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  1. #1
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    Mar 2008
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    Default Lance's simplified Scandinavian bench

    I'm at the point where I'm pretty happy with my design, and ready to purchase the stock.

    overall.PNGbase.PNG

    I'm inspired by Frank Kalusz's bench and its features. I've modelled mine largely on David Barron's simplified Scandinavian bench, without the tool well. I'm shooting for ease of construction, and relatively low cost.

    David's bench details can be found at https://davidbarronfurniture.blogspo...-finished.html, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u27q6v3E2nE

    IMG_3159.JPG


    Everything at this stage is designed to be constructed with 45x90 mm Tas Oak, as it's local and relatively low cost. As such, all dimensions are multiples of such.

    Legs: 90x90
    Stretchers and beams: 45x90
    2000 x 640 x 90 (not including shoulder vice)

    As per the model I've planned a shoulder vice for the front. I've not bothered with the fifth leg, as the top is solid, and would expect the cantilevered vice to support it's own weight without any issues. If this is a bad idea, I'll consider adding a diagonal brace down to the leg. Considering any material held in the vice will be have an edge parallel with the leg, clamped weight should be a non issue (in my mind at least).

    fv.PNG

    Whilst not drawn (too much effort for my Fusion skills at this stage), I'll mount my old Dawn #9 woodworker's vice to the right hand end, where it will function as a tail vice. I agonised long and hard about whether to build a real tail vice or not. I am hoping that this will get me 80% of the way there, with a whole lot less effort.

    I have three areas of minor concern I'd appreciate some input on.

    1. The stretchers are only 90 mm in height, and intended to be glued as through tenons in the 90 mm legs. Traditionally stretchers are a fair bit taller (I'm assuming to avoid racking). Will this be enough, of should I switch to "taller" stock. Alternately, I had considered gluing more stock to the ends, such that the ends are taller to alleviate this concern.

    2. The unsupported shoulder vice. Are my assumptions stated above sound, or is this going to cause me issues at some point?

    3. This will be the most glue I've ever needed, and can't even guess at how much I can expect to use. Will 4 l be enough, or should I double it and get 8 l? It's a good hour round trip to get the glue, so don't want to have to do it a second time needlessly.

    Naturally I'm happy to hear any other thoughts offered.

    Kind regards,
    Lance

    P.S. For anyone interested in playing with the model (just because I can share it)...
    https://a360.co/2WEUXdM

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Lance,
    I would opt for deeper stretchers like you are thinking. They could however be thinner and be cost neutral. It's the depth that prevents wracking. I did in fact glue blocks on the end to get a nice deep shoulder at the joint.

    The shoulder vice is only supported by cross grain and quite short lengths. Usually a leg is under that corner and on Davids bench he has the leg buttressed out for support. I think some support is required there however you want to do it.

    As to glue I would not like to say and have you curse me later on so check the unopened shelf life and future needs re a spare bottle. I used Selly's and while my bench is a different design I reckon I used less than 3ltr

    Anyhow enjoy the build
    Regards
    John

  4. #3
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    Thanks for the feedback on my points of query John. I'll plan for the suggested changes.

    Lance

  5. #4
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    Mar 2018
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    Sydney
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    Default

    If it helps, tage frid has a Scandinavian workbench design in his series of woodworking books.

    I can scan these here if wanted.

    Regards.

    Adam

  6. #5
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    Default

    I’m happy to look at any extra info. I’ve heard of him using a similar bench, but it seen it.

    Lance

  7. #6
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    Jun 2016
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    Default

    As to glue I think I went through just under 2 1L squeeze bottles of titebond II building my route style bench.

    I say get 4 and you should be ok, unless you like using a lot of glue of course.
    I, for one, like Roman Numerals

  8. #7
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    Nov 2007
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    Victoria
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    I think you’ll need the brace under the vice to stop it sagging with the orientation of those face glued pieces unsupported. In Frank K’s version he has a piece in the opposite direction to negate this (as well as the 5th leg). I poorly built the FK version and loved the shoulder vice. Your version looks great.

    Maybe extend the top stretcher out under the vice or put that stretcher on the flat and cantilever out.
    You boys like Mexico ?

  9. #8
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    Jun 2019
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    Melbourne
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    Hey Lance, I just took a look at your design (very cool BTW). I just had one question though, how are you attaching the top to the legs as in your design it just seems to be sitting on top of the legs?

    BTW, how did you find designing in autodesk360?

  10. #9
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    Hi All,

    Thanks for all the responses, and I do appologise for not responding earlier. I injured my back and lost my woodorking mojo whilst recovering, and then work got busy and took over all my time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sam View Post
    I think you’ll need the brace under the vice to stop it sagging with the orientation of those face glued pieces unsupported. In Frank K’s version he has a piece in the opposite direction to negate this (as well as the 5th leg). I poorly built the FK version and loved the shoulder vice. Your version looks great.

    Maybe extend the top stretcher out under the vice or put that stretcher on the flat and cantilever out.
    Thanks for your thoughts Sam. My idea if needed, was to canterlever the top leg stretcher out under the vice, with a diagonal brace back to the leg. That would support the vice without having the additional leg in the way.


    Quote Originally Posted by developerdino View Post
    Hey Lance, I just took a look at your design (very cool BTW). I just had one question though, how are you attaching the top to the legs as in your design it just seems to be sitting on top of the legs?

    BTW, how did you find designing in autodesk360?
    The intention is to fit some pins (ala Frank Claus's bench) on top of the legs, and have corresponding holes in the underside of the top. The weight of the top should be sufficient for it to stay put.

    With respect to Fusion, I really enjoy it. I used sketchup for years, but it always felt like I needed to use hacks to do some of the things I wanted. Whilst fusion required a pretty steep learning curve, the provided tutorials, along with Lars Christensen's YouTube channel had me up and running fairly quickly. Were I not required to use a computer all day for work, I would be quite happy spending more time making fusion designs as I actually find it enjoyable. As it is though, it allows me to spend less time in front of the computer to do the design/modelling part.

    Lance

  11. #10
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    As it turns out, I've dumped the idea of a shoulder vice. I'm not entirely sure what to replace it with just yet, but will see.

    None the less, the persuit of perfection comes at the expense of progress, so let us crack on with this one.

    As I've been using more and more hand tools, it became evident that my outfeed/assembly table with its 36mm top really isn't suitable to planing and chopping dovetails and mortices. so I'm building something with a whole lot more mass.

    I'm using kiln dried construction framing in 45x90 mm from a local building supply outlet. All in all I purchased 38 lm of stock, which I expect sould suffice.

    I puschased the stock a month ago, so that it would have time to settle in my workshop before using. Whilst I don't have a moisture meter, I assume being kiln dried, and it only travelled about 15 km to my house, a month would suffice. (plus it is only a bench).

    20190731_111659-1024x768.jpg

    As an aside, that load was heavy, so was suitably impressed that my racking system proved more than adequate.

    First things first, I selected the lengths with the cleanest edges to be my top. then set about cutting them into 1900 mm lengths. I plan for the top to be just under 600 mm deep, so needed twelve lengths.

    20190731_115747-1024x768.jpg

    After each length was cut, I wanted to ensure they were all laid out with their grain running the same way. I've been caught out before on projects were simply eyeing the timber led me astray. Therefore any piece that wasn't obvious got a confirmatory pass with the plane.

    20190731_120812-1024x768.jpg

    For some reason my fat soft pencils had all gone astray, and my stock of 2H simply weren't allowing me to mark the grain direction with clarity.

    One advantage of living in a cul-de-sac is that our kids used to play a lot on the street when they were young, and it was often covered in chalk drawings and game markings. We used to go through a large box of chalk every month or so. So I wondered if there was still some lying hiden somewhere that I could use to mark my timber.

    A while ago I built a large "box" which lives in the workshop where the kids could put all their paraphernalia to stop it spreading all over the place. After a bit of digging, I hit the jackpot. There beneath the ripsticks, rollerblades, and soccer balls, fishing spears, ballance boards and unicycle, I found a couple of long discarded boxes of the kids' chalk!

    20190731_120331-1024x768.jpg 20190731_120341-1024x768.jpg 20190731_120418-1024x768.jpg

    Now I could draw the grain arrows in lovely white chalk that stands out perfectly.

    20190731_130351-e1564619745909-768x1024.jpg

    Whoops, perhaps I should arrange them to get a better colour gradient rather than looking like they were ordered by a group of preschoolers too short to see what they were doing.

    20190731_131053-e1564619994502-768x1024.jpg

    That's better.

    I wanted to use biscuits to help with the allignment diring the glue up. I've not done a glueup with so many faces at once before, so was a little concerned about the timber slipping and sliding around as I tried to get it all clamped.

    My only hicccup was that I don't have an adapter for the dust extractor to hook only the biscuit joiner, and normally just hold the hose onto the end. While it works when only doing a couple of slots, I needed to do five lots of eleven, which would no dougt get tiring. Lately I've been making custom adapters by simply heating a piece of PVC pipe, puting it over the receptical it needs to fit, and cinch it closed with a strap. A dunk in freezing cold water (we call it tap water in Tasmania) sets the new profile.

    20190731_133924-1-768x1024.jpg 20190731_134010-768x1024.jpg 20190731_140057-1024x768.jpg

    With that I was off, cutting biscuit slots for all the joint edges, bar one which needs square dog holes cut. I'll do the biscuit joints afterwards for that one to ensure they're between the dog holes.

    Now the really exciting part, the glue-up. I planned on gluing the top up in halves, so that they would fit through my thicknesser, then join up the two halves once they're all done. I tackled the back half first (the front needs dog holes cut). Whilst setting up for the try test fit, I took time to admire my stunted porcupine, or should it be wonky stegosaurus?

    20190731_141906-1024x768.jpg

    Another advantage of the test fit, is I could mark all my clamp placements. Oh, and having a range of coloured chalk on hand is a very usefull thing!

    20190731_142453-768x1024.jpg

    Then there was nothing left to do but take a large breath and crack on with the glueing.

    20190731_143316-1024x768.jpg 20190731_145353-768x1024.jpg

    Time to clean up the workshop to ensure a fresh start on a new day. And that was it. Time to head indoors to make a hot cup of tea.

    20190731_180110-1024x768.jpg

    Lance

  12. #11
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    Great thread. Looking at doing my first bench in the coming 6-12 months, so watching this closely.

    Going to steal a few ideas

  13. #12
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    Sitting back (metaphorically speaking) to watch.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    Yesterday was to be dog-hole day, but lost the opportunity to chasing a replacement bearing for my flush trim router bit. The day began with a quick fifteen minute trip to my local hardware shop which stocks Carb-i-tool bits. I assumed they’d have spare bearings. As it turns out they didn’t and after trying four different stockists, I was still out of luck. It was at this point that logic should have won over, and simply ordered one direct with overnight shipping. Instead I fell victim to the sunk cost falacy. I did eventually get one, but drove about 70 km, and took four hours, and lost a day in the workshop. Oh, and the real kicker? The closest size match I could find was 3 mm larger than required. So my flush trim bit worked, but no longer trimmed flush.

    20190802_162833-1024x768.jpg

    Today then became dog-hole day, and the reason I needed the flush trim router bit.

    The first order of business was to enlarge the dog hole template I had made by 1.5 mm on in all dimensions.

    Once the template was cut out, I attached two guides that fit snugly on each side of the timber stock.

    20190802_123041-1024x651.jpg 20190802_123027-1024x768.jpg

    I did ponder how close to the edge of the bench to run my dog holes as Frank Claus has his pretty close, which I thought odd, and wanted to confirm that the dimensions on his plans weren’t a mistake. A bit of research online, showed that the overwhelming preference was to have them as close to the edge as practical, so my second length of timber it was.

    I marked the hole spacings at 100 mm, noting that more often than not, people wish they’d not skimped on the frequency when using large spacings. I also started my first hole 50 mm from where the end vice will sit.

    The process was then fairly simple; clamp the jig, route our the recess, and move onto the next one. And yes, I do appreciate the irony of using a power router to build a hand tool work bench. But I’m not a purist, so don’t feel conflicted at all.

    20190802_105220-1024x768.jpg

    The dog hole profile came out really well, and the measurements were pretty much spot on with Frank’s plans; the base at 27.5 mm, the top 32 mm and 18 mm deep.

    20190802_111419-1-768x1024.jpg

    Then it was a matter of running over all the edges with a chisel to remove any furries left by the router, and ease the front and back corners, though as it’s going through the thicknesser anyway, that was probably superfluous, but thereputic reglardless.

    Then, just because I could, I put it in place to enjoy the result. I should mention that I was paranoid about routing out the holes upside down, or facing the wrong way. As the holes are angled a couple of degrees off vertical, that would have been disasterous. So along with much chalk marking, double and tripple checking, it was a relief to note that it had in fact all turned out as intended.

    20190802_111505-768x1024.jpg 20190802_111518-1-768x1024.jpg

    Glue time. Like the other half, I did a dry fit first, and again for some inexplicable reason was drawn the view of the stagoraurus that got Beam-Me-Up Scottied at the same time as a tree.

    20190802_124607-768x1024.jpg 20190802_131110-768x1024.jpg

    A couple of observations.

    1) Despite my plans to ensure the biscuits missed the dog holes, in the end the risk of missaligning my “custom” biscuit slots outweighed the extra effort of simply chopping any biscuits that protruded into a dog hole. I’m not glueing the biscuits, so they should be simple to chop out.

    2) I ended up glueing the opposite sides of the boards so that the back of my dog hole timber was the glue side. That way as I was spreading the glue, it wouldn’t find its way into the recesses.

    20190802_132327-768x1024.jpg 20190802_133133-1-768x1024.jpg 20190802_134646-768x1024.jpg

    And that’s it for another day! I’m really pleased with how the dog holes turned out; it’s been worying me a little bit, so with that behind me, I can turn my attention to the next stages.

    Lance

  15. #14
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    Finally, today was the day to glue the two top halves together. First things first though, I wanted to get them both nice and flat, so that once glued together it would be simpler to flatten the whole thing. There was a reason I didn’t want either half to be wider than 300 mm, as my thicknesser has a maximum capacity of 310 mm. So to start with, off to the thicknesser.

    20190805_095458-768x576.jpg

    This operation was a study in time and motion, and to take a photo during the whole process would have been a fools errand, so the photo you do get to see is the aftermath.

    Those halves are HEAVY. I had intended taking a scale into the workshop and weigh them, but forgot. The process went something along the lines of:

    1. Carry the top and rest it on the table saw.
    2. Turn on the dist extractor and the thicknesser.
    3. Carry/stagger the stock over to the thicknesser and rest on edge on the table bed.
    4. Monkey-monkey my way to the end and hold it as close to level as possible.
    5. Feed it through till about mid-way, then walk briskly to the other side and pull/support it on its way out.
    6. Carry it/stagger back and put it on the table saw.
    7. Check the result, and raise the bed 0.5 mm for another pass if required and repeat the whole process again.



    Fortunately the glue-up with the biscuits taking care of the alignment was very successful, and only required me to take off 0.5 mm on the bottom and 1 mm on the top. Once again, the Hammer A3-31 was an absolute pleasure to use. The measuring hand-wheel made it a doddle to get both sides to the exact same thickness.

    20190805_095508_001-768x576.jpg

    It was then time to biscuit and join the two halves. I had been concerned that after planing, the biscuit slots would no longer line up, so as per the SOP, I did a dry fit first, and was pleasently surprised to find that the tops aligned near perfectly. With some tapping of my mallet, they fell into perfect alignment.

    20190805_101844-768x576.jpg

    One aspect of the gluing procedure I changed after the first half was to support the lamination on some timber strips. This ensured that during clamping any excess squeeze-out would drop onto the table in nice drops, rather than smush all over the table and work piece. The photo below, whilst showing the strips, was taken after I’d already stood the top on edge after the glue-up, but you get the idea.

    20190805_100310-768x576.jpg

    The other thing I did which made clean-up after the glue-up a doddle, was keep a bucket of water in the workshop, so I could easily soak my rag to wipe down the excess glue immediately after clamping, as well as popping the glue roller straight into it when I was done so that it wouldn’t set while I was attending the clamps and other clean-up. The only issue was that it was so cold in the workshop I had to remove my gloves, and dip my hands into freezing cold water. Brrrrrr.

    20190805_101905-768x576.jpg

    At this stage it was coffee time, so I went inside for morning tea, and made myself a lovely hot drink. The sun chose that moment to show its face too, so drank my coffee with warm rays on my face, feeling that all was well with the world.

    It all went a little faster than I had anticipated, so thought I’d crack on and glue up the four leg laminations. I’m planning for the bench top to be about 950 mm high, so planned to laminate the leg stock in 1000 mm lengths which could be trimed to final size later.

    20190805_121156-768x576.jpg

    First I needed to move the top off of my outfeed table to make room, and stood there for a while trying to figure out how to do it safely, because at this point, attempting to pick it up would be foolhardy. In the end I dragged one end off the bench and set it down on the floor, then picked up the other end and lowered it to the floor. Having the parallel clamps all over it made it a lot easier to grip. As I was lowering the other end, I knew that one foot was under the top, but didn’t concern myself as steel caps can prove usefull to hold the weight while I work out what to do next. As I lowered the top though, something just wasn’t adding up subconsciously. It was only after it was down, and there was more presssure on my foot than I had expected, that I looked down and saw that I was still wearing my slippers from when I’d gone inside to make coffee!

    20190805_115512-768x576.jpg

    Fortunately no broken toes, but I did swap shoes swiftly.

    Onto the legs. I cut all eight lengths on the drop saw. Funnily enough when I was cutting the lengths for the top lamination, I carried the saw onto the outfeed table. As I was about to do it this time, I remembered that it was on a mobile base, so just wheeled the whole base around. Isn’t it funny how the obvious way forward alludes us at times. Especially when you consider that I made the mobile base! In my defence though, I’ve not moved it in over a year.

    20190805_122710-768x576.jpg

    Once the legs were all cut, I found the best face on each length and graded it. A: Nice and clean; B: Some defects but should clean up well; C: multiple defects. It’s worth remembering that I used the best lengths for the bench top, so some were rather ordinary. I then found the best edge on each board, and marked the face and edge.

    20190805_123929-768x576.jpg

    After that it was onto the edges to identify the direction the grain was running. As was to be expected, some of them had funky grain which ran in two directions where it reversed part way along the length.

    20190805_123957-768x576.jpg

    Then it was mix-and-match time. Each leg would have an outward and inward facing board, so pared an A face with a B/C face, and then tried to get as good a match as I could with the two lengths’ grain direction. I was generally succesfull, except for one that was a shocking match. It could have been better, but that would have resulted in two laminations having a pink and brown length together. I thought it was easier to live with wonky grain than mismatched colours.

    20190805_124456-768x576.jpg

    Great, except that we have alphabetical order, top down etc for a reason. It’s one of societies constructs we honour lest we become no better than wild animals.

    20190805_124843-768x576.jpg

    Better!

    And then it was onto gluing the legs in much the same fashion as the top. Biscuit slots cut, test fit, glue up and clamp. Dont’ worry, every second lamination had no glue in between. I didn’t have enough clamps to do them seperately.

    20190805_140803-768x576.jpg

    At this point all my clamps had been used up, and I had nothing else I could continue with, so thought I’d experiment with making some dogs, so that when the bench was ready, I’d know what I was doing. It was such an after-thought, I didn’t bother taking any photos. They ended up being so simple to make though, and even though my bench was on its side, I spent ages popping them in and out just for fun. Before it was time for the kids to get home from school, and enjoy afternoon tea, I quickly made the timber tension “springs” and glued them on. I did gouge my hand on one of the dogs whilst planing the angle where the spring is attached to. so that red you see on a couple of the dogs? That’s mine.

    20190805_155300-768x576.jpg

    Lance

  16. #15
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    When I left off last, I had glued the two halves of my bench together. I am very pleased to report that the top half glued up very flat, with but the tiniest lip at one end at the intersection of the two halves. The idea of jointing and thicknessing the halves first proved to be a great idea.

    With the legs laminations now also glued up, the first order of business was to cut them to length, and clean up the two ends. I want my bench top to be close to 960 mm high, so deducted my top thickness (90 mm) and cut one leg, which I then used as a template for the other three. A chamfer was added around the ends so that there would be no splitting out when being dragged around the floor during the build.

    20190806_105351.jpg

    I then went over each leg with my 4½ smoothing plane to remove any machining marks and bits of tear out. I remarked in my last instalment that I was unable to get good grain direction match on most legs. I set my chip-breaker as close to the blade end as I could manage, and taking a light cut had zero issues. In fact, running my hand over the legs when all was done revealed nothing but the feel of glass. I was suitably chuffed, with the exception of one very long splinter from the edge before I had removed the arris. This was also a bit of a special moment, as it was the first time I got to use my bench top! It is also the first time I have used bench dogs. It was transformative. It’s funny how I look back now, after only two weeks, and cannot imagine going back to a bench that moves or doesn’t offer a solid planing stop. My after-thought five minute bench dogs work extremely well too.

    20190806_110709.jpg 20190806_110717.jpg 20190806_115123.jpg

    A quick word on having multiple planes. I had considered it a flamboyant luxury to have multiple planes of a similar size. No more. It’s still a luxury, but one that offers so much convenience. I had four planes on the bench, all serving a slightly different task and therefore setup. Yes it’s a luxury, but one I did, and will continue to relish.

    Back to the legs. I sorted them, selecting the two nicest faces to go on the front. I did a test placement to confirm, then marked and put them aside, ready for joinery. A word to the wise. Standardise your nomenclature early, and stick with it. Mine was all over the place. As an example, “Rear Left”, ” Left Rear”, ” Left Back”, “Back Left “, or as was marked on my components, RL, LR, LB, BL. Now multiple that by four, and I spent far too much time scratching my head trying to work out what my marking was referring to. I also kept forgetting if the arrows pointed to the four corners, or the centre. Oh brother.

    20190806_131457.jpg 20190806_131837.jpg

    The next step was to prepare the long stretchers. As I have previously explained, my bench is built entirely out of 90 x 45 mm stock, but my stretcher needed more height to resist racking. I didn’t want to waste timber and have a monolithical looking base by having each stretcher 180 mm high, so instead elected to simply laminate a block onto each end, which would satisfy the anti-racking requirement whilst retaining a sense of proportion. Again, care was taken to ensure the faces had grain running the same way, though evidently not enough care, as I still managed to get one the wrong way around. Some may consider that a 25% failure rate, though I like to concentrate on the 75% success rate. In the photo below, no, the stretchers aren’t glued together, I’m just saving on clamps.

    20190806_143555-1024x768.jpg 20190807_093852-1024x768.jpg 20190806_153209-1024x768.jpg

    Onto the legs. The plan was to build a leg pair for each end, then join them together with stretchers in the middle, and aprons at the top. Once I had planed them smooth, I moved on to start the joinery. The stretchers would be connected with wedged through mortice and tenon joints, whilst the aprons with half bridle joints (though I’m sure there’s a better term for them). This would also be the first time I chopped big mortices. I brushed up on Paul Sellers’ morticing technique the evening before, and enthusiastically set about chopping 25 mm wide mortices through 90 mm of hardwood leg with my largest bevel edge chisel.

    It is at this point that your reaction will vary depending on whether you are a novice joint cutter or not. Those who thought nothing of it (much like myself in the planning stage have obviously not attempted something of this order yourselves). I say that with a degree of confidence because after spending an entire afternoon and managing to chop only three mortices, and now barely able to lift my right arm, I staggered inside and posted a question on the Woodworking Forums titled “Improving mortice chopping efficiency“. The general consensus was that nobody chops 25 mm wide mortices by hand. Use a drill or router to hog out the waste they said. Only use a chisel to clean up at the end they said. Needless to say I used my router to hog out the waste on the forth mortice.

    Cutting the tenons also proved problematic. I tried the saw route, which was wholly unsatisfactory. My tenon saw cut the shoulders beautifully, bit was not tall enough to cut the cheeks. I tried my hard point hand saw, which went all over the place and made a mess (so now I’m looking for a real hand saw). I tried my bandsaw, but my 12 mm blade has a kink, so wasn’t giving a suitable cut. In the end, I resorted to my router which got the job done nicely, though I could have probably done it in the same amount of time, or faster with a decent hand saw. And it would have been a whole lot quieter.

    20190808_105729.jpg

    I don’t have any photos of the aprons, needless to say I used a saw and router to hog out the waste!

    It was now long stretcher time. I had planned to do wedged through tenons here too, but after the experience with the short stretchers, I changed course. I instead adopted the Scandinavian style of a simpler non through tenon, and instead of glue, I would tie the stretchers to the legs with a threaded rod. The added advantage is that my whole bench could now be flat packed if we ever move. This did necessitate the long stretchers being cut down in length, which was triple and quadruple checked before making sawdust.

    20190809_163839.jpg

    Before any joinery, I wanted to pretty up the stretcher ends. When making curves, it is always fun searching around the workshop or house for an object which offers a suitable radius. I created a template with some scrap MDF, then transferred and cut out the stretchers on the bandsaw.

    20190809_111615.jpg 20190809_111622.jpg 20190809_113605-1.jpg

    One benefit of the new stretcher design, was that I did all the joinery with the router. Plain and simple. That doesn’t mean there weren’t a few exciting moments. Note the last picture below with that all consuming black hole (dust extractor). Whilst routing one of the joints, I noticed something white scoot across the bench and disappear up the pipe. It was only when I went to turn off the dust extractor that I realised it was the remote which had disappeared. Oh brother! When I installed the remote I put in a bypass switch so that I could turn on the dust extractor (DE) without the remote in case it failed. It never occurred to me to have a bypass which would turn off the DE in case it was stuck on. I turned it off at the wall and after standing around for a while feeling sorry for myself, I wondered if there was any change it hadn’t made it all the way to the impeller of destruction. Yes! I found it where the hose did a loop the loop. From then on, I made sure nothing was in the general vicinity of the hose end.

    20190809_153301.jpg 20190809_153848.jpg 20190809_154114.jpg 20190809_162200.jpg 20190809_160808.jpg

    At this stage I was done with the joinery, so did a test fit, ready for gluing up the next day.

    20190809_165412.jpg

    I was so glad I had done the dry fit, and laid everything out ready for glue up. Despite all my planning, I was still running against the clock getting everything into place once I’d put the glue on. Instead of the glue acting as a lubricant and allowing things to slip together easily, it was hard work, and lots of clamping to get everything seated and squared. It was a relief when they were done. This was also the first time I’ve used wedges in tenons. Note for next time, spend more time making sure they are well prepared, and square. They kept wanting to skew when hammering them in. But in the end I got there.

    20190815_113542.jpg

    The final step was to drill out the holes for the threaded rod. Using the drill press, I drilled through the legs, then knowing that hole was square, I clamped the stretchers into the legs, and using the leg hole as a guide, drilled into the stretcher. It worked beautifully. Then it was simply a matter of marking the stretchers and drilling the holes which would accommodate washers and screws.

    20190815_113437.jpg

    With the base assembled I positioned the top and screwed timber strips to the underside which seat against the aprons, and between the legs to stop the top moving about. They were given a chamfer to assist in locating the top to the base. A simple yet effective solution.

    20190817_112316-1024x768.jpg 20190817_112311-1024x768.jpg 20190817_112426-1024x768.jpg

    A couple of coats of 50/50 boiled linseed oil and mineral turpentine and for all intents and purposes, the bench is built! I do still need to trim the top ends (once I have a new blade for my circular saw), hang my vices and build a tool tray to fit on the back. But that will be for another instalment, or two.

    20190821_160819.jpg 20190821_160654.jpg 20190821_160713.jpg 20190821_160600.jpg

    Lance
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