Building Potting Benches

[Jim Koepke]

Some more time was spent in the shop today on the potting bench project.

The laps are finally tuned to a snug fit:

Snug Fit & Square.jpg

After completing and fitting the leg lap joints the sink side structure was glued into the top shelf. It is much easier to move around without all the under shelf construction:

Glue Up.jpg

The only long grain to long grain contact here is the rough bottom of the slats against the top of the pine. That isn't a very good joint. Dowels will be inserted through the front and back stretchers to add strength and support.

In the picture are a lot of the brushes used in my shop. The 1/2" brushes are great for spreading glue and are fairly cheap. The borgs do not seem to carry them currently. Mine were purchased before they stopped carrying them and more recently at Michael's Art & Crafts supply store. The 1" brush is used for brushing dust and other debris from my planes.

The top of the back leg gets an ogee at the top:

Ogee Template.jpg

The note reminds me of how difficult it can be to work on a piece with an ogee if any joinery cuts need the piece held in the tail vise.

This is where the final decision has to be made as to which leg is which. If there is any flaw that can be removed by the ogee or rabbet or if there is a knot in the way on one side or the other. One of my preferences is to have any "cathedrals" on the legs point upward if possible. Of course that is part of the layout before this point. Like any project each piece has to have a place to belong before the cutting begins. There is a lot more to making something than cutting to a list and slapping it together.

Then the layout for a shelf and a back behind the shelf:

Rabbet Layout.jpg

The back board was used to set the dividers and then transfered to the leg. A marking gauge was set to the thickness of the board. The dado was laid out using the dividers and square. In this case the lumber being used for these parts has not been dimensioned.

Finished Rabbet and Dado Layout.jpg

The dado is sawn and the waste cleaned out first. The far edge is chamfered first to help prevent any blowout:

Chamfer Far Edge.jpg

Next a 1" chisel is used to take the waste off the sawn sides:

Chamfer the Waste.jpg

This leaves a peak in the middle that is easy to remove while keeping track of the dado depth.

When the dado is finished there is now room to use a saw to cut the rabbet. It didn't occur to me to try a bull nose rabbet plane, sawing is likely faster and less stressful.

Dado & Rabbet Done.jpg

Next is finishing the sink and putting it all together.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Forgot to mention my experience with one of my Jorgensen/Pony pipe clamps.

One has had problems with the clutch plates over the years and finally the last one broke.

Their web site has the clamp model numbers and parts lists. When all the parts had a price but the clutch plates I sent an email to the contact listed.

The response was if they are ordered the shipping is too high and they would just send replacements in the mail.

They arrived quickly. I sent an email to let them know they arrived and thanked them for the quick service.

So there is another company out their with service that deserves a mention.

Somewhere some other makers pipe clamp set was purchased. They may have been a couple dollars less. They do not have any marking on them. If a replacement part is ever needed, those couple of dollars saved won't look so good then.

jtk