CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure

[Danny in Houston]

Crooked Tail said:

---

Hmm. I do not have a drill press. Can you use these with a cordless drill? I see LV has two types of plug cutters. These plug cutters say that they are only to be used in a drill press. But these cutters don't say anything either way.

---

Another option - takes about 5 minutes: Whittle an "almost round" peg and stick the short peg section into a portable drill, spin the peg using the drill and sand it round by holding the sandpaper in your hand against the spinning peg. Sand to fit, glue into hole, saw off.

[Belle City Woodworking]

C.T.

That is one OUTSTANDING Bench!!! You did a fantastic job on it!

John

[FordPrefect]

Silliness aside, that is a fine looking bench.

[Rocketir]

Crooked Tail said:

---

---

MY GOD! PUT A Coaster under that mug!
j/k. Thats a puurrrty bench.

[mstens]

Someone other than me has to have a coffee stain or two

Very nice CT! almost there too!

[Crooked Tail]

Haven't got much done lately. I decided to go with plain old frame and panel doors. The moulding thing was just working out in my little tests. I'll save that for another project, when I can get or make a beader or a molding plane to do it right.

I got one of the door frames made today. I'll start in on the fielded panels tomorrow. This is going to be a heavy door!

[Crooked Tail]

Finally, I finished both doors for the back of the cabinet. Here they are, just sitting in place. I'll actually mount them on the hinges when I've finished all the drawers and it's time to put the whole thing together. I'll decide then whether I will paint the legs also. Grr green poplar!



I pre-finished the panels with Watco, but something went wrong on the second door. It was a new can of watco, and you can see that it is darker. It is also a little blotchy. I don't know if I got something on the wood, or I didn't shake it up enough or what. Anyway, I'll test it out more before I use it on anything else.

These were more work than I thought. Raising the panels is a pain. I used a 78, which for some reason was giving me fits. I think a heavier, larger plane would help. Cleaning up the glue squeeze out was also a pain. That is a job where a No. 1 or a No. 2 really would be handy. By accident, I made the panels very slightly proud of the frame. That really limited the angles of attack I could use to clean up the corners, because I didn't want to mess up the panels. Even my No. 4 felt too big and awkward. A tiny little plane would have been nice. (Can you tell I'm trying to talk myself into something here?)

Next I need to tackle the drawers. That will be a big project. Lots of dovetails. Also, all the side and back pieces will need to to be thinned down from 3/4" to about 1/2". The scrub got a good workout on the panels, and it's going to get some more.

[T.J.]

Wow, thats all just amazing, CT. You've done an incredible job.

[Rob Hanson]

Hi CT,

Regarding Watco... It isn't uncommon to have slight color differences from batch to batch. This is true of any stain or finish. There is always inconsistency. The best bet is to always buy more than you need for a project. This way you have a consistent finish, provided you stirred well.

Compare the lot or batch numbers on the can. You are looking for them to match.

The green poplar thing has a remedy, but you have to like the remedy...

Here is a place where you can look at swatches of Watco colors.

http://www.watco.net/CBGProduct.asp?pid=46

Another strategy, if you have similar products from different batch lots, no matter. Get a clean bucket, pour them into it and mix, then pour them back into their cans and you will have normalized the batches. now they are a new batch.

Cool thing is about Watco, the base is the same, so if you want your own color, mix 2 together. Just keep track of your ratios. Mix something you like better than Poplar green and see if you can make it better. I have worked with quite a bit of poplar and Watco Medium Walnut. The green went away.

My need was for a dark wood though, and that may not be what you want, but then you may be willing to do a number of things... To be rid of the Poplar curse!

A 60-1/2 or or LV LA block can be fitted with a higher angle grind on the blade to aid in planing a raised panel. Final pitch angles while bedded is up to you, the block come with a 12 degree bed. The standard LA blade grind is 25*. The grind you choose is all you. Veritas supplies with 38* LA, 50* York, and 62* half pitch for all their LA planes and the same grinds are just as easy to use with other block planes. Then it is just a matter of working to your layout marks.

In all it really just makes any adjustable mouth block plane into a swiss army knife... Food for thought.

Good luck, HTH

[Crooked Tail]

OK, plodding along. Finally finished the first drawer. I decided to go with a maple face glued onto the poplar. Hopefully it holds up. Fits nice and snug. We'll have to see if I need to trim it some more as the summer approaches.



I used some full extension slides from Lee Valley. They work really slick, except I don't like the rubber stopper / catch which holds the drawer in. Feels like you have to slam it shut for it to catch the catch. Maybe with regular use it will get broke in, or I'll just get used to it.



This dang drawer was a lot of work. And I've got five more to go! I've got to get busy though. I'm getting tired of this project (I'm sure you guys got sick of it long ago) and I want to move on to other things. But I'm afraid that if I start another project now, I'll never get it finished.

On the upside, here's evidence that I am managing to learn a few things along the way:



Nice end grain shavings from my No. 5. Remember when I was swearing mad about planing end grain? It's getting better.

Cheers,
CT