And so it begins......

[Patrick Walsh]

It will be some time before i update again as i really need to let this wood sit for a good while. The wood is kiln dried but i would rather it is DRY DRY before i work with it. I want to minimize the headache of any additional movment due to the length and mass of my rough stock.

I also need to have the leg and tail vise fabricated. At this point it looks like i will glue two pieces of 12/4 together to have the screws turned out of. I will also glue two pices of 12/4 together for the leg and have it tapped directly. I will then ship these pieces to Lake Erie Toolworks and they will turn me two oversized ash screws and tap the leg directly.

After that i need to take some exact dimensions off the two screws and send that info off to Peter Ross. He is going to make hoops for the ends of my screws along with handles for them and a couple holdfast.

I imagine these two steps will take a number of weeks. While this is all going on i will wrap up some ongoing stuff around the house along with get the garden going so when my vise hardeware is back i can get cracking on the bench build.

Bellow are a couple pictures of that slab. I decided to rip it up to use for the leg laminations. The slab had a couple significant splits, cracks ir checks right down the center. Plus i dont care much for the cathedralling so often found with ash. Ripping this slab gave me the opportunity to take the nice tight straight grained lumber from either edge of the slab to use for my leg laminations. I will be sure to use a boards much the same on the front lamination of my top and front stretcher.

I used my tracksaw to get most of the way through the slab then a hand saw to finish it off. To be honest pushing the track saw along through this extremely hard wood was just as much effort as sawing by hand through the last 3/8 of material the tracksaw could not get.

334606

[David Eisenhauer]

Proposed bench dimensions?

[Patrick Walsh]

30"Dx33"Hx9'L


Proposed bench dimensions?

[Derek Cohen]

H Patrick

I would love to have a basement with loads of space. I imagine it is the fantasy of many other Australians as well. Here, this would be very rare. My shop is part of an attached double garage. Our laundry is inside the house. It is the laundry alongside the wood shop that would drive my wife nuts. She is quite paranoid (OK, that's overstating it) about dust when the laundry is hung out. In my set up, this is not likely to happen unless the rear door to the garage is open (which I do - opening the garage door opposite - to blow out any dust).

If your shop was mine, I would be dry walling around the washing machines before I began building a bench. My wife would insist! :)

I'll be watching the posts on the bench.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Patrick Walsh]

Derik,

What do they say, "the grass is always greener on the other side".

I would die for a two car garage workshop.

As you can see i also like machines. Getting these machines in and out of my basement shop is a real chore. I actually want to purchase a sliding table saw but i keep putting it off as my door opening even in the rough is not quite big enough to fit my dream machine through it, either a Martin or a Altendof. Even a high end Felder or Format4 could be tough. I will probably end up enlaging the rough oppening in my foundation.

It is nice to just go downstairs and get to work. On the otherhand i would do just about anything for a large barn three car garage shop. The facts are i cant afford it, at least where i live.

Being i am a residential carpenter/home builder i have to live close to well to do or "wealthy" areas as the well to do are the people i count on to put food on the table. This means a tiny home in a thickly settled overpriced middlclass town that abbuts very very wealthy town. This is far from my ideal but i am thankful for what i have. I would much prefer living in the mountains somewhere miles down a dirt road. Maybe someday?

As for the sheetrock in the loundry room " not a chance ". I do have to do some work to that laundry area but first i need a new roof coupled with a additional dormer and then the building of a master bedroom in what is now my finished attic. Then a exterior paint job and a new kitchen. The laundry room will be a long time coming.

Im a busy guy!


H Patrick

I would love to have a basement with loads of space. I imagine it is the fantasy of many other Australians as well. Here, this would be very rare. My shop is part of an attached double garage. Our laundry is inside the house. It is the laundry alongside the wood shop that would drive my wife nuts. She is quite paranoid (OK, that's overstating it) about dust when the laundry is hung out. In my set up, this is not likely to happen unless the rear door to the garage is open (which I do - opening the garage door opposite - to blow out any dust).

If your shop was mine, I would be dry walling around the washing machines before I began building a bench. My wife would insist! :)

I'll be watching the posts on the bench.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Phil Mueller]

I've heard more than one carpenter's wife opine about the long list of home projects not getting done fast enough. I suppose those things just feel like work, and building a bench is a lot more fun than work. So, putting my personal interests first, keep those things at the bottom of the list...and get that bench build going :D

[Patrick Walsh]

No wife for me, yippee!

I also enjoy those other household chores as i love my house and i enjoy work. Enough so i am the type that never sits down. Leisure is not so much my thing. I Never thought i would own a home growing up in apartments. I dont mind taking good care of my house as im a bit of a perfectionist/neat freak.

But yes i would rather build that bench any day over put a new dormer and roof on my house.

The wood has gotta have the proper time to stabalise though so it will still be a number of weeks. Plus i gotta come up for air and give the spending a rest for a minute. Round two of spending looks like it will be somewhere around $1500-1800. That gets me two custom wood screws with metal work and hold fast done by Peter Ross. A #7 or #8 jointer plane, a dowel plate. But still after all the recent spending even that much is a bit overwhelming.

I just finished building some pnuematic air clamps for a couple of my machines. These where about a half of year in the works as finding a good and reliable machinist seems to be a fickle affair. The machinist end of the bill nearly gave me a heart attack.


I've heard more than one carpenter's wife opine about the long list of home projects not getting done fast enough. I suppose those things just feel like work, and building a bench is a lot more fun than work. So, putting my personal interests first, keep those things at the bottom of the list...and get that bench build going :D

[Brian Holcombe]

You guys are looking at this all wrong, a new bench and sliding table saw are required for the kitchen to be built :D

[Phil Mueller]

Brian, you are 100% correct!

[Patrick Walsh]

Brian wins the prize.

He must be a intuitive or have some kind of physic superhero type power.

I dont "need" the slider for anything as the SawStop works just fine. Really i just want it ;)

The fact is all this is indeed a build up to custom QSWO arts and craft kitchen cabinetts. My house is a old Sears and Roebuck bugalo kit home. The plan is some over the top arts and craft cabinetts constructed "NOT" in the manner of modern cabinetts but in the manner of traditional case work. So no dam plywood!

Then im considering buying the shaper cutters to build double hung windows and building all my one windows as i still have the orginal windows in my house from 1926. I hate cheap modern windows "even the nice ones " as even they are crap and cost a fortune to boot.

It will take forever to hand build them and cost me the same as buying nice premade ones. However in the end i will have the nicest windows money can buy for the price of a Pella, Anderson or Marvin.

Maybe crazy but i am not much for half measures or cutting corners on my own projects or with my own work. I am forced into comprimising the quality of my work Monday through Friday if i want to keep my job and it is a real challenge for me. Perfection on the weekends and the time it takes or as close as i can get to it with the abbilities i posses it is such a relief.




You guys are looking at this all wrong, a new bench and sliding table saw are required for the kitchen to be built :D

[Brian Holcombe]

Some secrets must remain secrets :D

I feel very similarly, which is why I plan to build my own doors and kitchen cabinets which will not involve plywood in the case. With the way it's going if we ever sell the place I just hope the next owner appreciates the woodwork enough not to tear it all out if the "color" is not in vogue.

In doors I have an entry door, seven single doors, one set of French doors, one set of triple sliding doors and two sets of double sliding doors.....so likely about 6 months worth of cutting mortises.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I used to turn my nose up at track saws, but they sure make straightening a board easy. Perhaps a purchase is in my near future. I saw the picture of the rip saw in the kerf, and before reading I said, "good grief, did he hand rip that massive slab?"

Looking forward to this build. There is something I love about taking a slab and turning it into something.

[Patrick Walsh]

Wow Brian that is a ton of doors. And the fact you will make the all by hand.

I will use my shaper and slot mortiser and not feel at all bad about it. I use the my smoother to finish them off and drawbore them but that is about the extent of the handwork i will be doing.

As far as the kitchen well that is still a couple years off. I keep putting it off as its a big money project even with me doing the work. Plus if i build those cabbinetts i will never want to move. As it is my shop and my garden have me thinking as much as i hate my neighborhood and just generally where i live i will probably never leave unless i can buy a second home.

I gotta hand it to you if you build all those doors and caninetts by hand. That would be something else. I would habe to quit my job fir a year and take out a loan!




Some secrets must remain secrets :D

I feel very similarly, which is why I plan to build my own doors and kitchen cabinets which will not involve plywood in the case. With the way it's going if we ever sell the place I just hope the next owner appreciates the woodwork enough not to tear it all out if the "color" is not in vogue.

In doors I have an entry door, seven single doors, one set of French doors, one set of triple sliding doors and two sets of double sliding doors.....so likely about 6 months worth of cutting mortises.

[Patrick Walsh]

I purchased the track saw back when all i had was a contractor saw. I could not imgine living without one for work or hobby at tjis point.

I actually used it today to put a tappered cut on the pegged sides of some built in closet pannels because the back wall was not plum.

It was a real lifesaver as i got a perfect cut the first time. No chipping or tearout on birch plywood stained in ebony or black wanut shot with conversion varnish. Cant beat the track saw. Now if the would just make one with a 10" blade for 16/4 stock!

Straightlining thick stock is one reason i want a big slider with a 16-20" blade!

I threw the handsaw pic in just for looks ;)


I used to turn my nose up at track saws, but they sure make straightening a board easy. Perhaps a purchase is in my near future. I saw the picture of the rip saw in the kerf, and before reading I said, "good grief, did he hand rip that massive slab?"

Looking forward to this build. There is something I love about taking a slab and turning it into something.