Okay, so this is second woodworking project. My first was raised panel wainscoting for our dining room. That project introduced me to a router and table, a table saw (Bosch contractor saw) and a bunch of headaches. One of the things that stood out during the process is my lack of a good workbench. So I started thinking up different ideas– there was a really neat one in a DIY book, but after much consideration, I decided to do a formal woodworkers bench.
My needs are a 70×30 top. I want it to be maple and sit around 38 inches tall. It needs a front vise and a tail vise. I decided to give a corner vise a try. I also need to be able to have storage under the bench, so I’m going to rabbit the stretchers on the bottom and put planks across them. Mortise and tenon legs, blind mortise and tenon stretchers with bench bolts securing them.
Tools–
After my adventures in ripping 8/4 with the table saw, I decided after reading a few articles to buy a bandsaw. I recently picked up a drill press from Ridgid, and right out of the box the base was mis-drilled. This made me swear off any more cheap tool purchases. The bandsaw is a 14″ Powermatic. I also own a bunch of handplanes which I’ve never used. A cheap Buck Brothers jack plane, a Veritas #7, and I just bought a #4 Lie-Neilson. I’m GOING to learn how to use them.
Step one– buy wood and glue it together. I need 3 1/2 inch square legs. Some of the wood was bowed, and I thought– great! use the #7, right? WRONG! It bit back, it gave huge tearout, and it constantly bound. I was using it with a 25 degree second edge. I was really frustrated. I glued the chewed up halves together.
Lesson: Pipe clamps are the way to go with glue-ups. The trigger style clamps are expensive and they don’t provide near the clamping power of pipe clamps. I’m going slow, so the glue up legs are being glued one at a time, and sitting in the clamps for about 24 hours. No problems there.
I needed to joint the glue ups.. but I don’t have a power jointer. So I screwed a piece of plywood I’d straightened on my router into the maple and set about getting one true length. It produced a straight cut, but I hit one of the screws while using it and my next cut was bowed and smokey. I fried the blade. After a trip to Rockler, I was back in business.
Today was hand plane day to smooth the rough edges on the legs. I thought the #7 was the way to go– nope. It bit, it bound, it hurt! So I pulled out my el cheapo Buck Brothers #5 jack with a loose handle and the rough edge started to level out. I honed the plane to 35 degrees. Viola! The rough edge started to disappear. I re-honed the #7 to 35 degrees and it worked a little better. Less tearout and finer shavings. But I’m going to eventually replace it with a bailey style.
Then I pulled out my new Lie Neilson #4 smoother. I’ve never used a finer tool. It produced a shiny glassy surface. Honed to 35 degrees and I have a 50 degree frog..
I’m currently gluing up the top and bottom assembly for the legs. Hopefully by next weekend I will start my mortices and tenons for the legs.
Replies
Reeltime,
Welcome to Knots! I can see you're not afraid to get in there and get started.
Don't know if you've seen these books or not. They were very helpful while I was building my bench. They're also handy reference books. These aren't the only workbench books, by far, and not the only good workbench books, just the ones I happen to own and like.
The Workbench Book, by Scott Landis. Taunton Press.
Workbenches: From design and Theory to Construction and Use. Chris Schwarz. Popular Woodoworking Press.
And while you're building the workbench, you might as well look ahead to Jim Tolpin's Toolbox Book. There's a ton of good stuff just waiting to be built!
--jonnieboy
Isn't the "adventure" great
Isn't the "adventure" great fun?
March 28 Update-- So the
March 28 Update--
So the weekend had one big wrinkle, but quite a few successes. Let's talk success-- I'll feel better that way.
I'm well into the tenon cutting of the legs now. The first two tenons required significant chisel work. I spent the better part of an evening taking shavings off until they fit my mortises. So I changed up my measuring slightly for the second leg-- and I had much easier results. Very little trimming presented a nice tight tenon. Here's how I did it:
I placed the leg upright on the base and centered it over the mortise using the existing marks I used for drilling the mortises. I marked an outline around the entire leg once centered. I measured the distance from the outside of the outline, to the inside of the mortise, then marked the leg based on this measurement. The result was a near perfect fit.
Avoiding my major mistake for another paragraph-- Let's talk about the rounded edges on the base. I liked the designs I've seen where the base legs get rounded over, but leave a lip at either end of the curve. My tool of choice-- the bandsaw. I used a paint can to mark the curve on the base, then changed the bandsaw to the 3/8 inch blade so I could better cut the curve. I did the curve freehand, and the bandsaw was more than up to the task.
I cut the curve first, then put the little lip in with a 1/16" straight cut at either end of the curve, and then went back and cleaned up the curve a little bit. The result was satisfactory-- but left a rather rough curve. I cycled through sandpaper grits-- 80, 120, 240, and 400. I actually surprised myself with how nice the cuts looked.
Okay, okay-- here's my big screw up...
I was cutting my last tenon on the rear leg on the right side-- this is the 2nd of the four legs. On my last pass- (using a dado stack on my table saw) which is the important one-- it defines the cheek-- I wound up with a slanted cheek-- it took on a wedge shape. It turns out-- the vibration from the table saw loosened the nut that held the angle on my crosscut sled at 90 degrees. After straightening out my mistake, I took too much out of the cheek, and that leg is now shorter, requiring a shim on the top of the cheek. Fortunately I have a lot of maple to work with, cutting a slim piece should be simple on my miter saw.
I'm still mad at myself for not catching this before cutting-- and I'm going to have some work cut out to level the bench. I have plenty of maple to fashion a shim, but It is somewhat aggravating.
I should finish the leg tenons this week, and start the leg mortises for the stretchers by next weekend, if all goes well.
This must seem mind-numbingly slow to a lot of folks. I'm a month into the project and I still don't have the base together. Please keep in mind that I don't actually have that much time into the bench-- because my work schedule doesn't allow me a lot of time to work on it.
Going slow, learning from mistakes, and celebrating the small victories.
Celebrating the small victories is a good approach. Waiting for big victories results in very few celebrations. ;-)
Update- So the bench is
Update-
So the bench is moving along at a snail's pace right now. After smoothing the legs, feet, stretchers, and headers, I realized I had some, ahem, discrepancies in my planing. Nothing was very square. So I spent more than a week hand planing the boards square, before setting drill to the footers and headers to create the mortises.
I used the drill press to cut holes and the first mortise suffered severe blowout. Placing an MDF backer board solved the blowout issue on the rest of the mortises.
Then I spent a few days making the round holes square. I got better with each mortise. Primarily I used a corner chisel, then ate the rest of the wood off with a bevel edge chisel. They're not as pretty as on some of the woodworking videos, but I think they'll work fine.
Last week was a down-week, the IRS wants some money or something.
Last weekend I cut my first tenon. After considering a few different options-- hand saw, band saw, or table saw, I chose the table saw with a dado stack. I don't think my mortises are perfectly square, so using a band saw might not allow for human error in the mortise.
I have a crosscut sled which worked very nicely for cutting the tenons. I was quite impressed.
I cut the tenon just shy of the mortise, and I'm now nudging the tenon down to its proper size with a bevel edge chisel. I have a bullnose plane that might be a better choice, but the bullnose doesn't allow enough run-up to the tenon's leading edge, and the plane tends to skip across the tenon. A shoulder plane would be a better choice, but I don't own one.
I'm certain this will get easier with each tenon. But the first one is a lot of work. I hope to have it completed by the weekend. I have 8 to cut!
If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?
Here's some images from the week-- I'll post more later-- just iPhone shots, nothing fancy. The first shot is my straight edge jig-- note the screw placement-- that's the screw I cut in half, dulling the bandsaw blade... and my plane collection. By the way-- after reading the Chris Schwartz book on workbenches, I've revised my plan to lower the bench to 36".
April 3 Update:
Having finished the legs this week, today I decided to start fitting the legs into their base and header boards. I had rough fits already, but I really needed to do some trimming, and a lot of my shoulders were uneven from the dado cuts.
I've had a LN rabbit block plane which had arrived last week. Eager to jump in and give it a try, I used a little patience and first decided to do some sharpening today.
Sharpening isn't exactly fun. But I'm getting quite good at using the waterstones and honing guide. As long as I was at it, I figured it's about time to re-oil, and put fresh edges on my #4 and #5 LN planes. I will need the #4 before final assembly and glue, because my legs have acquired a lot of small dings during fitting. I also assume the 25 degree out-of-box bevel on the new rabbit block required a 2nd bevel.
So I took the time and meticulously sharpened and oiled everything. The new rabbit block doesn't fit into the normal slot on the honing guide. It's got a thinner width on the iron. So it gets sandwiched between the guides, instead of held in by the wider iron ears. I set the iron 35mm extended, which, going by the honing guide diagram, puts the bevel at well over 35 degrees. The rabbit block is bevel up, so whatever my 2nd bevel is, gets added to the frog pitch (around 12 degrees by my count) and that's the final bevel.
I'm estimating a 45 degree pitch on my 2nd bevel on the rabbit, putting my final angle at almost 60 degrees. It will dull faster up there, but it will produce great fine shavings, if I've got it right.
Sure enough, once finished, The rabbit block trimmed down the tenon widths very quickly. The shoulders were done in just a few swipes. starting with shallow cuts and finishing up a little thicker. This handy little plane does it all. I can't recommend this little guy enough.
I have a few more tenons to trim, then I start cutting mortises for the stretchers.
Catch Up Week
April 7 -
I ran into a HUGE snag this week in my progress on the bench-- I got sick. A nasty head cold has kept me from capitalizing on my progress of last Friday.
I was hoping to have been knee deep in stretcher mortises by now, but there's no woodworking when I can't focus properly. This is a self-imposed ban from the shop and its sharp tools.
I've been occupying my week re-reading Chris Shwartz' two books-- Handplane Essentials and Workbenches. Plus-- I need to do a little catch up on this blog.
I've included some new photos for this entry-- most prominent are the roundovers I cut into the base. I used a very high tech approach to laying out the curves-- the bottom of a spray paint can. I traced the roundover, then started up the bandsaw with a 3/8" blade. I still only own 2 bandsaw blades-- the 5/8" 3 hook per inch and the 3/8 that came with the saw. I free hand cut the curve, then changed the angle to a right angle to cut the recesses. It resulted in the first image.
Then I set to work on smoothing this all out-- accomplished with my least favorite woodworking process-- sanding.
But sanding, for me, has taken on an entirely new appreciation since I started working with planes. What could the plane system possibly have in common with sandpaper? Course, Medium, Fine. CMF has revolutionized how I approach working with wood in this my second real project.
Course-- The #5 jack plane-- capable of removing thick cuts in a single pass. Just like 80 grit. Start with that on these curves and the high spots start disappearing in a hurry.
As soon as I got the high spots removed-- #7 jointer plane-- refining the work-- same as 220 grit sandpaper. This really shapes the final product. It decides the characteristics of the final piece.
Satisfied with the shape, I go the the #4 smoothing plane-- or the 400 grit sandpaper. Here we make the smooth finish.
Course, medium, and fine. Use all three of these and you get a great result. I have to resist my own impatience to finish up. Go slow, work the CMF systems, and you get nice work.
It's also ironically the same approach I use for sharpening. 1000 grit waterstone to cut the 2nd bevel on my plane irons, 4000 grit waterstone to shape, 8000 grit waterstone to put the mirror polish on the 2nd bevel. Keeping everything sharp has made a huge difference in planing results.
This course, medium, and fine approach to woodworking hasn't sent me astray yet.
I also have an image of one of the leg's tenons. I cut these on the table saw, as I mentioned earlier. I still want to try cutting them with the hand saw, but that may be for another project. They came out much better than my mortises.
Now if I can just shake this cold...
famous last words
This quote may apply here: "Never let a foggy brain deter you from using your power tools." Stubby. ;-)
Can't tell from the pictures - are the bottom pieces completely flat, or is there a slight cut-out in the middle, resulting in four "foot pads" on the floor?
Looks plenty hefty, though.
pads
To accommodate floor irregularities, you'd probably need no more than a 1/4" thick pad, perhaps as wide as the legs are thick, on the corners. A nice contrasting wood with a bead detail along the glue line, perhaps?
Floor irregularities don't scare me nearly as much as woodworker irregularities.
April 10--
Today I took the legs down 1 1/2 inches today. The bench was too tall. Fortunately, it allowed me to fix the tenon I messed up-- it will no longer require a shim. This should put the final bench height at 36" which was my intended target.
What it leaves me with is 1 1/2 inch tenons proud of the header block. My first inclination is to cut the tenons back to flush with the top of the riser, however before I do that I want to investigate if there's wisdom in allowing the tenon to protrude into the bottom of the bench top. I hadn't considered this option before. but it would anchor the top nicely, though I doubt a 3-4 inch bench thickness would require much anchoring.. and I'm not sure how I'd go about cutting the mortise in the underside of the bench, but it is an interesting design feature. The downside to this design is that I wouldn't have a way to wedge the tenons as I'd planned.
After cutting down the legs I set about cutting mortises for the stretchers. I carefully laid out the mortises and set about drilling out the tenons with a 3/4 inch depth stop on the drill press. Then I squared off the mortises with a corner chisel. These stretchers will eventually be bench bolted, so full through tenons, in this case, is not desirable. I stole this aspect of the design from the "monster workbench" video on finewoodworking.com.
The mortises on the front legs are now complete. I have to go through the same procedure on the back legs, but I think tomorrow I'm going to work the tenons on the front legs first. I like to change things up here and there so I don't get too bored.
I also need to drill out the mortises for the bench bolts, That shouldn't take too long tomorrow, but I need to start considering just how long the base will be. I've decided to hand saw the tenons on the stretchers. This will give me some decent sawing practice and allow me to break in my new LN back saws.
I'm going to run into another familiar problem-- bracing the long stretchers for planing. I've been using the rickety old bench for that-- but I'm now considering using a random orbital sander, because of the planing difficulties that longer boards challenge me.
Wedge and drawbore?
Reeltime1, I am enjoying reading your posts.
Just some curiosity concerning your intent to wedge and drawbore the tenons. The conventional advise here is that you do not need both. I am surprised that someone has not mentioned this already.
I am curious if someone instructed you to do both.
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for following along. My only requirement of myself is that I be 100 percent honest-- which means you get to read about the idiotic things like dropping handplanes on the concrete that most people might omit.
As far as drawboring vs. wedge-- we had this discussion in the joinery group. Some of the technical questions I had to post in other areas, just so I got a response.
You are 100 percent correct that tradition would have either drawbore or wedges, but not both. In the end doing both will not hurt and yield a stronger joint. I'm fighting a little issue of operator error, too. My mortise and tenons, as cut, are a bit loosey-goosey. This is inexperience. The last mortise and tenon was obviously tighter than the first mortise and tenon, because I got better as I discovered how to better chisel the mortise and get a more accurate cut on the table saw.
There is an aesthetic reason, too. I really like the look of pegged joints, and I have walnut dowel stock I can't wait to see contrasting against the lighter maple.
Thanks for reading!
Keep Up The Great post !
I just discovered it tonight. 4-17
Yours is one of the more interesting things I have seen here in a while. Since we are being honest I must admit to having no "real" base on my beast of a work bench ; purple heart Klausz.
He sits on two Work Mates and a wooden beam connecting them. Quite stable. Even allows under bench storage with things arranged on wood across the "foot rests" of the work mates. I opted to build my bench top first and then the base.
I rationalized this by telling myself I wanted to experiment with hight. Also I was keeping an eye on the variable height base that had come on the market. I think I have decided not to go that rout. I plan on having secondary feet I can space the bench up for power tool woodworking. I still need it quite low for scrub planing. Norm has the spacers on his bench. Lift the bench they "fall" into place. To remove lift the bench and pull on a string (I think, it has been a while since I looked at that VHS). Spacers swing on a hinges.
So you are educating me in what I have to look forward to in making a proper base for my bench using hand tools. I planned to make the base Frank Klausz has in his work bench plans/article adding to that the Norm Abrams foot/spacer modification.
See pic; my Work Mates bench base is just showing on right of pic.
now you all know my horrible secret. How embariskin.
workbench design
I like that round workbench in the background, Roc. You might consider re-leveling the top, however. ;-)
Slanty But Multi Purpose
Ha, ha, ha, ha
Yep it's kinda slanty. Multi purpose though. Good for sitting on for mulling and considering. I use it for pounding stuff on too and with it slanted it turns out it works pretty well for that. I have another in "the tool crib" room that is flatter but I never found the need to haul it out. If I move some place more permanent I plan to bracket it to the floor and spike an anvil to that one.
That's a beautiful top, Roc. Is that a glue up? How did you handle flattening it? And what are the dimensions?
Awesome.
Answers and stuff
beautiful top
Yes I really like bubinga. I have from the beginning known I would have to make one or two pieces from this wood and stop because it is endangered.
Is that a glue up?
Nope that is one plank of four and a half planks that I then glued up to make our dining table top. See pic
How did you handle flattening it?
All hand scrubbed and finish planed. I don't recommend this with bubinga unless you enjoy marathons and ocean swims then you will just love it !
: )
And what are the dimensions?
That was before I cut it down some so about seven feet by ten inches by two roughly. Been a while.
Awesome.
Yes it was. Once I got it glued up I couldn't lift it to get it upstairs and into the house. We just eat dinner in the shop now. Not really a problem.
: )
Just kidding.
PS: washers too big. Yep ! I do stuff like that. You say you like the band saw. Me toooo ; my favorite woodworking power tool. If you ever get a metal lathe you will like that too. Washers too big ? Gang them on a bolt with a nut, put in lathe, turn the whole stack to the size of socket size hole. Viola ! Easier than drilling the holes bigger.
April 18--
I did manage some decent progress today, in the aftermath of the tragedy of yesterday. I bought my replacement 1/2 inch bit, slowed the drill press down to 650 RPM and cut the rest of the bench bolt leg holes. That went much better at the slower speed, and no melting bits, either.
Most of today was spent working on the feet. I glued up the feet, slightly oversized-- then finished them flush with the somewhat dysfunctional LN rabbit plane. Remember, that's the one I bent the advance screw on when the bench tumbled to the floor two weeks ago. I did bend it enough to continue using it, but it will require a trip to the mothership for repair at some point. It is my most useful plane, and 2nd only to the bronze LN #4 for favorite to use. It took the feet flush with the base in just a few minutes. They look like they belong to the base now, and that's really rewarding to see them blend in as I planed them down.
I still have the left side feet gluing up. I can trim those up tomorrow.
I also started cutting wedges for the tenons.
Question-- anyone out there who does drawbore joinery-- My tenons are 1 3/4" thick. Better to use a 3/8" dowel, or 1/2" dowel? Will the 1/2" dowel stress the tenon too much? Opinions please! I prefer the 1/2", but I don't want to weaken the tenon too much.
I'm really entering the home stretch on the base. I have to drill the bench bolt holes on the stretchers, fix the bench bolts on the legs to accomodate the washers, cut the rabbits on the stretchers for shelf, sand the stretchers (using work gloves!), give a once-over with the #4 to clean up my marks, glue it up, and add the finish.
I was thinking today about how best to cut the rabbits on the stretchers. I'm going to opt for the dado on the table saw over the router. I think the boards are too long for my small router table. But I think I will need to fashion an auxiliary fence out of MDF to make the cuts properly.
Not bad, I can see the end is coming now.
About your rough day on the 17th. I can commiserate.
I copied this from an old post.
That special time, astrologically, has rolled around again. I would have sent a link to the old post but no longer know how to do that since I don't see post numbers like in the old forum. Any way . . .
You can take the following with a grain of salt but " the planets " are in a bad place for getting things done like we are used to. They call it Mercury in retrograde. My partner keeps me informed of this stuff. Here is an excerpt I copied off the web:
>In general, Mercury rules thinking and perception, processing and disseminating information and all means of communication, commerce, education and transportation. By extension, Mercury rules people who work in these areas, especially people who work with their minds or their wits: writers and orators, commentators and critics, gossips and spin doctors, teachers, travellers, tricksters and thieves.
Mercury retrograde gives rise to personal misunderstandings; flawed, disrupted, or delayed communications, negotiations and trade; glitches and breakdowns with phones, computers, cars, buses, and trains. And all of these problems usually arise because some crucial piece of information, or component, has gone astray or awry.
It is therefore not wise to make important decisions while Mercury is retrograde, since it is very likely that these decisions will be clouded by misinformation, poor communication and careless thinking.<
I have seen it happen too many times to totally disregard it. Whether it has to do with the planets or magnetic fields around the earth or the price of corn this time of year I don't know. I don't buy it entirely but interesting to sit back and observe.
So . . . as they say just breath, just breath . . . we will get through it.
Here are a few quick phrases from the quite wordy 2010 description for this year's Mercury retrograde:
making for a high-frustration time
The best mode to be in during a Mercury retrograde is one of "non-reaction",
Best to wait until the changes stop before attempting to make things orderly.
just let the winds of situations blow around you without reacting. Once Mercury turns direct, take a look at the information that is still around at that time and go about putting everything in order, while maintaining the fine art of flexibility.
About three weeks then it goes direct.
My advice ? Just sit on the couch, try to stay out of trouble, for God's sake don't try to communicate anything important and just breath. I know . . . impossible to do . . . but don't say I didn't warn ya'.
I'm pulling for ya' ! We are all in this together. (Red Green quote)
It sounds like I've been living my life in retrograde.
Great story on the table. It's beautiful. I hope I graduate to a project that nice at some point. This bench project is teaching me skills to apply to other pieces. It really has a little bit of everything thrown in.
The bandsaw-- My thoughts are that it seems less intimidating than the table saw. It's quiet and doesn't kick back. Obviously I'm mindful that it can take a finger, but it seems like a prescision tool to me, where the table saw is more of a coarse tool. I'm less concerned when it comes to ripping thick stock. No smoking, it doesn't bog, it handles thick or thin cuts, yet it can cut tight curves with a thin blade.
I'm probably biased, too, because it's a Powermatic. It feels finely tuned and well made. My Bosch table saw, while nice for a contractor model, doesn't have the same feel to it. It's got more of a mass-production plastic-y sense about it.
I don't have room in my garage for a cabinet table saw. Maybe someday. :) The Bosch model tilts up in seconds and can tuck away into a corner. I've assumed control of the entire garage for a few months now.
The wife isn't thrilled about this.
Taking a day off...
Glad to see you are taking some time off/away from the project. It is easy to get overwhelmed and then under engineered. I notice on your profile you are in the entertainment industry, hope you are finding work.
Taking a day off...
Glad to see you are taking some time off/away from the project. It is easy to get overwhelmed and then under engineered. I notice on your profile you are in the entertainment industry, hope you are finding work.
Thanks,
Yes important to not live for the project. It also gives you time to think it over, and consider different approaches to problems.
As far as work, I've been fortunate. There have been layoffs all over, but my job has been steady since 2001.
Michael
Enjoyable read
Reel Time your posts crack me up. Honesty is what we get, but really, the comedy is quite good. Sadly, I feel like I am in your shoes all to often as well, but I have endevored not to bring light to it! Mercury is in big retrograde right now judging from my luck lately!! Couch time is good.
Your picture waxing your bit with the Mercedes key and wallet on the table speaks volumes, but you really need a better class of band aid. I have a fondness for the Fabric types, ones for knuckles and ends of fingers with wrap around bits to keep them secured are perfect. I buy them by the 100 count... and they don't seem to go bad from shelf life either!
That is going to be a nice bench and you will enjoy it I am sure. Nice that youare making it to break down as well. Very smart.
Have you thought about the vises, I may have missed it in earlier posts. Curious what your thoughts are there as well. Roc has an incredible top, and I never knew he had such terrible feet for it.... Hmmm saw horses for the legs indeed. Roc has a nice vise setup indeed. I am partial to the French Roubo style, the legs flush to the top edge makes sense. A sliding jack is very logical as well.
A couple of easy thoughts. Lee Valley has Brad Point bits that work really well. My personal favorite bit. It handles speed in wood and cuts clean with a relative flat bottom. They are many times better than cheap knockoffs. Buying better quality Forstner bits is good as well, but those don't look like have burned on you. The combo bits you have have never worked well for me. http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?c=&p=42247&cat=1,180,42240
Also check out Rockler for these. Makes a great sacrifical fence setup. Sarge uses them as well. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=17821&filter=table%20saw%20clamp on sale at the moment as well. I use a new one every project, and keeps your tenons the right length.
Keep up the posts, and I know folks are enjoying your journey...!
Morgan
Don't worry, I get the Bill Murray thing all the time. That and the Belushi brothers.
Oh-- and the Band-Aid-- that's for my sandpaper atomic paper cut. I chose their new "flex" band aid. Band Aid claims it's their most advanced bandage ever, and I wouldn't disagree with them. The cut, which wasn't small, healed in just a few days. Kind of impressive, and the bandage feels skin-like, and worked even on my iPhone.
Thanks Azmo
I am glad Azmo said something about the bits. I was trying not to hog the thread. Yes by all means save these bits for metal and get the bits for wood. Big difference; more accurate in wood !
Band saw blades. I was wondering if a good tool supply store couldn't weld in a section of blade to enlarge the size of the blades in your current stock to fit the saw with the riser added. There used to be a store here that welded blades to order off a roll of blade stock. Done right it might work well.
Any body had any experience getting a section welded in ? Two seams instead of one ?
PS: the feet on my table are not terrible. Very stable. Space frame; lots of little braces instead of a few massive ones. Lets call it a "hybrid". For now. Will be fun to make a real base using the table top to make it.
The bit I'm waxing is a specific Milwaukee bit that's long enough to reach through the leg and stretcher for the bench bolt. It's the only bit I found that was long enough to do the job. I have a set of titanium brad point DeWalt bits for normal drilling. They seem okay, not that I would really know better anyway.
My Forstner bits are the HSS saw tooth from Lee Valley.
Any good?
long bits
Take a look at W. L. Fuller for long brad point bits:
http://www.wlfuller.com/html/long_length_brad.html
They also do forstner bits that are highly recommended. Tastes vary on the design of forstners, however. Personally, I'm from the school that believes the arcs are for scoring the edge of the circle, like a knicker on a rabbet plane, just prior to it being shaved away by the inner cutter.
Any good ? Oh heck yes nice stuff.
I see now. Sorry. I spouted off. You are doin' good.
I included a couple of pics of the way the metal heads go about it. I am a metal worker disguised as a cabinet maker. (ssshh don't tell any one ) Again the lathe comes t' the rescue.
Since I am spouting off this might be of interest. The titanium brad points are not solid titanium, no bits are, they have a titanium oxide coating to make them slick. Still great stuff. No problem.
The goopy, smeary stuff on the rod in the pic is wax. I had no reason to clean it off.
I bored the extension rod to just a smell over the size of the shank of the drill bit, put a flat on the shank and drilled and tapped the extension rod for an allen head grub screw. Was able to drill through about twenty inches of purple heart to bolt all the way through my bench top the hard way. Used a drill press. See Frank Klausz bench plans.
I hope this isn't too boring
yuck yuck yuck
Feet
Roc, no harm meant. I don't know how to write Pirate, Terrrrrible they are indeed. Just thought it was interesting coming out of the closet and showing us the bottom parts of your bench. I have nothing to show, but a mediocre bench at best. I will be happy to come up and take your bench to AZ for some proper kiln drying. No problem at all, I come back and forth to Colorado, every few years or so. Anything for a fren.
Morgan
Tenon wedge
Realtime story,
I would cut my tenons all the way down to the cheek for the wedges. Otherwise they may split there instead of a cut there. Your wedges might look more interesting if it was dark wood. The contrast shows the care you have made. Typical arrangement, a 6" wide tenon, you would cut the wedge about 1.25 or 1.5 inches from the top and bottom leaving a 3" or more space between. Placeing them right at the edge is not as strong. But perhaps I am not envisoning your scenario.
Kissing your sister. Don't have one, so I just don't know but I will trust on this. Is that a typo on the 2000 sandpaper? I use an 800 on oil finish to sand the finish into the wood. But otherwise it just is not needed.
Vises sound great, I like my twin screw veritas. A tail vise will be nice for you as well. Just don't pound or overweight them. I am sure you will get your dovtails cut. Buy some practice pieces when you buy the material. Build a prototype first, and then the final. You probably will regardless! First blind dovetails are interesting, esp in Maple. Not much forgiving about the fit here at all. Biggest mistake made is cutting on the wrong side of the line..... we have all done that. We have all had a laugh or groan about it as well.
I have the same band saw with the riser block. Works great and cuts straight after a few adjustments. Blades wear out soon enough, wait for that to raise it up.
Lee Valley forstners are fine, as they wear out, there are some better but I find them to be functional.
later Morgan
>made that extension
>made that extension yourself?<
Wellllll . . . I used a length of drill rod, the stuff they make drill bits from. I cut it to a useful length, spotted the center, drilled it, precision bored it to size and as I said drilled and tapped for the set screw. I didn't turn the OD of the rod to size. It comes ground to size.
Pretty basic stuff but thanks. A lathe can make even me look good.
>Is waxing bits common?<
Sure. Unless one is going to use glue in the hole. I imagine the wax soaks into the wood. I wax everything. Leather sewing thread, jeweler's saws, machine tables, plane bottoms, drawer runners, skis, my mustache, my arm pits. Just kidding on those last two.
Candle wax better than bee's wax generally.
The purple heart has this resinous stuff that naturally oozes out of it on a micro level in some planks but not others. It can really cause problems with the bit. I suppose lignin vite or cocobolo one might not need to use wax because those woods are so naturally waxy or oily. Would be nice to have one of those woods in a chunk big enough to drill a deep hole. I would sell it and retire.
Wax can't make up for turning a bit too fast though.
Glue up
You might consider glueing the two ends together first. They are a subassembly. Doing this on your flat surface of the old bench where you can clamp and keep everthing square is easier. This will allow you to check square with the legs and the top and bottom rail (feet) . You can clamp it easier, and then use a diagonal clamp to nudge it perfectly square. Let those dry, and sand out, finish, and then you will just have to use your bolts to assemble the two ends with the finished streachers.
What always amazes me about benches is the lack of X bracing. I have never seen a bench that uses diagonal streachers. That is so much stronger by the nature of the geometry.....
Note on your wedges, but I am sure you figured this out. Longer thinner wedges are better.
TARP funds is where you want go for funding. Either that or a "pay parking" slot for your wife..... let me know how that works out before I try it!
Morgan
So you say you like my bench base better now ?
The workmates have diagonal bracing.
I struggled to find a pic showing the lower legs folded and the diagonal bracing. This is the best I could do.
Has diagonal bracing.
OK mostly I jam it against the wall and the hardware parts cabinet to keep the wiggle under control. I wonder how some rods or cables and turn buckles would work to diagonally stabilize the traditional bench. Technically the wide stretchers of some wooden benches have a bracing effect.
You have a window in your bench? Novel idea to let in more light during the winter months I am sure. Get the plane overheated and you can catch a little breeze when you open it.... Easy to toss the scraps out of the shop as well I suppose.
Morgan
Give me 6 hours to work on my bench and I will still use my saw horses....
April 28-- I really thought
April 28--
I really thought I'd be set for a glue up tonight. I only had 2 boards to sand, cut the tenon slots deeper for the wedges, cut new longer wedges and glue up the bottom.
Then I had what you might call "An Incident".
As I was cutting my wedges, I was using the fence and inserting a block of wood behind one end of the material to give me a wedged angle to cut. I'd cut all the other wedges this way without a problem.
As I was starting a cut, something popped and grabbed the wood. The wood jammed up into the blade seizing the entire saw. The insert plate shattered into a thousand pieces. Fortunately my fingers were nowhere near any of this as it went down.
I shut the motor off immediately and released all the tension in the blade and pulled the seized block out of the blade. I'm assuming the blade is trashed.
I'm not 100% certain what caused all of this, but here's what I'm surmising. When I opened the lower wheel housing it was immediately clear the dust port had clogged. There was a mass of wood shavings blocking the dust port and even more shavings compressed against the lower wheel. This is not normal for this saw. This mass of stuff must have messed with the tracking of the blade and caused it to bind in the wood I was cutting.
The only other explanation I can think of is that the insert plate broke making the wood suddenly unstable. That would take a lot of force, though, so I think the clogged dust port is a more likely scenario.
One other idea just crossed my noggin. The blade could have tracked into the insert plate as a result of the clog, causing it to shatter.
The downside is-- until I get a new insert plate, the band saw is out of commission. These wedges are too thin for the table saw, so hand sawing is my only other option.
Scary moment though.
April 29--
Tonight was a night of battles. Some won, some lost.
First I'll revisit the events of last night, as I have some new info. I went through my bandsaw book and came across a page describing wood shavings. The book says if the blade overheats, you are using too fine a blade. If the blade produces a wiry dust resembling steel wool, you have too few teeth per inch. What clogged the dust port was a mass of steel wool like wood, which means I had the wrong blade for what I was doing. Lesson learned.
I ordered a two replacement inserts from Powermatic. I hope they turn them around quickly, because no one carries Powermatic insert plates.
I need the bandsaw back in service because I'm going to need more wedges. More on that in a second.
I used a Japanese pull saw to cut the wedges I made before what will be forever known as "The Great Bandsaw Incident of 2010", it was definitely the right tool for the job. My tenon saws would have made mincemeat of the wedges.
I also used the saw to cut the walnut dowel stock to length, then angled one end to punch through the drawbore hole and used a file to further shape the tip of the dowel.
Then I glued up the bottom. I now know why you don't drawbore and wedge a joint. You need to cut the wedge slot on the tenon deep to the cheek so the outer piece flexes as the wedge is driven home. You cant go too deep with the slots if you're drawboring, because you weaken the wall of the dowel hole too much with the wedge slot cut. I won't be doing both in the future.
The glue was messy. I'm going to have a decent amount of cleanup work with my handplanes here and there.
The first wedge drove home with no problem. The next two snapped off but looked pretty seated. The fourth one still isn't right. It broke off way too early and I was never able to get it wedged properly. I broke about 8 wedges trying to seat it.
The drawbores didn't fare much better. The dowel stock drove into the tenon and then the dowels split. I think the joints are secure, but it wasn't a nice clean procedure as I'd hoped. I think my offset on the tenon hole was too great. Or I should have cut the tip more. I will file more away on the upper tenons.
I'll walk through the photos. The first two are from "TGBIo2010." It's the block that shattered and caused the ruckus. The third shows the shattered insert plate. The fourth shows my finished wedges.
The fifth photo shows the wiry dust clog that caused the bandsaw damage.
Photo six is the pull saw in action.
Photos seven and eight are my make-shift dust collector patch for the Festool sander.
The bench is drying quietly.
Updates
Reel Time.
Most of us cut our wedges to the go with the grain.... not across the grain as you have attempted. That way they don't split as easy.
I would guess from your Band Saw setup you may not have DC system for it. They get very cantankerous if sawdust builds up a the lower guide blocks/bearings. The Powermatic has a 4" port on the back that works OK on a decent size DC system. If you dont have one of these, you can use your shop vac and some PVC hose and hose clamps to attach a small port right below the bearings and such. This keeps the blade clean and tracking nice.
You sawdust looks fine to me, it is hard maple and does not cut easy as you have found out. Next step is to learn to make your own inserts from hard board. A router template for the outside diamenter and a guide bushing set up works great. If it the right thickness you don't need anything else. Other wise you need to remove a small amount of material around the edge so it lays flat. You can use the same template but a larger bit and bushing first.
I think your draw bore might be fine, but think about the woods you are using. Hard maple has no give so the dowel must give, ie a softer wood. Personally for your bench legs, the wedges are very strong and if you like the look, a simple through dowel after assembly would be fine. Glue clean up!!!!! Do not use your Planes!!! You will have fits getting them back nice looking again. This is for card scrapers, dedicated to glue removal along with old chisels or old plane irons. Dang glue sticks to metal almost better than wood!
Reel, can you reduce the sizeof the images you post? The 2MB files are hard on some of the folks with slow connection. 600KB files are fine.
Nice hook up for the sander! You might find small diameter hose in the vacumn dept of Home Repo as well. The rings around and lighter plastic make them more flexible and they don't kink so much. Do your reducing at the tool if need be.
AZMO who thinks most times, if it ain't one thing it is another.... ;>)
Can Label the Photos
A tip on the photos; if you click on the name of the photo and hold then let up the label will be "selected" then you can type in a name so it will be with the photo. Might take a couple of tries to get it selected
e.g.
block shattered
shattered plate.
finished wedges.
dust clog
You get the idea. See I stole the photo and renamed it from this article.
http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-plans/bandsawing/bandsaw-fence/
photo titles
Man, I just love ooga booga boards. ;-)
Can Label the Photos
sorry. Moderator, please remove this duplication.
need the bandsaw back in service
You could just put a layer of masonite or thin plywood or some such on top of your whole bandsaw table. Just saw a slot in it for the blade. = a zero clearance throat plate like on a table saw and you are back in business. Fence may be a bit tricky but can always clamp on a length of wood for an auxiliary fence.
PS: your broken throat plate got me thinking about how wimpy the plate on my bandsaw is. Has worked well for me but I now see how the very thick honey comb versions on the more expensive versions of my saw could be a good way to go and why they made them so thick. You may have saved me a problem at least and an injury at worst.
NOW THAT IS A WORK BENCH BASE ! NICE JOB !
I know what you mean about making mistakes on things that don't matter too much for the sake of learning. I practiced making lots of big mortise and tenons when I made this sacrificial sheet cutting table
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=2659
Rather than butt joint and nail or screw I cut M&Ts; took for ever. Learned a lot. I did not glue or pin so joints fit snug but can knock it apart to move in small vehicle or store if I had to.
I look forward to your future project posts.
Thanks
What are those pencils, scissors, and such doing in the stein? After all this work, you deserve a beer, man. ;-)
Getting closer. Looks good.
If you were following..
If you were following along and wish to continue-- I've started a new thread for the 2nd half of the project.. these multiple page posts take too long to load.
It's called Building a Bench II: Topping It Off
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