New Moravian Bench build

[ken hatch]

Ha. Love to see it. I do hope those extracurricular activities come with a good tip!
Anyway, sorry for the diversion. Back to the bench build....

No problem, it's hot enough in the shop I need the diversion . BTW, I finished cutting the long stretcher tenons this morning and have leg I and leg III long stretcher mortises marked. Leg II and leg iV will get marked when it cools off. Those are the critical marks, really easy to get confused and end up either re-marking or having base pairs that were not intended to be a base pair.

Video link sent.

ken

[ken hatch]

Completed the marking out, now the fun starts. As I have posted before, on the base unit there are three different joint types plus the wedged M/T long stretchers.

benchMarkingOutComplete.jpg

The three types of joints are part of the genius of the original makers. Each of the joints is the simplest and quickest to make that is also strong enough for its job.

The top stretcher uses a brindle joint. a through mortise would add no strength and a brindle is much quicker and easier to make. The middle stretcher is a pegged through M/T with a single shoulder, again quicker and I expect stronger against racking than a double shouldered tenon. The bottom stretcher's only job is to keep the bottom of the base's legs from spreading. A lapped dovetail is perfect for that job and easier and quicker to cut than a M/T.

Tonight, tomorrow and for the next few days there will be lots of chisel and saw work and I expect a little sweat.

ken

[ken hatch]

The bench is coming along I've sawed the upper stretcher tenons.

benchSawingTenonCheeks.jpg


You gotta love bridle joints, they are quick work. After chopping the bridle joints and cutting the 15 degree bevel on the top of the leg, fitting the upper stretcher was a walk in the park.

benchUpperStretcherFitted.jpg


Just a reminder, click 'em to big 'em.

Next is finishing the other base pair upper stretcher and starting on the middle stretcher M/T joints.


ken

[ken hatch]

The top stretchers are finished and fitted. Next are the middle stretchers.

The middle stretcher uses a single shoulder, flush to the face M/T joint. Once you understand what you are trying to do the markout is easy but can cause confusion if you do not pay attention to the marking, sawing and chopping.

benchMarkingoutMiddleM_T.jpg

The mortise gauge is set so the far pin rides on the back edge of the stretcher so it makes a single mark on the stretcher. The waste is the face side leaving a tenon on the back side of the stretcher. Marking the mortise is just normal mortise marking using the face edge to reference the fence.

Will Myers threw me a curve yesterday. He posted about a new Bench Crafted Crisscross that works with a standard portable Moravian bench. For his installation he used a BC metal screw, not necessarily a deal killer but I like the Lake Erie wood screws. Will and I have had a little back and forth about using a wood screw with the crisscross (room issues) but as I haven't ordered the vise screw yet I've decisions to make. I expect I'll wait on Will to checkout the room issue before ordering a vise screw. One of the reasons for building this bench was to try the new 2X Lake Erie screw but I want to try the BC crisscross as well.

Two possible answers; build another bench, one using the BC crisscross and one the Lake Erie 2X or just make two vises with vise backers for this bench and then A&B 'em to see which I like best.

Not a bad problem to have,


ken

[ken hatch]

Most of the time to make a mortise hole I just grab a chisel and beaver away. Not on these chip breath, Mostly because of the size, I'm drilling and paring. It is a little slower and because I didn't match the tenon to a chisel size a little easier and probably gives better results.

benchMiddleMortise.jpg

The first test fit is perfect:

benchMiddleMortiseTenonStretcher.jpg

The tenon needs maybe one or two swipes with a plane and it should slide home.

BTW, I just ordered the BeachCraft Classic Vise Screw with the small crisscross. It is a little cheaper than the Lake Erie Toolworks 2X wood screw. It is not as fast but is the same speed as the standard wood screw and I don't think there is room to use the crisscross with the 2X screw without some major mods to the bench. Whatever, this bench will start life with a metal screw.



ken

[ken hatch]

The upper and middle stretchers have been fitted. Next up is the bottom stretcher with a lapped dovetail joint and then drill and pare the long stretcher mortise. Other than size and the angle the long stretcher mortise is a piece of cake because it needs to be loose.

There is a very slight curve in the #IV middle stretcher shoulder causing a small gap at the top. I'm not sure if it is worth fooling with it is so slight, other than the one shoulder everything has pulled up nice and tight.

benchBaseUnitWithUpperandMiddleStretcher.jpg

I've the weekend off. If I can stay out of MsBubba's line of sight I might get the base units finished. Still a bit of work with a slab glue up, vise chop/backer board install and tool tray to build.

I could be waiting on the vise hardware to finish this sucker.


ken

[ken hatch]

Except for chopping the long stretcher mortises one base unit is finished and one to go. The first base pulled up square with only a couple of small gaps, fine furniture, no go without figuring out how to hide 'em, but for a workbench it looks good to me.

benchBaseUnitFinished.jpg

I picked up 48 BF of European Beach for the slab yesterday. Once the other base is finished it will be time to rip the Beach and glue up the slab. The BenchCrafted screw and crisscross has been shipped, this sucker may be in the short rows soon.


ken

[Jake Hillestad]

I've been tossing around the idea of building a Moravian based in part on your exposing them here. I'm sure you have mentioned it somewhere, but, have you scaled the bench up compared to Will Myers plans? I'd like to use a BC Crisscross (I see they are making a 14" version targeted towards Moravians and smaller benches) but I really want to use the Lake Erie screw. In your experience do you think there is room for both assuming the bench is scaled up a bit with a height of say 38" instead of the ~33" on Myers version?

[Frederick Skelly]

Ken,
Thanks for the tutorial on the 3 joints used!
You know, I really don't need to build another bench. But every time I read about your latest, I start thinking about building one anyway........

Fred

[ken hatch]

I've been tossing around the idea of building a Moravian based in part on your exposing them here. I'm sure you have mentioned it somewhere, but, have you scaled the bench up compared to Will Myers plans? I'd like to use a BC Crisscross (I see they are making a 14" version targeted towards Moravians and smaller benches) but I really want to use the Lake Erie screw. In your experience do you think there is room for both assuming the bench is scaled up a bit with a height of say 38" instead of the ~33" on Myers version?

Jake,

Several answers to your questions. First I built a scaled up bench (full sized shop bench) about a year ago. Will linked to it on his blog during the build. So in answer to your question, yes the bench can be scaled up very easily. I'll go back to Will, he thinks the Lake Erie wood screw will work if the long stretcher is lowered or in your case the bench is built higher.

You will not regret building a Moravian, it is the easiest and quickest build of all the major types of benches and much cheaper to build when compared to the Roubo yet is every bit as stable. I have a Roubo sitting next to my shop sized Moravian, I expect the Moravian weights half as much as the Roubo yet is just as stable and is my main bench.

ken

[ken hatch]

Ken,
Thanks for the tutorial on the 3 joints used!
You know, I really don't need to build another bench. But every time I read about your latest, I start thinking about building one anyway........

Fred

Fred,

If anyone doesn't need another bench it is me, yet here I am in mid build. Go for it, you will enjoy the build and even better really enjoy working on the bench. I'm always amazed at how often I pull the one I have disassembled and stacked in a corner of the shop out, put it together where needed around the house, then when finished put it back in the corner. Just like I would do with a Workmate but it is a real bench.

ken

[ken hatch]

Smaller lapped dovetail mortises I'll take off the saw, these I figured would work better to get close to the sides with the saw and pare to fit. The first two proved that was a good decision, I hope these do as well. The only problem is it takes longer and there are more chances to screw up.

benchChoppingDovetailMortise.jpg

The above dovetail and mortise fit just fine. One more to go and then on to chopping the long stretcher mortises. Once those mortises are finished I'll glue up the base and then the slab. With the vise and vise backer board install plus the tool tray the bench will be finished. If not for the day job I'd be in the short rows.

Speaking of the day job, the day job has me booked seven days in a row starting today at 1600. Work on the bench will slow a little toward the end of the seven for no other reason after four days I will be dog tired and needing a break with three more to go.

ken

[Jake Hillestad]

Jake,

Several answers to your questions. First I built a scaled up bench (full sized shop bench) about a year ago. Will linked to it on his blog during the build. So in answer to your question, yes the bench can be scaled up very easily. I'll go back to Will, he thinks the Lake Erie wood screw will work if the long stretcher is lowered or in your case the bench is built higher.

You will not regret building a Moravian, it is the easiest and quickest build of all the major types of benches and much cheaper to build when compared to the Roubo yet is every bit as stable. I have a Roubo sitting next to my shop sized Moravian, I expect the Moravian weights half as much as the Roubo yet is just as stable and is my main bench.

ken

Thanks, I went and checked out his new posts - I'll be tuned in for the rest of your build and look forward to seeing how you like the crisscross combo.

[ken hatch]

Thanks, I went and checked out his new posts - I'll be tuned in for the rest of your build and look forward to seeing how you like the crisscross combo.

Jake,

Good move.

The good news, because of the design of the bench, if for any reason I do not like the metal screw or the crisscross it is an easy job to replace the whole vise unit with either a wood screw or a parallel guide and pin. Or both.

BTW, the two base units are finished except for chopping the long stretcher mortises and then glueing those suckers together. The slab is just a lot of grunt work. The vise install, this time I don't know, it will be the first time I've used a crisscross but it should be a little less fiddly than a parallel guide. The tool tray is just a PITA because the boards are so long and only a couple of joints to hold 'em together.

ken

[Jerry Olexa]

Good progress Ken...Thanks for posting...We envy you....