Showing posts with label bench. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bench. Show all posts
Monday, February 17, 2014
The Wood Work Bench The Old But Effective Standard in Work Benches
What helped Leonardo da Vinci conceptualize and build machines at such an extraordinary rate? Well, he certainly doesnt have computers equipped with design software. Back in Leonardos days, inventors do it all manually. Certainly, Leonardo had books, drafting boards with parchment, straight edges, quills, and clay models to aid him in conceptualizing his designs. Chances are he also had tons of tools.
Get Into Very Valuable Digital Carpentry Plans
But how did he organize all of these?
Simple: with the help of a good old wood work bench.
Ancient Greek architects, medieval alchemists, Renaissance inventors like Leonardo da Vinci may have different set of tools to craft their work, but they all have the same wood bench where they organize their tools and do most of their work. With the advent of digital technology, most engineers and designers have disposed of the traditional work bench in favor of their computer-driven digital bench. Yet the wood work bench is still indispensable in most peoples working areas.
Why Get A Wood Work Bench?
Today, there are many materials that can be used to build work benches-steel, aluminum, melamine, synthetic wood-but a wood work bench is still the best thing for heavy-duty work. Work benches made of melamine and synthetic wood may be cheap and easy to carry around different work areas, but they cannot match the toughness and durability of wood work benches. Most steel and aluminum work benches are corrosion-proof and may handle all those hard poundings, but nothing can really compare to the aesthetic attributes of the traditional wood work bench.
Another great thing with having a wooden bench in your area is that it invokes a feel-good atmosphere. And that is really the most essential thing that you should have in a work area-a feel-good, serene aura that will allow you to focus on what you are doing.
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Wood Materials
Solid hardwood is somewhat expensive, but it is the kind of wood that makes a good wooden bench. Typically, pine, maple, cherry, and mahogany make a good solid bench. Fir, oak, walnut, and beech are also used to create firm benches. But you can also build a wood bench with just one type of wood or you can make a work bench with different types of wood.
Size
The size of your bench would mainly depend on the work that you will do. If you will do carpentry or any other tasking work, then you will need to get a large, solid wood work bench with cabinets and shelves to organize your tools. Another thing to consider is the size of your working area. If you have a small workspace, then you may just opt to get a small or medium-sized wood work bench with lots of shelves and cabinets for easy storage of your tools.
Heres How You Can Build Your Sheds!
Monday, February 10, 2014
The 5 board bench video is now live on YouTube! Click play on the video box below to check it out!
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Tuesday, February 4, 2014
A Dedicated Sharpening Bench part 2
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Assembling the Cut List...
Working off of my sketches and existing examples of trusted, work bench construction methods, I come up with a plan and begin adding up the numbers. This is generally how I approach a new design, from the sketch I mock up some shapes and sizes using off cuts and batons around my shop to see if in the real world things still look like they do on paper. I settle on the overall size and start down my cut list taking into account the joinery.
The top work surface is where I begin and the two panels of 1" thick, quarter-sawn white Oak are cross cut to length leaving about 1/4" extra for love. The oak used is offcuts from a past project and has been in my shop for over 7 months now, so I know its extremely stable and will make a great work surface and apron. When I originally purchased the wood it was dimensioned before it left the mill so I can surface it all pretty quickly. From jointing plane to smoother Ill get the top glued up before I even begin thinking about the apron.
This being a work shop project Im really trying to keep the budget at a minimum so the bench top and apron are made from off cuts as mentioned with the lower frame made from Ipe. Its an extremely dense exotic I noticed at my local hardware store. They sell it these days as a high-end decking material. This particular stock was already finished at 1 1/2" square and came in 12 lengths. At $15.00 a length I couldnt go wrong. It does come with its edges all beveled but this being a work bench I can live with it. Id prefer to have square stock to begin but I can deal with the off the shelf lumber for the sake of the budget. Now 1 1/2" stock may sound a little undersized for a workbench frame but keep in mind the scale of the piece and the fact that this Ipe is like iron!
Jointing the Edge
With the oak cross cut to length Ill go ahead and joint it. To begin, I clearly mark the planks for grain direction and lay them on my bench top, reference faces up. I decide what two edges Ill be jointing together. I mark the orientation of them with a builders triangle on the face surface and fold them back together keeping the inside edges up. This book matched pair will be clamped together in my face vise and jointed simultaneously. I use a bevel-up jointing plane with a nice wide iron at 2 1/4" and work the edges together. Ill take a series of through shavings checking for square as I go. I finish off the process with a couple of stop shavings to insure no bumps along the edges. Again I check my work with a reliable straight edge and finally, a light pass again planing through, end to end. The nice thing about edge jointing two boards together like this is if youre edges are slightly out of square it really doesnt matter; because of the book matching we did when we clamped them, once unfolded any inconsistencies will cancel each other out. That said, while youre planing, try your best to keep things square! (maybe this is one of those rare occasions you can get in some practice time while actually working on a project and not just something from the scrap wood pile?)
The Glue Dance
With the edges jointed Ill glue up the panels and set them aside for the night. Heres my method for gluing two panels together.
To begin, I set my clamp opening to an 1" wider than the actual piece and lay them down across my bench top. These pieces are just under 3 long so Ill be using 5 clamps, three will go on the bottom and two more across the top.Lay the two planks across the three bottom clamps and a quick dry run will show how things should hopefully go. These two are sitting really nicely together and the joint almost closes itself! Its a good day when that happens...
Because of the stopped shavings I took earlier, when gentle pressure is applied using only the middle clamp, Im confident the outside edges of the joint will be tight.
So a generous amount of glue is spread and I begin again at the middle clamp bringing the pieces together. I use down ward thumb pressure across the joint to keep the seam flat and wont over tighten this first clamp yet- Ill come back to it in a minute. With the middle of the stock held firmly together, Ill use a couple of F style clamps placed on the outside edges and draw the seam down flush along its length. Then working out from the center again I start tightening things up. I stagger the pressure as I go, from left to right and then left outside and finally the right outside clamp. With the five clamps secure Ill move back across and re tighten them all down to finish. Take a step back and have a look- double check your grain is running in the proper direction and your building triangle is mated happily back together. This will be your last chance to change anything!
Go make a coffee and check your email, come back in an hour and begin cleaning up the glue. Ill work between the clamps and remove any squeeze out after it has started to cure but before its too hard to easily scrap away. This is also when Ill usually remove the two outside F clamps; if I leave them on overnight Ill have some deep bruises to deal with tomorrow.
"Top of the morning to ya!" The glue set up overnight so I remove the clamps and get ready to work. A card scraper down the seam removes any final bits of glue- Im careful not to tear away any wood with it. Im happy with the results- this oak is stable and sits well on my bench top-another good sign! Ill double check with my winding sticks and a metal straight edge taking note of any high spots or twist across the surface.
A few light passes with the jointer followed with a smoothing plane and Ill double check one edge for square. I now have a reference face and edge and can continue on with dimensioning the panel. Ill use my panel gauge and scribe the finished width around the perimeter; because this was pre-dimensioned wood and I took my time with the glue-up, Im happy to say the piece is almost square with just a few light passes along one end. With that, I now have a panel with two long edges, completely parallel and square with one finished face.
Ill check the thickness throughout the panel to see if it needs any dressing and working from the bottom, Ill plane the stock to final thickness. Not much to remove so this process is pretty straight forward. Four sided stock with two ends that still need to be addressed- thats where Ill go from here.
Planing End Grain
I get asked alot how I deal with the long end grain on panels. I think some woodworkers are intimidated when it comes to this area so Ill show you the steps I use.
So first things first Ill scribe a deep, crisp line around the perimeter with a knife working off a reliable framing square. The amount of wood Im removing is very minimal, no more than 1/8". Again, the time I took to carefully glue up the panel makes these later steps so much easier.
With my line scribed Ill place the panel vertically in my face vise and block up the bottom off of the shop floor. From there Ill clamp the left side of the panel in the vise and hold the right side with a surface clamp installed in one of the 3/4" holes I have across my work bench apron. My bench didnt come like this but its a feature I could never live without. Before I fully tighten the vise and clamp I like to place a small level across the top of the piece.
Also, because were dealing with end grain and I dont want to blow out the face grain on the far edge of the panel,(spelching) Ill clamp a piece of scrap wood, thicknessed the same as the work piece and tighten everything down to get started.
Im using my bevel-up jointer again, set to take a fine shaving and carefully work my way down. Im taking light passes, always watching for those first shiny edges starting to appear. Its hard to put into words but youll know it when you get there. Being careful not to over-shoot, I work my way down so I can see my scribe line still wrapping the entire perimeter. With that tiny strip left glistening, I know the edge is square. (but Ill still double check it!) Now I can safetly measure up off of this edge and follow the same procedure for the sixth and final side.
So there you have it- a work bench surface, square on all six sides. It may seem like a lot of steps but the above process probably didnt take much longer than it just took me to write this post. Im ready to begin the bread board ends and assemble my pieces for the apron. That will be next time.
Cheers!
Read More..
Working off of my sketches and existing examples of trusted, work bench construction methods, I come up with a plan and begin adding up the numbers. This is generally how I approach a new design, from the sketch I mock up some shapes and sizes using off cuts and batons around my shop to see if in the real world things still look like they do on paper. I settle on the overall size and start down my cut list taking into account the joinery.
The top work surface is where I begin and the two panels of 1" thick, quarter-sawn white Oak are cross cut to length leaving about 1/4" extra for love. The oak used is offcuts from a past project and has been in my shop for over 7 months now, so I know its extremely stable and will make a great work surface and apron. When I originally purchased the wood it was dimensioned before it left the mill so I can surface it all pretty quickly. From jointing plane to smoother Ill get the top glued up before I even begin thinking about the apron.This being a work shop project Im really trying to keep the budget at a minimum so the bench top and apron are made from off cuts as mentioned with the lower frame made from Ipe. Its an extremely dense exotic I noticed at my local hardware store. They sell it these days as a high-end decking material. This particular stock was already finished at 1 1/2" square and came in 12 lengths. At $15.00 a length I couldnt go wrong. It does come with its edges all beveled but this being a work bench I can live with it. Id prefer to have square stock to begin but I can deal with the off the shelf lumber for the sake of the budget. Now 1 1/2" stock may sound a little undersized for a workbench frame but keep in mind the scale of the piece and the fact that this Ipe is like iron!
Jointing the Edge
With the oak cross cut to length Ill go ahead and joint it. To begin, I clearly mark the planks for grain direction and lay them on my bench top, reference faces up. I decide what two edges Ill be jointing together. I mark the orientation of them with a builders triangle on the face surface and fold them back together keeping the inside edges up. This book matched pair will be clamped together in my face vise and jointed simultaneously. I use a bevel-up jointing plane with a nice wide iron at 2 1/4" and work the edges together. Ill take a series of through shavings checking for square as I go. I finish off the process with a couple of stop shavings to insure no bumps along the edges. Again I check my work with a reliable straight edge and finally, a light pass again planing through, end to end. The nice thing about edge jointing two boards together like this is if youre edges are slightly out of square it really doesnt matter; because of the book matching we did when we clamped them, once unfolded any inconsistencies will cancel each other out. That said, while youre planing, try your best to keep things square! (maybe this is one of those rare occasions you can get in some practice time while actually working on a project and not just something from the scrap wood pile?)The Glue Dance
With the edges jointed Ill glue up the panels and set them aside for the night. Heres my method for gluing two panels together.To begin, I set my clamp opening to an 1" wider than the actual piece and lay them down across my bench top. These pieces are just under 3 long so Ill be using 5 clamps, three will go on the bottom and two more across the top.Lay the two planks across the three bottom clamps and a quick dry run will show how things should hopefully go. These two are sitting really nicely together and the joint almost closes itself! Its a good day when that happens...
Because of the stopped shavings I took earlier, when gentle pressure is applied using only the middle clamp, Im confident the outside edges of the joint will be tight.
So a generous amount of glue is spread and I begin again at the middle clamp bringing the pieces together. I use down ward thumb pressure across the joint to keep the seam flat and wont over tighten this first clamp yet- Ill come back to it in a minute. With the middle of the stock held firmly together, Ill use a couple of F style clamps placed on the outside edges and draw the seam down flush along its length. Then working out from the center again I start tightening things up. I stagger the pressure as I go, from left to right and then left outside and finally the right outside clamp. With the five clamps secure Ill move back across and re tighten them all down to finish. Take a step back and have a look- double check your grain is running in the proper direction and your building triangle is mated happily back together. This will be your last chance to change anything!
Go make a coffee and check your email, come back in an hour and begin cleaning up the glue. Ill work between the clamps and remove any squeeze out after it has started to cure but before its too hard to easily scrap away. This is also when Ill usually remove the two outside F clamps; if I leave them on overnight Ill have some deep bruises to deal with tomorrow.
"Top of the morning to ya!" The glue set up overnight so I remove the clamps and get ready to work. A card scraper down the seam removes any final bits of glue- Im careful not to tear away any wood with it. Im happy with the results- this oak is stable and sits well on my bench top-another good sign! Ill double check with my winding sticks and a metal straight edge taking note of any high spots or twist across the surface.
A few light passes with the jointer followed with a smoothing plane and Ill double check one edge for square. I now have a reference face and edge and can continue on with dimensioning the panel. Ill use my panel gauge and scribe the finished width around the perimeter; because this was pre-dimensioned wood and I took my time with the glue-up, Im happy to say the piece is almost square with just a few light passes along one end. With that, I now have a panel with two long edges, completely parallel and square with one finished face.
Ill check the thickness throughout the panel to see if it needs any dressing and working from the bottom, Ill plane the stock to final thickness. Not much to remove so this process is pretty straight forward. Four sided stock with two ends that still need to be addressed- thats where Ill go from here.
Planing End Grain
I get asked alot how I deal with the long end grain on panels. I think some woodworkers are intimidated when it comes to this area so Ill show you the steps I use.So first things first Ill scribe a deep, crisp line around the perimeter with a knife working off a reliable framing square. The amount of wood Im removing is very minimal, no more than 1/8". Again, the time I took to carefully glue up the panel makes these later steps so much easier.
With my line scribed Ill place the panel vertically in my face vise and block up the bottom off of the shop floor. From there Ill clamp the left side of the panel in the vise and hold the right side with a surface clamp installed in one of the 3/4" holes I have across my work bench apron. My bench didnt come like this but its a feature I could never live without. Before I fully tighten the vise and clamp I like to place a small level across the top of the piece. Also, because were dealing with end grain and I dont want to blow out the face grain on the far edge of the panel,(spelching) Ill clamp a piece of scrap wood, thicknessed the same as the work piece and tighten everything down to get started.
Im using my bevel-up jointer again, set to take a fine shaving and carefully work my way down. Im taking light passes, always watching for those first shiny edges starting to appear. Its hard to put into words but youll know it when you get there. Being careful not to over-shoot, I work my way down so I can see my scribe line still wrapping the entire perimeter. With that tiny strip left glistening, I know the edge is square. (but Ill still double check it!) Now I can safetly measure up off of this edge and follow the same procedure for the sixth and final side.So there you have it- a work bench surface, square on all six sides. It may seem like a lot of steps but the above process probably didnt take much longer than it just took me to write this post. Im ready to begin the bread board ends and assemble my pieces for the apron. That will be next time.
Cheers!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Traditional Saw Bench
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A trip to the local timber yard over the weekend led me to find a cheap budget range of timber. Four 3m lengths of 2"x2" (50mm x 50mm) B grade Pine at a little over £1 per meter. I had to cut each 3m piece into 1m + 2m to fit it in the car.
While the timber is less than straight and quite knotty, its (hopefully) perfect for me to build my long awaited saw bench. I have been wanting a decent saw bench for ages to cut stock to rough length outside using my panel saws. It will also serve to chop mortises on while sitting down and as a workshop stool.
While the timber is less than straight and quite knotty, its (hopefully) perfect for me to build my long awaited saw bench. I have been wanting a decent saw bench for ages to cut stock to rough length outside using my panel saws. It will also serve to chop mortises on while sitting down and as a workshop stool.
Some online research led me to the following sources of information: here, here and here .
I figured I would follow the same basic traditional design using slightly different joints and measurements with the entire thing made from 2"x2" timber. The whole project is basically an exercise in precision sawing practice, thank god for my new tenon saw.
While the saw bench is a tool, I wanted to approach it almost as if it were a piece of furniture to improve my overall skills. Generally people talk about knocking together a quick saw bench but this project took me a few days mostly because I was taking my time to do things right. I can see why nearly all hand tool woodworkers end up building their own Roubo style work benches, this saw bench is like an insight to what might be involved on a (much) smaller scale.
While the saw bench is a tool, I wanted to approach it almost as if it were a piece of furniture to improve my overall skills. Generally people talk about knocking together a quick saw bench but this project took me a few days mostly because I was taking my time to do things right. I can see why nearly all hand tool woodworkers end up building their own Roubo style work benches, this saw bench is like an insight to what might be involved on a (much) smaller scale.
Edge jointing the four 1m lengths to make the top - lots of squeeze out. Im using PVA glue (again) as its likely the saw bench will see some use outdoors.
The next day, after the glue had dried I found a short crack in one of the pieces probably caused by the wood moving in its new climate and being glued, I guess something had to give. I cut and squared off the end back to good wood leaving just over 30" - plenty long enough.
The cut off waste piece showing the crack that developed after gluing up the top. I should have waited a week or so to let the wood become acclimatised with it now coming inside a heated house from outdoors at the wood yard.
Flattening the saw bench top using my no#6 and no#4 bench planes, across the grain, diagonals and lastly with the grain. I will do a final smoothing once the bench is assembled.
After cutting four 22" long pieces for the legs, I set my bevel gauge to 100 degrees to give the legs a 10 degree angle and marked out the joinery where the saw bench top will sit.
Placing the piece in the vice at an angle so that the saw stays plumb while sawing the angled cut. The piece of wood in the vice to the left is to stop the vice racking. Remember to save the waste pieces for the bench top glue up.
Using my new 1.5" chisel and shoulder plane to clean up the angled shoulder joints.
The saw bench top joinery for the legs.
First dry fit of the legs - its starting to look vaguely like a saw bench. Later I will need to plane down the saw bench top to allow the legs to sit flush. I should have cut longer (deeper) joints in the legs. I am kinda making up the measurements as I go along - doh!
Marking out a recess in the legs to accept a lap jointed stretcher.
The sides of the recess are sawn and the waste chiselled out. Those new chisels I rescued last week are already earning their place in the toolbox.
Glueing the leg stretchers, the saw bench top is used to ensure the leg assembly remains square. I had also earlier cut the ripping notch. Unfortunately, this difficult cut was longer than the 4" deep blade of my large tenon saw so I had to resort to my pullsaw for the final inch or so.
Flush cutting the stretcher and leg lap joints.
Using a block plane and sand paper to break all the corners and remove all the glue and pencil marks.
Using the waste pieces from the leg shoulders to aid the clamping process for gluing up the saw bench top to the angled legs.
One clamp for each pair of legs and a large heavy butchers block for some extra weight and left overnight to cure.
At this stage my plan to build the saw bench entirely from 2"x2" timber changed. I had a 5 1/2" piece of Pine absolutely perfect for the upper leg braces. Oh well best laid plans and all... Marking out the leg angles.
Despite this being a crosscut, I found it easier, faster and more precise using my large Tenon saw, I guess the 5 1/2" board is slightly too wide for the 11" blade of the carcass saw.
Using bench planes to remove cupping from the upper leg braces. I only bothered with the side that mates against the legs.
Laying out the screw holes. Six scres per brace, three holes per side. Half the leg thickness (1") from the top and bottom and in from the side. The third hole is exactly between the top and bottom ones found using deviders ... a lot of effort but first bite is with the eye.
Using my brace to very carefully and slowly drill the counter sink holes for the screw heads followed by the pilot holes with my hand drill.
A smidgen of glue to make it bomb proof!
Leg braces glued and screwed - yet more squeeze out to clean off.
Screw holes plugged using small lengths of dowel.
A final light sand to remove excess glue and a coat of boiled Linseed oil - Done!
Ripping notch - I love the grain pattern.
Leg stretcher joint
Plugged upper leg brace
Saw bench trimmed to height using my knee as a gauge with 10 Degree angle on the leg bases so each leg sits flat.
At this stage the saw bench is basically complete and functional. I might later put screws in the saw bench top joints and also in the stretchers, but Im hoping the glue joints will be strong enough. Also a 3/4" hole for a holdfast might come later.
I have to say despite the time involved, considering a saw bench should be a simple project, I really enjoyed making it and once again learnt a hell of a lot. Especially as a lot of the mark up and cuts were not at the standard 90 degrees. This project felt like real old school traditional wood working, almost a right of passage!
When I first started this blog only a short while ago I decided to buy a beginner bench as I didnt think I would be able to build my own. This saw bench build has certainly got me thinking ... and with my increasing skill level ... who knows my very own Roubo workbench may not be that far away....
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