Last Weekend's project - Sawbenches

[Louis Bois]

I've been complaining about my spindly, rickety sawhorses for a while now and decided it was time to make something a little "sturdier". I was inspired by a recent post on Lost Art Press to pull the trigger and build something. I took Chris' design and added another smaller version (stackable) as I often need the double support when ripping longer stock.

These little fellers will make a much needed addition to my shop!!!

[James Mittlefehldt]

What did you use for wood on those Louis, looks good.

[Leif Hanson]

Ah, there's another project also I need to do. They look great, Louis!

I've built many many sawhorses over the days, but these dedicated saw benches really look to be the way to go... Make sure you tell us what you think of them after you've used them a while!

Leif

[Louis Bois]

Thanks gentlemen...


What did you use for wood on those Louis, looks good.

Southern yellow pine my good man. I had some leftover bits from a "Petit Roubo" project I'm building for my son. It will essentially be a scaled-down, fully-functional version of the Roubo. I'll post it up when it's done.

...and Leif, I'll give you a full "user" report as I'll be building my son's bed in the next few weeks. Should have lots of opportunities to use the benches.

[Mark Stutz]

Looksvery nice. I have the pdf downloaded and ready to go, as soon as I find a roundtoit. I have some reclaimed 100+ year old SYP that will be perfect for this.

Mark

[Jim Dunn]

Hey Mark they started selling "roundtoit's" at Woodcraft just this weekend:)

Louis those look like nice additions to your shop.

[James Mittlefehldt]

Thanks gentlemen...



Southern yellow pine my good man. I had some leftover bits from a "Petit Roubo" project I'm building for my son. It will essentially be a scaled-down, fully-functional version of the Roubo. I'll post it up when it's done.

...and Leif, I'll give you a full "user" report as I'll be building my son's bed in the next few weeks. Should have lots of opportunities to use the benches.

Okay where did you get southern yellow pine just curious you know?

[Joe Cunningham]

I see SYP at my local borg outlet, though I think most of it is pressure treated (at least here).

I'm thinking of building a roubo/english franken-bench (maybe) by summer, so have been searching for SYP.

[David White II]

Non pressure treated SYP is available at the HD or Lowe's here in Nashville, but only in 8-12" widths.

[David White II]

Is this the sawing class version? Ripping 2x12s to size by hand would give me pause.

[James Mittlefehldt]

I have never seen SYP in the nieghbourhood which is why I am curious as to where Louis got it. The 2X10 and 2X12 here is mostly white or black spruce, and some western red cedar, okay for the structural part of the a bench but not for the business end so to speak.

[Louis Bois]

Okay where did you get southern yellow pine just curious you know?

2 words: Exotic Woods.

You can't find SYP in the Borgs ANYWHERE in Canada that I'm aware of.

I wouldn't seek it out with the intent of building these sawbenches, but I was picking up an order of QS white oak...and they happened to have some SYP in stock. It wasn't the cheapest SYP in the world (about $4-ish a board/ft, but I decided to pick some up as I wanted some dense material to build my son's Petit Roubo top and I was curious about using it. I picked up an extra board to build the sawbenches.

Thanks Jim and Mark...and good luck with yours Mark.

...and yes David, it's the 2008 version...only mine uses thicker 1 5/8" stock as opposed to 1 1/4".

[Mike Brady]

SYP is pretty hard top find in the northern and western states....thus the name. Chris Schwarz has mentioned this is his bench writings. I have had good luck with poplar for benches. It is not prohibitively expensive and combined with a laminated maple top, has nice weight for a bench. The green tones turn brown in a couple of years, even indoors. What do you guys think of poplar?

[James Mittlefehldt]

Yes A & M wood supply in Cambridge lists it but does not always have it. My friendly purveyor of wood has had it but not often so hit and miss. I suppose I could check at a certain sawmill I know of they migh bring some in, and thier prices are reasonable.

I am thinking of going to the KW woodshow this weekend you going too Louis?

[Louis Bois]

James, I'll be in Ottawa this weekend...dagnabbit!...otherwise I would've made an effort to go check it out. Please let us know how it is/was!

[Jim Becker]

Louis, not only are the benches wonderful in craftsmanship, but you also managed to make them look like a million bucks through your photography! Awesome!

[Louis Bois]

Thanks Jim. It's a good thing I've got a wide angle lens to move around in that little shop!!!

[Vince Shriver]

Why the "V" on the end of the larger bench?

[Louis Bois]

Why the "V" on the end of the larger bench?

Here's a quote from Chris' article, "The V-shaped mouth on the top – called a “ripping notch” – supports your work as you notch out corners with a handsaw or jigsaw.

[Ken Martin]

Luis,

In 2006 Harry Strasil posted a tutorial on building a saw bench.

Part 1
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=39660&highlight=table+strasil

Part 2

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=40054&highlight=Tutoral

Part 3 &4
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=40686&highlight=Tutoral

Part 5

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=42010&highlight=Bench+Part

Good luck with building yours.

Ken

[Joe Close]

Here is a source that may help you locate SYP: http://www.southernpine.com

[John Dykes]

Figures -

Nothing in Colorado!

- jbd

[Ted Jay]

SYP is pretty hard top find in the northern and western states....thus the name. Chris Schwarz has mentioned this is his bench writings. I have had good luck with poplar for benches. It is not prohibitively expensive and combined with a laminated maple top, has nice weight for a bench. The green tones turn brown in a couple of years, even indoors. What do you guys think of poplar?

Oh, that stuff... isn't that a weed tree?........ :rolleyes:


Southern Yellow Pine 1x4,1x6,1x8,1x10,1x12 ................ starting @ .75bf

[Johnny Kleso]

They are to nice to use :)

[Doug Littlejohn]

I really like mine. Never had one or really thought about it until I read Chris's article. Then I had to make one and boy it sure works nice, just as advertised (I too used the height CS gave and it's just perfect for my knee).

I only had Purpleheart and Walnut in 6/4 and the walnut just called out to me.

It was a lot of fun to build, the only electrons used were for the base material cuts. The mortises, etc., all done by hand.

Here is mine, hope folks enjoy:

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/6/4/9/6/6/webimg/127819947_o.jpg