The Hall table prototype

Were we left Wed nite I had my bench cleared and the pieces I previously rough cut, sitting on it.

The second Thurs of the month is our Club 100 nite, were for the next 6 months the money raised goes to the Middleton Fire Dept.  The other 6 months of the year the money goes to the Middleton and Area Public skating rink.
In return we get a nite out with friends, come early for supper then stay for the musical act and free beer and draws after. Its all for a good cause and since we purchase all our tickets in advance ($240) we get entered in the early bird draw.  We have won our fair share of prizes and monies

If you live in the neighbourhood, you may want to check this out.

Before we left, I cleared the saw/mortise bench in my shop by fixing the woodwork on my old digital clock.

After the glue was dried it got put aside for later

This being Friday, time to get that project for her sister started in earnest.
Its been a while I went over the details with her sister, so I had to warp my head around my scribbles and notes first.

This being "my spot" on the couch, Rudy is always quick to take it if I leave 5 seconds.

Its our "Sheldon spot" in the house :-)

After going over my notes, and have them approved by Rudy.

Give me one more treat and I will approve them... 

I went downstairs for more navel gazing at my notes and piles of lumber in front of me.
Soon I had my critical dimensions figured out and proceed to cut my mortise first.  I always cut mortise first, it is easier to fix a tenon thickness than a mortise width...

So according to my bright plans, need a 1/2 inch mortise chisel

Hum, my biggest one is 3/8, Bevel Edge chisel it would be.

That chisel and gouge are set to each other and it usually stay set.

So of course had to used another. Good thing I have a "few" :-)

Saddling my saw/mortise bench, I start to whack away, but it is kinda difficult to see my lines

A quick trace of the outline with a sharp knife, make a V cut.

Take out the middle of the hump with the chisel 

Then whack, whack... Took me 3 to 4 pass to reach my depth of 1 "plus" inch
Set my little metal gauge I made years ago during Air Force trade training (CMT) in Borden.
Still have it and use it

Not quite there

Done

Then rinse and repeat for the other one

Notice that the depth of my mortise means that both my tenons are going to meet in the middle.

Before I attempt to cut the other set of mortises on the adjacent faces,

 I am making a plug to fit inside the mortise to protect it.

That is where I stopped on my first day on it, need to clean up my shavings and sharpen my chisel and block plane. And that is all the shop time I got.
I purposely left my mortise plug slightly oversize overnite and will plane it to final dimensions tomorrow.  After that, I will be able to start on the other side with my mortises.

Bob, thinking I should get my mortises all done by this weekend??

Maybe even a matching tenon???

Saw bench final details

Well, believe it or not, I managed to finished it :-)
Wed nite I worked a shift at the wood shop on the base, so I brought along my bench and a small tool kit. The funny shaped angled corner pieces are clamp caul  to ensure squareness when I glue assemblies.

The wood shop is really geared toward power tools woodworking, 

so I brought a small kit to finished it.

The bench, the feet pieces and the pieces of lumber for the skirts.

The material for the skirt is 3/4 in, would not want to make my saw bench too heavy now, would we? 

Did not took too long to rip my skirt pieces to width, crosscut them to length and after a quick swipe of my No 6 fore plane they were installed on the bench. I decided to uses 3 biscuits on each sides to hold the skirt piece flush with the top, I was going to put screws in , but I rather leave that metal free in case I ever cut into it.

The skirts were later screwed in the side of the legs with a counter-bore. 

I used a 2 in screw with a washer on each side legs. 

My original plan was to to cut a small dado on the leg at the bottom of the skirt, to secure the T- shaped skirt to the legs. I opted for a simpler way. Time will tell if it is strong enough.  At this point, I still have to add the bottom brace pieces and these would be dadoed in so the legs would be reinforced even further. I also have to clean up the bottom of my legs. I went a bit over enthusiastic when I banged my dovetails together, as a results of the damages at the bottom, I now have reintroduced a bit of a rocking. Must fix that before I put the foot pieces on.

I also filled in the cracks with epoxy.

Once dried, I gave it a quick planing job with my No 4-1/2 to cleaned up the joinery and the epoxied cracks. That prove to be a very gummy experience for my poor plane, had to stop a few times to un-gummed the sole.  Guess I should have left the glue dry a bit more :-)

A friend took a picture of me cleaning up my shavings after. 

Compared to using power tools, this is a lot less messy and cleaner :-)

He asked that I put my shavings back on the floor to look more messy, non, I just cleaned up!

The bench back home, sitting temporarily on its footing pieces. 

The foot brace are ripped from a piece of Ash, so in spite of their thinness, should be strong enough.

The bottom braces are installed so that my foot can slip under to brace myself against the bench. This is useful for chisels work on the bench. It would not matter if strictly used as a saw bench.

Pieces of rubber, same as on the workbench, are contact cemented under then nailed.

Made a removable fence, held by 3 dowels. Would make crosscutting a breeze.

Last details is to put in a few 3/4 in holes for using the holdfast and bench pups accessories.  I'm not sure yet where to put them.
I will only put 4 (2 on top, 2 on one side) and wait until I have a need for it to figured it out.

That is why I went with 1-1/2 in thick construction lumber. Similarly the bottom brace to tuck my foot under is for chiseling. I may also put in a large hand hold in the middle of the top. Again will wait and see if need it. Last thing I want is to turn the top into Swiss cheese :-)

As for any kind of finish on it? Well its meant to be a shop appliance which I expect will get chew up in due time, so its not a piece of furniture, Ill go over with some sand paper and let it aged gracefully, just like me :-)

One last thing. While test driving it, I realized that it is a bit too low for me, I punch the floor easily using a 26 in saw. My max extension is 25 in, so I'm not likely to used anything longer. Re-checking my measurements, It look like the bottom of my knee is more like 19 in than 16. Hummm, how did I went from a 9 to a 6, I wonder :-) OK no biggie, I haven't attached the footing yet, I'll give this height a try and raise it if I see a need.

Bob, moving on to next project (not necessarily in line)

Quick update and a video

Back from the base, saw bench has its sides on, and a quick plane down.
And talking of planes, until my next post, please enjoy this other kind of planes.
Pretty neat video.

The Royal Canadian Air Forces  Snowbirds 431 Air Demonstration Sqn

Bob, 37- 1/2 years RCAF veteran

Saw bench almost completed

My first draft title was completed...
For a quick project, it still managed to slip over a few days, I don't know why ? :-)

I had previously machined the parts on Wed, Fri I cut half the joints. Tues I finished the joints and assembled it for the first time.

It is a bit hard on my small dovetail saw, it is thick and wetter than seasoned hardwood for sure.

They are quite thick, so I must make double sure they are straight.

Half way done, Friday nite. We had company over so that's where I stopped.

Then we went to supper with friends Sat so Sun no loud noises were allowed :-) 

One joint fitted, working on the last one. At that thickness you don't get much room for error.

For a small project it is sure making a mess on my bench :-)

By the time I'm done, I will have to sharpen my chisels for sure. And should probably touch up my dovetail saw and check if I killed the small set on it. I am gonna have to dedicated a dovetail saw for softwood.

I'm working a shift Wed at the base wood shop, surely, I would be able to finished it then? 

I will glue it after my afternoon tea, then all I got left for tomorrow is to put in the sides pieces, that will require a small dado on each leg, attach the foot and tada!

I will later put in a few holes for my holdfast, not sure where yet, so I will wait until I used it for a while to decided where. Similarly I may put in a large hole on the top as a handle, will see.

Bob,  who is banging away both on his workbench and his sawbench

Saw bench last minute checks

With my pieces given their final dimensions, I'm ready to start the joinery. But first some last minutes checks.

The parts machined yesterday with part of the side aprons.

Dry fit mockup to check dimensions

I want a 16 in finished height, it will be once dovetailed into the sides.

I then got carried away, and sat on it and try different thickness wood on top pretending I'm sawing.
It's stable...yes...but I'm sure it will be even more once assembled :-)

This dry fit also revealed that the top got a slight twist again, I can see and feel a small rocking action. No sweat, I only have to worry about the junction of the two piece being mating flat, the remainder underbelly can assume whatever shape it want, for now. I will need also, a good straight edge on each long underside to glue the top of the side aprons. One or two swipes of a plane will address all that. It is not that I don't seek perfection, I just choose my battles wisely. A long military career has reinforced that into me. Like we used to say: There is no second place in war.

Bob, the bench builder

A real saw bench

As opposed to making do with upside down buckets or crummy saw horses.
Yet another long overdue project. It moved up my list, since I have been looking at saw tills storage and miter boxes lately :-)

My wants, or requirements:
- build for my size, height, width (as per Ron Herman reccomendations)
- provisions for holdfast, clamping
- beefy enough to pound on it ( mortising, chiseling) while sitting on it
- I like the look of splayed legs, but they get in the way for ripping

So it will be built mostly using a left over 2x10 joist I have, left over from my main bathroom renos. I doubled some joists under the floor to take on the soaker tub and all the tiling I added. Probably overkill, but...that's me :-)
It was so much fun doubling the joist, manhandling a 14 ft long 2X10, but I digress :-)
I will incorporate some design ideas from a few diverse saw bench I saw (pun :-)
And since I could always used 2, I will probably try a splayed legs one like The Schwarz (tm).

Based on my size, my bench will have a height of 16 in
A width of roughly 14 in, and a length of 3 ft.

Yesterday I worked as a supervisor at the base Wood shop, so I brought along my project

I thought of edge gluing two pieces of 2x10 to gives me enough to rip to the desired width.
Yes, I know, it is a tad heavy duty, but I want to be able to use holdfast and do some chiseling works on it. Besides overbuilding something, is just par for me :-)

After a quick pass thru the planer, I cross cut my pieces to my dimensions

Then I took care of the twist in the lumber with my trusty Buck Rogers plane

The shop is really geared toward power tools everything, I had to fashioned some cleats nailed on temporary to plane.

A quick tour of the Wood shop. We have a complements of the usual power tools; 2 Unisaw, 3 bandsaws, 2 Delta Radial Arm saw, a Makita Miter saw, 2 Planers, 15 and 20 inches, 2 jointers, 6 and 8 inches, a large double drum sander (that we restrict to hardwood uses only), disk sanders, oscillating Spindle Sander, 2 lathes, Shaper, Router table, 2 Drill press, 2 mortisers and the usual small power tools; drills, random orbit sanders, biscuit jointer, router etc. Really not designed for handtools work. 

One Unisaw (the one with the large outfeed table) is set at 90 degrees (tilt mechanismn disabled. It prevents lots of frustrating problems :-) The other one is tilting

Assembly and gluing tables, carpeted tables are for sanding, NO gluing 

The fenced in area on top, in the back, is the mezzanine. More benches, storage and a finishing room

The door to the right is a bench room with storage lockers for the members 

We keep a small inventory of hardwoods and pine on hand and other supplies that we sell  We have been running courses and are getting low on our wood supplies.

As per Ron Herman instruction, measured my hip and settled on 14 in wide.
But after cutting a piece and sitting on it, I realized that one width is plenty. I'm not sure how Ron Herman figured his out, but my hip is not wide enough to sit comfortably across 14 inches!
He does stress the point that you should not take someone else dimensions, but build it it to fit you! Point taken :-)

After working out a sweat and making a pile of shavings, I got my pieces flat, ready for joinery.
The short pieces were easy, the 3ft long one got me chasing my tail around for a while.
Final thickness, 1/4 inch! Kidding :-)

Bob, the sawyer who saw a need