piece of an oak dowel laying around. That went into the bottom of the guide slot on the chop. then the guide was fit in. Last, I split a chunk of oak from another scrap trim piece and shaped it to fit just so…it became a nice wedge in the chop to keep the guide rock solid.

I did a test fit of the wedge for strength before I drilled the peg holes in the guide. I think it's pretty darn strong!

As for the peg that will hold the guide tight against the leg in normal use, I decided to use a piece of a maple branch I had to trim a while ago. Like the file handle I made from the birch branch, I love using wood I harvest on my own land. Here's the branch it came from:

Then I used the utility knife to trim off the bark (waaay thinner than the birch). I scraped the peg with the edge of the blade like a spokeshave to smooth and round it (that was fun!) and then polished it off with some 220 grit sandpaper.As you can see in the picture, I left the little stubs of some bigger twigs towards the end to make a "T" that will keep the peg from slipping out and give me something to grip when inserting and removing. It's probably way too long at the moment, but that can easily be trimmed.

So then I got around to drilling holes in the guide to match the diameter of the peg I made. Well, that didn't turn out so well. I got within 5 holes of being finished when the guide broke apart. So I had one slice of the guide that then had to be clamped in place while I finished the holes, then glued back together (I had no other suitable wood in the scrap bin that would work without another day or two of labor to get it in shape).

As I'm doing with the handle, I want to see how long it'll last mounted to the chop without glue. If normal use loosens things up (right now this sucker is not going anywhere) then I'll glue it as well. I guess in a way I'm preparing for if/when the glued oak guide splits apart. Since it already did while I was drilling holes, I thin it's a fair bet it'll happen in the future. In that case, I'll go get a solid oak plank and plane it to fit and be done with it. But…as a nod to my cheaper side, I'm going to see how long I can last without having to buy more wood.

For the image heavy version of this post, http://vaughtwoodworks.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/workbench-day-32-mounting-the-leg-vise-part-4/.


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 32: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 4)*
> 
> For the image heavy version of this post, please click here.
> 
> ...


I am sory to hear that it didn't work as expected.

You might try this :









the nut may be epoxied or kept in place with a through pin if you want to be able to unmount it.
Note that the groove is wide enough such that when you tight the vise the handle will limit the travel of the rod in such a way that the thread will not touch the garter.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Day 32: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 4)*
> 
> For the image heavy version of this post, please click here.
> 
> ...


Wow thanks for the drawing--that explains a lot actually! Great idea! But I actually just kept at the advice you gave me last time and….it worked! I just hadn't followed through enough. Thanks again for shining the light on my confusion and frustration!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Day 33: Leg Vise finished!*

For the glory shots of the completed leg vise, please click here.

Today, I finally can scratch off this component of the bench at last!

I came out to shop more confused than ever on how to proceed after ending the session yesterday in frustration. So I turned on the radio and put everything together and watched carefully how the threaded rod affected the garter and tried to catch it.

It occurred to me I should try and either (a) make the half threads surrounding the garter grove more sharp instead of gradual sloped and (b) file the groove deeper into the core of the rod. The rod is so thick (actually 5/8" not the 1/2" I wrote the other day) I don't think the filing I did hurt the strength of the rod at all.

I took nearly an hour to slowly file bit by bit and test and re-test the garter, but each time it worked a little better. Finally, by the time I was ready to give up and move on, the last test worked. I filed a little more off (we're talking 3-4 strokes of the file) and it was as near to perfect as I feel I can get at this stage in the game. The groove was way deeper than I originally made yet still not so deep that I am worried for the integrity of the vise.

I attached the guide (freshly glued and sanded again) and at long last, it's done!

You can see in the picture above, this thing has an effective clamping width of something around 18" or so (!!!). Here it's only backed out about 6 or 7 inches. Then I closed it for another look.Man it feels good to step back and say I built that!!Once I get the ends of the top trimmed (the billets are still rough cut to length from when I built it) the next step will be a sliding deadman. And to clean up. Sheesh, what a slob.

Please click here for pictures.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vise Chop Redux*

Okay, so if you follow this blog, you'll know that last year I built a leg vice and attached it to the workbench I built over the summer. The chop on this vice was simply two pieces of 3/4" pine, about 6" wide, glued together and shaped (with some crude tools I had at the time and zero knowledge of what I was doing). Then I carved my initials and the year of it's construction (2012) into it and made a nice little handle out of poplar.










Well, it works. That's about all I can say for it. I've had to repair it twice (fixing the garter and then redoing the oaken support bar at the bottom that kept sliding through the chop when sufficient force was applied). I've noticed it bowing more and more lately. I think the abuse I've heaped on it in the past year is taking it's toll. I can't complain though, the thing cost me about $6 in wood and glue.

But, it's always had a wobble and lately it's gotten worse--the chop will sway front to back now by 3/4".










I can still work with it, but it's irritating, because I know I can do better now that I have a year of woodworking under my belt. I see the bench and look at the crude mortises and rough-cut bridle joins and think, man, if I did this now, it'd look a LOT nicer. Maybe I'm just talking my self into building a better bench, maybe I'm just realizing the humbleness of my first attempt.

At any rate, I can fix the chop, cheaply and with little risk of screwing it up this time. I think. So, with that in mind, an idea formed in my head to use some scrap poplar and a chunk of 2×6 I had laying around and make a new chop.

I want to spruce it up a little this time, so I'm going to take the 2×6 and sandwich it between two layers of 3/4" poplar and carve the upper layer into a Game of Thrones inspired Targaryen dragon motif:










The last carving I did was for my mom's medal chest was basswood:










And it was so much fun, I just want to do it some more. I figured, why not dress up the bench a little? It's very utilitarian right now. I want to change that. If I'm going to be looking at something for hours on end, I at least want it to be pretty.

We'll see how the poplar carves (I've heard it's similar to basswood). For now, I have to have laminate the chop. Here it is during glue up:










Yes, that's a giant roll of shrink wrap on the bench. The movers left me 2 of these bad boys when they moved us in last summer and it is great for putting under a glue up. I'm going to mount it under the bench on the left so I can just unroll it and cover the bench whenever I need it. But that's another post.

About 5 hours later, I removed the clamps and compared the two chops. Oh yeah, version two is beefier, that's for sure. It's at least twice as thick and three times as heavy. I'd say V2 is pushing 10 pounds where V1 is maybe 5.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Redux*
> 
> Okay, so if you follow this blog, you'll know that last year I built a leg vice and attached it to the workbench I built over the summer. The chop on this vice was simply two pieces of 3/4" pine, about 6" wide, glued together and shaped (with some crude tools I had at the time and zero knowledge of what I was doing). Then I carved my initials and the year of it's construction (2012) into it and made a nice little handle out of poplar.
> 
> ...


hmmm. Now you got me thinking.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Redux*
> 
> Okay, so if you follow this blog, you'll know that last year I built a leg vice and attached it to the workbench I built over the summer. The chop on this vice was simply two pieces of 3/4" pine, about 6" wide, glued together and shaped (with some crude tools I had at the time and zero knowledge of what I was doing). Then I carved my initials and the year of it's construction (2012) into it and made a nice little handle out of poplar.
> 
> ...


Do it Don, you know you want to…if your planes are any indication, you could do some amazing work, I'm sure!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Slice and Dice the new Leg Vise Chop*

Finally got a chance to sweat in the shop….I mean work in the shop today. Wisconsin may not be as hot as Texas (ever) but we sure get some humid days and being inside the garage, even with a box fan going full blast is good recipe for weight loss!

Today's first order of business was to start crafting a carving mallet so I could do the details on the leg chop. I don't have one and quite frankly, I just think they're cool. But…I'm going to take a non-traditional approach. I have no lathe and a very limited budget, so I had to do some brainstorming. Tapping the carving chisels with my big mallet is just not in the cards.

Click here to see the write up of the carving mallet project I've started.

Anyway, after I dried myself off from working on the new mallet, I dusted off the now glued up leg vise chop and honed some chisels. I tell you what, the freshly honed chisels really made short work of the top of the vise, slicing through the poplar with ease. Add a little persuasion from Kroktskaft and I was revealing some real pretty green grain in the upper layer of poplar and a glass like finish. It's like the wood is infused with emeralds or something. Really cool color.










The light green grain is kind of hard to see in the photo, but what isn't hard to see is the difference truly sharp chisels make. The first iteration of my chop was "carved" with the same chisels in 3/4" pine. The chisels were used straight from the package and "sharpened" the best way I knew how at the time. I was quite pleased with myself!










Ah, ignorance is bliss.

Since last year, however, I have figured out the scary sharp method and gotten a mirror polish on my edged tools. The photo below shows the difference. On the bench is the new chop, with sharply sliced bevels. Below it is the current chop, with a rough-hewn look to it. Granted, the chop has been in service for a year…but still. Daaaaaaaamn, what a difference.










Whew….didn't realize how rough the original chop looks until today! I don't want to meet this bad boy in a dark alley…unless I've got my scary sharp chisels, that is.

Just I got into a good rhythm, then heard the baby monitor start to squawk. So, that's it for today. But tomorrow holds promise--and it's supposed to be cooler.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vice Chop Shaping Complete*

Got to spend some more time in the shop after I put the kids to bed. I continued shaping the chop and here is the result….one nicely beveled chop, using chisels and the Nice Ash block plane. A deadly combination--that poplar never stood a chance.










By the time I had all the bevels done (30minutes!) I realized I had time to go for flattening the sides, and I ended up with this:










I am very happy with the results. Got a little workout in and finished the chop's shaping. So I started in on roughing out the handle on my new carving mallet. 30 minutes later, using a utility knife and a 1" bench chisel I have something that resembles a handle, but is superbly fitted to my hand. It feels so good in fact I'm kind of freaked out that I pulled this off. And I still need to finish shaping it and sand it, etc…Now I'm fighting the urge to get started on the carving instead of finishing the mallet.










Kind of crude looking, but hey, I don't have a lathe and I just have to shake my head in wonder at how well I lucked out with fitting it. Just weird.

I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, eh?

Boy that cherry is delicious to work with. As much fun as I've ever had with sharp tools.

And just for giggles, you can see the cut off, drunkenly tilted over, from the shaft. Hah!


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## Airframer (Jan 19, 2013)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vice Chop Shaping Complete*
> 
> Got to spend some more time in the shop after I put the kids to bed. I continued shaping the chop and here is the result….one nicely beveled chop, using chisels and the Nice Ash block plane. A deadly combination--that poplar never stood a chance.
> 
> ...


Wow! That turned out nice! Kinda makes me wish I had spent a bit more time shaping mine.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vice Chop Shaping Complete*
> 
> Got to spend some more time in the shop after I put the kids to bed. I continued shaping the chop and here is the result….one nicely beveled chop, using chisels and the Nice Ash block plane. A deadly combination--that poplar never stood a chance.
> 
> ...


Thanks man!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Starting to Carve the new Leg Vise*

Got a little time in the shop left after repairing my jack plane iron--that's another post--time to start carving!

First I transfered the design using tracing paper (rub a pencil to cover the back in graphite, then retrace the design on the wood). Then I used a 1/2" bench chisel to make stop cuts around the larger portions of the banner. It will be draped over the bottom section of the dragons so it is the high ground, so to speak.










After the stop cuts were made, I went around all the curvy parts wih my carving chisels and made more stop cuts, then started to hollow out the background around the banner and undercut the main part to give it a 3D look.

Once I was satisfied it was deep enough, I started on the left side and knocked down the two layers of the curled banner. When I had three distinct layers I called it quits for the day. It was 100 degrees in the garage and I needed to change clothes!










Man, this poplar carves nice. Silky, like basswood only denser. I really like it!


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Starting to Carve the new Leg Vise*
> 
> Got a little time in the shop left after repairing my jack plane iron--that's another post--time to start carving!
> 
> ...


This is gonna look so cool.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Carving update*

So I had some more time today in the shop and continued to work on the leg vise chop. There's not much to tell, the picture show the progress. It was slow, sweaty work, but this is the result of about 2 hours. Had to hone the chisels but other than that, everything is progressing as planned.

Finsihed the final shaping of the banner (just needs smoothing and sanding) and started in on the dragons! Woohoo!










Really liking how the curled banner looks 3D! Thanks to Mary May and her latest article in Popular Woodworking on carving linen folds in wood!

Here's the main event:










I took a bad picture it seems. Straight down does not do it justice. But it sure is fun trying to get all the little nooks and crannies around that dragon head. Looking forward to doing the celtic knotwork-like necks!


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## Airframer (Jan 19, 2013)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Carving update*
> 
> So I had some more time today in the shop and continued to work on the leg vise chop. There's not much to tell, the picture show the progress. It was slow, sweaty work, but this is the result of about 2 hours. Had to hone the chisels but other than that, everything is progressing as planned.
> 
> ...


Looking good so far! Keep it up!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vise Chop Carving Update II*

There's not much that words can express that pictures can't outdo…I got to carve another 2 hours and it's coming along nicely!










And here it is next to the old one…


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vise Chop Carving Update III*

Here's the latest update. I scrapped the flames as too difficult for my skills/tools.










Got all the dragons roughed in…now I can work on refining shapes and background consistency.


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## Airframer (Jan 19, 2013)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Update III*
> 
> Here's the latest update. I scrapped the flames as too difficult for my skills/tools.
> 
> ...


WOW! That turned out nice! I almost wouldn't smooth out the rough spots too much. I'm kinda digging the texture it gives to the carving.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Update III*
> 
> Here's the latest update. I scrapped the flames as too difficult for my skills/tools.
> 
> ...


Thanks! Now that I think about it, the textured background almost looks like flames…may have to experiment here….


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Update III*
> 
> Here's the latest update. I scrapped the flames as too difficult for my skills/tools.
> 
> ...


This is gonna be awesome.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Update III*
> 
> Here's the latest update. I scrapped the flames as too difficult for my skills/tools.
> 
> ...


the textured background almost looks like flames

Yes it does. As I was reading the post and looking at the pic, I'm thinking "Scrapped the flames? I see them right there." Then I realized it was the texture from the carving. I think you could easily make that work for you.


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## DonBroussard (Mar 27, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Update III*
> 
> Here's the latest update. I scrapped the flames as too difficult for my skills/tools.
> 
> ...


I vote to keep the "flames" in the background too. Looking good there, Steve!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*

Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.

Here it is with the basic shaping and sanding complete.










Then I went back with two different sized nail sets and gently hammered in a scale patter on the dragon heads and necks:










And finally used my carving chisels and chip carving knife to cut the year numbers.










Now it's time to put a coat of clear shellac on the carving (those teeth are small enough that I want at least a minimum of protection…) and star work on mounting it to the bench!!


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


Sweet…...


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


Well done, Steve! I see you kept the flames/carving tool marks.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


Thanks *Don*, *Jay*. Yep, kept the flames. Couldn't not keep them with dragons as the main subject lol. Now I'm trying to figure out a way to darken the dragons and keep the background lighter and give it a bit of a protective seal at the same time…


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## DonBroussard (Mar 27, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


Very nice job, Steve. Very impressive! Could you use a torch on the dragons while covering the flames with some protective material?


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


*Don*: Maybe. Not sure what protective material I'd use. Or what torch for that matter. With my grace, I'd end up needing a new house after that lol My kids magic markers are looking better and better…But…having the wood burned would be awesome!


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


shouldn't the flames be red? Just sayin.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


Nice work Steve. I love the design. I have a barometer plaque in my shop with a 3 dragon heads intertwined which was carved by my son in school and which I am rather fond of.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


Nice work Steve. I love the design. I have a barometer plaque in my shop with a 3 dragon heads intertwined which was carved by my son in school and which I am rather fond of.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


Fantastic. It's really cool to see how far you've come in just a year.


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## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished*
> 
> Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.
> 
> ...


great job, love the design too!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*

Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.

The first thing that hit me today was that the bare spot I had filed into the threads on the leg vise "screw" (really a 5/8" threaded rod from the Borg) for the first chop won't work on v2 because the chop is twice as thick.










Soooo…half an hour of filing and I had this:










Then I started making the garter. First I measured out a 2.5" square of 1/2" oak. Then took it to the drill press and punched a 1/2" hole with a Forstner bit and cut the garter in half.










Made a pretty good fit, I think…or as close as I can get with the equipment I have.










Once the garter was ready, I put the whole chop on the drill press and after lauhing a bit at how it drwafed the press table, I drilled a 5/8" hole for the screw. This was a little complicated, as my little Harbor Freight (I know, gasp) drill press and small bits dodnt have the travel neccessary to punch through the whole chop in one pass.










So I would drill as deep as possible, the scooted the chop up ontot the bit and shimmed it with scrap underneath to let the bit go deeper. I repeated this until the chuck hit the chop (lol) and had to flip the chop, mark the location of the hole on the back and drill in to meet the front hole….

At last I had the hole drilled and smooth. The threaded rod slipped through much nicer than when I drilled the first chop last year…that was using a cordless drill and a twist bit. It was a lot more dofficult and probably was the reason for the wobble that caused me to replace the chop.

Anyway, I tested the rod with the garter in place, the traced out where to cut my mortise:










Back to the drill press to hog out the waste (first time I've ever used it to do this….talk about fun!)










And 5 minutes later I had chiselsd out the most square, straight sided mortise of my life!!!










I was so happy with the mortise I had a hard time seating the garter and rod….I hated to cover it up! But, after countersinking for some screws, everything went together like butter (the wax I added to the garter and the rod may have helped).

It only took a few minutes to thread the rod into the bench's bushing (also oak) and my new chop was attached!!









(Sorry for the blurry, bad image…cell phone camera)

Then….I noticed the other bad news….when I originally built the bench I must had drilled the hole for the rod off a little. Because I did it by hand (not with a bit and brace, just with a power drill and no guides) and not with a press, my new chop is waaaaaay off.










You can clearly see the bottom has mad contact with the bench leg, but the top is….you guessed it…exactly as far apart as the infamous wobble in the old chop that caused me so much grief.

After wiping up the sawdust filled tears of frustration, I started thinking of remedies. Firs toptoo is to cut an angled piece to glje on the face of the chop to make it clampable. Not pretty because I'll have a lopsoded chop….but I don't think it'll bug me enough to not want to use it.

So I'm putting the old batsignal out intot the clouds….anyone got any ideas on how to proceed? I'm hoping I don't have to use the u option of removing the leg and replacing that and drilling a proper hole to match the chop….


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## Airframer (Jan 19, 2013)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


Looking at that pic is the hole in the leg the issue or is the hole in the chop not straight? From this angle it looks like the hole in the chop is angled and the leg is straight?

*edit .. after looking at all the pics again I think it is the through the chop that is the issue. That being the case you could drill it over sized with a second surface mounted garter on the outboard side of it to square it up.


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## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


Couldn't you plug the chop then re-drill?


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


Aha! Thanks guys--this is exactly what I had not thought of.

*Eric*, *Kevin*, great suggestions, thank you! To me, it's the hole in the leg that seems off (I haven't examined carefully yet, too disappointed with the results of the test fit and the kids needed snacks lol)--but I think I'm only thinking that because I drilled the chop on the drill press and in the back of my mind I keep thinking, well of course that's going to be 90*....but….I'm going to be taking measurements tomorrow to see exactly where the mistake is.

The point is, now I've got two great suggestions on how to go forward. I love this place. Thanks again!


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## SamuelP (Feb 26, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


You can find cheap used leg vice screws on ebay too. I got mine for 30the bucs. The bigger screw might help after the redrill.


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## Airframer (Jan 19, 2013)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


I think I know where it went wrong in the drilling process (and it's a mistake I can see myself making) is your chop tapered from top to bottom? And did you account for that taper when you placed it into your drill press? If not that would explain the hole angle.

I would just plug it and re drill it with the taper accounted for and that would be problem solved.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


I looks to me like the leg hole is drilled at an upward angle. It can be plugged and re-drilled with no problems.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


I'm watching but having trouble understanding. In my opinion the rod should have some flexibility to allow the screw to float vertically. Otherwise you can only vice square objects in the vice and your vice always needs to perfectly perpendicular to the bench.

Or do I completely mis-understand.


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter*
> 
> Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.
> 
> ...


*Sam*: that's probably going to be my end game option--I figure I have so much time invested in this now, I just want to see if I can fix it (and I did) for personal satisfaction. But those Lee Valley screws are lookin' mighty tempting now. Might be a Christmas present for myself!

*Eric*: You're halfright--no, there is no taper on the chop, but the dang drill press was slightly off when I drilled the hole in the chop….

*stefang*: Your suggestion ultimately won out--but I didn't plug it, since it was just a few degrees off. I simply angled the drill press and had at it. Success!!!

*Don*: You are absolutely right--I did want a little flexibility. But with the original chop, I was getting over an inch of movement (I think it was closer to 2") which was making things awkward. It seemd to be getting worse (the pine was giving way around the garter and the garter itself was just not holding) in the last few months. Every time I tightened it I could hear it move. Freaky. Anyway, the solution was the new, beefier chop that still has a bit of wiggle room and hopefully won't go the way the first did (to the burn pile!).

Thanks guys for all the suggestions--I did fix the problem and you can see it here!!


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

*Leg Vise Chop Finished*

Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.

To correct the angled chop I had to see what was the problem: the hole drilled in the chop or the hole drilled for the coupler buried in the leg?

First I tested the hole in the leg:










Clearly, the threaded rod exiting the leg is off of perpendicular. Then, before I attacked the solution, I decided to check the chop:










Huh. It's off too! So, after some hand wringing, cussing, and a few beers, I took the case online and asked for help. I received a lot of good suggestions (thanks guys!!) from plugging and redrilling the chop hole to counter the downward pitch of the leg hole, to turning the bench around and drilling a new chop hole in the far left back leg (making that the new front right).

In the end, after some careful head scratching and lots of pondering, I decided to try and shift the angle of the chop hole. Since I was only talking a few degrees I decided not to fill it. That and I didn't have any 5/8" dowel stock laying around. Playing with the sliding bevel gauge, I hit on an angle I thought would fix things.

After a test piece on some scrap almost worked, I tweaked the tilt on the drill press table one past time and hit pay dirt:










That's what I was after!!! A nice flush fit. Now. Just have to add a corresponding angle to the garter (oh yeah…redo that bit as well). In a shorter amount of time that I thought, I had it:










At last. Done! Well, sort of. I still had to make a new parallel guide. Which wasn't too hard. I used a piece of 1/2" oak and planed it to the right thickness to match the slot in the leg, then drilled holes for the pin (er, screwdriver) then mortised out a new slot in the chop, drilled a hole in the side for a locking dowel and reassembled everything. Voila!










This was a worthwhile project that despite having done it a year ago, taught me a lot about woodworking. My mortises were spot on this time, better than I've ever done. In all, I'm really happy how this turned out!










Thanks to all my fellow Lumberjocks that offered suggestions and helped me crack this little nut!!


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## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Finished*
> 
> Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.
> 
> ...


Steve, glad ya got it worked out with minimum fuss. And those dragons are cool, or maybe hot. NIce job.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Finished*
> 
> Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.
> 
> ...


looks good and works. Can't beat that.


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## DonBroussard (Mar 27, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Finished*
> 
> Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.
> 
> ...


Steve-You should be proud of that bench, and the carving on the leg vise chop, and the thoughtful, well-executed correction on the wobbly leg vise. Well done!


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Finished*
> 
> Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.
> 
> ...


I looks really good now Steve and more importantly it works! I do have one suggestion for you. If the handle had been made at an angle, say say 20deg. it would be easier to use and if it had another handle opposite it would be like a giant wing nut with the angled handles sticking out a bit to give your hands good room to turn it without bruising your knuckles. Just a thought, maybe you are totally satisfied with the way it is.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Finished*
> 
> Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.
> 
> ...


Congrats! A snug-fitting chop is a happy chop!

Isn't it funny how we learn the importance of 'square' oftentimes by first not caring about it?


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## RaggedKerf (Aug 5, 2012)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Finished*
> 
> Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.
> 
> ...


Thanks everyone!

*stefang*: you hit the nail on the head. When I made the handle I didn't really know what I was doing/wanted. Now I'm kicking around the idea of making a wheel, or at least putting a separate handle that juts out perpendicular to the long one…I find when I open and close the chop, I'm only using about half that long handle because the length forces my hand to make large circles. When I hold it (usually with one finger or two) up about halfway on the handle, I can make smaller, faster circles and open and close it faster. More stuff to mull over…

*Smitty* :Amen!


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

RaggedKerf said:


> *Leg Vise Chop Finished*
> 
> Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.
> 
> ...


This looks like a very interesting blog. The workbench is looking great.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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