Back At It..Bench Build Underway

Finally getting started on the new bench for my shop and am excited with the progress to date. With respect to Monsieur Roubo, Shaker is my style and I am building it using the plans, and hardware, purchased from Benchcrafted. The level of detail in their drawings is outstanding, the hardware package is complete, and the 3D available in a download are a plus.

Shown above is the basic carcass made from some pretty decent birch ply I bought at HD of all places for a reasonable price, was surprised at the quality of the plywood, haven't found a void yet. It is sitting on an old bench that moved with me from TN that was sitting in my garage. I drilled some holes in the top for the holdfasts, and use the Benchcrafted Moxon vise I built to use as an end vise. It is working out great, but can't wait to get the real deal.

Case with face frame and end frame dry fit. Both frames are constructed with 5/4 (net 1") poplar. If you look at Benchcrafted's website, you will see the base of the bench is painted , so poplar is a good choice for the outer frame.

Frames and back attached, all that is needed for the bottom is the "foot" It is a frame made of 1X3 poplar. I may change that thickness once I determine the overall height of the bench.

As of this posting, the door for the end panel is mounted, the doors for the front are made, the drawers are next. 

This will be one solid bench. The advertised finished weight will be around 350 lbs, certainly sturdy enough to handle any hand tool work.

A finished photo can be seen at Benchcrafted website and for those of you attending WIA in the Fall in Covington, KY, Jameel my have his bench there at the show.

More to come as I hit significant milestones during the construction.

Blanket/Baby Chest

I was contacted by a client to discuss building a chest she planned to donate to the

St. Cecilia Pregnancy Support Center. The chest is going to be placed at the entrance of the church and parishioners will be asked to donate items for a new born. Once filled, the chest and it’s contents will be donated to a lucky mother.

Overall size - 36" x 20" x 28"
 Made using common pine, I hand cut all dados and rabbets for the case as well as the top slats. This plan was one of the very first projects I built over 25 years ago when I first started woodworking .

Sliding drawer, back trimmed to clear center mounted hinge

Internal drawer and the coopered top make this chest a little different than some others out there. The slats are attached with brass screws and finish washers.

The center mount hinge is child friendly, as it will stop and hold in just about any position to keep hands from being pinched. The top actually has to be pushed close.

Bull nose case trim was made using my #66 Stanley Beading plane with L/N replacement blades.

I really enjoy building this design, and given I was under no real time constraint; I was able to improve on my hand tool skills.

Client chose Old Fashioned Milk Paint, Buttermilk, for the finish. 

Japanese Garden Bench

Finished Bench delivered to church

A client contacted me to discuss building a bench she wanted to donate to her parish for the redesigned garden area outside the church. She considered a number of designs and chose this Japanese inspired Garden Bench. The size of the bench is 24" x 66"x 33" tall and I used clear white oak. The finish is 3 coats of spar varnish.

Most of the parts were made using 6/4 and 8/4 white oak glued up to produce the finished dimensions. This is a very heavy bench.

I chose to hand cut the tenons as opposed to cutting on a bandsaw or table saw. Recall I sold the table saw prior to our move so that option was out (obviously) and I have found that it is a lot easier for me to control the cut and much more enjoyable doing them by hand. The newly built Moxon Vise with Benchcrafted Hardware really helped out here as the new bench is yet to be made.

A very rough dry fit of one of the ends. This is one of the largest, and heaviest, projects I have built in a while.

Dry fit of the base. This gave me an idea of what the overall size was going to be and figured out at this point is was time to start assembling the bench on the floor.

Starting the assembly and doing the final sizing of the back slats. Overall the are 40+ mortise and tenon joints in the bench. Not shown are the 6 seat slats which were attached with SS screws and plugs cut from white oak. The plans are from FWW and the designer is Russell Jensen.

I really enjoyed the challenge of building a this project and the church was very happy to receive it. The combination of white oak and spar varnish should help this bench serve the parishioners for many years.

Packing Up...Moving Back

For those of you that follow this blog, and others who stop by from time to time, I thought I would let folks know that it will be awhile before I post another project. We have sold our home, and shop, in West Tennessee and moving back home to the Greater Cincinnati area after being here for the last 9 years.  I moved here for a work transfer and have been retired now for 18 months. 

The big draw of course is family, 3 children, 4 grand children, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews.  We were fortunate in this economy to sell this house so quickly (less than 3 weeks) and the home we are purchasing was under construction and we’ll be moving in Christmas week.

So for now, my “projects” involve packing tape, boxes, and filler paper, but as others have said, it is giving me a chance to clean out and see what exactly I have collected over the past 9 years. 

As mentioned in previous posts, some of the power tools are gone. The workbench as well, that will be the first project in the new shop, the Benchcrafted Shaker style bench so I will post when that project gets underway.

I will be back in the basement again, and have already marked my space.  The type of work I do and the increased use of had tools will allow me to set up a nice area to build the things I enjoy, and the best part is I will be able to teach my grandson’s the joy of working with wood. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!

Table Saw Finds A New Home

Along with the jointer, the table saw has now found a good home and I have no intentions of replacing it. As I continue to change my work habits, I found I can do everything I need to do with my 14" band saw and my array of hand saws. I have started building another saw bench using this method and I am really enjoying it. Along with the table saw, the buyer also purchased my workbench. It was a fine work bench patterned after the Essential Workbench plans in FWW a few years back. It was big, and very heavy. Since we decided to sell the house here in Tennessee and move back to the Greater Cincinnati area, I saw this as a great opportunity to build the Benchcrafted Shaker Bench and will do so as my first project once we are settled in up north. I have the plans, and the hardware is on order. I intend on keeping my DeWalt 3 head planer for shop use when needed, and some other associated power tools used for home improvements and for the kids to borrow :) Anything else I sell will be some excess hand planes and some wooden planes I don't want, don't use, and don't want to move.           I will post those later.

Goodbye JET Jointer

Last weekend I said goodbye to my JET 6" jointer watching it go down the driveway in the back of it's new owners truck. Though I considered my woodworking habits to be "blended" I found that I still relied on the power tools more than I liked and with the encouragement of others, I have decided to make turn around the corner to going unplugged.

The table saw is next, it is listed for sale, that leaves me with a Dewalt 13" planer, a Delta 14" band saw, a Delta dust collector, Rikon lathe, and a Ryobi drill press. The planer would be next, I think I will keep the band saw, lathe, and the drill press for work outside the shop.  

I have an almost full arsenal of saws, sharp, and ready, a nice selection of hand planes collected over the years, also sharp and ready.

 I will be selling some of the planes that are duplicates.

It was strange watching that jointer leave the shop, I used it off an on probably for the last 8 years or so, but it is being replaced with a very nice 30" wooden jointer plane,  and since I have been doing a lot of the work lately with hand tools, the conversion doesn't seem as scary as I thought. The tables you see in the post below were made using hand cut mortise and tenons, the tops and shelves fiished with hand planes, and the inner drawer supports cut by hand.

So off I go taking one step closer to the quiet, and safer, side of working wood, perhaps making less dust and mess, feeling more connected to the work, and enjoying it a lot more in this phase of the journey.

Finished Tables Delivered

The craft table order is now complete and the tables have been delivered to the clients home to her sewing area. The lower table is 60"x30"x30" with one drawer in the center. The other two are 42"x30"x36" and have two drawers each. 

Three craft tables in sewing room

Since she wanted them painted I used poplar. Tops are glued-up panels. These tables are my design and it is really one of the few times I've built a project of this size without a preprinted plan. A skill builder for sure and I did enjoy doing this project. She really liked the finished product and that makes it all the better.