You're going to be able to park an Abrams Tank on top of that thang....Wowsa! Nice!
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You're going to be able to park an Abrams Tank on top of that thang....
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Member
Those legs must weight a ton each; you give a new standard to over-kill. Nice work.
[OP]
Guest
I know many don’t agree with the overbuilt workbench thing. At the end of the day the bench is for me though and I very much like a overbuilt bench. I see it this way, the bench will be with me for the rest of my life so it is hardly a waste of lumber. Plus it’s ash, not like it’s some precious exotic lumber or something.Originally Posted by Jim Becker
You're going to be able to park an Abrams Tank on top of that thang....
I would agree that I could probably park my truck on it if need be.
[OP]
Guest
The legs are pretty funny actually. Without the top on I can fairly easily move the not vise side around. But the vise side, that’s another story. It surprised even me how heavy it is. It’s been a while since I dimensioned out the legs but I would figure with the vise included the front vise leg is something like 10x8x34” give or take. Its a hunk of wood!
Moderator
Oh, I agree that the stoutness is great and it will last a long time. I'm all for it! The tank thing was just a touch of humor...
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
[OP]
Guest
Oh, I agree that the stoutness is great and it will last a long time. I'm all for it! The tank thing was just a touch of humor...
I took it as humor..
And it had better last a long time being how long it has taken me to make it.
Contributor
Hi Patrick,
Nice pic of that wide Imai slick on the bench...hope they are all working out for you, plus the Gordons. Glad they are being used.
Take care,
Kevin
[OP]
Guest
The slick has become one of my best friends.
I flattened the bottom of the bench with the HNT ebony jointer you sold me. It was dream. Well kinda, it left black tracks all over the place. It pulls so light and smooth that I could hardly care. I use the jack/smoother all the time for all kinds of stuff.
Sadly the moving filister is still nothing but shop ornimintation. After building that kitchen I was building back when you sold me the stuff I was offered and took a job in a custom cabinet shop and have been putting in massive amounts of hours ever since.
I hope to slow down after the holiday and get in a good few months of shop time.
How have you been. Did you get that bike?
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The side benefit is that you've now had a good course in timber framing. LOL
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
[OP]
Guest
More progress. Slow I suppose if you don’t count the zillion other things I have built since my last update. None of them are quite so interesting as they all comprise plywood. I loath plywood. A follow the blog of a very talented and inspiring furniture maker and recently he made some comment about a anti glue glue bumper sticker. Most if not all of his work relys on just the joinery to hold it together. I feel much the same way but I guess I’m not quite talented enough to feel such a way about glue thus I choose to resent plywood instead.
Ok so I am digressing. Back on topic.
Since I last updated I got the top on my bench. This was by chance. I was home sick with a terrible cold. A neighbor whom owns a landscape company was doing a another neighbors fall clean up. I ran out and begged for five minutes of there time. Ten minutes later the top was on.
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[OP]
Guest
I actually had not installed the deadman when the guys dropped the top onto the base. The picture above is after I did that work. This required I jack the top up with a auto body jack and a 2x4 to gain the space needed to fit everything together.
At this point I was still wondering how I was going to drawbore the top to the legs considering I would need about and 30 minutes or so of three more men’s time to lift the top back off so I could drill the holes in the leg tenons then drop it back on to resume and drive the dowels home.
It took me a minute to figure out how to do this alone. It will invoke four bottle jacks and some 2x4 scraps.
I considered not even drawboring the top to the legs. I however decided I have to as the bench just feels like I skipped something or it’s not finished.
As you can see in the picture bellow much of the deadman working parts are ebony. Before I drive everything with the dowels. I will remove the deadman one more time oiled everything and then wax all the working ebony parts. As it is it slides around like it riding and bearings. I was skeptical about how well the deadman would move around or rather not move around. To my surprise it’s a dream.
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[OP]
Guest
With that done the list to complete the bench goes like so.
1. flatten top
2. Make dowels and drawbore top to base.
3. Drill dog holes.
4. Cut leg vise to length and radius top.
5. Plane legs front and back stretchers and bench sides together.
The bellow pictures show what looks like the same bench unchanged. If you look closely you will notice that the bench top is not cut to length. That was last Saturday’s work mid massive flue meltdown. I don’t even know what I was thinking. I hadn’t been to work all week and could no longer sit still.
My plan was to curf the top and bottom with my track saw then finish the cut with a hand saw. Well in my rush to get the top on this never happened and the top got put on without the kurf cuts.
I figured no big deal just curf the top and finish with a hand saw just the same. Well no dice, the handsaw wanted to make its own kurf on the bottom side of the bench.
This resulted in some scary stuff. Really it shouldn’t have been so scary to me considering my background in all phases of residential home building. We have no choice but to do stupid stuff all the time. Non the less it had 100% of my attention. I guess my 6-8 now full time in a cabinet shop has made me soft?
So what did I do. I clamped my track to the underside of the bench got on the floor on my back and about 10mm at a time plunged my ts75 to full depth of cut. I then did the same from above and then finished with a hand saw and a mallet.
I wanted a chainmeal suit in the even disaster struck. Instead I took a deep breath and gave the task my full attention.
It was slightly scary but eh you do what you gotta do.
Atop the bench is a red oak bench seat top for a small mud room I built for a client. I have been using this bench as a bench in a unfinished state for month. I can’t tell you how many things I have built on this bench bottom side atop my actual bench.
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6. Trim Benchtop ends to length.
7.Chamfer and use a card scraper to clean all tight corners.
8. Build drawer for underside of bench on right side.
9. Oil everything
Last edited by Patrick Walsh; 12-10-2017 at 9:43 PM.
[OP]
Guest
That brings me to today. After two full weeks with the flue today it seemed to have left my body for the most part. I worked a full day yesterday trying to make up for lost wages the prior week and the a half day this morning again.
Still I could not help but get at least something done on the bench this week. It’s clear that unless something gets done every weeek this thing will never get finished. I also have a rather large project I need to do in my shop not works shop over the winter so I need my bench back. More on that project when this one is done.
While I was sick I took the time and sharpened every plane and chisel I own. So this afternoon I figure why not flatten the top. I didn’t much feel like running out to Home Depot to buy four bottle jacks. This seemed like the most enjoyable way to spend a couple hours.
In a couple picks you will see some of my favorite tools. They are custom HNT planes I purchased from another forum member. I used the large jointer to flatten both the top and bottom of the bench. I also used the jack smoother to put the final finish on the base after I assembled it. Today I used the Lie Nielsen #4 for the final smooth of the top as it was setup jut perfect after the fresh sharpening. I really nailed the camber and that is something I often don’t get 100%.
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Last edited by Patrick Walsh; 12-10-2017 at 9:45 PM.
[OP]
Guest
You will see in the photos above two holdfast and a plane stop.
Peter Ross was nice enough to make those for me. Late last night I paced a order for a set of six or ten I can’t remember. woodOwl bits. The holdfast are made for 1” dog holes and 6’’ thick tops.
I forgot to add the mortise for the plane stop to my long list of to do’s.
Well that’s probably it for this week.
As you can see I kinda have a thing for ebony.
The picture bellow shows some misc ash piece ]s slowly being dimensioned down to build the drawer.
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Last edited by Patrick Walsh; 12-10-2017 at 9:48 PM.
Member
That is a very nice bench. A lot of hours in that one for sure.
And there is nothing wrong with stout. One thing I hate myself about light benches is chasing them around while planing heavy on the top, or having it move in any way.
I am sure you know, but would like to point out for others, that the thin ash pieces laying perfectly flat on your bench should be stored on edge with space around if not going to be assembled into something within a couple hours.
Otherwise, you set yourself up for differential moisture content on both faces of the boards, and they will cup or twist before assembly.
Oh, and that space is way,way too clean and organized to be called a shop.
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