A long time ago, in a basement far, far away
#71
After I had dealt with the dovetails the last portion I wanted to get out of the way before I glued up the front apron was the mortices for the front leg tenons. The ones for the back slab were a bit of a pain because of how deep they are so I decided to make them while they were still open. I simply layed out their position on the front apron and the rest of the slab and cut and chiseled to depth paying particular attention to the front apron and how close it was to being flush with the front legs getting closer and closer with a router plane.




I tested the fit frequently and got it very tight. Unfortunately it was a little to tight as once it got to a particular point in the dry fit I couldn't really get it apart. And getting it fully seated required some tap dancing by the wife on the top. Thankfully the base is softer then the top or there could have been some issues. The above image is how it looked prior to glue up.

After the glue up I fitted the vices, cut the leg vice to final length, planed down the dovetails (I'll post a final image of how they turned out), put in the dog block and then proceeded to flatten the bench.

I had spent a fair amount of time trying to get the slabs level with shims and screws (big Spax ones that I got from Jameel) so there wasn't a great deal for me to do. 8 light traversing passes (one way and the next) with a jack and 4 with a jointer and it was level except for one small section on an end (you can see the pencil marks in the middle of the left end of the front slab, the end result was significantly smaller (that picture was taken about half way through) and really inconsequential) which was a little more then a 32nd out and not worth taking that much off the rest of the bench to level such a small section.


I had wanted the bench to be a little rough and not glass smooth so I didn't actually plane again after the traversing. I checked the length and it was flat and I had used light passes and a high angle (50 degrees) so it was fairly smooth as was.

So I took off all the vice hardware and the rollers, took everything apart and started oiling it up. The third coat of Watco Danish Oil got applied this morning and I'll put the bench back together tonight. Here are some teaser images of the final top. After I'm done with the oiling the only issue outstanding is the "tool tray" which I can probably dimension out and glue up tonight.

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#72
Nice work. You will absolutely love your new bench.

I was just thinking last night how much I really appreciate my Roubo - and my SYP bench has nowhere near the level of craftsmanship as yours.

Enjoy your bench in good health!
Tools that are no good require greater skill.
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#73
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to it. I've done alot of home reno stuff but this is my first real big project other then some shop and built in stuff. I'm happy with how it turned out but as with everything we build we know where the oops and inconsitancies are. Either way it was fun to build if not a little long
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#74
Very Nice looking Bench, good job. Also enjoyed your journey that was fun and hey you have a great and cute shop helper.

That is one bench I would like to build one day along with the Benchcraft vices.

Thanks for posting !

Steve
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#75
wonderful thread. Getting ready to embark on a benchcrafted project myself in the next month or so.
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#76
CONCLUSION...

So, the build is done, well at least part of it... I may revive this thread when I do my bench cabinet, and yes I am doing a bench cabinet. Lots of lessons learned and I'm a little more comfortable with the tools I'm using and some of the methodologies. The bench is already seeing some use as I hand dovetailed my first ever complete drawer last night using the bench and some other neener items (Bob your products are getting some good use).

Jameel you make a fantastic product and I would heartily recommend it, well worth the price of admission.

I tend not to work off plans for anything I do so I don't really have fixed dimensions for the bench. I think it is 24-1/8" by around 6-1/2' and is right around 32" high (I'm 6' and that's where the finger joint test put me). I didn't do a sliding deadman, in part because I am planning a cabinet but also because I put holes in my other front let in order to use a hold down for clamping and support. I used this when creating the center "filling tray" and it worked well so I'll stick with it for the time being. Perhaps a future add on.

Feel free to ask any questions or suggestions for future upgrades.

Thanks
Andy



pic of the end result of the dovetail fun, you can see the fix but it's not terrible.



you can see the figure and curl in the front apron. For the record I would not recommend this, work with the straightest, least figured wood possible as it's a bit of a pain to work.



center in place, I made it extend 3/8 above the table so it can be used for 1/2" stock.

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#77
A most entertaining thread!

Thank you for taking the trouble (and I know it was) to do this..!

I would be proud of that bench. I know you are.

Enjoy..!

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#78
Very nice looking bench and I have enjoyed the ride great job and thanks for posting and sharing your journey. Looking forward to your cabinet.

Steve
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#79
Small bump for another year... that plus I haven't gotten around to copying the info elsewhere... Is there a way to ensure that posts don't disappear after a year?

As an update so this isn't completely useless. The bench is doing wonderfully, everything is still in order and no under bench storage has been created. It's not so much the holdfasts that I'm concerned about it's more the length of the saws in the tool tray sticking down that will be an issue.

Cheers
Andy
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#80
The only way to preserve them is to keep bumping them, I'm afraid, or to copy them into a blog or other medium. I've started doing that with a few of my more involved posts (see below). It's sad, because a lot of good information gets lost. On the other hand, it would take some serious disk space to archive every single thread here.
Steve S.
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- T. S. Eliot

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