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Thread: Nicholson workbench build

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Apex, NC
    Posts
    549
    Okay, keeping up with the commitment. So the wood showed a very immediate surface dryness, but definitely is drying on a much more....regular...drying schedule. Larger pieces (2x10+) are drying slower than the smaller pieces [expected] so I've been taking care to keep everything well spaced and moving a few pieces around here and there. I've not made any cuts yet, but I'm getting close. I don't have a moisture meter, I go by feel and weight. (I really want a moisture meter, though.)

    I think in the next week or two I should be able to start on smaller parts. So...assuming that I can't get working with the larger pieces, I hope to at least get the legs started.

    I'll keep you posted.


    daniel
    Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    My knee hurts,and I didn't read the whole thread,but you need to dry 1" thickness PER YEAR. Even then I still wouldn't trust it to behave. We dried our 5000 bd. feet f beech in the loft of a large,VERY HOT in the Summers garage in Williamsburg. Even after SEVERAL YEARS the blasted stuff would still raise cain when trying to build a long cooper's jointer.

    I had my own beech cut and must have waited at least 10 years before making my own bench.

    I am left handed too,but have used right handed benches for so many decades,I am perfectly comfortable with it,and would feel very strange if it were suddenly left hand. I'd also feel strange with a left handed bolt action rifle!(I have some lever action rifles,but can't tell which handed they are!) But,that's what long time experiences do to you. Now,a left handed baseball bat would feel just fine! I have to use right handed pencils all the time,and they have really held back my creative abilities!

    If I am a TRUE left hander,dominant left eye,etc.,WHY is my RIGHT KNEE the one giving me a fit right now.Left sacorum,left knee,left ankle. They all get going and I have solid pain all the way down. Somehow,they all join together.
    Last edited by george wilson; 02-19-2017 at 8:53 AM.

  3. #18
    Hey George Beech is one of the nastiest of the American hardwoods to dry. Very few lumber folks choose to deal with it both because of the limited market and the aggravations of drying. Modern planemakers who use beech like Old Street Tool often have a tough time finding stock.

    I'm a lefty too and build my now 6 year old bench sinister style. But like you and most other lefties I have had to make many accommodations over the years to a right handed world. Shoot righty, bat righty, right handed circular saw, and so it goes. Fortunately for shooting I'm right eye dominant.
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    My workbench
    Posts
    5
    Give it a couple of more weeks (dry surfaces for glue), then "glue it and screw it," and start making things. It's not rocket science. If it gets twisty, plane it. It's a workbench, and if you're using it well, you're going to beat the snot out of it, anyway. The dripping wet construction grade lumber I built mine with sat in the garage for three weeks and then got turned into a bench. Three years on, still works great. Enjoy the build, and enjoy your bench!

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Apex, NC
    Posts
    549
    Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm looking forward to getting started. The plan is to go ahead and follow Mike's plan in the Naked Woodworker videos. That is, I'll make two sawbenches first and then start the bench itself. I have a sawbench I made years ago à la Tolpin, but I'll want two to build this bench and I may make them a little shorter than my Tolpin sawbench so they are easier for my kids to use for things. Since those start with kiln dried material, I can add another week or two for the SYP to dry out a bit. I'm not that worried about not having bone dry wood for the bench, but would like to minimize cupping/etc. after the build, so I'm giving it time. Maybe for my bday I'll ask for a moisture meter.


    daniel
    Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    Let it never be said that I tried to stop you from buying tools, but you don't need a moisture meter to build a bench out of construction lumber. It will tell you that the wood is too wet for a long, long time and you will get stuck on "go". Let the wood dry a couple-three weeks, more if you have other stuff to do like you describe, then get started. If you rip on a TS, it will most likely pinch the blade. Other than that, it will be good to go.
    David

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    Dave Anderson: You may have read the post where I told the story of how we set out to make a beech wood long cooper's jointer. It was made from a 6 x 6" of beech. Several years air dried. PLENTY DRY in the 120º Summer heat of the loft of a large wooden carriage house we kept it in. Might have gotten OVER 120º some times.

    We planed the 6x6 nice and square and it propeller twisted quite soon! We waited weeks or even months to plane it square and straight again. AGAIN it twisted like a propeller! This went on for many months,and we were just about to have the wood get too small to make the plane from. Somehow,by magic,it quit twisting when we reached 4x4" size,so we made the escapement and delivered the plane.

    Some uninformed idiots have written books in which they stated that beech was used because it is SO STABLE a wood!!!! BUNK!!! They probably never made a tool in their lives. Salomon is a writer who comes to mind.

    I say it was used because t was plentiful and cheap. It is not an attractive wood to make furniture from. Except for some Scandinavian furniture,you hardly ever see it in furniture. Maybe in IKEA furniture!!

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Apex, NC
    Posts
    549
    David (E.) -

    You're right, I don't need a moisture meter to build a bench from SYP. But it it does make a great excuse to get one, does it not? The real reason I'm thinking I'll get one is that I've done all my woodworking in a garage in central CA and in Las Vegas over the last 9-10 years and now I'm in a basement in NC. I'm still learning what equilibrium means, and it would be useful for me to be able to measure/monitor moisture in my lumber rack.

    I recently bought some wildflower seed mix to seed a ~100sq.ft. patch in the front yard. When I called to place the order, I asked if I needed the "northern" mix, since it is so cold here in NC. After they stopped laughing at me, they explained that they were in ME and no, the "northern mix" was for much further north. See - still getting used to this cool, green, wet place!


    d
    Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    Oh do get the meter if you want it, but don't let it stop you from moving forward with the bench. I believe that construction-grade lumber will read "too wet" for a long time but many, many benches have successfully been built from "too wet" construction grade lumber.
    David

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by David Eisenhauer View Post
    Oh do get the meter if you want it, but don't let it stop you from moving forward with the bench. I believe that construction-grade lumber will read "too wet" for a long time but many, many benches have successfully been built from "too wet" construction grade lumber.
    I would concur with this assessment.

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