Thread: Bench - big, solid, cheap, no tools, no bench to build on

A rotten position to be in.

I'm looking forward to what you can achieve.

G'day Clinton. I like any bench WIP as everyone seems to have an idea or two that is worth using. There is a bench made out of three sheets of plywood and nothing else other than fasteners that the Marines developed for WWII use. It is very practical and exceedingly frugal whilst still being a very good bashing bench. IIRC there is no waste from those three sheets at all.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with

I wander about, through 'builders demolishon yards', keep my eye on council rubbish pick up days... recently my efforts paid off with some very large pieces of 'kwila/meranti/merbau or something' that I'll use.

Its the dark brown and heavy stuff... there is much variation in meranti, from light coloured and light (weight) plantation or regrowth from clearing... to understory. Its a mix of species as well... pretty much a 'trade name'. Merbau, I think. Its late, I'm tired.

110mm x 65mm x meter-ish pieces. I got 8 pieces, so I'll glue them up to be 130mm x 110mm.
This will be the top and bottom 'horizontal' trestle of my bench.
The top will rest on this.
$50.

Saturday morning, I went to Bunnings, and had a look around.
Timber is priced higher for larger pieces. Buy a 60 x 40 and it cost more than two 60 x 20's.
Another 'stuff it', scratch of the head, wander about doing the maths... I'll go with the "Blackbutt flooring" at 60mm x 20mm at $3 per meter. This works out most cost effective, and I do not want to use the far cheaper plantation Oregon or Pine, as that is too soft and is still green.
$6.30 for 2100 lengths... sold as a 'minimum length', from 2.1m up to just under 2.4m.
So you get a variation in the pieces, but they are sold at 2.1m, and they fit in my car without any dramas.
Timber guy decided to 'write them down to 1.8m' without my asking...
$5.58 per piece, and I got 7 pieces.
$39.06

Some Epoxy glue... its two pack from the local Whitworths 'boaties shop'.
@$25 for 250mm bottle of resin and 60mm bottle of hardner. Not a cheap way to buy it (small quantities), but I won't need much.
$25

Oxalic Acid for the Meranti/Kwila/Merbau timber (its oily and that can stuff the epoxy glue getting into the wood fibres. 1Lt you mix with 5lt water, more than I need but the smallest I can buy easily.
$17.00

Sponge glue spreaders (too sick of Saturday morning 'shopping' to pop into Vinnies and buy some foam in the form of a cushin or something.
$3.99 for a big and little one.

Glad wrap and some garbage bags.
@$5.00.

So, thats the legs sorted out.

$141

Time for some WIP shots.

If you're planning to put storage underneath I suggest you like around on ebay for old furniture. Last week I bought an old desk with 6 drawers ($5), two old cupboard doors (99cents) and a metal cabinet (99cents) to make an assembly/painting/fixing kids bikes table. Apart from the low cost a big bonus was the time saving of not having to stuff around with fitting drawers and doors.

In terms vices, I've seen a yank workbench that uses pipe clamps poked through holes in the apron in conjunction with dog holes to form tail and face vices. Pretty tricky I reckon because you can still take the pipe clamps out and use them as nature intended.

Pic 1 - 3:

Using the kitchen bench as a planing table.

Clamp a bit of scrap that is thinner than the flooring 20mm thickness. (the Bunnings/Miter 10 blokes will let you take scrap off cuts, usually).
I use a G clamp that I bought 2 small and 2 large for under $20 a while back. Cheap rubbish, but they will do for a while.

Plane 'reverse handed' to start, as I can't 'fit in' to push the plane properly.

I'm just running a 'dish' down the boardso the edges will clamp up tight, but there will be space for the glue between the boards. Only dish out the boards that will meet 'face to face'. Outside boards don't need it.

Finished, 6 pieces of 60mm x 20mm ready for lamination.
Attachment 135672 Attachment 135673Attachment 135674

Pic 4:
Getting ready for glue up.

I'm using the big lumps of merbau to hold the timber up off the dining room table.
Garbage bags will stop the glue sticking the lamination to the merbau and the merbau to the table top.

I'll glue together 3 pieces, another 3 pieces, and the cling wrap will go inbetween to stop all 6 pieces sticking together.
Attachment 135675

Pic 5:
Probably can't see the gladwrap/clingfilm... but it is there, I'll read the directions on the epoxy, including the safety and pot life and clamp time, add the right measure of Epoxy part A and B, stir well with a stick, spread it, flip over the middle board on edge and spread glue so its got both faces covered, push all boards together with the gladwrap seperating boards 3 and 4... apply the clamps.
Then walk away till the next morning. Thats ANZAC Day, so I'll go to the dawn service, do the local RSL march and ceremony, come back and start cutting down.
I used 2 big G clamps and 2 longer cramps, the cramps cost $12.99 each... rubbish, but they will do... the big 'D' really put the bite on the wallet for a long time.

Can only see 3 boards in Pic 5... the other 3 are out of frame, but they are there.

After the running around buying stuff... from planing to walking away took 20 minutes and I didn't rush.
Attachment 135676

Tools:
I'll show them later, but so far its 3 G clamps, 2 cramps, a 8" plane, off cuts, clingfilm, garbage bags, newspaper on the floor, a wooden stirrer like a paddlepop stick and a piece of sponge.

Bugger... just lost a reply.

Design/Plan:

I don't have one, but there is an idea in my head that I know I'll achieve.

Marking out:
Well, here are some things -

Squares are not square.
Use a 6" engineers square to transfer a line around a 60 x 60mm post, and the end of the line won't join the starting point of the line.

Measure tapes:
Introduce another inaccuracy.

I don't want perfect accuracy in everything... but in some things it is important.

Leg length:
I want the bench top to rest a little below the top of my hip bone. Thats my preferred bench height.
What do the rules say?
The rules say that my work bench has to be right for me.

So, to mark out the length of the legs, I'll make a story stick... remember I bought 7 pieces of that flooring?

I'll cut a 1200mm (or so) piece of that, and measure down 1/2 the leg length, find the middle (width). Drive nail there so a few mm sticks through.
Measure from 1 end down to the length of the tenons I want, and mark a line on each side.

Now, when I use the story stick to transfer lengths, all errors will be the same... which will 'fix themselves'.

One of the lines looks 'wonky' in the pic... thats just freehand drawn in with a pen so you get the idea... its the lines on the edges that need to be accurate.

Take a look and figure it out, its easier with pics.

Lay the story stick where it needs to go, mark off the (1/2) length of leg, and the tenon length.
Attachment 135694

Use the chisel to align down the mark on the story stick, dig in with the chisel corner to make a mark, move the chisel down using the line and the mark as our reference points, make another mark.

Do the other side.
Attachment 135695

Spin the stick 180 degrees, do it to the other end.

Use your 'square' as a straight edge to run the lines all the way around.. don't use the square as it is meant to be used.
Attachment 135696

With a marking gauge... I've the one with a pin, so I'll just use the pin to mark top and bottom of the tenon, on all 4 sides. Then use my square as a straight line to mark the lines with a pen.
Marking gauges with pins used 'along the grain' make wonky lines as they 'follow the grain'.

To mark the ends of the leg, tenon shoulders, other end of the leg, other end's tenon, then the 4 lines that define the tenons, that took me about 40 minutes.

A fair time, but I'm getting something important 'right', so its worth it.
Attachment 135697

Cutting:
I want the shoulders of the tenon to be very accurate. Don't care too much about the accurate cutting of the tenon itself, but I will cut it accurately.

I will fit the mortice to any innacuracies, I can do this as I will cut the mortices before laminating the two big merbau pieces together. This will allow me to 'check for fit', but those tenon shoulders must be pretty good.
A story stick allows this.

Cutting Tips:
Next post. Its hard to get right, easy to get wrong, easy to learn how to get it right.

Cutting:
I saw Bunnings sell a 250mm x 100mm ish pine piece for $6 each.
That would make a good practise piece.
Buy a $20 - 30 'hardened teeth plastic handled saw set, rip and mitre.
Avoid the hollow handle ones, you'll break them.

Practice:

Think about swinging your hand and elbow along the same line as the saw blade.
Start with the blade angled up to your hand, drag back to bed the start, push away to cut. Slowly drop the blade down to level, following the line, then drop the blade down so you cut all the way to the bottom, near, edge. Then finish the cut.
Push without effort, feel the cutting. Force it and you'll go off line, and kink the blade.

I'll use an old miter saw I have.
Attachment 135703Attachment 135704Attachment 135705Attachment 135706
Attachment 135707

Forgot:

Before marking out, I'll clean up the glue by scraping it off using the end of a file. Angle the file up, and use the 90 degree end of the file as a scraper. Easier this way as epoxy sets hard. Hard epoxy is difficult to file or sand, and will blunt my plane blade.

Then I'll plane the edges 'near enough'.
When I glued up, some of the boards were 'wriggly'.
I'll knock off these edges with my big plane, near enough is good enough.
Attachment 135701Attachment 135702

Clean up: 25mins.
Planing: 30 mins.
Marking out: 40 mins
Cutting: @15 min per leg end - 60 mins.

Time: 3 hours.

Tools I'm using so far.

I'll price this out, some now and some later.

22" jointer plane: Average $100 - $150 secondhand oldies.
8" smoother plane: Average $40 - 460 secondhand oldies.
20mm chisel: from a plastic handle set (about 15 years ago) now @$40 for 5, $8.
Tape - I use this at work, call it $15.
Saw - $10 including postage - ebay, or $30ish for a set of plastic handled ones from the hardware set.
G Clamps - $20ish for 4.
Cramps - @$15 each.
Hammer - @$15. mines from a secondhand shop - $2.50.
Square - $10
Stones - 800 for $35 and 6000 for $39
Veritas Sharpening Jig - $60 ??

Total - $345

Ok, so I said, "No tools", so far we have pulled @$500 for the timber and glue and stuff, and the tools you will need if you are going to get into woodworking, including sharpening stones and sharpening jig.
Other than glue, stones are the most 'rapidly' used consumable... should last 4 or more years even if you flatten backs and sharpen often.

should explain, I moved off the dining room table so I didn't have to buy a big sheet of melamine or 'burnie board' protect the top from damage.
I'm working on a stack of timber boards set on 2 sawhorses, and working just like I'd need to on the dining room table or against the kitchen bench. Worse really, as the timber stack wobbles when I saw.

So, I'm sticking to the 'No workbench, no kitted out workshop' rules... to keep going down the intent of the thread.

There is gratuitous tool in this pic... spot it?

Time so far is @3.5 hours, and @$500 costs including tools.

Thats it for me for now...next will be (shorter posts) looking at timber clean up (that oxalic acid), then morticing, then glue up.
That will be the legs finished.
Not much more after that, just fit the stretchers, sort out the top, fit vices. Use it.
Later I'll fit cabinets underneath, as weight adding tool storage and a timber seasoning area for my veneers and 'odd bits'.

Then I'll make a few jigs and tools on the bench.

Then use it to make a sideboard out of a piece of really nice timber I've got. Thats the next few weekends taken up.

Good to see someone have a go with basic kit. Honest woodwork.
Keep the pics comeing.
Regards
John

To all that replied:
Thanks, I will get back to you - at the moment I'll focus on the bench.

Ok - explanatory stuff. Sorry for the wordiness of the posts so far, I'm mixing a WIP with a little bit of 'someone might find this useful'.

1. Using the kitchen bench as planing surface, and 'dishing the boards for lamination':
Epoxy does not need much clamping pressure, and develops greatest strength when there is some gap between the glue surfaces. I'll try and find the links to the product sheets... later. So, the 'dish' allows the 'projection of the plane blade' to create a hollow... the edges of the board will meet for a tight fit, but betwen them is a slight hollow that the epoxy will 'sit between' and allow the development of the strongest glue line.

2. Marking gauge: I should be using a 'double blade' style marking gauge... but I'm making this bench and replicating 'starters' conditions... and deliberately using tools that a starter might have when they don't have everything.

3. Accuracy: Again, I'm working from the idea that a starter can't get accuracy in everything, and will show how to sort out accuracy through later steps... hopefully, it will all become clear.

4. Fitting the mortice to inaccuracies: Well, thats a bit of a funny statement. Mortice and tenon strength is increased by longer tenons, wider tenons and thicker tenons, and accurate 'fits'.. without making the tenons so large that they compromise the timber that the morticise is made in, by taking away too much material. I'll either fox wedge or drawbore these tenons, and maybe even make a "secret haunched mitred tenon"... again, it will all become clear.

Tenons: after work, and between other 'life' things, I'll clean up the tenons using 'starters tools'. I'll post pics, but the idea is to cut wonky tenons, and then make them very accurate.

An important note is that I cut the tenons with a really bad saw (it needs serious work as it is buckled, concave and blunt) against an unstable worksurface. Again, I'm replicating starters conditions and will show 'how to recover'.

Cleaning off epoxy: Using the file - thats a great idea... try it.

Tip: Woodworking is about 4 things;
1. tools,
2. technique,
3. material
4. design.

I'd strongly suggest that at this point in a starters development, that you spend some serious time buying old tools and rehabbing or fixing them and learning to use them. The technique to use the tools to turn the material and achieve the design... starts with an understanding of the tools.

Post 8, Pic 3: flip the chisel 180 degrees, as thats and error. What I'm doing in that pic is putting a mark in the timber to guide the starting cut of that tenon. - Sorry!
Post 8, Pic's 4 and 5: Pic 4 is the start of the cut, then I have not shown the saw handle down and tip up, which is cutting to the bottom of the tenon facing me. Pic 5 is after that, and cutting to the bottom of the tenon furtherest away from me. Then I'll cut straight down against the triangle formed between those first two cust. Clear? (as mud)

i love your backsaw clinton it looks really good,its a shame you have a plastic handled crosscut saw if you lived at newie i would give you some wooden handled saws
greg

Interesting build. I'll be keen to see the progress.

Clinton, by the big "D" iassume you mean the Black Dog. That being thcase you are doing one of, if not the best, possible thing. Being active and busy, forcing the mind to work is cathartic and satisfying.

Great woork so far. Keep it going.

If you were closer I would help out with material and tools.