Bench Update - Measure Twice? Not enough!!

[Jim Becker]

Yesterday and today I was able to put some additional time in on the benchtop that arrived with my Adjust-a-bench (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=13609)system last weekend. This included removing the lacquer finish (I prefer just a BLO finish on a bench for renewability), drilling the dog holes and begining the installation process for the front vice that "hopefully" will arrive tomorrow.

Removing the finish was a piece of cake...the Rotex is an animal for that kind of thing! Drilling the dog holes was easy. Putting them in the right place, however, became more of an ordeal. You see, I measured carefully (twice) for where the rows were to start near the left end, carefully built a jig to guide the placement at six inch intervals and proceeded to drill about 30 nice 3/4" holes using the jig in a stepping fashion, nearly putting my old B&D corded drill out of my misery in the process. (It were smokin'!!) Of course, later on I happened to notice that they were, umm...not lined up. Misplaced Dog Holes :eek: "Sheesh!" (Figuratively speaking, of course...I would never use "bad words" in the shop. No way. Never. No chance. BTW, I have this bridge... :rolleyes: )

Well, I left that small issue of the um...misplaced dog holes...for another day and proceded to inset the inner face into the apron in preparation for the front vice that I ordered from Lee Valley. (I decided to just do the front vice for now and will be using the Veritas dog system in lieu of an end vice until I decide if I really need it for the work I do) That went smoothly, using the ATF55 and guide to cut the rip...most of it, actually, since the top is 2 1/4" thick and the ATF55's maximum depth is just shy of that. I then took my Adria dovetail saw and cut the 90º face cut and finished off the rip with a small hand saw guided by the existing kerf. Cleaning that up with a block plane, chisels and a sanding block made it ready for the vice apron. I then glued, clamped, drilled, countersunk and screwed the vice apron to the bench.

Today, I trotted off to the 'borgs to pickup some doweling to fill the, umm...misplaced dog holes...as well as a nice new Irwin spade bit to recut new holes. I'm actually glad I made the $3.79 investment in the new bit as it had scoring wings and cut an even cleaner hole than the very old (but reasonably sharp) bit I used last night for the, umm...misplaced dog holes. It was a little less taxing on the corded drill, too, which is good since a new one just isn't on my priority purchase list at the moment. (I know if I replaced it I'd have to get a "nice" one with a 1/2" chuck and all that...;)) Sliced up the doweling, put some glue in the um...misplaced dog holes...and pounded those round things in nice and tight, filling the um...misplaced dog holes. Of course I'll be forever reminded of the um...misplaced dog holes...by the little "round reminders". Sheesh! (Something happening like this to a very anal person is not a good thing...:o) Then I did the right thing and laid out a grid on the top and redrilled those suckers in the right places. All 30 of them. :)

A wee bit of sanding with the black and green machines and a liberal application of BLO brought things to what you see in the final photo below. If the vice shows up tomorrow, I'll get it installed this weekend. Otherwise, it will have to wait until the end of next week...the real job will have me quite occupied.

Lesson learned: Measure more than twice and in different ways to double and triple check before you drill dozens of holes that need to be in exact orientation to each other...and don't trust a jig to "auto-measure" for you!

[Dale Thompson]

Jim,
I always measure at least four times for every cut that I make. ;) I even write down the measurements to make sure that I don't forget them. :cool:

The problem is that I forget where I wrote down the measurements and what they were! :eek: That partially explains why my scrap bin is ALWAYS full!! :o The other part involves SKILL but I've already embarrassed myself enough for ONE day! ;) :)

Dale T.

[John Miliunas]

Hey Jim, lookin' good, plugs and all! :) But, one question, which screams to be asked: To me, it looks as though you plugged ALL the holes, in each row. Wouldn't, at least, one of the rows been OK to leave with the original spacing? Seems to me that, you would've been able to index the remaining rows off the one original one. BTW, like the looks of the BLO on there! Guess that's the way I may go on mine, as well! Thanks! :cool:

[Joanne Adler]

That has to be the messiest I've ever seen your shop! Is that actually 'sawdust' on the floor?! :-)


Bench looks great, though (extra holes notwithstanding). I know you'll really enjoy the larger bench as well as the adjustable height. When I wear out the bench taking up 1/2 my little garage, I'll think about a Noden bench.

Nice subtle promo for Bob and the Black and Green tools.

[Matt Allan]

Looks very nice..

But could you explain to me what those things in your hand are in the first 2 pictures? I do not see a power cord or a battery pack? In all seriousness handtools totally baffle me. I would be terrified to cut that by hand, I just know it wouldn't be about as far away from straight as you could get. I need a power tool and a fence.

Looks like you did a good job though, congrats.

[Jim Becker]

But, one question, which screams to be asked: To me, it looks as though you plugged ALL the holes, in each row. Wouldn't, at least, one of the rows been OK to leave with the original spacing? Excellent question. The problem was that the offset for the other two rows was not a full hole which would have meant that I would have been trying to drill a clean hole partially in face grain and partially in end grain. (table vs dowel) Wasn't gonna work. Besides, the "second opportunity" also meant I could adjust the whole field to be symetrical on the table top...hee hee


That has to be the messiest I've ever seen your shop! Is that actually 'sawdust' on the floor?! Yea, yea, yea...it's a little trashy right now. That will get fixed tomorrow.


But could you explain to me what those things in your hand are in the first 2 pictures? I do not see a power cord or a battery pack? In all seriousness handtools totally baffle me. I would be terrified to cut that by hand, I just know it wouldn't be about as far away from straight as you could get. I need a power tool and a fence.I forgot to take a picture of the rip cut being made with the ATF55 on its guide rail...so the cord was there for the major cut and the larger hand saw was just finishing the bottom 1/4" that the Festool saw could not reach. Trust me...it was a very straight cut! I could have made the perpendicular cut (and complete the rip) with th PS300 EQ jig saw, but the hand saws were faster and had no setup time. I'm an electron-eater most of the time, but have been using hand tools more often and where appropriate.

[Dave Malen]

JIM,
why don't you rip the offending errors and replace with new boards. It would take longer but you would never be reminded of your mistake unless I visit your shop. :)

Dave

[Norman Hitt]

Hey Jim, I love the pretty wood on that table top, and I agree with you on the BLO. Another dose of BLO in a week or so will really do it up right, but sometimes it takes three applicationsabout a week apart, (at least that's been my experience).

Now.............., About those, Ummmm .........dowels. If anyone asks, just tell them that's a new experimental round, vertical, lineup biscuit system the Mfr was trying out when they made your top. (That's my story and I'm Sticking to it!!)

"Cheers, and Saw Safe",............Norm

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi Jim,

nice looking bench, thanks for the update.
Some while back I messed up with some dowel holes but finally I concluded that the mess was quite decorative :D
I think "dark" dowels would look even better for the misplaced dog holes ;)

Christian

[Brian Hale]

Looks good Jim! Thats a good sized top.
Why not leave the misplaced holes and place the correct ones between them? Of course i prolly woulda plugged them also, with walnut.

Brian

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Jim,

Being somewhat 'that way' myself when it comes to my work and my shop, I can completely understand when I see the italics in your post. I'm guessing your original intent was to keep the three rows of dogholes inline with each other across the bench. I wish I had thought of that, but I made my two rows offset in mirror image fashion.

Do you think you can live with the fix for awhile or do you see yourself replacing the benchtop someday?

[Rich Konopka]

Hey Jim, It's good to see the benefits of the adjustability in your table while you were sawing. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished pictures.

[Michael Stafford]

Nice recovery. Just a decorative feature... Did it on purpose to see if you would notice... I had a similar situation on a bench repair I did for a friend and ended up cutting some face grain plugs out of some scrap and carefully aligning the grain and almost made the boo boo go away. Almost...

[Jim Becker]

Being somewhat 'that way' myself when it comes to my work and my shop, I can completely understand when I see the italics in your post. I'm guessing your original intent was to keep the three rows of dogholes inline with each other across the bench. I wish I had thought of that, but I made my two rows offset in mirror image fashion.
If the holes don't line up...you can't use two rows to clamp something with four dogs.


Do you think you can live with the fix for awhile or do you see yourself replacing the benchtop someday?
I'll live with it...it's a good reminder. For what that top conceivably cost as part of the deal...it ain't goin' away! It's a glued up hard maple slab 29" x 64" x 2 1/4" thick. They are not "inexpensive", whether you make them or buy them.


Why not leave the misplaced holes and place the correct ones between them? Of course i prolly woulda plugged them also, with walnut.
Because it would be confusing. I did leave one in the first row near the left end for more flexibilty when clamping a single board for planing or scraping. Speed was important to me and the "choice" in dowel material was limited. HD only had oak and some crappy imported stuff. Lowes had poplar...and that's what I used. Nobody had maple...which is what I wanted. 'Didn't have time to go to the local "real" lumber yard as I had to get home for a conference call.

[Frank Pellow]

It looks like a good days work Jim. I enjoyed reading of your problems and how you recovered from them. I really blieve that the true test of a craftsman is how he/she recovers from his/her mistakes. You did WELL! :)

By the way, If I reported all my mistakes in my workshop construction thread, the thread would be twice as long. :( I could start with the fact that I covered 5 different electrical boxes with plywood then had to locate them and chisel out openings. :(

[Jack Hogoboom]

Jim,

On behalf of all of us hackers, thanks for sharing your um... misplaced dog holes with us. It helps to know that even the high end amateurs can run into mistakes from time to time.

You could always sign the top and sell it. The dowels would simply become "design features". :D

Jack

[Michael Stafford]

Frank, you mean you are supposed to cut the holes in the wall material before you put it up? Well I learn something every day...

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, you mean you are supposed to cut the holes in the wall material before you put it up? Well I learn something every day...
Actually, with drywall, I have cut the holes after I nailed up the material. But, with plywood, I cut the holes with a jigsaw and that can't be done with a jigsaw after the material is in place. And, cutting accutrate holes in plywood with a chisel is not easy :( (but, I am getting better at it).

[Steve Jenkins]

Good looking bench Jim.Of course now that it's after the fact you will get all kinds of suggestions on how to fix the dog holes, like routing a groove slightly wider than the holes and inlaying a strip of wood. Hope you get your vice today.

[Michael Stafford]

Frank, a while back I installed one of those floating strip floors in the family room. Did a beautiful job if I do say so myself. While we were moving everything back in my wife holds up a HVAC register and says "Where does this go?" I'll let you finish the story. I was able to find the hole and install the register without damaging the floor thank goodness. Doh!!!

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, a while back I installed one of those floating strip floors in the family room. Did a beautiful job if I do say so myself. While we were moving everything back in my wife holds up a HVAC register and says "Where does this go?" I'll let you finish the story. I was able to find the hole and install the register without damaging the floor thank goodness. Doh!!!
Michael I am glad that it worked out OK. You, only made one mistake. I made five.

In my case, I had taken photos of all the electrical work before insatlling the insulation and plywood. So, it was easy to locate the spots where I needed to "excavate". When you are aware of the fact that you are a clutz (and I am aware of this about myself), you take precautions like this.

Jim, sorry for hijacking your thread.

[Tom LaRussa]

Today, I trotted off to the 'borgs to pickup some doweling to fill the, umm...misplaced dog holes.
Gee, it sure is lucky that your local borg sells maple dowels!

I shudder to think what would happen if an anal person were forced to fill all his misplaced dog holes with non-matching wood.

It could drive a guy crazy over the years having to look at those dozens of non-matching plug-ends in those misplaced dog holes filled with non-matching wood.

It could make going to the shop a painful experience -- having to deal with seeing all of those misplaced dog holes filled with non-matching wood.

Heck, it could traumatize a fellow -- he'd wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, screaming about misplaced dog holes filled with non-matching wood!

Over time, all of those misplaced dog holes filled with non-matching wood could drive a fellow right out of woodworking -- make him want to give all his tools to some nice, understanding fellow like ... say, for example ... me!:D

[Mark Singer]

Jim,

You look great with hand tools! Sorry about the dog gone dog holes. It still looks great and will be a great working bench.

[Jim Becker]

Gee, it sure is lucky that your local borg sells maple dowels!

I shudder to think what would happen if an anal person were forced to fill all his misplaced dog holes with non-matching wood. See message #14...said anal person had to fill said misplaced dog holes with non-matching wood. End-grain, no less. (Isn't is wonderful how you can apply context to words to get the right effect without using the words you'd really like to say!!?? ;) )


Hope you get your vice today.Woo hoo!!! It just arrived!! Golly, I love Lee Valley. Not only are they "nice to do business with", but they also use FedEX Ground...and the contractors who deliver it work on Saturdays. I'm a happy camper, provided, of course, I can install that sucker correctly the first time. The bad news is that I have to unbolt the bench top from the Adjust-a-Bench base and flip it over to do the necessary work. That's a very heavy benchtop...I guess Dr SWMBO is going to have to volunteer a few minutes away from the compost pile to come into the shop...:D

More pictures later of the progress...I'd like to complete this today as I only have a one-day weekend...again.

[Byron Trantham]

Jim, Jim, Jim... I thought all of us consider these events as ENHANCEMENTS not mistakes! ;)

My wife brought up a good idea. Why couldn't you put a maple veneer over the entire surface? Wa La - no visible "ENHANCEMENTS"! :D

I told my wife about the event to point out that I'm not he only one who has a problem with planning!!!! :D Even Jim does!

Jeese, after reading my reply to her, she pointed out that there wasn't anything wrong with the plan only the execution!!! :mad: See what I have to put up with. :D

[Jim Becker]

I told my wife about the event to point out that I'm not he only one who has a problem with planning!!!! Even Jim does!

Jeese, after reading my reply to her, she pointed out that there wasn't anything wrong with the plan only the execution!!! See what I have to put up with.
A wise woman...you would do well to listen to her so you can avoid sleeping alone in the shop...