Thread: Benchcrafted Shaker Bench Build

Managed to get half a day in the shed today. Had a crack at the half blind dovetails and whilst they are far from great, I think I did an alright job on cutting them for the first time in over twenty years. I'm going to need some gap fill though

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Also did a practice of the finish last night.

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The Cabots is on the right and was returned to the big green shed this morning. It was supposed to be a deep blue, not a crappy army green. Went to the big blue shed and got the Minwax wood stain that is on the left. I'm quite happy with the look though would have preferred something in a light blue but I couldn't find anything that grabbed me. I'm back to work tomorrow and I don't know if I'll get to my shed this coming weekend. If I get something done I'll post the photo's.

Looking very flash. Making some quick progress too.

Looking good there
Tho personal I'm not sure about the milk paint
But that's just me being picky
Keep up the great work
But on a side note
Your user name???
Cheers Matt

Hi Simplicity. The user name is an old nick name given to me by some very close friends. It was just Bob initially then I got my MBBS so it became Doctor Bob and then was lengthened to Doctor Bobski. Not a terribly interesting story sorry. In regards to the milk paint look, I'm trying to keep to the shaker aesthetic. From what I can see they used colour sparingly and then only in pastels. Did you have other suggestions for the finish? I'm still not 100% decided.

In the book ,
The workbench book,
By Scott Landis.
There are few shaker benches,
With the main body of the bench in colours and the tops look like there been oiled or something .
Not sure if you have seen or got the book .
So I'm not much help there .
Have you tried ,just watering down normal house paint .
That may work .
Or I may get verbally assaulted for suggesting such a thing.
Matt

Milk paint is so much nicer than anything else and will give a traditional look and feel that nothing else really does give. If your wanting to go in that direction. Have you ever run your hand over a milk paint job ? Stains and acrylic paints are nothing like it for the look and feel.

I noticed some porters blue on ebay

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PORTERS-M...item43d5262fdd

$46 + $7.50 postage though .

I make up my own and love the stuff , its so cheap , playing with different colours is a bit of fun . To have the fun I went and spent some money here on a range of pigment colours , that cost me a bit . There are nice safe non toxic pigments in that range and there are very toxic pigments as well , do a little bit of research if your going this way.

http://langridgecolours.com/langridge-pigments/

I googled and tried a few different milk paint recipes and settled on a mix that I like that works which is not 100% traditional but it works well. Enough to paint a bench is going to cost under $10, but having the pigments to play with costs . So for me it was worth it as I know I will be doing lots of milk painted projects like I have been doing .

Rob

Thanks for your response Rob. Do you put protective coat eg varnish, shellac over the milk paint? I read this improved the durability of milk paint but in reading your response I'm guessing it would change the feel of the finish you describe. How durable is just a milk paint finish alone?

By itself its durable , it sets rock hard , the casein in the milk and the lime react and set like a plaster mix , it wont just rub off when its touched.
I harden or temper the mix up by adding glue as well sometimes, as a bit of insurance . PVA is easiest , Hide glue works as well and would have been what was done in the old days.
Ive seen it set a few different ways and it comes down to the ratios in the mix and how well mixed as well I suppose . One job I did, straight off the brush and then dry, it set smooth and hard with a nice dull shine to it with just a small pimple here and there.
Another job set hard and with a more rough texture . If you cut it back with a fine paper , I do this with an oil and turps mix in between , You get the smoothest hard finish you will ever feel , I have then french polished over this and waxed. shellac applied with a rubber is the best way of bringing up a shine and stopping at the level you like . You could just brush it on then wax. It is such a fine Hard medium that it takes a very small amount of work to bring up a shine, the smallest I have ever seen.

I am still playing with and experimenting with it . The first job I made and sold to a client with a milk paint finish was one year ago , for years before that I experimented on workshop fixtures and cabinets and was playing with all sorts of mixes , this is a good thing to do as I can walk around and check how they are standing up to the wear and abuse , they are all good . Those previous mixes were Agnews or plaster glue and paint tint mixes. what I was trying to get all those years but didn't know it was a milk paint look. Then I moved on to trying milk paint .
Its remarkable stuff , once I started playing with it I was hooked .

Rob

Hi Rob. Can you still see the grain through the milk paint? Cheers, Nathan.

If Yes , give it another coat. and or play with what your mixing . From what Ive seen of Porters it looks like a good thick mix.
You either have to play or pay with it , if you decide on milk paint.

Rob

Hi all. Here are some photos of further progress. Didn't bother putting up WIP as it's all been boring finishing and prep work.

A tip that I learnt the hard way. If you're going to size doors individually so all the gaps are equal don't just number the doors but also the hinges you are using on each door. This dummy didn't number the hinges and all the hard work went out the window. Spent two hours trying to work out which hinges went where and still didn't get it as good as I had it

Anyway, here's the finish on the cabinet. The colour has led to the bench now having a name - "The Hulk" after the green giant.

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I'm hoping the plain wood parts to go on the front and top tone it down a little

That's looking fantastic! Extra storage will be the ducks nuts!

Wow looking fantastic
So that's what all the paint talk looks like

Am I missing something here, if all the hinges are identical, what difference would it make unless each hinge was hand made or came from a reject factory in a very big country north of the equator.