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Jim Koepke
06-14-2013, 11:57 PM
So last time I made a potting bench I didn't get pictures taken until it was on the truck.

This time pictures were taken and that means it will likely be coming back home from the farmers market tomorrow. If it does, then I may take some good pictures in the sunlight.

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Didn't make as many mistakes this time.

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This is a detail of one of the front corners showing the backward dovetail.

jtk

Jim Neeley
06-15-2013, 12:19 AM
Nice work, Jim.. I like the dovetail with the half-lap for the leg. I don't dare show it to my bride, although it'd make a great gift for her!! :-)

Jim Koepke
06-15-2013, 9:14 AM
Nice work, Jim.. I like the dovetail with the half-lap for the leg. I don't dare show it to my bride, although it'd make a great gift for her!! :-)

Pictures were taken during the build if you would like me to post them.

On this one my scheme was to figure out how big the top surface area was going to be from first cutting the slats. Must have made a small error.

Another consideration was to have 15" below the bottom shelf to allow a 5 gallon bucket slide underneath.

My next attempt will start with first making the dry sink since it is the difficult part to fit in. Mine is designed around a plastic tub for dishwashing that is available in most of the grocery and home item stores around here.

jtk

lowell holmes
06-15-2013, 10:10 AM
Nice tight work!

Is the wood fir?

Phil Thien
06-15-2013, 2:44 PM
Very nice.

So you let people play with dirt on that?

Frederick Skelly
06-15-2013, 3:46 PM
Nice bench Jim! Do you use the farmers market to sell these benches? Or do you use it to sell your own produce, perhaps to pay for your tool hobby ? ; )

Jim Neeley
06-15-2013, 8:02 PM
Jim,

I'd love to see the pictures of your build, along with specifically what you'd do differently the next time. My bride would love one! :)

Jim

Jim Koepke
06-16-2013, 11:01 AM
Thanks all for the kind words.

Lowell, the wood is western red cedar, mostly from the Orange Borg. I did drive across the river to check out a small mill in Oregon. The guy has a lot of cedar, but it is at random lengths, a bit wet and he doesn't sticker his stacks of wood. Too often stuff like that splits on the trip home. I may give him another try since his prices are pretty good.

Phil, Once they buy it, they can do what they want. Though the bench is designed to allot the dirt fall through the cracks.

Frederick, The farmers market is a good place to not only sell the bench(es), the bench also makes a great display table for other items I make to sell.

In planning the bench consideration was given to the size of the standard 1020 nursery tray, 10X20 inches. The top allows one of these to be set to the left of the dry sink. Also in figuring the length of the top the slats were cut first and laid out to determine the length of the rails. This is where one of my errors occurred due to not accounting for the sink. Since the sink is tricky to fit in after the fact, my next bench will start with the sink. Just realized no pictures were taken of the sink build. Since it came home with us, more pictures can be taken during the week. I am also considering adding a few features to make it look a bit nicer.

Here are some more pictures:

The slats for the top and the shelf were precut to approximately 20" from 3/4 X 6" stock, ripped and then planed.

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One of the #6s is set for a heavy cut to remove the saw marks on the edge. The other #6 is set to take a smoothing cut. A wooden rounding plane is used to round over the corners.

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The rebate on the rails was cut with a tailed router in an attempt to save some time. It took almost every rebate plane in the house to make it right. Here a #102 is being used to clean up the rounding of the top of the rail.

This is one of the parts of the build I may do different on my next bench. The slats are held in place with 5d finish nails. My thought for the next bench is to still use a rebate, but attach the slats with screws to a piece on the bottom of the slats and then attach that to the front and back rails.

Our geese were out and about so they came by to check on my progress.

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Looks like Gabby is shaking her head in disapproval.

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The laps in the legs were lain out, sawn and then the waste was removed. They are laid out just a hair undersized. The first chisel cuts waste out the wood at the kerfs and along the edges.

Then comes the "bulk" removal of waste.

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Note: For anyone who makes their own chisel handles or has read my comments on such can see here how my grip works with the bead ring around the bottom of my chisel handles. My hand suffered an injury many years ago. Pushing with my thumb straight can become painful quickly due to rheumatoid arthritis.

Once it gets close to depth a router plane comes in and cleans up.

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A sharp blade makes all the difference in the world on a router plane. Wasting away too much can cause a rough surface. It seems to work best by taking a few cuts at about 0.040" and then taking the last few cuts at about 0.006" or less to get a smooth surface.

When all the laps are finished they were checked against each other and adjusted as needed.

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Finally each lap was adjusted to fit to its mating surface.

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This is easily done with a sharp skew chisel. This was only done on the top side of the lap since the bottom wall of the lap determines the height of the rail.

This is where the realization comes in that there were a lot more pictures that could have been taken. Not sure there will be a chance today to take more detail pictures. More images will be posted of the sink and shelf details. Also any other changes made will be posted.

What is most interesting is even with light traffic yesterday, many people stopped and commented on the bench. Many of them also noticed the details of the joinery. The other vendor that makes benches and chairs doesn't cut much joinery to hold his pieces together. They are mostly butt joints that are held together with screws. A lot of his work is also rough cut wood. Though he does make some nice ice chest holders that have been fully sanded.

My thoughts on him is not really of competition. My thought is that with two of us making similar products that anyone looking for items such as we make know there is a place where they can come and have options from which to choose.

Thanks for looking.

jtk

Chris Hachet
06-16-2013, 11:41 AM
As always very impressive work, sir!

Jim Koepke
06-20-2013, 8:17 PM
Finished some details on the potting bench today.

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Just to dress it up a bit the head rail was given a little shape and the end posts were rounded.

jtk

Andrae Covington
06-24-2013, 2:41 PM
Looks good Jim.


...264590

Note: For anyone who makes their own chisel handles or has read my comments on such can see here how my grip works with the bead ring around the bottom of my chisel handles. My hand suffered an injury many years ago. Pushing with my thumb straight can become painful quickly due to rheumatoid arthritis.

I like this handle. I can see how it would work well for pushing work.