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Contributor
Stu, it's hard to tell from pic ,but those turnings seem to have a fairly sharp parting between the sections. The "spool
turnings" of mid 19th century usually have a pretty consistent undulating shape. I've wondered if the later type was a
sort of celebration of early 20th century electricity by imitating wiring insulators. Good job on putting it all back together....and thanks
for turning them upside down to you ....so that we could see them top side up ! Good to have you with us.
Contributor
One of my current projects is a box to hold some files for a friend's upcoming birthday:
Cutting Grooves with #50.jpg
Finding a pair of long rods to fit the #50 fence was a bit of work. Amazing how a few thousandths difference in the diameter of a rod can be a problem.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
YAMB - Yet Another Moravian Bench. Mine is all birch ply laminate. The local wood shop here closed due to COVID-19 and I am stuck at home with my limited selection of hand tools only. So, I cheated and started with ply. I'm building up my shoulders and hips trying to plane it flat. Much to learn....
Contributor
Howdy David and welcome to the Creek.
Trying to plane plywood can be strange.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Member
David,Originally Posted by David Glauser
Congrats, you will enjoy the bench as well as making it. Photos of your progress if you can.
ken
Contributor
I just got word that they are opening the woodshop. However, only half is open, only one person at a time is allowed, you can only get a 2 hour block, you have to disinfect every machine or tool you touch, and it is only open 9-5 M-F. Not exactly workable for those of us still employed. Besides, if I wanted to run my 100 pound bench top through a planer, I want someone there to help.
Contributor
Wait, you live someplace that has a shared space, open to the public, wood hobby shop?
~mike
happy in my mud hut
Contributor
I'm a beginner with planes. I have a number of them, accumulated over time, but very little experience on large items until this project. I'm using a LV 5 1/4 bench plane for the workbench top, as it is the most suitable of my collection (which also includes the LA block plane, the small shoulder plane, and a rabbet plane, all from LV). Someone mentioned on another thread that you need a bench to build a bench. That seems true - the plastic HD saw horses don't provide a great support for planing.
Since the closing of the woodshop, I have found that I far prefer making dovetails by hand to messing with the router jig for same.
Member
I think Jim koepke made a post one time about homemade wood saw horses. I made those for my bench build and they are rock solid. Another nice thing was I made them a height that was good for me.
When I did my bench I started out with old sheet metal horses. During the actions of planing the top, one of the legs bent and rendered them useless.
Contributor
If you google 'saw bench', there are a ton of articles and plans out there. Well worth building at least a pair.
~mike
happy in my mud hut
Contributor
Yes. It's a 55+ community in southern Ca. The amenities include a large wood shop, lapidary shop, and pottery shop, among other things. The wood shop has two large rooms. One has a table saw, a couple band saws, router table, planer, jointer, drum sander, several other belt and rotary sanders, a drill press, and lots of hand power tools, plus a dust collection system and compressed air. The other room has several lathes, scroll saw, grinding wheels and belts, and is generally used as the finishing room, when no one is making curls. The shop is open to residents once they show some competence. I have never used a lathe, so I can't use it until and unless I get someone else to train me. I have built several things there, most recently a cherry dinette table for my RV. My next project was to be a large built-in cabinet (7' x 3' x 2') for said RV, with internal lifts for a TV and other items. Now, I'll be making it at home, if I ever get this bench finished.
At first the biggest thing I missed from the shop was the table saw. Cutting long straight edges by hand is not easy. Then I bought a track saw and solved that. I'm trying to build up a collection of tools that are effective and occupy little space, as DW and I intend to live in the RV starting next spring or so.
Friend of the Creek
Stu, that’s a beautiful restoration. Very well done. And yes, it counts!
Great thread Phil thanks for starting it. Super fun to see all the projects folks have going! Lots of inspiration in their for slackers like me who were doing more time watching the building.
Cheers, Mike
Contributor
Four more mortises to chop, then all the drawer runners and kickers will be done. After that I think I’ll be ready to glue up the carcass. I’ve bounced back and forth between calling this a table or a bench. Since I don’t intend to do much work on it, I think I’ll call it a table.
you’ll notice I have a nice cross-grain insert in the rail. It will be a good reminder to mark which side of the line I’m supposed to cut on. Since I’m going to paint this with milk paint, I don’t think it will show when I’m done.
Doing the runners and kickers is fun. Since they are internal pieces that will never be seen they are a low-stakes way to practice cutting right to the line. If I’m doing a mortise and tenon that I want to come out nice I always saw a little off the line of my shoulder, then pare the last bit with a chisel to guarantee a crisp line. I’m feeling a lot more confident sawing right to the line, but I’m not sure whether I’ll start doing that for fancier things yet. They were also a good excuse to go through my scrap pile and use up some little pieces.
3E9D94B8-2AC1-4DA9-B485-3D0545C77444.jpg
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