Thread: Not another Roubo Build? Sorry, but yes.

Much anxiety about my ability to get these tops right. The rear section will be about 285mm wide and I only have a 250mm planer/thicknesser. At this stage the plan is to glue six of the seven sections that will make it up together and send them through the thicknesser together so if there ends up being a mismatch when the final section is glued on I only have to plane one board to match, as long as that board is the one sitting proud of the rest. To that end I intend to leave that board about millimeter taller than the rest.
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Now how to keep everything lined up for the glue up. I don't have a Domino or a biscuit joiner so I've knocked up a dowelling jig to handle this. The results from the first test are encouraging, using 10mm dowels.
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All of this is moot at the moment since I'm waiting for some new clamps to make their way to me here in the deep south of WA as I'm not entirely comfortable with the number I currently have. When I ordered them online a couple of weeks ago they were showing as in stock, then I'm informed that they're on back order expected 13/5, then it's 19/5, then it's 25/5. Not entirely happy about this but I need the clamps, so all I can do is set up the glue ups ready to go and busy myself with other stuff I have to do around the property, burning off, spraying weeds and clearing a line at the back of my property where I need to put some new fencing in. Such is life, I'm getting too old to stress about that sort of stuff.

Awesome work Biggus,

Yes there's a few Roubo bench threads getting around (mine being one of them that hasn't had much attention recently) but its still worth capturing your build and posting it if possible.

Looks like its coming along nicely. What material are you making it out of? looks like you've done a great job of the vice install.

Mate i hear ya about taking such a large, long length to a thicknesser, im flattening two large Oregon sections as mine is a split top and im doing it all by hand. Regardless of it being Oregon or another material id still be doing it by hand firstly with the jack No 4 then the HNT jointer and HNT smoother.

Lots of work but in this instance id much prefer bringing the tool to the work piece and take my time checking my work than expecting the machine to do it for me in a few passes.

Something of this size is all worth it in the end. will last a life time. So if your following the bench crafted kit exactly, did you also buy the bolt and screw assembly?

https://www.timbecon.com.au/benchcra...RoCYoEQAvD_BwE

Does this mean your legs are detachable from either each other or from the top so you can move it in the future?

This is what im considering because im making progress on all my pieces but don't want to build it using my dowel-max as i may need to move it later this year so im considering having the base pull apart.

Cheers
Nathan

Originally Posted by delbs

Awesome work Biggus,

~snip~

Cheers
Nathan

Thanks for the encouragement mate, this build is stretching my only very modest woodworking skills to the very limit. I'm usually a pretty relaxed guy but this is stressing me out a fair bit to be honest. Still, as I said above, no guts no glory, I've always been one to jump into the deep end just to see what happens.

Materials.....well the base is Jarrah, pretty standard for down here in the SW of WA. I got that direct from the sawmill about 40 kms from my place. Top as said above is Maple, acquired at great expense from a bloke up in Donnybrook, about three hours drive from here. And then yesterday I took a drive down to Djarilmari Timbers down in Denmark about 60 kms away to look for a nice piece of wood for the end cap for the tail vice and found this gorgeous piece of Western Sheoak (Allocasuarina fraseriana) which should look great when the time comes to install it.
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I am indeed using the Benchcrafted hardware kit so it all comes apart when needed. If you look at the first picture of the frame in the initial post you can see the barrel nuts a couple of inches from each end of the rear stretcher. They're in the front one as well but can only be seen from the other side. Inches....lol....the plans are in Imperial so rather than convert it all to Metric and dealing with the very funky resulting numbers I've been building this in Imperial, with all the usual buggering around adding fractions and converting them all to a common denominator. A hidden plus is there's nothing smaller than a sixteenth of an inch to deal with which is handy for my somewhat dodgy eyesight.

As I said above in an earlier post I'm stuck waiting for some more parallel clamps which probably won't get here for a couple of weeks and I don't want to start on the front top section until I've done the rear and dealt with any unexpected hiccups in the simpler part of the top. The sliding deadman has been made and needs just a little detail finishing, the frame is largely done, so that leaves the shelf which I've been at last night and this morning, cutting the ship laps roughly to size with the table saw and finessing them to the final dimension with a shoulder and router plane.
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If you're doing all your work with hand tools I'm bloody impressed, I don't have that much confidence in my skills with a hand plane. I've been getting mine close with my little 250mm planer/thicknesser and finishing them off with a low angle jack plane with a 38 degree blade. With the 12 degree bed angle that gives me a 50 degree angle of attack and has been working pretty well. It should glue up well enough when the time comes.

I'll be looking forward to using this bench, when I built my first one about a year ago I knew nothing about woodworking so for a first effort it wasn't too bad and is much better than nothing, but very soon it became clear that it was very limited in terms of workholding options.

Good luck with your build Nathan,
Cheers,
Richard AKA Biggus.

Originally Posted by Biggus

........no guts no glory, I've always been one to jump into the deep end just to see what happens.

That's exactly my woodworking philosophy. It's looking good, Richard. She's gonna be a beauty.

Originally Posted by KahoyKutter

That's exactly my woodworking philosophy. It's looking good, Richard. She's gonna be a beauty.

Thanks mate. I've been following your build which has some serious wow factor.

Wow, i wish Jarrah was as common over here in NSW i love it. its my favorite timber, i reached out to a timber supplier over there and he offered some really decent prices for what i was after and postage to get it over here but i discovered the Oregon was real close to come and workable for my hand tools. I might consider still adding some Jarrah at some point as im still building it but yes im doing all of mine with hand tools, i dont own a thicknesser or band saw etc anymore so don't really have a choice. i'm enjoying it regardless of the time its taking me.

Its looking fantastic so keep up the good work and the pictures ill be following this thread.

Cheers,
Nathan

Originally Posted by Biggus

Thanks for the encouragement mate,

~snip~

Good luck with your build Nathan,
Cheers,
Richard AKA Biggus.

Nothing too exciting going on here, just applying some finish to the shelf planks. As with the rest of the base I'm using Danish Oil. When it comes to the top the plan is to go for the usual BLO and turps mix.
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I still intend to give this all at least one more coat of Danish Oil but I'm feeling quite pleased with this, not looking too shabby.
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Got tired of waiting for my parallel clamps so I cancelled the order and bought another four F-clamps from the local M10 store which I judged would suffice for the glue up. Looking good so far......
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Meanwhile I'm pulling the frame apart and giving it another coat of Danish Oil. When I first made the chop for the front vise I mis-drilled the holes (doh) and although the Jarrah coloured wood putty I used (after doweling the holes) was pretty convincing you could still tell when you got close, so I made a rosette of rib fruited mallee burl (Eucalyptus incrassata) and covered it with that instead.
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Getting there slowly. Once the glue up for the rear top is dry it will be on to the front section and all the funky work involved in installing the tail vise. Much anxiety likely.

Originally Posted by Biggus

...When I first made the chop for the front vise I mis-drilled the holes (doh) and although the Jarrah coloured wood putty I used (after doweling the holes) was pretty convincing you could still tell when you got close, so I made a rosette of rib fruited mallee burl (Eucalyptus incrassata) and covered it with that instead...

Your work is at a level that some of us can only dream of. I would be VERY careful myself if I was to approach that bench with a sharp tool. A furniture to be proud of!

Keep up the good work!

Loving the contrast of the Jarrah base and the top. I have large Douglas fir beams that have come up nice for my split top. Considering replacing the Douglas fir base legs and vice etc with Jarrah.

Your bench is looking awesome. Bench crafted looks top notch.

Over the last few days I've been gluing up the slabs for the top, the rear section completely and the front section minus the dog strip and the front laminate so the time has come to square off the ends and work out exactly how much I have to work with. Where's a 305mm sliding compound mitre saw when you need one? Not in my workshop sadly. I have a small and crappy circular saw that won't even cut at 90 degrees, and anyway trying to get the cuts from either side to match never seems to work even with one that will.

That leaves my El Cheapo Ryoba. My sawing technique is nothing to write home about, it's pretty poor actually, but you have to go with what you have, so in the interests of giving myself a fighting chance it's out with the marking knife and a chisel to create a knife wall.

Off we go, wax on, wax off.......
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This is time consuming stuff. My dog gives up on me and heads inside to sleep on the couch. Eventually I get it done and with the aid of a block plane and a random orbital sander it looks acceptable.
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Massive relief, I'm suffering from a serious case of imposter syndrome here. I feel like I'm skating on thin ice the whole time with this build. No disasters so far, but I've come close. The plus side of course is that it's a good way to skill up.

Next job is to mark out the cavity for the tail vise. More potential for disaster........eek!

Great job mate - don't doubt yourself you're doing great. That looks like a good workout!

Originally Posted by DomAU

Great job mate - don't doubt yourself you're doing great. That looks like a good workout!

Took heaps of time. Like I said my sawing technique is pretty ordinary, so it was a case of making a few strokes, blowing the dust away to check that I was still on line, and going at it again, and again. By the time I finished I was starting to get OK at it. Quite satisfying in the end.