Hacker Bench in Progress

Someday I hope to build a bench like the one Louis is working on. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12980

But for now I just need a bench that I can complete quickly and without spending too much money.

My in-progress "Hacker" bench, (a term I'm borrowing from Louis), has three main influences.

The first influence is Bob and Dave’s Good, Fast, and Cheap Bench -- http://www.terraclavis.com/bws/beginners.htm -- which convinced me that it's okay to use Big Box lumber to build a bench, and that it's better to build a bench to use now and wait to build an ultimate bench until such time as I have the experience to know exactly what I need from such a bench.

The second & third influences are both found in the recent Woodworker's Journal pullout section. I have borrowed little bits from the benches described in that mag -- Ian Kirby's "Arts and Crafts Workbench," and Frank Klausz's "European Workbench."

The pics below show the top, the feet, the legs, the top rails, and the two Record knock-off vises. Not shown are the twin 2x6 stringers, which are on an assembly table waiting for the glue to dry.

I'm planning to use MT joints to hold the frame together, possibly with wooden pegs through the joint itself or through the protruding end of the tenon -- depending on the individual configuration in question.

Why use this method?

Heck, I don't know. I think I saw this on a show about timber framing once, but I'm really not sure where I came up with the idea. Something about driving a big square peg through a hole in a joint just strikes my fancy. :D :eek:

I realized two things after I had the top all glued up:

[1] While it's okay to use Big Box lumber to build a bench, it's probably not a good idea to use the cheapest sticks in the store. The lowest-price level 2x4s from Lowes twist like pretzels -- even though they are stamped as having been kiln dried! :mad:

[2] Use some kind of check list, so you don't forget very basic things, like slanting the dog holes 2 degrees away from the end vise. :o Oops. Not sure how I'll deal with that one.

Anyhow, here are the pics...

Tom,

Looks like you're off to a good start. How did you work with the problem of the "pretzel" wood? Chuck the bad stuff and use what was left?

I'll be interested in watching your progress, so I hope you post plenty of pics as you go along.

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Originally Posted by Tom LaRussa

Something about driving a big square peg through a hole in a joint just strikes my fancy. :D :eek:

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Ain't that the truth :rolleyes:

Erin

So Tom, are you trying to tell us then that, the BB stores probably have their kilns in a tropical jungle somewhere? :confused: :eek: If it's cheaper, I wouldn't be surprised! :mad:

Anyhow, it looks to me like you're making great progress! I really need to do something like that, but it's a ways down my to-do list. :rolleyes: Keep posting the progress. Looks like an intersting AND useful project! :cool:

Tom:

Kudos to you for just rolling up your sleeves and having at it. It's been posted somewhere (probably here) that you're always working on your second to last bench. As soon as you begin building or settle on a design, you either realize it involves compromise, or you see/learn/fall in love with something better.

My bench was my first "big" project, completed about a year ago. The satisfaction of completing it is incomparable and all those M&T and pegged joints combine form and function on a daily basis: it helps make the bench SOLID. Especially for neanders, a solid, stable workbench is as much a tool as anything you hold in your hands.

Hi Erin,

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Originally Posted by Erin Raasch

How did you work with the problem of the "pretzel" wood? Chuck the bad stuff and use what was left?

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Well, on the theory that this thing is supposed to be cheap and get done quickly, I tossed as many pretzels as I could and then forced the rest into submission. It wasn't too hard, really.

I did the main glue-up in five pieces, three sticks at a time, then joined the five big sticks. (A stick being a nominal 2x4 that had been planed down to about 1.2 x 3.2., and a big stick being three of these laminated together.) In order to get the wood to behave I used something like 15 clamps per three stick section. It took all of my 6", 12", 18", and 24" clamps, plus a few big C clamps, to get this done all at once. (I don't buy expensive clamps, but I more than make up for it in sheer numbers.)

It's a pretty lousy looking piece of joinery -- gaps here and there -- but it's done, and it is strong.

Just to make sure it would hold together, I've had it on the floor in the main traffic pattern in my shop for the past week. I've been walking back and forth across it many times per day since then. It hasn't so much as creeked, so I think it should hold. :D

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I'll be interested in watching your progress, so I hope you post plenty of pics as you go along.

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Oh I will. Now that I've finally got a digital camera I'm determined never to be visited by the pic police again! :p

Looking good Tom. I think you're on your way to a bomb proof planing device...something that you'll be able to use those 15 rusty planes (no longer rusty since you're foray into electrolysis) off e-bay.

This bench will be an awesome work surface for holding the parts to your next bench!!! :eek::D:eek:

When a lumberyard catering to contractors or the homeowner refer to kiln drying, they don't mean the same thing as a lumber supplier catering to the furnituremaker. Most construction lumber, even the best grades, is only percentage dried down to a moisture content of 16-18 percent. Some of the cheaper stuff never makes it below 25 percent. Most hardwoods for furniture is dried to 6-8 percent and even then you can find small stability problems if it was dried too quickly and the core still contains more moisture. Like most of you, I've bought construction lumber where the act of driving a nail actually squirts out water. One approach is to select the wood carefully by weight as the primary characteristic and then reselect from that pile for straightness and overall quality. You want the light stuff which is drier than the heavy stuff. Also make sure that none of your pieces contain the pith or center of the tree.

You did it again.

From my anthropology days a " a society that make's it's own tools is truly evolved". Go Tom

Thanks Louis, :)

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Originally Posted by Louis Bois

This bench will be an awesome work surface for holding the parts to your next bench!!! :eek::D:eek:

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You ain't kidding.

I'm already suffering from the "Gee, if I just changed X" syndrome, and it's not even finished yet!

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Originally Posted by Dave Anderson NH

When a lumberyard catering to contractors or the homeowner refer to kiln drying, they don't mean the same thing as a lumber supplier catering to the furnituremaker. Most construction lumber, even the best grades, is only percentage dried down to a moisture content of 16-18 percent. Some of the cheaper stuff never makes it below 25 percent. Most hardwoods for furniture is dried to 6-8 percent and even then you can find small stability problems if it was dried too quickly and the core still contains more moisture. Like most of you, I've bought construction lumber where the act of driving a nail actually squirts out water. One approach is to select the wood carefully by weight as the primary characteristic and then reselect from that pile for straightness and overall quality. You want the light stuff which is drier than the heavy stuff. Also make sure that none of your pieces contain the pith or center of the tree.

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Excellent tips Dave.

I'll be sure to incorporate them into version I.a. of the bench, which is already in the planning stages. :o

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Originally Posted by Marc Hills

As soon as you begin building or settle on a design, you either realize it involves compromise, or you see/learn/fall in love with something better.

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Yep. By the time I settle down with something I really like, I may need to have a bonfire to clear space in the gar ... er ... shop. ;)

Tom good job I agree w your thinking and thanks for the websites! Sometimes it's more fun building a tool/jig/workbench etc for "the Shop" than furniture. Your mistakes aren't noticed. Enjoy the project! Looking good!:)

Get to the borg at 6 am when they open (Mon - Sat here...7 am Sun) and you'll have the 2x4 stack to yourself for a good 30-60 minutes. Get two carts...one to hold the "toss" and one to hold the "buy" pile. From there, Dave's advice is perfect: heavies, piths, not straight get tossed while light, straight, no pith get bought.

The folks at my local HD used to be scared when I walked in but now they know I return the stack as I found it so they let me be. I've walked in and out a couple times having not found a single stick to my liking in the whole "cord" (whatever they call a full pallet load) mostly because they were too wet.

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Originally Posted by Chris Padilla

Get to the borg at 6 am when they open (Mon - Sat here...7 am Sun) and you'll have the 2x4 stack to yourself for a good 30-60 minutes. Get two carts...one to hold the "toss" and one to hold the "buy" pile. From there, Dave's advice is perfect: heavies, piths, not straight get tossed while light, straight, no pith get bought.

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I just go to my local Lowes and line the puppies up along the floor in the lumber aisle. They never bug me about it, I think partly because my family and I have bought so much stuff there in the past six months, and partly because, like you, I am a good boy and put everything back at least as neat as I found it.

The problem here was the Lowes sells three grades of 2x4, and I bought the very cheapest ones. Saved a buck a stick and bought myself a bunch of extra work.

Dumb... :mad:

Oh well, lesson learned. :)

Tom,

I love the idea of the beater bench!! I was dreaming about building a replica of Frank Klausz's bench like the one Louis is working on, but the truth is that the beater bench is a more realistic goal for me at this point. Please keep us updated with pictures (and plans) as the project develops.

Jack