Thread: Frank Klausz/European Workbench WIP

Next problem milling these boards.
I purchased a metal detector and all but two boards where clear of screws and or nails. De-nailing….what a crap job. I had been eyeing out the Jet JPT-260 for quite some time but when I got there to buy the thing ($1680) I laughed out loud…this machine was not going to cope. So like jumping off a cliff into croc infested waters I walked out with the Jet 310 Helical Head….not telling SWMBO!!!!!!!!!! OMG! It’s a decision that I will never regret the machine is a dream to use.
IanW came over and the two of us lugged this stuff around like to Kiwi scaffolders, Jet 310HH ate up these boards without any issue’s…….even he was impressed! At this point I would like to thank IanW for all the help and support, his guidance has been invaluable and although I pester him a lot with silly noob questions, he always kindly responds with fantastic advice.

I always like my legs – Buxom!
I decided that due to the abundance of wood I’d have a super “Burley” base - 100x100 legs and 175x 47 inch long stretches would be more than plenty. Jointing, gluing, re-jointing and planning these legs down to size was a hell of a job but once again the Jet combo machine was a breeze to use.

Mortise and Tennons
IanW kindly offered the use of his Delta chisel mortising machine, so I headed over with my legs and started to chisel away…….wow these machines are faaantastic and I was like a drunken sailor on this thing. So drunk in fact that I flipped the legs without thinking and did the other side just for ##### and giggles…then realised bugger the plan says to use veritas bench bolts not through tusk tennon/wedge ya idiot! Of well Tusk tennons are the go……….
Another point to mention is that if I had my time again I would have been more vigilant with my marking out; these mortises are not my finest work. The tennons on the other hand where pretty straight forward and I was surprised that my new CMT thin kerf blade coped so well with this super duper hard wood. Another mention is the bio metal blade I popped into my band saw, at ¾ inch it resaws this stuff really easily and I would highly recommend one of them for rough resawing big stock.

The day my world rocked!
At this point my new little girl Maddison came into the world and all the comments of “oh boy Bryan your world and shop time is about to end”. Never a true word has been spoken, no more power tools, very little shop time over the past 6 weeks but that’s ok, it has given me a breather because I felt like this project was getting on top of me a tad.

looks like your world has changed dramatically over the last couple of months!!....expanded family...AND getting the project underway!!...good for you!!!..will be following your progress..

The hunger is worse when you miss the shop time so every time the SWMBO turns her back I am in that garage whitteling away. It has turned me into a bit of a hand tool nut! I snapped up three Ian Wilkie hand saws and with the “no power tool” embargo slapped on by El Presedente I have been putting the tennon and half back saws to good use. The half back all rounder Ian made has been a massive surprise, it allowed me to cut these long tennons without the brass back getting in the way, I even cross cut the long stretches with it. Super impressed!
Another mention is my late father Stanley router plane, once again with the fear of a 2x4 hitting me in the back of the head had me scribing a line and I used the hand router plane to whittle out the line for the cheeks until I had the satisfactory depth I was after, then I used my low angle smoother & block plane to whittle the rest of the tennon down. This process nearly killed me but it has certainly made me more confident in using hand tools, plus it taught me a lesson on not to cut crap mortises!

hell!!.....progress is fast here............

So…..the moment of truth at 9pm Sunday night I assembled the trestles and slid the long stretchers through the legs, with the help of two long pipe clamps (remember no banging with rubber mallets allowed!!) the trestles slid into place.
To say I am proud as punch….is an understatement!

Potential Issues – please comment.
1. .5 of a mm here and there has added up to me having to use my strongest kwik grip clamps to pop the caps on to the trestles. My thoughts are that this wood is so tough that it will be a very long while till I ever see a tennon crack or fail. A possible solution is to trim the tight side of the tennon to relieve pressure? I am going to drive wedges in when I glue everything up so things will still be very tight.
The trestles are square.....ish....one is a poofteenth out.
Blondes vs Brunettes
2. After oogeling over the blonde boards for a while I thought I would go and unearth the other boards too..........I forgot how nice these dark timbers where and when I hit them with a bit of mineral terps the figure really jumped out!!! But alas, I feel that these boards are going to be way too dark. They will be excellent for the end caps and vices, they are slightly thicker around 68-70mm vs the 63-65mm of the blondes.

The Dilemma - After mulling it over a cup of tea and a tim tam (ok 5), I realised I will not have enough blonde boards to cover the whole bench top. Why? Because I will use the blondes for the dog strip and short piece (They have to be flipped on their side to give me the 80 – 100mm I need for the dogs!)

The other board for the main top is about 3 inches short in width (it is about 200mm wide – 7.84 Inches) for the top and I might have to introduce a darker board just before the tool tray. Then the Tool tray and then the back board......bugger ….at least most of the main working surface will be blonde hence reflecting light better. Yet I fear, it might look a bit weird having the front three quarters of the top blonde then this dark strip up the side?

The alternative is to have the blonde boards for the main top and then the dark boards for the short piece and dog strip…that could work too. Actually that might make more sense!?
It is a good dilemma to have rather than not having enough wood at all! If you have any comments or ideas please feel free to add to the debate!

My last comment is this- :

I have read a lot of WIP’s on benches and yes we want them perfect but to quote IanW so many times to me – Bryan, stop fretting it’s a workbench!!!!!! So I have stopped fretting and cracked on with the build. My mortises are a tad out and there are a few small gaps here and there but I have come to terms with my little mistakes and it has made me richer for it. I am really pleased by the way its turning out so far.

Next steps:

Fine tune the base a bit
Mark out and cut Wedges for Tusk Tennon’s – long stretchers, make wedges.
Sand/scrape the base and prepare for glue up of trestles
Glue up trestles with Techniglue epoxy.
Prepare boards for top and crack on with the top.
The above write up is the work over the past 5 months so thanks for a long read. Please note this will be a slow WIP, with a new born my priorities have changed and in fear of SWMBO it will be a slow process. Thanks for reading.

Originally Posted by szczepan4069

hell!!.....progress is fast here............

Mate

Lack of sleep, Red Bull gives you wings!!!!! Derek Cohen had a dealine of 6 weeks, look what I have done in a few hours!!

Bryan

those large lumps of beautiful timber look fabulous.....just the shear monstrosity of the elements wows me!!!!..awesome stuff...

Originally Posted by Milo

So…..the moment of truth at 9pm Sunday night I assembled the trestles and slid the long stretchers through the legs, with the help of two long pipe clamps (remember no banging with rubber mallets allowed!!) the trestles slid into place.
To say I am proud as punch….is an understatement!

I reckon you're proud as punch, there's a lot of punch in that bench! All our benchs will out last us, no telling how long that one will go.

Does not matter how long it takes as long as you are happy with the build. Thanks for the work in progress.

Looks like a bench for a monumental mason what are you going to put on that thing Ford ,Holden?

Originally Posted by Milo

The day my world rocked!
At this point my new little girl Maddison came into the world

Congrats on the completion of that project, and thanks for sparing us the WIP photos
The bench is looking good too.