I didn’t get much time to work on it, but I did tack the legs of the new workbench on test out the height, and start working on the top.  The legs are nice and solid, and add a nice character to my recycled materials “frankenbench”.  When all is said and done it will probably have 3-4 different sources for the wood used in the bench including the bedframe, an old Southern Yellow Pine bunk bed a friend carted up here from the south, and left over build materials from my neighbor.

I wish Yellow Pine was easier to get up here, it’s a great wood and the white pine we get around these parts doesn’t hold a candle to the Southern Yellow Pine that Christopher Schwarz is always advocating for workbench construction.  At first I discounted this, I mean, pine is pine right?  Then I acquired this bunkbed frame, and realized what it was.  I get it now, and that makes me all the more sad. Oh well, we must persevere.

Anyway, here is some shots of the legs being tacked on, and the bench standing up.  I used a couple drywall screws to tack to the cross bracing, and it’s remarkably solid for what it is.  I also spent a little time planing the top to get it a bit more flat, and discovered some terrible grain direction with awesome tear-out.  Sigh.  I knew it wasn’t going to be great, but it is annoying.

Tacking the legs on.

Testing for height and planing the top

Steps left to do:

• add stretchers to the leg, and shelf underneath
• carriage bolts for the legs (to make it able to break down)
• reinforce the top with addition thickness (for dog holds and weight)
• attach twin screw vise to the front (using screws from “book press”)
• attach quick release vise to end
• map out dog hole placement (line up with end vise)
• drill dog holes for hold fasts on the top and sides
• put some kind of finish on the top

But, I do like the top height, it’s low (31″) but I’m short, and it feels good with the wood jack plane at least.  I might need to add some risers to the legs if it’s too short for metal bodied planes, but I’m going to go with this height to see if I like it or not.

Hopefully some day soon I will be able to MAKE something on my bench.  Christmas time is coming, and I need to start planning out the family gifts.

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* Man, I need to do something about the lighting down there.  Those pictures look TERRIBLE!

OK, after much deliberating and wrangling of hands, I’ve decided to start in on building my new work bench.  It’s been a pretty rough time trying to get this point, full of second guessing, changing plans, and lots (too much) research.  I’m still quite new to the whole hand tool woodworking world, so I’m not as sure as I’d like to be that I’m going to build something that will work for what I want to do.  Because I don’t entirely know what I want to do yet.

My design for the workbench as a couple of inspirations:

• Some left over 2×10 boards from my brothers old wheelchair ramp
• A salvaged teak veneer bed frame with 4×4 posts
• Height and clamping for hand tool work
• Chris Schwarz Workbench Book
• Bob Rozaieski’s Workbench build

I’ve opted to build something similar to the “Nicholson” workbench, an old English style bench that uses a torsion box style rather than a super thick benchtop.  I’d love one with a 3″ thick solid maple top, but that is beyond my meager means, and time is a factor.  I have some material already, so why not build the easier build first, learn the lessons of what I REALLY need on this bench, and build another one later.  Plus, as I’ve learned so far,  you need a bench to build a bench.

A recent project I completed has come in very handy so far.  The sawbench!

Cutting on the Sawbench

Along with a couple wooden clamp, and the Disston crosscut saw I’m working my way through these boards quickly, and accurately.  It makes a world of difference in my sawing, a task I used to fear more than anything.  Now if I could just do something about the sore shoulder muscles.

For the legs I’m using these bed posts I got from a salvaged bed frame my friends Jason and Julie gave me after it got damaged during moving.  It was all nice teak veneer, over mystery wood (likely “Ramin” hardwood).  The posts are solid enough though for my purposes, and add a nice decorative element. Too bad I couldn’t work the carved finials into it some how.

Bed Posts for Bench Legs

After a hard days sawing, I had this to show for it.  It’s just all balanced on top of the legs, to test the height.

Benchtop prototype

You can see the table-saw and router table I used to use all the time pushed to the back.  I’ve been going more and more towards the hand tools of late.  Much less noisy, and dusty.  The only exceptions are my cordless drill, and the lathe.

All in all a good start.

More to come.

Tonight I made a draw-bore pin from the Harbor Freight punch set I picked up a couple weeks ago.  I picked up the idea from the Oldwolf blog that I sometimes read. I put a simple handle on it from some scrap Myrtle I had in the scrap bin.  Not much to say that won’t be explained by a few pictures.  I did put my saw bench to good use though, which you can see in the next picture.  It’s becoming quite handy around the shop, especially as I build my workbench (more on that later).

Here is the punch set I picked up.  It has at least three that can be used for a variety of sizes for cinching up the mortise, depending on the size of your holes drilled.

The Punch Set

I drilled a hole in the Myrtle wood using my #8 auger bit, clamping the piece in a screw clamp, and using the hold-fast in the saw-bench.  Worked quick and easy.  I did have to ream out the hole some with a #9 auger bit to get it go in partway.

Drilling the handle

Then I turned the handle on my Lathe (no pictures of that part).  The lathe is pretty much the only power tool used in the shop these days, with the possible exception of the cordless drill.  I’m enjoying listening to music (Black Sabbath, and Adema for tonight) instead of the table saw, and the lack of dust is a very nice thing.

Finished the Draw-bore Pin

The hole wasn’t  exactly straight, so the handle is a little crooked but it’s not a big deal.  And if it really bugs me I can always turn another one.  The punch is simply pressure fit into the handle, I widened the 1/2″ whole slightly so it slid in most of the way, and then hammered it in the rest of the way.   In use it doesn’t get a lot of pressure, so this will be fine.

It took probably half an hour to make all told.

Now I just need to start chopping some mortises.  :)  Here I go again building things to make things instead of actually MAKING things.  I guess I just have to build up the tools and techniques before I can get started.  Something like learning to crawl before I can walk or something.  Which my son did really quickly, and didn’t crawl for long at all.  Maybe there is hope?

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I’ve been wanting to build a sawbench for a while now, and today I finally got to it.  I think I was going to do something else when I wandered down to the garage, but this is what I worked on.  That’s how it is sometimes, it’s almost zen-like at times.  I just settle into the garage, and see what wants to be built.  Today it was a sawbench.

Saw Bench complete

I built it out of scrap from the lumber pile, the top was some spare 2×8 from I have no idea what project, and the legs are recycled from an old bunk bed that a friend let me scavenge a while ago.  It gives the sawbench a bit of a “frankenbench” appearance but it will do.  I wish I could build such pretty things as featured in the magazines, but I think I need to do my time with lesser woods until my skills are better.

What I think I liked best about the build was how I came up with the plans.  Pretty much on the fly, that’s how, and very little measuring.  That might sound odd, especially since “measure twice, cut once” is a tried and true slogan.  And I did measure to be sure, but not with a ruler.  The only thing I used a ruler for was the height of the bench (17″), and that was to measure my stump I used to use as a sawbench.  The rest came from the thickness of the wood, and from the piece being worked on.  I took the idea from Roy Underhill when he showed us how to set our gauges to the thickness of the mortise chisel, and work almost everything from that.  For a starting point, I looked at this plan by Chris Swartz, used the basic idea to get started, and the rest just flowed.

Here is the top with the notches cut out.  As luck would have it there was a hidden knot in one of the forward notches, but I was able to work though it with a few good whacks of the big hammer.  I angled everything at 10 degrees, like in the plan, set my sliding bevel gauge to that from a kids plastic protractor I had around.  I could have eyeballed it, but the protractor was handy.

Top board with notches cut

I actually started with the legs, but didn’t take any pretty pictures of them, but I wanted to show off the tools I used for this project (up to this point) so I staged a nice little shot here.  I love this saw I found, it’s a Disston and I got it for $12 if I remember right and rehabbed it to its current state.  It does need some sharpening though, next time I’ll have to do that, but it cuts fairly well as is.  Under it all you can see the beat up old stump I’ve been using (or trying to use) for sawing and other stuff.

Legs cut and some tools used.

Once the top was cut, and the legs all do, I drilled some 1/4″ holes in the legs with my bit and brace.  I just eyeballed the level by clamping the legs about 10 degrees angled and drilled away.  In a break from “period” I used 2″ drywall screws to attach the legs to the board, mainly because I was in a bit of hurry and I didn’t have any good ideas on how it would have been done.  On reflection I probably should have cut a step in the legs and probably doweled things together.  Next time.

Nearly finished bench.

Once the legs were on, it became evident pretty quickly how useful this bench is.  I drilled a couple 3/4″ holes in the middle and used a Gramercy Holdfast to hold the cross braces down for drilling and sawing.  Iet grabbed nicely in the 1 3/4″ pine top, and held things really well.  This makes me very happy.  In the background of the picture you can see the one power tool I used.  I love that drill, I really do, and it’s very handy to save my wrists (I have Carpal Tunnel in both wrists, hazards of the job I guess.)  I actually only used it because I couldn’t find a screwdriver, funny thing.

The I put the notch into the front with a rip saw, and cleaned up a few edges, and called it day.  A hot day, we’re in the middle of a heat wave here, so I didn’t spend too much time on the final stages.  I do need to level the legs a little but I can see how this will be a big help around the shop already.  I need to practice my hand saw technique, and I think this will help put me into the proper position to saw straight cuts.

Notch cut in front of bench

All in all I felt good, not scrambling for the tools and wondering if I was doing it right.  I felt more confident with the hand tools, and they worked well for me.

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