Tom Cancelleri Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Looks great Brian. The shelf ledgers are easy, the shelf boards are easy as well. I knocked both of those out in less than 3 hours, including milling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) Brian that bench looks great and if I didn't just watch the shim video last night, wouldn't have noticed it. Once you get oil on it and stand at normal height it will look normal. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to do something with mine as my back slab is currently 1/32" thinner and about 1/16" bow along the face. PS - If you don't have a Festool sander that 150/5 in the Marketplace is an awesome machine and help ease your sanding pain. Edited November 19, 2015 by estesbubba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Brian that bench looks great and if I didn't just watch the shim video last night, wouldn't have noticed it. Once you get oil on it and stand at normal height it will look normal. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to do something with mine as my back slab is currently 1/32" thinner and about 1/16" bow along the face. PS - If you don't have a Festool sander that 150/5 in the Marketplace is an awesome machine and help ease your sanding pain.Thanks Mike. Agreed that when you look at it from standing height it's barely noticeable unless you know it's there. I actually do have a 150/5 (and CT26) already - and it's magical for sure....but sanding still sucks One other thing I'll say as a piece of advice for Mike and anyone else tackling this build - spend some time thinking about the height of the bench, since it's you can't really (easily) change it after the fact. My bench is going to end up at about 38.5" after flattening. Maybe a little more. I'm tall (6'3) and have long arms, and I spent a good amount of time experimenting with bench height to figure out what was comfortable with me. I have intermittent back pain and wanted to minimize the amount of hunching over that I'd have to do. I assume you've got your slabs on the sawhorses (or similar) right now. Once you have the tail vise installed, use some scraps to change the height of the slabs on the sawhorses, and then clamp a board and do some planing. Then get a stool and sit down for some chiseling, etc. Take the time to figure out what's comfortable for you. No matter how tall you are, what works for someone else of the same height might not work for you. Everyone is different. Take the time to figure it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Good progress on the update Brian. I'm starting to thing that slab swishing is more prolific than I had previously thought. I feel like 4/5 of the builds I've seen have had one or both of the slabs twist up some. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Good progress on the update Brian. I'm starting to thing that slab swishing is more prolific than I had previously thought. I feel like 4/5 of the builds I've seen have had one or both of the slabs twist up some.I had zero twist in my slabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 I had zero twist in my slabskind ofpersonal ain't it Tc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 kind ofpersonal ain't it Tc?I don't even know where you're trying to go with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bgreenb Posted November 20, 2015 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Had an hour tonight so I banged out the router jig for flattening. Also picked up a couple of 2x6's to use as the rails. Hoping to do the flattening Saturday or Sunday. I also milled up a board for the deadman, when I get to it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Shouldn't you and the beard be in bed by now junior? You better not be crabby tomorrow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted November 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Shouldn't you and the beard be in bed by now junior? You better not be crabby tomorrow.LOL. Yup, definitely past my bedtime. Probably will be crabby tomorrow without my 8 full hours... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Keep that beard away from the 1 3/4" bit! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Bench is looking great Brian. On the home stretch now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 Very nice! Coming together ?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bgreenb Posted November 23, 2015 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Great day out in the shop today. One of those days when (mostly) everything goes right. My main goal for the day was to do the final flattening. Nothing really could be done until the bench is completely flat. Since that back slab twisted so much, there was no way I was doing this by hand. Not just because of the effort involved, but also because I simply don't believe I have the skill to get it completely right, and for something as critical as my bench top I wanted to make sure I did.So I used Marc's router method. It was fairly straightforward. I face and edge jointed a couple of 2x6's and clamped them to the bench. Then I made sure the three corners other than the twisted one were about a half inch below the rails. Then I attached the plastic coated wire, just like Marc did. Then it was just a matter of using the dead blow to make tiny adjustments until the wires were just barely kissing each other:Easy peasy. Probably took me about 25 minutes to get completely set up, including jointing the rails. Then I put the bit in the router and bottomed it out where I thought the lowest point on the bench was. Tip: take the time to check that it's the lowest point. Don't just guess. That way you won't do the entire bench and get to the last 6 inches and realize that there are two spots that are still low by about 1/64" and have to start over after lowering the bit. Other than that one hiccup, everything went smoothly. Made a big mess, but no big deal. It also helps to mark the entire bench up with pencil so you can track your progress, as Marc did in the video.Once I was done, the surface was a bit rough and scalloped, and there were the little triangular pieces still along the edge, which I cleaned up with a block plane like Marc did. I then put my 50* blade in my LAJ and set it for a very light cut, and did overlapping passes down the bench lengthwise, just barely knocking down the tiny scallops and high spots. Checked with my 50" straightedge and the entire bench was dead flat and coplanar. Sweet.Then I got to work on finishing up the chop. I re-mounted it to the bench to mark out for the height. I then cut it to length, leaving it maybe 1/64" long, and then flushed it up with my jack plane to get it even with the bench.I then cut some simple curves using the Tom Cancelleri method of tracing a roll of blue tape. I then cut a chamfer on the top and bottom outside, and rounded over the entire outside with a 1/2" radius bit. To get the places where the router couldn't reach, I broke the cherry on my holdfasts to secure it against the leg so I could work it with a rasp: Not too shabby. Still gotta cut the criss cross mounting pins to length. I feel really good about my progress now. The end is in sight. Gap stop, ledgers, shelf, deadman, sand, finish.....Oh, and also, my daughter took a monster dump in the potty tonight...everything's coming up milhouse! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Everything is looking looking great Brian. I bet it feels good to almost be done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Brian, your bench is looking awesome. Gotta love that ship's wheel vice handle! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim DaddyO Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Great progress, thanks for sharing it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Bench is looking awesome Bri. Congrats on the massive dump. Its always so much better cleaning the potty than their underwear!! Sent from my SM-P550 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 That's an amazing day in the shop! Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted November 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 Finally decided to bite the bullet and do some sanding. That is, all of the sanding. I took the bench top to 150 grit, being very careful to use a light touch and not dish it out. I checked with a straight edge and everything remained flat and coplanar. I took the base to 220, only because I didn't have any 180. I also broke all the edges on the entire bench. First time using the apron plane, and it was a joy. Took about 2 hours to do all the sanding, but I'm glad it's done now. The bench looks beautiful.I then decided to tackle the deadman, which was fairly straightforward. I used a chunk of 8/4 walnut because why the hell not. I cut the deadman runner and the notch exactly how Marc did in his videos, then cut the rabbet on the end and drilled a bunch of holes. Easy peasy. Although apparently my 3/4 boring bit is total garbage, because it was giving me crazy runout. I had to switch to my 3/4 forstner bit, which isn't ideal for all these through holes, but at least they're nice and clean.Here is where we stand now:I haven't glued the runner on yet because it was too cold for the glue to set. I also need to cut out the shape of the deadman. I'm planning on applying finish on Thursday because it's supposed to get up into the high 50's around here, so I figured I should take advantage of that to try to get the danish oil to dry.After that it's just the gap stop, dogs, suede treatments, and holdfast holes in the top. Getting there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immortan D Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 Almost done, Brian, looking great so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 Excellent progress Brian! Won't be long and you'll be banging out your first project on that bad boy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 25, 2015 Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 Can't wait to see it with oil on it - that walnut is going to pop!Did you do your front rail following Marc's plans or the updated wider rail from Benchcrafted? I'm not using the knockdown hardware and that 3/4" deep tenon doesn't seem like it would cut it. Maybe I'll go thicker front rail but longer tenons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted November 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 Can't wait to see it with oil on it - that walnut is going to pop!Did you do your front rail following Marc's plans or the updated wider rail from Benchcrafted? I'm not using the knockdown hardware and that 3/4" deep tenon doesn't seem like it would cut it. Maybe I'll go thicker front rail but longer tenons. I followed Marc's plans. The BC plans deal with wrapping the joinery around the criss cross mortise. Seemed like an unnecessary complication. I just followed Marc's plans and cut the tenon short once I had all the joinery cut. Marked where it entered the criss cross mortise and cut it off there. Tom did the same. It's what I would recommend. Had a few minutes tonight so I drilled all the holdfast holes in the top and glued the deadman runner to the front rail. All the remaining steps are so tedious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 25, 2015 Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 I agree the BC seems like unnecessary complications. I'm debating whether to use my Leigh FMT for the legs and rails. The plan calls for 5/8" x 2" M&T and it can do 1/2" X 2" which is a little smaller but pretty much same long grain glue surface. It sure would save a lot of time rounding over tenons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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