Work bench build - picture heavy.

djg said:
Man that Ash has some beautiful grain. I wish I had some boards like that. I like it better than Red Oak.
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Sad part is it's all gone here, the ash borer wiped it out. I got this when it first started happening. Residential streets where lined with ash trees, all gone now.
 
phinds said:
Greg, I've had very good luck w/ that approach, but I'm using a drill press not a hand power drill, so more stability.
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Same here, thinking maybe the drill guide might help with the stability.
 
woodtickgreg said:
Same here, thinking maybe the drill guide might help with the stability.
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Well, it should certainly be better than just holding a hand power drill in your hand, but I've not used one of those so don't have any feel for the stability. Forstners, as I'm sure you're aware, CAN really grab an edge but if they're sharp that's rarely a problem.
 
Well I got a short forstner bit extension and I figured I'd give that a try.
Here it is in use with a 3/4" forstner bit.
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Its much easier to drill overlaping holes as the bit doesn't catch like the spade bit did.
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Much more controll.
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I finished drilling one side and flipped the legs over to drill from the other side.
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First core is out now.
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And i can see all the way through the first hole. Lots of chiseling to do once all the drilling is done.
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Lookin' good. Still, I don't envy you the chiseling. Have you thought about using a power chisel to do the roughing before using a sharp chisel to finish it with? Would likely save some time and wrist muscles.
 
phinds said:
Lookin' good. Still, I don't envy you the chiseling. Have you thought about using a power chisel to do the roughing before using a sharp chisel to finish it with? Would likely save some time and wrist muscles.
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Interesting, no I never thought about that. And I don't have one. But, hmmm...........
 
Well I looked at a power chisel, not really for me. Doesn't go very deep either. And it's a couple hundred bucks. So it's slow and steady and just mallet and chisel it out when I get to that point.
For me it's part of the wood working process. I've got some long reach Narex morticing chisels that will get the job done.
 
One leg is now completely drilled out. One leg to go on one side.
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I learned some things with sharpening a forstner bit since I've had to do it several times. A Dremel is not the way to go. I do much better with a file, easier to hold the angles and it's probably just as quick. I had a hard time trying to maintain the angles with the Dremel.
 
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I had an idea for fitting the tennons to the mortices. I made some tennons out of the cutoffs, figured it would be easier fitting a short tennon at first rather than trying to wrestle with the cross stretchers and raising and lowering the 70lb leg repeatedly.
Same width and height.
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When I start chiseling this will be much easier to fit and I can leave the legs flat.
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When I cut my timber frame truss members I used a guage block on all the mortises and a cheap micrometer on all the tenons. Followed by a check block cut out of scrap. I will clear him of the cheating charges this time... :sofa: . Have to to keep my good name....
 
2feathers Creative Making said:
When I cut my timber frame truss members I used a guage block on all the mortises and a cheap micrometer on all the tenons. Followed by a check block cut out of scrap. I will clear him of the cheating charges this time... :sofa: . Have to to keep my good name....
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I can't find the rulebook anyway. I know it's here somewhere ....
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Well I've had lots going on lately and been working some long hours but I finally got some shop time. So I drilled out some more waste in the mortice holes. Used a nice new Freud forstner bit. They really are better quality, cuts really nice. One more mortice to clear out and then it's chisel time.
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All the through mortice holes are now drilled out. Time to square them up, chop chop chop......
Gage blocks are at the ready.
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