Just getting started

[MikeDunlop]

I made it to the lumberyard on Friday. Just like a little kid at Christmas I was excited about getting something new. This is the most ambitious project I have ever started in the shop. I can't wait to see this come together. However the lumber buying experience was not all that pleasant this time. When I got to the lumberyard and told them I wanted 200 board feet of 8/4 soft maple 8 feet long I got a dirty look from the forklift driver. The pallet was burried in a warehouse and on a Friday afternoon he didn't seem overly enthused about digging it out. He wanted me to buy 10 foot lengths cuz it was easy to get to. I told him no and that I needed 8 footers, so I had to wait about a half hour for him to get it. I guess I should have called ahead of time and they could have gotten it ready for me. Oh well. This is the only place within 100 miles to get soft maple and at $2.40 a board foot, I figured I could wait.

I had figured in my head that I wanted mostly 5-6" or 10-11" wide boards per Marc's suggestion. When the pallet arrived I was disappointed to see only about 2 boards that met this criteria. All the remaining boards were MUCH wider, some even 16-17" wide! Having to think quickly, I decided I could rip the wider boards and made the calculations. Because most of the lumber was a little twisted and I have never ripped 16" wide 8/4 maple before, I ended up buying getting a little extra, and ended up with 224 board feet. I can always use the extra after I get the bench built for other projects that the wife wants me to build.

As I mentioned earlier, I have never milled this big of boards before. I am here to tell you, this is a serious task. Wielding a 15" wide 2" thick board around is some serious work. The wide stock presented a challenge to me as far as figuring out how to get it cut down to size and milled. I have a 8" jointer, a delta contractors saw, a 14" bandsaw, and a 13" planer. Due to time constraint this weekend, I knew that I did not have enough time to get both top pieces milled and glued, I only milled enough to due the back half. Here is what I did to mill the lumber and please feel free to comment if anyone has a better idea, as I am just getting started, and don't know all the best techniques yet. Because my jointer is not wide enough to handle these boards I first edge jointed the boards to get them fairly straight. I then took them to the table saw where I ripped them to about 5 1/4" wide. Then back to the jointer to get face planed on 1 side. After I had a straight face, I edge jointed again to ensure a square corner. then I planed the boards edge first, thinking that I should plane the edge first, as the base is wider and more stable. Then finally I planed the other face. I ended up with 7 boards of varying thicknesses giving me a slab that is 11 1/2" wide. When clamped together, I can see a few spots where the boards did not get face jointed properly and I have some gaps. I will plane those again, while working the slab to the 11 1/16th" width.

All in all it has been a great weekend getting started on this. My 10 year old son, who has never expressed any interest in the woodshop, spent the whole day helping me milling boards. That in itself was worth every penny and inconvenience of buying the lumber. I hope he continues to help me, because years from now when he inherits the bench, he will have all the great memories of helping build it.

[rmac]

Please feel free to comment if anyone has a better idea, as I am just getting started, and don't know all the best techniques yet.

Ripping twisted or cupped boards on a table saw can lead to trouble if the board decides to close up on the blade and maybe kick back at you. Next time you need to rip some boards before you have jointed them on one face and one edge, consider using the bandsaw instead of the table saw. Besides being safer, the kerf won't be as wide and more of your lumber will wind up in your project instead of the dust collector bag.

-- Russ

[Trip]

One advantage to starting late is leveraging all the 'lessons learned' threads both here and WWG site... Mark's message of breaking the project into manageable steps and tackle one at a time should prevent 'overload'... Just post questions, folks will be glad to help..

[MikeDunlop]

Russ. thanks, I still have plenty of boards left to rip down so I will try that. I have only ripped enough down to build the back slab so far. Just headed out to cut buiscuits and do glue up yet tonight.

hhh - I agree on the advantage to starting now. I wanted to build this ever since Marc announced it but had to wait until now due to schedule.

[Vic]

Mike, definitely use another method that a spinning blade to rip the rough stock. You probably didn't have any problem because your TS is only a contractor saw. When I worked on a contractor unit, I was able to over power a couple rips that would have been kickback on my cabinet saw. The bandsaw is the perfect machine for ripping rough stock. Also, feel free to ask any questions that may arise. It was a very cool build. I ended up doing a lot of things differently than Marc, because I was building ahead of him. For instance, I built the entire unit upside down and it never got turned over until the base was glued up. It worked well for me, especially since I didn't have anyone to help move any of the parts. Fun build! Enjoy it.

[MikeDunlop]

Got the glue up done tonight on the back slab.

You definitely have to move fast on this. I do not have a Domino, so I used biscuits. I had a little more slop than what Marc had with his dominoes. I have about 1/32" - 1/16" areas that are out of flush. After drying I will have to fix this somehow, before I flatten it at the planer. My slab is a good 41/2" thick so I have some room to play with. I have an old Stanley no. 6 and no 4 hand planes that I just inherited. Both need a good sharpening. I have never used any plane other than a block plane before. Would the 6 be a good plane to flatten one side before sending it through the planer? Looks like I will also need to make some winding sticks to check for twist and flatness as well. Look at all these new skills I am learning! I love it!

Also after glue up it is about 11 1/8" wide along 3/4 of the slab and 11 1/16th" at one end. Does this need to be addressed as I see it causing problems getting the gap stop to fit properly later on?

Vic, I will most definitely use the band saw to rip the remainder of the boards. You are right about the CS and not having enough power. I am glad I am not the first to have issues like these.

I really appreciate the support and look forward to continuing on this.

Thanks for all your help.

Mike

[Barron]

The No. 6 would be great for getting the slab flat enough to run through the planer. Its what I used. Look at the flattening by hand video, but at this stage you just need to get the twist out and get it generally flat. At 4 1/4" thick and 11 1/8" wide, the planer isn't going to compress the wood much so you don't need a final smooth surface to start planing.

Someone with more experience than I have can correct me on the taper issue. The gap strip is pretty easy to manipulate as far as width goes, so I think it shouldn't be a big problem. A loose fit for the gap strip makes it easier to use in any case.

I had never used the band saw to rip wide boards before this project, but I followed Marc's lead and it works great, and feels much, much safer, Marc has a video on fixing band saw blade drift that I found very helpful.

Enjoy the build, its worth all the effort.

[Kevmc]

My gap ended up being 1/16 or so narrower at one end of the table. I cut the middle blocks for the gap stop to fit the slight taper in the slot so I had a good but not tight fit. My slabs were the same width on each ends and my gap difference was created because my base was slightly off square so when I installed the top, that skewed the gap a bit. That might not be your best course of action given your difference is focused on the last 1/4 of the top. I would just use your No 6 to fix the width. That way you start out with the best possible slab and increase the chance of a consistent gap. I suppose I could have done that too but didnt want to fuss with it once I got the top installed.

[bjorn rettig]

My gap ended up being 1/16 or so narrower at one end of the table.

Same on my bench. In addition to that my legs were a 1/8" thinner than planned, which I had completely forgotten, so my gap stop is now 1/4" less wide - that's why I used a solid board as gap stop (and that is tapered). It works and if anybody ever asks me, I pretend it was meant as a feature.

[MikeDunlop]

I am happy. I just finished gluing the front slab together. I learned a number of techniques while building the back slab and was able to apply them to the front slab. For example, I had a few boards on the back slab that cupped during the glue up. Tonight I used cauls on both ends of the front slab. Hopefully this will help and not twist the whole slab.

I tried to use my band saw tonight to rip the wide boards and I am having problems with it. My drift is HUGE! It is so bad that my fence will not adjust far enough to account for it. I need some ideas about how to fix this. I have a 14" powermatic and it is less than a year old. If anyone has any thoughts about what to check I would appreciate it.

Instead of cutting the rough stock down with the bandsaw or tablesaw, I used a jig saw. not the optimum method, but it got the job done. It required a bit more edge jointing as my jig saw techniques is a little sloppy, but I had enough stock this was not a problem.

[rmac]

My drift is HUGE! It is so bad that my fence will not adjust far enough to account for it. I need some ideas about how to fix this.

First thing to check would be the blade tracking adjustment. If the blade isn't riding in the middle of the tires, you will get excessive drift. (In fact, I try to actually eliminate the drift on my bandsaw by carefully adjusting the tracking. Sometimes I'm successful; sometimes I'm not.)

-- Russ

[Vic]

Huge drift can also be from a defective sharpening. I just got a replacement Resaw King due to that. I normally don't have to adjust my fence for drift.

On my Timberwolf blades, I use the low tension method with great results.

(null)

[Barron]

I have the same saw with the riser block installed. I used a 5/8" blade and really focused on getting the blade centered on the wheels. I had no drift the first time I installed, and very minor drift the second time I put the blade in. It's my first bandsaw so I still pull the manual out each time I change blades and focus on getting all everything dialed in. One last thing, I find setting slightly below the tension numbers seems to help. So for a 5/8" blade my tension is set close to 1/2." That seems to work for me.