Yay, a saw bench is born!

[Judson Green]

I've finally completed the saw bench I started approximately six weeks ago.
Made with 4) 2×6’s from the orange Borg. I used mostly hand tools but did fire up the band saw for a few cuts, OK it was ten, honest. A few mistakes were made. One tenon was a bit under sized and I made the whole thing about 2 shorter than my plan. Oh well.

45" long, ~12" wide and 21" tall.

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[Terry Beadle]

I don't mean to complain....but that bench is just too well made to not have it shipped to me free of charge. Just to get it out of your way....hoot!

Really good job on those mortises. They look really crisp and straight. Good Job ! One YOU SUCK is headed your way.

[Chris Griggs]

That real nice Judson! I gotta admit I'm a bit envious of you folks making these nice fancy saw benches. Mines just a few laps and rabbets nailed together. Functionally, its everything it needs to be, but I am tempted to build a fancier one like your sometimes (though in all honesty I doubt I'll take the time to do so)

Very nice though. I love that style of saw bench since it gives you a full length rip notch.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Congrats Judson, a fantastic effort.

Thanks for sharing this.

[Stew Hagerty]

Judson, that is a thing of beauty. Mistakes... Eh, Snit Happens, don't worry about it. Human beings make mistakes (assuming that you ARE human).

Your joinery looks great, I'm sure it's rock solid. Is it your own design? Oh, and I like the contrasting wedges.

It puts mine to shame. But I made it in a couple of hours one Saturday. And I have very specific needs. I'm disabled, and in a wheelchair. I don't have the stamina for long rips. I also can't "put a knee", so I drilled holes for some holdfasts. For me it works and, when it comes right down to it, I guess that's what's most important.

I'm almost ashamed to put up a photo of mine, but what the heck, it'll be a good contrast to yours. Yours is "the good" and mine is both "the bad", and "the ugly". OK, maybe not "bad" since it works OK, but you get the idea.

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[Daniel Rode]

Nicely done, Judson! The mortises look terrific. It's great how even borg pine looks good with solid joinery and a smoothly planed faces.

I wasn't even thinking about a saw bench until I saw this. Now I need one immediately

Seriously though. I want to learn to hand cut M&T joints and this may be a great project to learn on. What was the most challenging part of the build?

[Jim Koepke]

Great design for ripping.

Looks to be sturdy.

Sometimes my thoughts run toward making a split top saw bench to go with my others just for ripping.

jtk

[Judson Green]

Golly thanks everyone.

Stew,

yes it's my own design but of course I googled for "saw benches" and poured over the photos for quite some time before making up my own plan. yours looks just fine to me. If it wasn't that I need the practice with hand tools and have a obsession with making shop stuff, I would have built one very nearly like yours.

Edit) At some point I'll add dog holes for dogs and possibly hold fasts.

Daniel,

The most difficult part of the build?

Marking and cutting the through mortise in the bench top. I felt that I needed to know where the tenons were gonna be before I could mark and cut the mortices.
This was my orfor for that part. Note the leg assembly is already glued together at this point.

1) cut tenons roughy on top of the legs.

2) cut the deep part at the top of each leg for the stretcher

3) cut and fit the big dados in the stretchers

4) with the legs and the stretchers assembled but not glued, transfer the position of the tenons to the bench top

5) cut mortises into the bench top

6) fit joint

7) put a little draft on though mortises. When you drive the wedge in you want a little room for tenon to expand into

Ordinarily one cut mortises first, but I just couldn't see that path and accomplish the joint I wanted to.

Definitely recommend you build a saw bench. I've only done a few cuts with it but can see that the result is way better than what was happing at the work bench.

[Chuck Nickerson]

I have an A-frame pair like Stew's, but have been looking to build a set with a full ripping slot.
I really like this design because it's not just dovetail joinery.
I think I know what I'm doing Thanksgiving weekend.

[Lonnie Gallaher]

JG,

If I built a bench that nice my wife would what it in the house as a piece of furniture.

Great job.

[Edward Mitton]

Nice bench, Judson,
You will enjoy the heck out of using it. It's nice to hear that someone else besides me can go for six weeks on a shop project.

[Andy Blake]

Nice saw bench, thanks for posting this. I started building my saw bench last week but after seeing this I'm redesigning it. I love the full length ripping slot; that will be much more usable than the little notch I was going with.

[steven c newman]

I think I will just hide my "Built in an afternoon" saw bench on my back porch. Just a simple knee high to me thing, nothing real fancy, either....

[Frederick Skelly]

Nice job! Id be proud to have built that one.
Fred

[Adam Cruea]

I don't remember seeing what species you used for the tenon wedges. Looks like walnut?

I have yet to make a saw bench. For x-cuts, I just slap it up on my bench and hack away. Rip cuts, it gets clamped down to the bench or taken over to the band saw my wife nudged me into buying.