Thread: My First Workbench Build (6' English Style)

G'day mate
If the opposite side is straight and if you have a table saw, why not simply rip the concave side through the saw? Of course that's assuming the opposite side is pretty straight.

Nah, I don't have a table saw, and I don't have room for one either. If I did I probably would have used that to rip down the sides, or maybe ripped it with a sled to get it straight. Only power tools I have are drills, circular saws, and a bandsaw.

5mm seems a bit off for me - have you tried scribing a line with a straight edge so you only take off everything above the line? the 7 should be more helpful than a 5

otherwise match planing - ie having the mating pieces next to each other should reduce the need for being as accurate.

Don't have anything that long to scribe a straight line... my longest thing is a 1m long steel rule. I could try using that end for end, but I'm not sure if that would really be straight. Better than I have now though I suppose.

I already tried planing the mating edges together, and apart from planing them out of square (probably because the band saw cuts weren't true), that also resulted in a concave edge. So my plan was to get the edges planed close to square and straight, before planing the mating edges to fit. Was just hoping someone had a magic trick for fixing my issue, since I have a whole lot of these joints to do. I have about a dozen boards to join, across the two aprons. Getting it right the first time would save me a whole lot of work. Probably doesn't help I don't have much of a workbench to work on to start with.

Actually my plan is to joint the boards in pairs, glue them straight, and then do what I can to get any twist out of them, before jointing them up further.

It's probably also worth pointing out that the belly is only about 3mm across the 6ft, it's just compounded because it's on both sides of the joint. The most I can really close the joints with hand pressure is around 2mm, and obviously the closer the joints are the less I have to worry about them springing open.

Originally Posted by Mooncabbage

Don't have anything that long to scribe a straight line... my longest thing is a 1m long steel rule. I could try using that end for end, but I'm not sure if that would really be straight. Better than I have now though I suppose.

You can use a builder's chalk and string line to snap a reliable straight mark on just about anything. I find my cheap 1m rule has a slight belly on one side and a concave on the other and by trying to slide the rule along and join two pencil lines ends up crooked.

When planing a long edge I find if I start at one end and move through to the other I usually work a starting uphill section and an ending downhill section, probably from poor pressure control and not properly supporting the toe and heal of the plane at the start and finish of the stroke.

Now I tend to start in the middle and work my way out to the ends as the toe and heel of the plane are fully supported during the stroke. I also find a deeper cut with a cambered blade is better to start with than a finishing fine cut.

Finally got around to working on it again after New Years, and actually, between my no7 and no5, I managed to get the joint square, smooth, and with only a 1/8" or 3.5mm gap between the two boards at the widest point. Given that these boards are 6'/180cm long, I am not sure if that is good enough for a decent spring joint, or if it's too open. I haven't got any experience joining boards anywhere near this long. Can I get some advice from the grognards?

Also, could I join the boards in pairs, and then face them, or should I do all the gluing at once? My thought being I want to maintain as much thickness as possible, and if I do all the glueup at once, I might end up with horrendous twist. Again, this is outside my wheelhouse, so I'd love some sage advice. How best to advance when faced with jointing multiple boards?

Pictures please. Can't find space for a table saw? The solution is a good rip saw. Buy a new Wenzloff for $$$ if you can find one or get a usable Disston with something like 5 or 6 teeth in an inch and get yourself some aerobic exercise. If you buy used you will also need a filing vise and at least one three square file of appropriate size plus a saw setter. If you set the saw up correctly you will find that you can make all of your bench parts pretty easily. If you're willing to use a No. 7 to plane all of your timbers you should have no problem spending the effort to use a hand saw to rip your components. Not having a straightedge is a bit of a problem, are any of your component parts planed straight?

Sorry, it's a bit dark for pictures now. I do have several good handsaws, in this instance it was just easier to rip them on the bandsaw. I have it so I might as well use it. The problem is not having anything straight that is that long for reference. None of the wood was straight to start with, so I couldn't really use that anyway. Besides, ripping it straight with a handsaw wouldn't do me much good if i planed the joint wonky after.

So how much of a gap is acceptable?

3.5 mm is probably a bit much.assuming you have clamps have you tried closing he gap?
this article suggests just seeing light in the gap. http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/...riend/page/all
For a cheap long straight edge you can use a length of aluminium box section or angle.

With gluing then together do a couple at a time. Then glue those sections to each other

If it was my bench I wouldn't be happy with any visible gaps. Woodpeckers makes some very nice straightedges (http://www.woodpeck.com/serx36.html) and they're not too expensive, you may check to see if you can get something similar locally. A six foot masons level would also serve well.
In the area of expedient solutions you could check your local home store or hardware store to see if they sell extruded aluminum shapes that are straight, something like a 14 ga. extruded aluminum square tube. Got a granite counter top in your home? Most of them are straight or flat.

The longest woodpecker straight edge is 3', which is a bit shorter than what I have now. Also, that article talks about a 1/32" gap across 2', so logically a 3/32" gap would be ok across 6'. Which is 2.4mm, so if I can get the gap down a bit more, it should be alright I would think.

They have these too http://www.woodpeck.com/woodworkingrules.html, not straightedges but I'm sure they would serve this purpose adequately.

Hi Mooncabbage,

My take on it is based on what I have done and what I would be comfortable doing if it was my bench we are discussing.

Firstly I would not be using radiata pine for the bench top. Your decision, your bench. don't come crying to me later.

Are you jointing the narrow edges of the timber or the wide edges? If the narrow side is up I would not feel right about doing a spring joint at all. I might be wrong but I would not feel comfortable doing a spring joint in anything thicker than maybe a couple of inches at the most. and certainly not with more than a fraction of a millimeter in it even if it was a lot thinner. Why introduce all that tension into a project?

Spring joints are made to make clamping of the glue-up easier. You use your skills with the plane to make both surfaces a bit curved so that you minimise your need for clamps. It is not intended to be a way to compensate for an inability to use your jointer plane.

You are looking at 1800mm lengths of timber. It takes a fair bit of skill to plane a spring joint over that length. I don't think too many experienced woodworkers would attempt that. Practise on something smaller first. The nature of radiata pine would also be working against you with the way the timber grain bends around the knots making it unpredictable how much "bend" there is in it at any given point.

If it was me, I would be jointing them as straight as I can and using some sort of mechanical aid to assist with alignment when clamping. Personally I would either cut a tongue and groove joint on my tablesaw or use a spline. but noting that you do not have a tablesaw, maybe borrow a biscuit joiner for the afternoon and use heaps of clamps.

However, having said that, we all have to start somewhere. This is your first bench build. It is bound not to be perfect. Do the best you can. You will learn a lot by doing. Far more than you will learn by asking questions on here. But keep asking, it is part of the learning process. Even if your first go at a bench is a total disaster (and it wont be - it is bound to be very functional, just not necessarily as pretty as you would like it) you will still be better off in that you will still have a functioning workbench to use to help you make your second bench and a heap of experience and new ideas to make the next one better.

Cheers

Doug

Thanks for your reply Doug. I'm currently jointing the narrow edges, which are 35mm wide. This is for the aprons, not the bench top. I haven't acquired a benchtop material as of yet. I was planning to use 90x45mm radiata pine, with the rounds sawn off, for a thickness of about 80mm. Any particular reason not to use the pine? Granted, it's soft horrible stuff, but it's also reasonably cheap, and once it has a few coats of danish oil on it, doesn't dent nearly as much. I have heard arguments both for and against soft worktops. For, they are less hard on your tools if you hit them, and easier to resurface. They're also unlikely to damage your workpieces. Obviously against, they are less durable.

However, 90x45 untreated pine is fairly hard to come by in the box stores, so I was looking at some other stuff. There is a mystery yellow wood being sold as Jarrah on gumtree I was looking into, which is 75x150mm. Any thoughts as to affordable benchtop materials would be appreciated.