Almost a bench :)

[bjorn rettig]

I was only able to work in the shop today, but made good progress. Still need mortises in the top, but I wanted to see the bench, so I put the top on.

[thewoodwhisperer]

Ahhh....now that's a good feeling isn't it? You're getting close!

[bjorn rettig]

Ahhh....now that's a good feeling isn't it? You're getting close!

Oh, yes, feeling awesome. I should have mentioned that I was really surprised when I put the base together and I measure for square, everything was square. Everything fit together with not more than a 1/64 gap, which I consider as close to perfect as I believe I can make it.

I left the legs about 2" longer than in the plan - I might have to shorten them, because now the bench feels high - but I will still lose 1" in height, once I have the proper mortises in.

[Steve Lyde]

Bjorn, that is looking really good.

[TFPtrader]

Now that's looking SWEET! I Love the wood grain. Those walnut dogs are making me jealous, I think I'm going to make myself a set. Seasonal dogs, walnut dogs for the winter and maple dogs for the summer, gotta love it!, lol. I also lengthened the legs to give me a top height of 36". I've been using the slabs on top of the work horses at that height and have been feeling pretty comfortable with that. My 3/8 spiral bit comes tomorrow so I will continue with the leg vise assembly. In the meantime I milled up and cut the shelf boards and shelf ledgers today. The feeling is getting good. Can't wait till the fat lady sings. These benches are going to be awesome. I'm right behind you Bjorn, keep up the good work.

Art K

Made the shelf in 10 pieces

Had to add some walnut into the mix

Ready to be cut and fitted

[allencrane]

^{Nice shelf, Art. I really like the walnut accents. By the way, are you gluing up the shelf sections? I'm hearing glue them and I'm hearing don't glue them. As long as you leave a little play for wood movement, does it matter if they are glued up?}

[TFPtrader]

Thanks Allen, I'm pretty happy with the way things are going so far. All said and done, this bench is going to be a pleasure to work on. Because I have a small shop, I have to keep this bench mobile and on the smaller side. I'm calling it my "Snubnose Roubo", lol. I also want to be able to knock it down if I have to move it to another shop (hopefully a bigger one), so I'm not going to glue the shelf together. I think it would also be easier to clean the shelf with removable boards in the event you spill something down there - you never know (Stuff happens). As far as the mobility of the bench, I have a couple of ideas I'm working on. I don't like the idea of attaching wheels permanently to the bench, so I'm trying to work something out along the lines of an easy attachment to roll the bench around. I'll post the idea if it works out. Bottom line, I don't think it's necessary to glue up the shelf boards. The shelf ledger design is a pretty substantial support. You can always glue the boards later if you want to.

[AMarshall]

For what it's worth, I think Benchcrafted says the shelves should be loose fit with no glue. As Art pointed out, the ledger is strong enough to hold the shelves and you may want to pop the shelf board out every one in a while.