Thread: WIP - Kman's Traditional Work Bench

Yeah yeah, I here ya'!

OK, so I got my first stint of shed time in about two month today; shuffled the kids off to the family and shuffled the wife off to work.... aaahhh. Only had the two mortices for the front stile/runner to finish off so I thought I'd pause after those and provide some pics.

(*mumbles something about impatient buggers under breath*)

Seeing as there is no room in the shed to actually assemble the beast I dragged it all out into the pergola. Behold the almost complete frame! You can also see some of my recent fire wood haul in the background. There is a bit of refinement of the front stile/runner joints still to do; bits of the shoulder don't meet very well, but honestly, it's a bench... Still, this is a good opportunity to hone those hand tool skills I'm so proud to be learning.

While I was cleaning up the front stile/runner I also decided that I really should be doing as much of this work with hand tools as possible. After all this was the point of the bench in the first place, to aid in the use of hand tools. So the M/T joints for the front and rear stiles were cut entirely with hand tools. Something highlighted by this little exercise was just how much work my saw technique needs.

Once I'm happy with the joints I'll cut the peak into the deadman runner, cut the tenons into the tops of the legs and drill a few holes, then it's ready for permanent assembly. But before the final assembly I'll have to make a space for it in the shed. I've decided to make the whole bench a fixed assembly rather than a knock-down job, purely for the sake of the exercise of traditional craftsmanship. I'd even considered doing some proper draw-bored assembly, but in the interests of not buggering them up I'll clamp and cross-pin instead.

There will be more progress and pics very soon, as I plan to get at least one more full day of work done on the bench before I go back to work. Happy New Year!

EDIT: I think my daughter left a finger print on the camera lens

Well, about time!

I hope to get to mine in the next few days. Sharpened a few chisels today and cleared the junk out ready for work again.

Yours is coming along nicely, big beams and joints - can't go wrong .

Big joints = good I've probably made them a little firmer than I should, I can't wrack the frame dry assembled. I should probably loosen them a little for the glue up.

I expect yours to be finished before the new year Greg!

Originally Posted by kman-oz

[...] I can't wrack the frame dry assembled. I should probably loosen them a little for the glue up.

The glue will make the joints seem loose enough during final assembly.

With regard to cross-dowelling the joints, there's not much point in using cross dowels; they would prevent the tennons from falling apart in the absence of glue, but will do nothing at all to tighten the joints as draw-boring would.

You're right WW, I'll put some thought into the draw boring business and re-consider.

Regarding the glue-up, my little experience with large/complex M/T joints has been that by the time I've got to final clamping depth the glue has expanded the grain so much that I can no longer get to full depth without massive clamping pressure. My experience in this department is minimal, but I don't want to make that mistake twice. Bench or no bench I don't want any unsightly gaps in otherwise well fitted joints. At the moment they're all a firm wiggle fit, no mallet required, though the mallet is easier for putting the ends together. You're advice is wholly welcome.

Very nice work so far. Sorry I am not able to locate the finger print.

Originally Posted by Christos

Sorry I am not able to locate the finger print.

If you look at all of the pics the right hand side is a little fuzzy. I found the culprit, I think it's my sons finger print... it had a distinctive raspberry jam character.

Have been talking to Woodwould and I've changed my mind about draw boring. As per WW's advice I'll be using 2x 3/8" dowels as draw pins for each of the front and rear stile joints. The ends will be simply glued and clamped because there is more that adequate glue area for the torque that can be applied to the joints.

Stay tuned for next weeks installment, same bat time, same bat channel.

Looking good

thanks for the pics

My eyesight isn't good enough to see the jam laden fingerprints

Originally Posted by kman-oz

You're right WW, I'll put some thought into the draw boring business and re-consider.

Regarding the glue-up, my little experience with large/complex M/T joints has been that by the time I've got to final clamping depth the glue has expanded the grain so much that I can no longer get to full depth without massive clamping pressure. My experience in this department is minimal, but I don't want to make that mistake twice. Bench or no bench I don't want any unsightly gaps in otherwise well fitted joints. At the moment they're all a firm wiggle fit, no mallet required, though the mallet is easier for putting the ends together. You're advice is wholly welcome.

I had a thought on reading this post (no laughing), your tenons don't bottom out on the mortices, do they?
If so there is nowhere for the excess glue to go, DAMHIKT.

It is possible the first time I did this I didn't leave enough depth for excess glue. Dry fit was fine. I'm not laughing :/

I know I have at least 3-4mm in all of these mortices as they stand and I certainly won't be as heavy handed with the glue either. I've learned a few lessons since then, so lets hope I get it right this time.

I think the next installment will be on Monday.

I squeezed in a few hours today and managed to make a start on the big leg tenons. I first cut the runner peak and fitted the front M/T joints properly which I promptly forgot to take photos of in my excitement about the leg tenons.

Now, while I'm striving to do as much of this work with hand tools as possible, I just wasn't confident cutting the tenons entirely by hand. Nor did I have the shoulder strength after cutting some more fire woods this morning. :/ Moreover, I didn't have an appropriate saw for the task either. And let's face it, what's te point of having a 12" table saw if you can't cut some bridge sized tenons now and then?

If I'd had access to a fair dinkum tenon jig I would have been able to manage the tenons in a single pass. Alas, I haven't found a commercial jig that can handle these size materials yet, nor have I had time to build one, so I simply used the tablesaw with a cross-cut sled. The remaining work was done by hand with chisels and planes.

I should be able to knock the rest of the tenons over tomorrow if my luck holds out.

Dead easy.

dave! its gary from PGA

how've you been man! bench is lookin great

Now that should withstand the next earthquake!

Looking good K-Man.