Chestnut Posted March 19, 2019 Report Share Posted March 19, 2019 12 hours ago, Brendon_t said: Seriously? Because it is the working surface, you should have a surface, not a bunch of holes and knots. You ever try to draw on a park bench? Your on a critical line and oops, your paper is stabbed instead of drawn on. You don't want voids that will gather chips, sawdust, hardware and generally have no purpose on the work surface, on you worth surface. And epoxy filled normal voids add difficulty how? That sounds crazy. I've done it a bunch of times to by machine or hand. How are you doing it? You draw on your workbench what kind of Luddite are you? 46 minutes ago, Byrdie said: Well, you've definitely schooled me! Either this is wood with some serious defects, in which case it's not suitable for the purpose, or it has a few voids which, after being surfaced properly, are probably insignificant and not much different from the dents and dings that will be caused by normal use on a *workbench. I don't draw on my bench or if I do, I find a flat surface to put under it. When it comes to my bench, I typically surface by hand, with a plane. I've found epoxy fills to be hard on the blade, hard on the arms and stubborn to surface. The few times I've felt the need to use them in a finished piece I've worked them by machine. And just sayin', this tends to be a friendly place. Perhaps you could use a different tone in your reply. I had huge voids where knots broke out on my pine bench it was far better to fill them than to leave them as voids. Nice sharp plane iron does face a bit more resistance on those than the pine adjacent but i had no issues on the dollar bill size fills i had to do, i'm not using cheap epoxy either (the cheap stuff might actually be harder?). It's a workbench there is no unsuitable lumber that falls in the cheap price range except maybe so rotten it doesn't support it's self, or green treated. I don't like pine but it's what i have and it works just fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted March 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2019 I'm gonna epoxy it, 100%. The front slab doesn't have any knots or voids, but the rear, I believe, does have a couple. Its plenty solid enough, and the defects are more cosmetic than anything. I'm also well aware that the work bench top shouldn't be glass smooth, but I do want it to be mostly smooth. I'm going to do the epoxy work before final flattening, and I'm going to use the router method. The router bit isnt going to care much about a little bit of epoxy. I cut the dog strip to final length, clamped it up and marked for dominos this morning. The front slab looks pretty decent and should look just fine in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bleedinblue Posted March 20, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 20, 2019 Got some unexpected time off work starting today and spent a half hour getting the dog hole strip glued onto the slab. This is what it's looking like so far. Not a premo-creamy-white-maple bench, but it is starting to resemble a roubo. Also measured the widths of the slabs and I think I can beat 24". May aim for 24 1/2". With this time off I should be able to finish up the top and get started on the base within the week. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 20, 2019 Report Share Posted March 20, 2019 There you go, some visual proof of progress. Nice!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 20, 2019 Report Share Posted March 20, 2019 7 hours ago, bleedinblue said: Got some unexpected time off work starting today Hope it wasn't' for a bad reason. Progress looks good. I won't be making a creamy white maple bench either, it's too cliche and so yesterday. Set some new trends with your oak! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 20, 2019 Report Share Posted March 20, 2019 Wow, I am really loving the look of the oak beams. Luckily with those beams, the base should come together quite fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted March 20, 2019 Report Share Posted March 20, 2019 Looks pretty primo to me! You are going to love having a nice bench like this I can't believe I went 25 years without a good bench 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 20, 2019 Report Share Posted March 20, 2019 21 minutes ago, pkinneb said: Looks pretty primo to me! You are going to love having a nice bench like this I can't believe I went 25 years without a good bench I limped along for 3 years on a harbor freight bench and piece of mdf on the table saw. A proper bench being the Roubo or many others is a game changer for sure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted March 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2019 15 hours ago, Chestnut said: Hope it wasn't' for a bad reason. There was...an incident. All are physically, mentally and professionally ok though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 21, 2019 Report Share Posted March 21, 2019 8 hours ago, bleedinblue said: There was...an incident. All are physically, mentally and professionally ok though. I'm glad that everyone is ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 22, 2019 Report Share Posted March 22, 2019 On 3/19/2019 at 8:47 AM, Chestnut said: You draw on your workbench what kind of Luddite are you? Yeah, I used to use any other surface, but they're all covered in other crap now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bleedinblue Posted March 23, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 23, 2019 Time to make some dogs, trim the slabs to length then move on to the base. Looks like a 2" gap stop will put me right at 24" wide. I can live with that. It sounds like I will be off work for another week or longer. Maybe I can get this thing done before I go back. Probably not, but MAYBE. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 23, 2019 Report Share Posted March 23, 2019 Your getting there. That aluminum knob doesn't look that bad. I know you would rather have the wood but at least its not polished aluminum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 23, 2019 Report Share Posted March 23, 2019 2 hours ago, bleedinblue said: Time to make some dogs, trim the slabs to length then move on to the base. Looks like a 2" gap stop will put me right at 24" wide. I can live with that. It sounds like I will be off work for another week or longer. Maybe I can get this thing done before I go back. Probably not, but MAYBE. Since you ain't got the base locked in yet, clamp in 2" spacer blocks between your slabs and fiddle with getting your clamp heads through.. Mine were way too tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted March 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2019 2 minutes ago, Brendon_t said: Since you ain't got the base locked in yet, clamp in 2" spacer blocks between your slabs and fiddle with getting your clamp heads through.. Mine were way too tight. Fair point and good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted March 23, 2019 Report Share Posted March 23, 2019 Keep in mind that the gap also shrinks as the humidity goes up. It may not matter where the shop is in your house, but I lose about 1/8" in the summer and the clamps barely fit. Practically, it doesn't really matter since I just switched to using my f clamps through the gap for the occasional time it's necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 24, 2019 Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 17 hours ago, SawDustB said: Keep in mind that the gap also shrinks as the humidity goes up. It may not matter where the shop is in your house, but I lose about 1/8" in the summer and the clamps barely fit. Practically, it doesn't really matter since I just switched to using my f clamps through the gap for the occasional time it's necessary. I don't move as much, but still have gotten so tight that I had to wax the head to get it through. Not so fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted March 29, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2019 Back to work either tomorrow or Saturday, I didn't get it done. Close though. The leg mortises are all cut and the holes drilled in the right front leg. The chop is glued up. Tonight I got the side rails milled and cut to length but needs tenons cut. After the rail tenons are done itll be on to the leg vise install 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bleedinblue Posted March 29, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 29, 2019 The gnarly knot in the front right has what seemed like a liter of epoxy in it. It was going to get hidden, but I changed my mind and threw it on the front. I kind of wish it was further up on the leg to be more visible. On to the leg vise. Getting real close now. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny4 Posted March 30, 2019 Report Share Posted March 30, 2019 If you can’t stand the aluminum knobs, you’re welcome to come over and use my lathe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 30, 2019 Report Share Posted March 30, 2019 Love the inclusion. I've also got one on my rear left leg where bark streams down about half the keg. I also wish I had featured it rather than tried to hide it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted March 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2019 I spent all afternoon installing the leg vise. What a colossal pain. I read somewhere on here someone praising the "detailed and clear" instructions. I guess my brain doesn't work that way. Reading those directions feels like reading the technical directions for a stereo system. The channels are routed out, the holes are drilled and I'll be trying to get it in working order tomorrow morning. A fifteen minute test for the criss cross arms didn't go so well...the holes for the steel rods are apparently too low/deep as the rods didn't line up with the criss cross. I suppose that means deepening the channels some, or maybe just removing some material at the top of the channels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted March 31, 2019 Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 3 hours ago, bleedinblue said: I spent all afternoon installing the leg vise. What a colossal pain. I read somewhere on here someone praising the "detailed and clear" instructions. I guess my brain doesn't work that way. Reading those directions feels like reading the technical directions for a stereo system. The channels are routed out, the holes are drilled and I'll be trying to get it in working order tomorrow morning. A fifteen minute test for the criss cross arms didn't go so well...the holes for the steel rods are apparently too low/deep as the rods didn't line up with the criss cross. I suppose that means deepening the channels some, or maybe just removing some material at the top of the channels. I hear you... I found the instructions made it much more complicated than it needed to be. They need someone to go through it and simplify it. I found that if I just sat back just and pictured what is going on in my mind, it became much easier to understand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bleedinblue Posted March 31, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 31, 2019 That's essentially when I ended up doing. I threw their directions away and went at it. I ended up making the deep channels about a quarter inch deeper than the plans called for, then had to mortise the bottom steel reinforcement plates even deeper, but I finally got the silky smooth action intended. Soooooo the leg vise is done, each slab is cut to final length, and the base is assembled. So close to getting the slabs mounted onto the base and I had to stop because I cant lift the base onto the slabs by myself. After making it this far alone, I'm going to need a hand lifting something 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bleedinblue Posted April 2, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 Thanks to government inefficiency, I was off all weekend. The major lifting is done. It needs a lot of cleanup, flattening, etc, but at least it now looks like a bench. I ended up at about 82" long and 24 1/2 inches wide. The gap stop is about 2 1/4". Back to work tomorrow, but after flattening, I'll be on to shaping the chop, making the shelf, making the gap stop and figuring out what I'm going to use for the deadman. All relatively quick, tasks. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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