Really late to the game -- ordered all the supplies


BrandonD

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I've been toying around with woodworking for a couple years and would really like to get serious with it. I've never had a proper bench and I've done all of my work with my outfeed table. I've seen the Roubo in use and decided a while ago that's the route I wanted to take. Now I've pulled some triggers and am gearing up to get started.

 

I purchased the Benchcrafted bench package yesterday. I went with the traditional "C" style -- I couldn't justify spending an extra $150 just for a polished look. After getting quotes from lumber yards around here (soft maple), I decided to get the bench package from Bell Forest as it's about $200 in savings from the cheapest option here -- and their selection was minimal. I just ordered it today.

 

I've got to say I was and still am anxious about purchasing lumber online. It's my first time doing so, and it's quite a purchase. Researching them and emailing back and forth with Eric eased my mind some. He's been friendly and very helpful, so I think this will end up as a positive experience.

 

Can't wait to get started. I'll have the lumber in 1.5 weeks, the vises are advertised to be shipped in "3-4 weeks"... I suggested Eric show Benchcrafted how to ship things since they're able to send a pallet full of wood across the county in half the time it takes Benchcrafted to ship a little bit of iron!  :lol:

 

 

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Thanks for the welcome and good luck with your build. It sounds like that might be the case with Benchcrafted, it's just amusing to think about a pallet of 8' long boards making it across country long before it ships. 

 

Oh well, I'm sure I can have some fun with the lumber before needing the vise hardware.  :)

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Don't let Richard scare you...he's confused.  Despite me being famous and highly regarded here on this forum, somehow there are other people in the world who still insist upon using the same name.

 

Good luck with the build.  There's a lot of work you can get done before the hardware needs to be taken out of the box.  Get your slabs glued up, mill all the parts for your base, you could even build most of your chop.  Unless you're planning to work on this thing 24/7, you could have weeks or months before you need the hardware, depending on how fast you build and how much spare time you have.  It took me the better part of a whole summer of evenings and weekends to complete it.

 

Keep us posted on your progress and don't hesitate to ask questions...quite a few of us here have built this bench.

 

Here's mine...some of the pics are missing because they're hosted on an old imageshack account and imageshack sucks now.

 

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I am "very" late to the game as well.  I ordered my hardware a couple of weeks ago and am patiently waiting for it.  Benchcrafted's blog is stating they are delayed because of high demand over Christmas and they can't get knobs for the handles.  They don't really state how long the delay is but hopefully they can come up with a decent solution.

From what you guys are saying I can start with the bench but I think I need to get the plans from benchcrafted before I can start.

Best of luck to you!

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Buy Marc's plans. It comes with Sketchup and PDF plans along with a bunch of detailed videos. His was built around the older style leg vise but he has one on retrofitting the new crisscross style to give you an idea of what you need to do different and refer to the vise install instructions.

I've already watched the whole series once. I plan on watching the part I'm working on again as I do it. Good reference material and helps as a double check.

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I will be buying his plans but want to get the hardware first. It would be unfortunate if I bought the wood and marks plans and find out that benchcrafted is indefinitely suspending their hardware. I guess I have been burned before and am trying to avoid the pain. Maybe it's a bit pessimistic...

Amazingly enough here in Houston I am seeing soft maple for cheaper than bell forest and will bite that bullet 1st

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I guess you have a point. That would suck if they did that! Especially considering they had no problem taking my money already. :lol: It looks like they have the beech knobs that are on the C style I purchased as they're thinking about filling some of the M orders with the beech. 

 

Being how unlikely that'll happen and I'm a very impatient guy, I'll probably get working on the bench without the hardware anyway. 

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They're not gonna stop producing bench hardware.  It's a good company and there's a demand for their product.  If you assume they're profitable I wouldn't concern myself with all that worrying.

 

There was a delay when I bought my hardware too, because I ordered mine right before Marc released the Guild series and they were inundated with orders.  I got mine as promised the same day they said it would arrive.  Think I had to wait about six weeks.

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Will do. I might do a quick video as well, as I know seeing how it's packaged would've helped to ease my mind more. There's a few videos out there but they're just unpacking normal ground shipment boxes. From what Bell Forest indicated, I may have to unload it from the edge of the truck at which point I doubt I'll bother the driver with a video camera, but I'll be sure to grab some pictures. 

 

I imagine I will have quite a lot leftover. From what I've read, real BF count for this build is around 120-150BF. With 220BF coming I'll welcome the scraps for future projects. Eric did say they sort the 8/4 for either 5-6" or 10+" wide to get two boards out of it. One thing I did forget to ask is if they provide enough 12/4 for the longer chop needed for the new crisscross. The quote lists 12 bd ft for 12/4, and I know they err on the side of extra, so I'm hoping so. 

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No kidding! I still have the tiniest amount of hope that they will be able to get it on the lift gate and bring it up to my garage. My driveway isn't incredibly long but it's definitely not short, so they have to go a ways too. It'd help if they can back in but no other freight delivery has done that yet; I don't think a full length semi can make that turn. 

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Happy Friday. I received a shipping invoice from Benchcrafted indicating my order was complete and ready to ship this morning, a week after ordering. Much better than their quoted 3-4 weeks... not sure if they're catching up or if it was because I ordered the easier C style. 

 

[edit] Update on their handle situation for the M style:

http://benchcrafted.blogspot.com

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Lumber arrived today. I could not get any pictures or video of it when it was packaged up. The driver had to jack it to the edge of the lift gate where we unpackaged it and moved it board by board to my shop. The lumber itself was stacked board on board on two pallets. The lumber was encased in cardboard, metal straps were wrapped around the stack and the pallets, and finally a bit of plastic wrap around it. 

 

After moving all 788lbs from the truck to my garage with the help of the driver, I began to sort through it and stack/sticker it. For those who care, I've included a list of the board dimensions below. Obviously every order would be different but at least it's some reference.

 

The quality of the boards seem quite good -- very few knots, and a few bad edges near the ends on a couple boards. Maybe a couple small gouges in the wood that'll probably clean up with the milling. There should be minimal waste -- only three of the 8/4 boards fall into the 7-8" width range. I do believe I have enough 12/4 even with the longer needed chop for the crisscross vise.

 

I am concerned because I ordered the rough package, and all of my 4/4 came skipped planed. It will need further milling and it's already at 15/16" thickness. Looking at the cut list, most 4/4 pieces are milled to 5/8". There is some 3/4" which will be iffy but most likely doable. However the dogs are 15/16" thick, and I'm already at that with these boards... 

 

Overall, I'd probably order from them again. My biggest concern is the 4/4" being skipped planed when I ordered rough. Not only because it's going to be tight to get my dogs made to that thickness, but because at 40 bd ft of 4/4 purchased with only 20 needed, now my scraps for future projects are already partially milled. I am not sure this issue is worth contacting them, I don't think it is (thoughts?), and only in the future make sure I explicitly specify rough in the communications between them. 

 

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-----------------------------

 

I received nine, 8' 5" long 4/4 boards of the following widths (actually totaling 40 bd ft on the dot, what was quoted on the invoice.)

  • 4 7/8"
  • 5 1/8"
  • 9 3/4"
  • 7 1/2"
  • 7"
  • 5 1/2"
  • 5 1/4"
  • 6"
  • 5 3/4"

I received 15, 8' 2" long 8/4 boards of the following widths (totaling 170 bd ft, was quoted 165 on the invoice.)

  • 5 1/8"
  • 5 5/8"
  • 6 1/8"
  • 2x 5 3/4"
  • 5 1/2"
  • 2x 7"
  • 7 5/8"
  • 9 3/4"
  • 11 1/2"
  • 10 1/4"
  • 10 1/2"
  • 13 3/8"
  • 13 7/8"

I received one 48 1/8" long, 9 5/8" wide 12/4 board (totaling 9.5 bd ft, a bit shy of the quoted 12 bd ft on the invoice.)

 

 

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Very nice looking wood! I think 15/16" hit/miss planed might come from the mill that way and still considered rough. My local dealer sells all their 4/4 that way and I usually can get 7/8" after jointing and planing.

I have 175 BF 8/4 with green ends and 40 BF 4/4 which looks just like your stack. I better go check my shop and make sure it's still there :)

post-8178-142417673083_thumb.jpg

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Very nice looking wood! I think 15/16" hit/miss planed might come from the mill that way and still considered rough. My local dealer sells all their 4/4 that way and I usually can get 7/8" after jointing and planing.

I have 175 BF 8/4 with green ends and 40 BF 4/4 which looks just like your stack. I better go check my shop and make sure it's still there  :)

attachicon.gif ImageUploadedByTapatalk1424176731.991626.jpg

 

 

Lol! Believe me, according to the freight slip, it would not be fun to steal 788 pounds of wood from your shop... I told my wife this project was top priority until it's done as I'm sure as hell not moving those timbers again until I'm ready to use them...  :lol:

 

Yeah, after sleeping on it I don't really have any concerns with the 4/4. My local place doesn't sell rough 4/4 that way, but I'll take it. There should be enough area planed flat that I can square the edge on the jointer and get my 15/16" dogs out of it if that dimension is so critical. 

 

Now the waiting game. The wood is at ~6% moisture content. Other maple scraps that have been in my shop for a while are at 8.5%. Should I wait until the boards are in the 8% ballpark, or can I accept whatever moisture it's at after being in my shop for a couple days? 

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