Work bench build - picture heavy.

[woodtickgreg]

Rain quit and so did the water seepage, floor was dry in the morning. Just a seasonal thing.

 

[DLJeffs]

That's good. The extension cord laying on the floor next to the puddle had me a little nervous.

 

[Nubsnstubs]

Greg, why didn't you make a router jig and then route out the mortise? It seems to me to be simpler than drilling out all those holes and then cleaning them up. ............. Jerry (in Tucson)

 

[woodtickgreg]

That's good. The extension cord laying on the floor next to the puddle had me a little nervous.

It's an air hose.

 

[woodtickgreg]

Greg, why didn't you make a router jig and then route out the mortise? It seems to me to be simpler than drilling out all those holes and then cleaning them up. ............. Jerry (in Tucson)

I thought about it but I didn't know if I could get that deep with the router. Plus I don't have a bit that can go that deep so I said screw it, I'll just go old school and chop them out. Hey, I've only got 6 more to go!

 

[woodtickgreg]

Mortices done.....
Once I started chopping them I kinda fell into a rythem and it went pretty smooth. Narex morticing chisels are nice too. Only used the bench chisels for fine tuning and making things flat.

Time to trim one end of the cross members before cutting to length.

Cut...flip....cut.

Voila.

The cut trimmed up good for a almost 6" timber.

Next its time to cut to length. Marked some lines and had at it.

Don't know what I'm going to do with this block. I really gotta stop hanging on to every scrap of wood.

So now all the cross members are cut to length.

Next I'll be forming the tennons. I'll make them a bit oversize so I can then trim each one to fit.
Man I'm having fun on this build.

 

[phinds]

Man I'm having fun on this build.

Well, I'm glad to hear it. Looks like a LOT of work but I can see how it would be very satisfying to have it done, although I'd be less enthusiastic about the doing it part.

EDIT: great build thread by the way. Thanks for posting all the pics. Keep'm coming

 

[Gdurfey]

How’s the thumb and hand? Hope it has been good therapy. Keep those blocks, good turning boxes. Or salt boxes. ….or……

 

[Wildthings]

How’s the thumb and hand? Hope it has been good therapy. Keep those blocks, good turning boxes. Or salt boxes. ….or……

or door stops or tire chocks ....or....

 

[woodtickgreg]

How’s the thumb and hand? Hope it has been good therapy. Keep those blocks, good turning boxes. Or salt boxes. ….or……

Thumb is still sore, it's going to take weeks or months to heal, a bad sprain can be worse than a break. But working in the shop is good therapy as long as I don't overdue it. I wear my brace still, especially when I'm in the shop.

or door stops or tire chocks ....or....

Or firewood.......lol.

 

[Mr. Peet]

As for that laminated ash block, sell it as a White ash endangered species salvaged wood ball blank.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I got some time in the shop today. So I started working on the tennons.
Did some layout on one of the cut offs.

Tested the shoulder cut.

And then cut the cheeks.

I made the test cuts a little on the large side and then trimmed it up with a rabbet plane.

Fitting nicely.

So since the test came out good i started cutting the cheeks on the leg stock.

This is a stable set up.

 

[woodtickgreg]

So then I made the shoulder cuts. Again it's much more stable to use the jig.

The clamp helps hold the stock in place.

and the tennkns are formed.

The pile of off cuts, lol.

And the first one is fitted. Nice and snug.

First leg is all fitted.

And yes it's heavy, lol.

 

[woodtickgreg]

This one will be set back 19" from the end to allow room for the vise.

One more leg to go. And then cross stretchers.

 

[Eric Rorabaugh]

Looking good. That thing is beefy. Gonna be HEAVY when its finished. Shouldn't g anywhere.

 

[woodtickgreg]

Only 9 hours at work today so I came home and went to the shop. I finished fitting the tennons to the mortices on the second leg.
This is just a dry fit and test to see how it will match the top.

Massive and heavy. Its a workout just moving the parts around, lol.

I'll leave a 2" overhang for clamping stuff if need be.

Next I'll glue up the leg assemblies.

 

[pinky]

Coming along nicely. Looking really good!

 

[TimR]

Looks great, starting to see the finish line. Which makes me think, what kind of finish and why?

 

[woodtickgreg]

Looks great, starting to see the finish line. Which makes me think, what kind of finish and why?

Still kind of working that out in my head. I may actually use 2 different types of finish. Probably water based poly on the leg and base assembly just because it dries so fast and I can get a couple coats on in a short time. But for the top I want something that is easily renewed. I'm leaning towards an oil and wax finish. Like pure blo for a couple of coats and then a blo and wax top coat. An oil and wax finish would be easy to maintain, just rub in a fresh coat from time to time. I've had poly top coats on benches in the past and I never really cared for it. So I think I'll make my own blend of boiled linseed oil, bees wax, carnuba wax, and some turpentine as a solvent to aid with flashing it off like a paste wax.

 

[woodtickgreg]

First leg assembly is glued up and in the clamps.
Blue tape makes cleanup much easier and prevents the squeeze out from getting worked into the wood grain.

One at a time because i only have 6 of these long clamps.

Second leg is all taped up and ready for glue up.