Yay, a saw bench is born!

[Judson Green]

I've finally completed the saw bench I started approximately six weeks ago.
Made with 4) 2×6’s from the orange Borg. I used mostly hand tools but did fire up the band saw for a few cuts, OK it was ten, honest. A few mistakes were made. One tenon was a bit under sized and I made the whole thing about 2 shorter than my plan. Oh well.

45" long, ~12" wide and 21" tall.

273228 273229

273230 273223

273224 273225

273226 273227

[Terry Beadle]

I don't mean to complain....but that bench is just too well made to not have it shipped to me free of charge. Just to get it out of your way....hoot!

Really good job on those mortises. They look really crisp and straight. Good Job ! One YOU SUCK is headed your way.

[Chris Griggs]

That real nice Judson! I gotta admit I'm a bit envious of you folks making these nice fancy saw benches. Mines just a few laps and rabbets nailed together. Functionally, its everything it needs to be, but I am tempted to build a fancier one like your sometimes (though in all honesty I doubt I'll take the time to do so)

Very nice though. I love that style of saw bench since it gives you a full length rip notch.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Congrats Judson, a fantastic effort.

Thanks for sharing this.

[Stew Hagerty]

Judson, that is a thing of beauty. Mistakes... Eh, Snit Happens, don't worry about it. Human beings make mistakes (assuming that you ARE human). :cool:

Your joinery looks great, I'm sure it's rock solid. Is it your own design? Oh, and I like the contrasting wedges.

It puts mine to shame. But I made it in a couple of hours one Saturday. And I have very specific needs. I'm disabled, and in a wheelchair. I don't have the stamina for long rips. I also can't "put a knee", so I drilled holes for some holdfasts. For me it works and, when it comes right down to it, I guess that's what's most important.

I'm almost ashamed to put up a photo of mine, but what the heck, it'll be a good contrast to yours. Yours is "the good" and mine is both "the bad", and "the ugly". OK, maybe not "bad" since it works OK, but you get the idea.

273231273232273233273234

[Daniel Rode]

Nicely done, Judson! The mortises look terrific. It's great how even borg pine looks good with solid joinery and a smoothly planed faces.

I wasn't even thinking about a saw bench until I saw this. Now I need one immediately :)

Seriously though. I want to learn to hand cut M&T joints and this may be a great project to learn on. What was the most challenging part of the build?

[Jim Koepke]

Great design for ripping.

Looks to be sturdy.

Sometimes my thoughts run toward making a split top saw bench to go with my others just for ripping.

jtk

[Judson Green]

Golly thanks everyone.

Stew,

yes it's my own design but of course I googled for "saw benches" and poured over the photos for quite some time before making up my own plan. yours looks just fine to me. If it wasn't that I need the practice with hand tools and have a obsession with making shop stuff, I would have built one very nearly like yours.

Edit) At some point I'll add dog holes for dogs and possibly hold fasts.

Daniel,

The most difficult part of the build?

Marking and cutting the through mortise in the bench top. I felt that I needed to know where the tenons were gonna be before I could mark and cut the mortices.
This was my orfor for that part. Note the leg assembly is already glued together at this point.

1) cut tenons roughy on top of the legs.

2) cut the deep part at the top of each leg for the stretcher

3) cut and fit the big dados in the stretchers

4) with the legs and the stretchers assembled but not glued, transfer the position of the tenons to the bench top

5) cut mortises into the bench top

6) fit joint

7) put a little draft on though mortises. When you drive the wedge in you want a little room for tenon to expand into

Ordinarily one cut mortises first, but I just couldn't see that path and accomplish the joint I wanted to.

Definitely recommend you build a saw bench. I've only done a few cuts with it but can see that the result is way better than what was happing at the work bench.

[Chuck Nickerson]

I have an A-frame pair like Stew's, but have been looking to build a set with a full ripping slot.
I really like this design because it's not just dovetail joinery.
I think I know what I'm doing Thanksgiving weekend.

[Lonnie Gallaher]

JG,

If I built a bench that nice my wife would what it in the house as a piece of furniture.

Great job.

[Edward Mitton]

Nice bench, Judson,
You will enjoy the heck out of using it. It's nice to hear that someone else besides me can go for six weeks on a shop project.

[Andy Blake]

Nice saw bench, thanks for posting this. I started building my saw bench last week but after seeing this I'm redesigning it. I love the full length ripping slot; that will be much more usable than the little notch I was going with.

[steven c newman]

I think I will just hide my "Built in an afternoon" saw bench on my back porch. Just a simple knee high to me thing, nothing real fancy, either....

[Frederick Skelly]

Nice job! Id be proud to have built that one.
Fred

[Adam Cruea]

I don't remember seeing what species you used for the tenon wedges. Looks like walnut?

I have yet to make a saw bench. For x-cuts, I just slap it up on my bench and hack away. Rip cuts, it gets clamped down to the bench or taken over to the band saw my wife nudged me into buying.

[Ron Bontz]

Very nice. I don't suppose there is a set of plans for this floating around out there? I am afraid however, if my cabinet saw sees me making this a fight may ensue.

[Harold Burrell]

Sweeeeeeeeeeet!

[Harold Burrell]

Very nice. I don't suppose there is a set of plans for this floating around out there?

hmmm...I would like to know that too...

[Judson Green]

Thanks for all the great complements!

OK here's the plans I made to make the saw bench from and cut list. As I mentioned in my first post my saw bench ended up shorter than the plans called for. What happened was that I figured a 6" overhang at the ends was a bit much and made a change but somehow screwed up something and well mines ~45" long with a 4¾" overhang.

You will want the vertical leg parts to be sized for your comfort. Had 2" tenons on each end but trimmed down later.

I didn't try for any thickness, just made sure all was flat, square and the same.

Enjoy, post pictures please!

273307

[Judson Green]

I don't remember seeing what species you used for the tenon wedges. Looks like walnut?

I have yet to make a saw bench. For x-cuts, I just slap it up on my bench and hack away. Rip cuts, it gets clamped down to the bench or taken over to the band saw my wife nudged me into buying.

Yes sir walnut indeed. Had a small scrap just the right size.

I've been sawing on the work bench too and the results weren't that great, especially for ripping. So figured I give this a shot. But I'm not gonna be selling my bandsaw.

[Jim Koepke]

You will want the vertical leg parts to be sized for your comfort.

My worry is if the bench is too low the saw might hit the floor or the feet going across. Just have to be careful at those points.

One thing that might also help is dog holes positioned to guide the edge of the work piece to keep the kerf over the slot whilst sawing.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

But I'm not gonna be selling my bandsaw.

If I am doing one rip of about 2 - 3' and the band saw has not been set up for the day, it is almost as fast to just rip by hand.

If the band saw is set up for use, then they get ripped on the bandsaw.

For long rips, it is difficult for with my 10" bandsaw to cut long pieces. Partly this is due to my bifocals and partly due to the difficulty of guiding a long piece.

The way my wimpy bandsaw handles some hardwoods, it is faster and ends up with a better kerf to rip by hand.

jtk

[Mark Dorman]

Excellent job. Adding a rip slot in mine was the best improvement I made to it. I couldn't believe the difference from ripping on the side of the saw bench to ripping with the board supported on both sides of the cut. Rip cuts Can be made without clamps now.

[Judson Green]

If I am doing one rip of about 2 - 3' and the band saw has not been set up for the day, it is almost as fast to just rip by hand.

If the band saw is set up for use, then they get ripped on the bandsaw.

For long rips, it is difficult for with my 10" bandsaw to cut long pieces. Partly this is due to my bifocals and partly due to the difficulty of guiding a long piece.

The way my wimpy bandsaw handles some hardwoods, it is faster and ends up with a better kerf to rip by hand.

jtk

yep that's pretty much how I feel about it too. But I am trying to nurture the Neanderthal in me more. Sometimes it seems silly. Like for mortising, I have a hollow chisel mortiser but I feel it would cheatin so its stashed under my bench. But someday its coming out.

[Jim Koepke]

Like for mortising, I have a hollow chisel mortiser but I feel it would cheatin so its stashed under my bench.

I have one, but don't have any bits for it. I think it attaches to a drill press a friend gave me with the mortiser. Haven't set up the drill press either since it is a second one.

jtk

[Judson Green]

I have one, but don't have any bits for it. I think it attaches to a drill press a friend gave me with the mortiser. Haven't set up the drill press either since it is a second one.

jtk


Mine just a mortiser, a Multico PM something, a decent bench top machine. I'd like a bench top drill press.

What's your 10" band saw? Not a Homecraft is it? I've got kind of the thing old Delta Homecraft line.

[BobW Robinson]

Beautiful work. A bit up market for me though.

[John A. Scott]

Sketchup plans for a similar bench:

http://www.billyslittlebench.com/1/post/2013/10/a-better-split-top-sawbench-sketchup.html

[Andy Blake]

At the risk of completely hijacking this thread (sorry, Judson!), here's what I'm planning to build now. I modified the "traditional", slotted wedge saw bench to something more akin to this twin platform style with a full length slot down the middle. Although that means I will now have to rip a nice piece of ash I had designated for the top, right down the middle (without the use of a good saw bench, of course).
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/IIocust/sawbenchv2_zps29f801e8.png

I'd be interested in thoughts from Creek members on my design since I am a complete novice in this area. I'm looking at using common pine for most of this (with the ash top pieces as I mentioned), but am thinking of using poplar for the lower support end pieces since they have the bulk of the load to carry. I'm not too crazy about the angled tenons and their ability to handle loads, that seems to be the weakness of this design but I don't want to add more feet.

Andy

[Judson Green]

At the risk of completely hijacking this thread (sorry, Judson!), here's what I'm planning to build now. I modified the "traditional", slotted wedge saw bench to something more akin to this twin platform style with a full length slot down the middle. Although that means I will now have to rip a nice piece of ash I had designated for the top, right down the middle (without the use of a good saw bench, of course).
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/IIocust/sawbenchv2_zps29f801e8.png

I'd be interested in thoughts from Creek members on my design since I am a complete novice in this area. I'm looking at using common pine for most of this (with the ash top pieces as I mentioned), but am thinking of using poplar for the lower support end pieces since they have the bulk of the load to carry. I'm not too crazy about the angled tenons and their ability to handle loads, that seems to be the weakness of this design but I don't want to add more feet.

Andy

Looks really nice to me. I'm sure it will support you and your work piece.

[Stew Hagerty]

At the risk of completely hijacking this thread (sorry, Judson!), here's what I'm planning to build now. I modified the "traditional", slotted wedge saw bench to something more akin to this twin platform style with a full length slot down the middle. Although that means I will now have to rip a nice piece of ash I had designated for the top, right down the middle (without the use of a good saw bench, of course).
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/IIocust/sawbenchv2_zps29f801e8.png

I'd be interested in thoughts from Creek members on my design since I am a complete novice in this area. I'm looking at using common pine for most of this (with the ash top pieces as I mentioned), but am thinking of using poplar for the lower support end pieces since they have the bulk of the load to carry. I'm not too crazy about the angled tenons and their ability to handle loads, that seems to be the weakness of this design but I don't want to add more feet.

Andy

I like the design. It's not totally dissimilar from the one in this thread. I appears that it would be quite stable.

[Chris Hachet]

I don't mean to complain....but that bench is just too well made to not have it shipped to me free of charge. Just to get it out of your way....hoot!

Really good job on those mortises. They look really crisp and straight. Good Job ! One YOU SUCK is headed your way.I will second this one!