BenchCrafted Shaker Style Workbench


Llama

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Mel, I see you have the same table saw that I do. I have a quick question without hijacking this amazing thread! Is the lever that holds the riving knife on impossibly tight? May sound unsafe, but I can only push the lever down about half way, but its so tight that it holds. I NEED to take the back panel off and look at it, I was just wondering if you had any problems with yours?

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Well, it's been a while since I did anything with this bench. I was able to purchase a nice piece of 12/4 maple for the chop and leg for my leg vise. I broke the stock down today and got the layout for the criss-cross marked. I plan on drilling the depth of the mortises and the large through holes using a drill press at work on Monday.

 

Rough stock

 

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Makeshift set-up for planing the edge before marking the leg and chop measurements.

 

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Full length shaving from my jointer plane

 

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Cut like butter on my bandsaw! The line that is left was marked incorrectly. :) Remember, measure twice :) 

 

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Planed and jointed by hand.

 

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Mortises and hole location for the criss-cross are marked out!

 

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The first thing I did was to install the new mobile base for my bandsaw. I wish I did this long ago! I used to "walk" the bandsaw around my shop, now I can roll it around effortlessly with one hand.

 

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Thanks!

Freddie, not sure. It's Sunday now. ;)

Maybe I'll start the tail vise today :)

I do need to get the back of my top straightened out, along with the tail vise end. Those are still rough.

As soon as my tail is set, I can secure the top to the base. And it will look like a bench!

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Little update...

I realized I didn't have a 1 3/4" Forster. I did realize I just picked up a box of braces and bits! Yay!

Ok, I was happy because this hole is only supposed to be 3/16 deep. :) I went a little deep knowing I'd have to plane the top of my chop a little.

Here it is :)

Test in pine...

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Maple!

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Clean up with my trusty router plane.

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Graham,

Soft maple is totally mis-named. It is only soft when compared to "Hard Maple". Which is why a lot of places are now starting to call it "Red Leaf Maple".

It's Janka hardness is about 950-1000, which puts it right along side Cherry and Walnut. By comparison "hard maple" is Janka 1450ish.

 

To give you an idea what that means most pine comes in around 350-400, ebony is at the other end around 3600.

Just for fun Balsa is 100.

 

Anyway, Red Leaf Maple or Soft Maple has always been one of my favorite woods to use for any project.

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