Thread: The Outdoor Workbench

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

I'm sure that Worksafe Aust would be very happy with those working conditions

They wouldn't like my thicknesser if it was sitting there with the motor removed

(Or the bandsaw. Or the morticer.)

Originally Posted by Berlin

That is some machine!
I'm sure it was all safe as houses

There has been some discussion https://www.woodworkforums.com/f163/c...nesser-170384/

but with all those flapping belts, the trolley jack, the palm tree and the camera, I was half expecting a 'Fargo' moment.

God I love that movie!

Very nice chunk of wood. What's the plan for the saw bench?

Trim the ends. Timber sawn in half to form the two top beams, natural edges (trimmed a bit) facing inwards.
Same leg arrangement as Matt at one end, but an 'open' design at the other to allow free sawing.

The piece is currently about 12" wide ... maybe aiming for two pieces 5" wide plus a 2" gap.
I don't know what height yet, but to fit under the workbench.

The workbench is still planned, but from the evil pine - not the good old stuff. Not to stick outside.

Cheers,
Paul

A 2" gap might be a bit much to my mind, but since I saw on an old chair I'm not in a position to say. It just seems you might be able to have a more elegant bench without sacrificing utility by having a 20mm gap... Or do you plan on chainsawing on it as well?

Matt

Originally Posted by Berlin

A 2" gap might be a bit much to my mind, but since I saw on an old chair I'm not in a position to say. It just seems you might be able to have a more elegant bench without sacrificing utility by having a 20mm gap... Or do you plan on chainsawing on it as well?
Matt

I came up with the 50mm figure as I was writing it ... up to that point it was just "a gap" ... but I had looked at the pictures of Matt's sawbench and always thought I didn't want a very narrow gap down the middle. Not because I don't want to saw accurately, but it would affect how finicky you had to be in placing the work on the bench.

I note he wrote that he hadn't used the centre area after building it.

I've just been outside and 30mm looks a minimum width to me ... and I'm leaning towards 40mm. I agree 50mm is quite wide. I also don't want to be sawing down a narrow gap like a moped in between two city buses. It would make me quite uncomfortable at this stage in my 'development', I think.

Buuuuut ... as I typed last night, I was thinking that ... like on a (electric) sawtable ... you could make an insert to fit in the larger gap if you needed a smaller gap. A bit of a rebate either side of the 'front' mouth plus the crossbar at the back ... maybe a pin to fix it in place ... would allow something closer to 'zero clearance' to be dropped in.

Cheers,
Paul

Originally Posted by Berlin

A 2" gap might be a bit much to my mind, but since I saw on an old chair

You saw sitting down???

I'm not in a position to say.

You talk out your ... ? I do that *all the time*!!

Touché

I feel for the partial awkwardness here ... it is exactly the shuffling around that I'd like to avoid.
(Although it appears that he does have a split top on his sawbench - but it isn't used until the end)

I'm guessing the sawplate is relatively thin to get a couple of catches like that - plus he says it is newly sharpened.

It is interesting ... the 4-1/2pt saw I sharpened has quite a flexible plate, which seems counter-intuitive, but I could find several others here similar.
By contrast, the old UK saws tend to be relatively heavy in the plate, with BIG teeth, and often BIG full-size plates.

Also ... with a clear cutting path and the work clamped down ... you could use a two-handed stroke.

:: Looking at the video again, I'll be thinking some more about the supersawbench. I'd say that with the small sawbench, it isn't possible to hold the piece down with your own weight and have your sawing arm stroking in exactly the line of the cut. Instead the elbow is sticking out somewhat, and you have to work harder to have the hand moving in a linear way - and in making the compensations to make that all work you can end up rotating your hand left and right a bit in the process. If you notice the occasional clatter from the blade on pulling back - I find that can come and go with the very slightest rotation of the hand to the left or right.

Breaking in A New Hand Saw | The Renaissance Woodworker

Nicholson-type bench ...

Just looked at the video you posted on the 17th

Not sure I'd like to attempt to saw anything on a saw bench that moved around as much as that one
needs a bit of bracing imho

and why have a split top if you don't use it

I've just read through this thread and.......

What happened? Where is the last page? Is there an awesome bench yet?

There isn't ... I've been waylaid ... work for about 6 months has been a pretty reasonable excuse ...

but thanks for the prompt ... I remember thinking I should come back here to post to check if time had run dry on this thread.

The state (stasis) of play at the moment is ...

1. I decided that the Oregon - at least where I live - is too good to make the outdoor bench, although it is still outdoors on the sawhorses and is super stable.

2. I have collected a grab-bag of large but very ordinary pine stuff (radiata I guess) to make a could-care-less bench from.

3. I'm glad about (1.) because a little while back now there was an auction at our Midland Railway Workshops ... out of operation for a good number of years now, but from the bidding, very close in the minds of many people. Prices were sky-high ... I posted about it ... but I did walk away with a 3m long mostly-oregon bench (partly jarrah). That I have been meaning to post about ever since.

4. I have for a long time wanted to create a refectory table ... medieval-style ... thick jarrah, beaten-up looking, a little bit of carving ... to use as a dining table. I still like the idea, but maybe I'll end up trying it as a scale version. Now I have the MR Workshop bench, and the outdoor Oregon, I figure I will make an indoor Oregon table, without changing the Workshop bench too much. Should be lighter than Jarrah

5. Further along the oregon trail, I recently picked up off the side of the road a super-beaten-up upright ... piano. Say what?
Again something I have been meaning to post ... the back section is made of 4"x5" oregon (it seems) beams! I don't know the age, but the front legs attach by male wooden threads about 2" diameter into the body!
So I have been meaning to ask if anyone knows if this should go to someone to restore or make use of parts, before I took the step of pulling it apart just for the wood.

It has taken *forever* to get new workers 3/4 productive ... just starting to get back some time now!

The piano ...

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The workbench ...

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and on top of that, the 'quick project' was the sawbench I want to make from my power-pole hardwood.

And the fore-runner to that project was to sharpen a handful of ripsaws and try them out on the long rips.

Jeeeez. Sniff.

If only 'productive' wasn't a bad word. And 'competent'. And 'focussed'.

Cheers,
Paul

Yair, sad isn't it Paul???

ah the distractions to a well thought out woodwork plan