Work Bench and other goodies tool GLOAT & learning to cut dovetails....

[John A. Callaway]

Okay, so we got up at 4 a.m. this morning and we hit the road around 4:45. It is usually a three and a half hour drive from my house to downtown Atlanta. It was supposed to snow this morning in ATL , so I wanted to give myself a bit of a window. The bride had to be back into Savannah by 3 p.m. for a meeting at the SCAD campus. We were back by 1:30 p.m. missed the snow.

Anyway.

Got the bench home, set up, and gonna get to using it here in a bit.
Also, this thing is VERY sturdy, there is no side to side racking....on the carpet or on the tile, although it will slide across my tile if you lean on it. Standing in front of it on the carpet, it will rock forward and backward just a little bit... I put it on a piece of 1/2 inch plywood that I have... still does it just a bit. So weight wont be used to prevent racking, more so sink it into the carpet fibers to work the feet into a stable footing.

I am very happy with this bench. It literally blows the Sjorberg out of the water. The top is thick, ( i will get all the measurements if somebody wants more than what is on the highland website. ) and the vises are good quality. This is a bench that is very well thought out. Even with it being the small bench, the quality shows and the cost is worth it to me at least. ( I know several of you will say I coulda built one for half of what I paid for it. )

I picked up a block plane today, some water stones ( couldn't spring for the Nortons right now ) a honing guide, a 4 inch square, along with the bench from highland. I went to HD and grabbed a granite tile, some 320 to flatten the chisel backs ( I have some 1500 and 2000 grit to polish them with ) and some 1x3 and 1x4 clear pine to start practing those dovetails ....

On to the pics.

[John A. Callaway]

Making nice ribbons fresh out the box....



My dovetail practice pieces lying in wait....

[Steve Pirrelli]

That's a sweet bench. Congrats!

[John A. Callaway]

I gathered everything up.... I also snagged a little cheap tool box set at Lowe's to tidy thing up when I am done working......went looking for a set of dividers. Highland was out of the three pack... Lowe's didn't have them either. So, this is where I am now, after dinner I am gonna do a little honing and flattening to those chisels, then start my first set of dovetails....

[David Gendron]

Good for you, it look like a good bench(even if I like Roubo style bench better). Are the bench dogs metals? the Kings stones are realy good stones BTW. Look like you are off the a good woodworking start! Keep us updated on your progress!

[David Gendron]

Ho and one more thing, it would be good if you would like, to let us know how much work it was to flaten and sharpen the chisels. and well or bad they keep an edge!

[brian c miller]

Is you bench on carpet... inside the house?

Flattening is dependent on how bad your chisels are to start. Try marking the back with "sharpie scribble" and take a few swipes... if there are low spots the marker will still be there. Lots of marker left mean lots of flattening to do.

[Andy Hsieh]

congrats on everything - That's the same bench I was gonna buy if I had had the money way back when. It never ceases to amaze me the posts of people who manage to get their bench to be located in a bedroom or inside the actual house. I barely had clearance to get mine from the garage into the unfinished basement

that is one great score! enjoy the ride.

[Darnell Hagen]

Nice pile of newness! I'm envious.

So's you know, just because it's granite doesn't mean it's flat, before you grind away at anything check it with a straightedge.


Here's the easiest way I've found to flatten chisels-

http://thewayiwood.blogspot.com/2010/01/lapping.html

Were I you, I'd return the dovetail markers and pick up the sliding bevel instead, the small size is ideal for dovetails and is good for other work, too.


There's nothing wrong with King stones. Pick up a small fretsaw, it'll make clearing dovetail waste a snap.

[dan sherman]

Is you bench on carpet... inside the house?

I second this question!

[David Gilbert]

John,

Your workshop is clearly more elegant than mine. It appears that you have both carpeting and a chair rail. I'm guessing that you have some elegant projects in your future. It sure looks like you have some lovely tools to work with too!

Cheers,
David

[Tony Shea]

That carpet is going to end up a disaster once you really start to indulge in the wonderful hobby. Believe me that dovetails will not be where it stops. Nice bench, would have loved to saved a bit of time and bought one. But then again it's a satisfaction thing too. I enjoyed the process. But good luck and make some sawdust to grind into that new carpet.

[David Christopher]

John, thats a great gloat...looks like you won the lottery..
Ive been to Highlands a few times and my wallet is allways thinner when I leave

[John A. Callaway]

yes, it is in the house.... I have another thread that got kinda long talking about the situation.... I own a townhouse, with out a garage. The house should be sold well before I get into anything big, and the bench will most likely wind up upstairs in a extra bedroom, once the bedroom suite up there is sold... In the mean time, the dining room is where it's at. I plan to put down some mats pretty soon. I have a shop vac that use on the cars in the foyer closet...saw dust will be kept to a minimum ... and I am smart enough to understand no sanding or power tools of any kind in the house. I grew up with a dad who is a woodworker ( into turning now ) and I have ran plenty of crown molding and built several mantles .... so I am aware of the mess... I am really trying to go all neander if I possibly can, sans table saw. ( I saw a cool portable Porter Cable at Lowe's today, very similar to the rigid model, only 200 dollars less !!! ) And not all of this was purchased today... buying what i can , when I can.

I just sharpened up those chisels. I learned that the honing guide isn't gonna work on these, even the larger ones. The bevel sides have a square edge, not a angle so the guide wont clamp them well.... And , I am really comfortable free handing the angle with them. I have a Tormek at my disposable a few miles away ( dad again ) but I wanna go at it with stones. This set was pretty flat across their backs.... a couple of them had a little hollow down the middle, but nothing too bad. The stones worked great.

gonna go try to lay out a set of tails.....

[gary Zimmel]

Quite the haul John. Good for you.
Looks like you are pretty much ready do do some dovetails.
Keep us updated on your progress.