Popular Post Denette Posted February 16, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 After blowing $700 on ash lumber back in November and toying around with milling for a few weeks since my last large project ended, I've finally started today. I had the day off from work to take my wife to a doctor visit (all's well!) and since I had the afternoon more or less free I decided the time had come to start turning that stack of boards into a big beautiful workbench. I was a little disheartened to find that the lumber I had bought featured quite a few boards that were less than 8 inches wide, which generated quite a bit of (for the moment) waste material from 2 to almost 4 inches wide: I've made it through about half the 8/4 stock and have the following board thicknesses: (The clamps were just there because I wanted them to be tight together so I could take the full width of what I'd milled up) I'm worried that I won't have enough 8/4 lumber to follow Marc's directions to the letter. Until I had bought the wood I didn't really think about how getting boards that big into a slab 4" thick you'd have to start with them a bit thicker than that so some could be planed off and such. I'm thinking that some of the offcuts and scraps might be getting glued together to make the legs when all is said and done. Still, the tops need to get put together before anything else matters anyway. It's a start! 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Brendon_t Posted February 16, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 It has begun. You are now on the clock. Record is Tom with 15 days. Don't throw out your cut offs yet. You'll be amazed at how high you will use later if you have it. And following the width to a T is totally unnecessary. If you're a bit over or under, just transfer that into the gap measurement 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Gonna be a very long bench. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Gonna be a very long bench. Well, I'm going by the guild build plans! All the lumber you see is 8 feet long at the moment. It has begun. You are now on the clock. Record is Tom with 15 days. Don't throw out your cut offs yet. You'll be amazed at how high you will use later if you have it. And following the width to a T is totally unnecessary. If you're a bit over or under, just transfer that into the gap measurement I probably won't be breaking any speed records - I don't have the benchcrafted goods yet and we are tight for money with our first baby on the way, so we will see when it all falls into place. I'm still going to try to get things together quickly though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 One thing to think about is that you might consider making the gap bigger than the plans. I found my parallel clamps wouldn't have fit through the gap in the plans. I added 1/8" to the gap, by taking 1/16" each slab. I've also glued together off cuts for one of my legs. It's not like the inside faces are overly visible anyway. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 33 minutes ago, SawDustB said: One thing to think about is that you might consider making the gap bigger than the plans. I found my parallel clamps wouldn't have fit through the gap in the plans. I added 1/8" to the gap, by taking 1/16" each slab. I've also glued together off cuts for one of my legs. It's not like the inside faces are overly visible anyway. Good luck! Good to know I'm not breaking into uncharted territory with laminating together some scraps for legs. Also, interesting point about the clamps! I'll measure my widest clamps. The good thing is that the jaw can detach, so in a pinch I could still do that and then reattach it through the slot, but, still. I've gotten my boards all milled for the rear slab - after dinner I'm going to make sure everything is as it should be and then glue that sucker up! I'm doing the slabs separately because I don't feel like I have enough space to do them at the same time - this way when the wide slab is finished I can set pieces for the narrow slab on top of it. My current width is 11 and 3/16 inches. Is there any logical reason why Marc's sketchup plans show it being 11 and 1/16? That dangling sixteenth bothers me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Good to know I'm not breaking into uncharted territory with laminating together some scraps for legs. Also, interesting point about the clamps! I'll measure my widest clamps. The good thing is that the jaw can detach, so in a pinch I could still do that and then reattach it through the slot, but, still. I've gotten my boards all milled for the rear slab - after dinner I'm going to make sure everything is as it should be and then glue that sucker up! I'm doing the slabs separately because I don't feel like I have enough space to do them at the same time - this way when the wide slab is finished I can set pieces for the narrow slab on top of it. My current width is 11 and 3/16 inches. Is there any logical reason why Marc's sketchup plans show it being 11 and 1/16? That dangling sixteenth bothers me. The extra sixteenth is to make the gap be 1 7/8". This is because at the time, the parallel clamps were all smaller than that. My k body revos need a 1 15/16" gap, so I made my slab 11" even. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Gotcha. My parallel clamps are 1 and 15/16" so I will probably follow your lead on that one. It also gives me 3/16 of wiggle room to get rid of gaps. No more progress on the bench for tonight though - I have work tomorrow and stayed up too late last night, and have that slab shelf to finish so it can be out of the way. The roubo will have to stay as pretty slabs for one more day and I'll glue tomorrow. I thought about it over dinner, and, man, if I'm planning to use biscuits for alignment, that's a lot of biscuits. More than I've got time or gumption for tonight. More tomorrow! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 The big slab is glued! I used two rows of #20 biscuits down the length (18 per joint) and used all my clamps that fit. Still have a bit of gap on the side that will be the underside but I guess that's why we have epoxy. Will post more tomorrow! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted February 18, 2017 Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 Looking good! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Denette Posted February 18, 2017 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 Slab 1 is all set! 4 ⅛" thick, 11 3/16" wide, and holding! Slab 2 is drying now and its width is just right to accommodate the odd ⅛" additional width of the rear slab while leaving a nice clean 2" gap in the middle so my parallel clamps have plenty of room to pass through. Couldn't have done it without a friend! That big slab was heavy. Goodness. . Slab 1 had a few tiny gaps so I'm setting some epoxy on those and leaving it and it's little brother to dry overnight. The smaller slab makes good use of a board with a bad corner by putting the ugly spot right where the cutout for the vise will be. The defect won't interfere with anything, and most of it will be cut out. The first part has felt like it's been moving pretty fast - I'm guessing things start to feel pretty slow after a certain point on this project, huh? But as it is I've already filled my dust collector to the top of the bag once and it is almost there again. Fun stuff! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted February 19, 2017 Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 Yeah the sawdust definitely does add up in this project. I'm not sure if I remember a slow down. The parts are all pretty simple x the deep mortise routing. That was pucker worthy and blew a bearing set out on my router but ooh well. Looking good so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted February 19, 2017 Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 Having just prepared all that stock without a jointer, that part didn't seem all that quick to me... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Denette Posted February 21, 2017 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 Today I didn't have to work thanks to presidents' day, so I spent almost all day in the shop. The rear slab is now cut to exactly 87", and the front slab is jointed and planed and has its tenon cut. I wish I could say I got more done, but that tenon took forever to get right. Cumulative error, shop maintenance, and imprecise squares bit me in the butt today. My jointer was a fraction of a degree off square when I milled my material and my squares were evidently not as square as I'd like to think. My miter saw station had sagged and the table the workpiece rests on was out of alignment with the saw. My planes and chisels needed sharpening - only took time to sharpen my block plane and my widest chisel. I'm all set to go back in after work tomorrow and hit the vise cavity with my router to hog it out. Heres phase one of cutting that massive tenon. I ended up using my miter saw to get nice clean straight lines along the faces and then doing a ton of chiseling and planing to get it finished. Here it is finished. It turned out okay, but took a ton of finagling. My router plane was the hero today. In the above picture you can also see the nice clean end of the larger slab. It's going to look so good! I'm pumped already. Even on sawhorses it's already the best work surface in the shop. Here's the culprit of about an hour of today's woes: Note how the end of the cabinet near the bottom right corner of the photo is shimmed up about an inch off the ground. The next wall of the cabinet is also likewise dramatically shimmed. Prior to these shims that whole end of the cabinet had sagged almost to the ground - that caused the countertop to sag anywhere from a quarter to half an inch, and took the table of the miter saw with it. That meant that while the blade of the miter saw was at a true 90º angle to the table of the miter saw, it was a few degrees off if my workpiece was long enough to be registering against the 8' long bench to the left - which my roubo slab definitely was. Once I figured out the problem and got it shimmed things improved dramatically. I glued the shims in place and am hoping for the best. I'll also point out that I rearranged my shop today so that my roubo-to-be is now also a makeshift outfeed table. I've never had one of those - spiffy! I'm looking forward to more progress tomorrow afternoon. Anyone have any tips on pulling $300 out of thin air to pay for a tail vise? I'll figure something out, even if it's just to wait for a while. I'm not putting $600 of lumber into a bench just to put a crappy vise in it! Below you can see where my board selection is paying off pretty well - the ugliest board is getting its ugliest part hogged out for the vise cavity! The defect goes on for more than the 14" of the cavity, but it will be on the underside anyway. No worries there! I look forward to getting more done tomorrow. It's about to be time to laminate some stock to make the end cap! I'm open to suggestions, but I'm currently planning on just sticking with using the ash I have bought for the project. I couldn't get any walnut until this Saturday probably, and I'm just too impatient! Plus I won't mind having consistency. It'll look good no matter what. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Somebody take this slab to a dentist, it has a cavity! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 On 2/16/2017 at 2:27 PM, Denette said: Don't have the benchcrafted goods yet and we are tight for money with our first baby on the way, so we will see when it all falls into place. I'm still going to try to get things together quickly though! I'm not sure if I said it already but I went almost a year without the bench crafted gear. Board and battons, plane stop and dogs still make the bench great 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 I'm not sure if I said it already but I went almost a year without the bench crafted gear. Board and battons, plane stop and dogs still make the bench great Oh yeah, no doubt! It's already the best work surface in the shop and it's basically just large boards on top of sawhorses. If nothing else, my parallel clamps will be getting a lot of use until the vises are in the budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Check out a board and batton. I still use them when planing because I like being on the left side of the bench 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Check out a board and batton. I still use them when planing because I like being on the left side of the bench Confession time! I have never heard of that, and google is just showing board-and-batten siding. Could you shed some light on the subject for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Here is the way I first saw it. There are variations with clamps etc, but it is the concept you are after 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Exactly what Carus linked to. With the right placement of dog holes, I could work anywhere on the bench.And I'm pretty sure I was using wainscoting terms totally incorrectly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TerryMcK Posted February 22, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 On 2/16/2017 at 10:07 PM, RichardA said: Gonna be a very long bench. USS Roubo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2017 12 hours ago, Brendon_t said: Exactly what Carus linked to. With the right placement of dog holes, I could work anywhere on the bench.And I'm pretty sure I was using wainscoting terms totally incorrectly. Cool! I might look into getting a holdfast before too long then. We will see how the prices level out. Tonight's work was a little progress, a little setback. I have got the blank for the end cap laminated and clamped and gluing together. I went ahead and made it 2 feet long so that if I screw it up or have wicked snipe I won't have anything to worry about. I figure the scrap will make a really nice bandsaw box. That's my fourth bandsaw box-sized chunk from this project! That ought to stock up my Etsy shop nicely. Here's the blank gluing up: It's oversized so it can be machined down. Speaking of needing things oversized, my setback tonight was when I tried to mill up the dog hole strip. I had the bright idea of using my bandsaw to resew a single 2" board for the dog hole strip as well as the 3/8" strip that goes on the outside of the dog holes. In theory it would have been great! Perfectly matched grain and much less waste. I started with a nice straight board that was all milled and ready to go, and as soon as it came off the bandsaw, guess what happened? BOING! A full one inch of movement. and on top of that the thin strip came in at a hair under the 3/8" from the plan! I'll be lucky if the crazy-bowed thick board can be milled square down to 3/8" thick so it can take the place of what was supposed to be the thin board. Here's the bowed thicker board: Oh well! If this is the worst that happens on this project then I'm doing alright! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted February 23, 2017 Report Share Posted February 23, 2017 Seems like you're proceeding really well so far. I started my bench at the end of September and at this rate, you'll catch up to me in a couple of weeks. If losing one piece of lumber is the worst that happens, I think you're ahead. Keep in mind that the dog strip is going to have a lot of material removed from it, and it becomes a lot more flexible after you route the dog holes. If you really wanted to I bet you could salvage it, but the safe play is probably to use a new piece. On the tail vise, I'm assuming you're set on eventually installing the Benchcrafted hardware. If you're not, and you want something sooner (ie: cheaper), the home brewed version on my bench came in under $100 Canadian (so $80 US). Seems to work quite well, at least for the little bit I've tried using it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denette Posted February 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2017 Well darn. I got a nice new Freud solid carbide 1/2" up spiral bit for this project and it just broke to pieces as I was routing the mortise in the end cap. Anyone know anything about Freud's warranty policies? It wasn't being used irregularly or anything, it just lost its tips and has magically become a bullnose bit. Jumped toward me and everything, but both I and the project are fine. The end cap is on, anyway! I'll take what I can get. Also, I decided that it's probably in my best interest to just go ahead and use the piece that bowed yesterday. SawDustB is right, cutting out that many dog holes is going to dramatically alter the structure of the wood. I'm going to cut the dog holes out of the convex side so that hopefully it will bow back the opposite way and become straight again. Worst case scenario is that it's still curved but the wood holding the dog holes in place is only 3/8" thick anyway and will bend easily enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.