A long time ago...a bench build was done

[steven c newman]

Back from the archives of the Dungeon Woodwork Shop. When we first moved into this house....I had to leave a bunch of things behind...
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What you see, is what I restarted out with....no much of a bench...or anything else. Puttered around with this mess for a while...until..I decided to build a saw bench..as everyone was talking about how they were needed in a shop....went dumpster diving....found an old waterbed frame...and a few other treasures...got up the "Saw Tub"
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Needed something better to work on....more my height...so..high tech portable work bench was set up...
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A 6' step ladder. Clamp a leftover plank at whatever step height works the best, and build a saw bench..
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And..it did come in handy.....about a week or two later....still using the step ladder bench, too....
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Start about 11:00 am on a sunny Sunday...in the fall. One side plank from the waterbed frame was cut down to around 5' or so, and notches made on the ends..
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Then turn this around, and notch the other end. I used a circular saw to make the notches, without other cutting them....then the handsaw finished them up..
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Left this sit a bit....needed another plank ripped down to 4 legs. set the planks on the saw bench, and ripped to just over 4" wide, leaving the lines..that then needed the sawn edges planed...
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Legs wound up being 1-1/2" x 4" x 31-1/2" ( I just now measured them, again.
About this time, I stopped for lunch, and sent the Boss out to get a box of 3" screws....$7!!!!..there went the budget...
Hope I am not boring anyone...stay tuned for part 2....:D

[steven c newman]

Ok..Lunch was over....Legs needed a notch for a stretcher...
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Leftover from ripping the legs. A few saw cuts..
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Then a chisel and the Ward's #78...then size the cross piece, and get it pre-drilled...
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That screw is there as a plane stop...cross piece needed a bit of "touch-up" to fit...Rotate the bench as needed, to attach the paired up legs..
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Install one set, then work on the other set...then set this wobbly thing on it's own four feet...
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Added a 1 x 6 piece of barn siding as a stretcher....And started working on an apron...
Front apron...was a piece of 5/4 from a busted up door...back was a 2 x 4, as were the ends...Back and front were notched to fit over the ends...
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Front apron was 5/4 x 3-1/4" x 5' Back was 1-1/2" x 4" x 5'....back apron needed to be wider( deeper?) than the front...due to a tool well being added..
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Aprons were then pre-drilled, with counter bores....and a box load of screws used...

Had a bit more of that 1 x 6 siding, to make foot assemblies, with leftover door stile squares as foot pads...There is an added board to the tool well, along with a strip of plywood..Both the front wall and the floor of the tool well are strips of 3/4" plywood.
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One more "part" of this story to go...anyone bored, yet?
Stay tuned...Part 3 is coming right up...:D

[steven c newman]

Weird...had to "edit" to get the photos to appear....hit edit, hit save....and back they come....YES, they were all resized to fit this little site.....and renamed...
Anyway ( IF the photos do show up) where was I?

looking more like a bench, now? Hand plane to level the top...
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Although a longer plane was also used...

Next, once things were all assembled, two people were needed to walk this thing into the house, slide it down the steps to the shop on that flat top..
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Since that time....have added a Crochet, and end vise ( $10 flea market find) and a leg vise from the Pole Barn Bench I had to leave behind...
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A cabinet and shelf under the bench, a few round dog holes....and a plywood back to the back legs.

Started at 1100 hours, construction ended at 1900 hrs on that Sunday afternoon....been in use ever since....Single Brain Cell Sketch Up to do the plan.

Hope you all enjoyed the show....:D

[steven c newman]

STILL doing that blue number crap....I can't reduce the pictures any further down.....to fit in the PIN-HOLE Theater format.....deal with it, MODS....

edit down to almost nothing....will see how long they last....

[Stew Denton]

Steven,

Neat story and build. You have come a long way.

Now there is a bunch of stuff in the dungeon shop.

Stew

[Bruce Page]

STILL doing that blue number crap....I can't reduce the pictures any further down.....to fit in the PIN-HOLE Theater format.....deal with it, MODS....

edit down to almost nothing....will see how long they last....

Steven, can you enlighten us on the picture posting issue?

[steven c newman]

About once every 2 or 3 months, this site has "issues" with photos I try to upload here...Even though those same photos loaded fine the day before....such as the first post on this thread....same file in fact...yet the next two posts from that same file would not load...instead I get a blue line of numbers/letters, and telling me they are invalid? This is about the 6 or 7th time in the last year.....Never know when it will happen, until you post a picture....then return to that post..and find the blue line.....This time around, I had to go back and edit "normal" sized photos( same sizes as I usually use) to almost a pin-hole picture...like 200 x 120 pixel size.....They look like a postage stamp now, when i look through the files...

half afraid to try to post anymore pictures.....

[Bruce Page]

I wish I knew the solution to the problem. I and other mod’s have looked at the posting data and cannot find any issues on this side.

[steven c newman]

So much for the "months" and/or" Years "of making one bench. Mine started out as a simple framework of a bench....something that I could improve as I went along. Didn't need to keep building one bench after another, until I "got it perfect" ......it "evolved" over the years.

Maybe others looking for a "first bench" can build something simple like this, then add to it as they go along. Biggest thing, it would get them working with wood....both in building this, and what ever Projects they would want to do. I had to make mine to fit into the workspace I have/had..... others may have a larger shop...or, maybe just a spare bedroom.

[steven c newman]

The post about a Federal Fan is having the same issues....

[steven c newman]

The thing is....this is a WORK bench....not fine furniture. It was built to do work....and has every nick, dent, hole, and splatter that can tell a pretty good story....

It was made from the wood supplies on hand....dug right out of a dumpster, mostly.

I can clamp work to it in almost any direction....c clamped to the apron....run an F clamp across the bench, hook the end into the tool well. not afraid of driving a couple screws to hold the work either in a jig, or right to the bench. Dog holes were added...using a #13 bit in a brace. ( 13/16")

back of the tool well is level with the rest of the bench. I can also lay a sheet of plywood across the top of the bench to cover the well, if need be...Like standing a table up on the bench. I use a c clamp and the leg vise as 3rd hands, when gluing up panels...much easier than laying them "flat" on a bench..and no glue drips on the bench. Have also use the end vise as a 3rd hand. "Too many parts, too many clamps, not enough hands..." sort of thing.....like gluing up 9 strips into a flat panel, and not have it fly up out of the clamps when you first tighten them down.

[Lee Schierer]

About once every 2 or 3 months, this site has "issues" with photos I try to upload here...Even though those same photos loaded fine the day before....such as the first post on this thread....same file in fact...yet the next two posts from that same file would not load...instead I get a blue line of numbers/letters, and telling me they are invalid? This is about the 6 or 7th time in the last year.....Never know when it will happen, until you post a picture....then return to that post..and find the blue line.....This time around, I had to go back and edit "normal" sized photos( same sizes as I usually use) to almost a pin-hole picture...like 200 x 120 pixel size.....They look like a postage stamp now, when i look through the files...

half afraid to try to post anymore pictures.....

Please tell us your step by step procedure and the operating system you use on the computer where these problems occur. As best we can determine you are almost the only person having these issues.

[steven c newman]

I am using a Windows 10....and use it's photo editor sections. HP Pavilion computer. Camera of late ( there have been quite a few over the last 10 years..) Canon PowerShot A2300HD...no, I am not the only person having issues, as you have just found out. These older photo files I was using..are over 6 years old, and were resized back then.....this time around...they are the size of a Postage Stamp on my screen..VERY tiny...just to get them to post....yet, the one shot of the bench that was taken a week ago, also went "Blue Numbers" yet in another post, it loaded fine? Same picture both places?
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129KB size. Yet, I can do a few build-along threads without any such problems? Pixel size...a few that were 680 x 5.. will not load to this site, when I then drop down to 480 x 3..the same photo does load?



"I was a Gentleman, once...but only by an act of Congress" Somedays, I tend to forget the Gentleman part..

Back to the Bench...hopefully some out there can simply just build a decent "Starter" bench..and get to work....benches are made for work, and are highly adaptable creatures.....is mine a piece of Fine Furniture? Hardly...but it will do about any job I ask it to do. "But it isn't made out of (fill in the wood type/hype)...." That is fine with me....I could have made it out of Ash...but..what would I use for all those Projects I make.....leave the high dollar, fancy woods to do the projects with.

[Stew Denton]

Steven,

Your bench illustrates that one does not need a $2500 bench to do woodworking.

I plan to eventually build a bench, but for the time being, and for a while to come, it will be planks on sawhorses in the back yard.

In the not too far distant future, hopefully, I will be able to use a tool storage cabinet I built from an old metal desk for a bench. I cut up the old metal desk (paid $10 for it) for the drawer sections, and put a top and base on it, as well as casters. Right now it is covered up with stuff, and it is too low, but it has possibilities, and potentially much better than the sawhorses and planks. Plus, it is inside the garage, not outside.

For me, it will be a temporary fix, but a temporary fix is better than no fix, and will be a big step up from what I have now.

Glad you posted the bench build.

Stew