Diary of a Madman's Workbench

[Pat Germain]

After many domestic distractions, I finally made some progress on my workbench. I have a few happy snaps and lessons learned to share if there is still interest.

[Brent Ring]

Always watching and reading - Please, post away!

[Daniel Savard]

(...) if there is still interest.

Interest or not, a diary is a diary.

[Barry Reade]

After many domestic distractions, I finally made some progress on my workbench. I have a few happy snaps and lessons learned to share if there is still interest.

Those stinkin domestic distractions

Lots of interest still here.

[Dewey Torres]

Come on Pat... Post the pics... heck... I was one of the distractions!
Dewey

[Pat Germain]

Come on Pat... Post the pics... heck... I was one of the distractions!
Dewey

Yeah, but you're not very domestic.

I'll post some pics tonight. It's OK to laugh at me.

[Barry Reade]

I am laughing with you Pat

[Doug Donnell]

Very interested in your project, in the planning stages for something similar myself. I have subscribed to your thread so I don't miss a post!

Doug

[Jim O'Dell]

Reading with lots of interest. Not sure when I'll build a bench like that, but someday. I enjoy watching your progress, trials, tribulations, and accomplishments. Jim.

[Pat Germain]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

Here's a picture of a mortise being punched out. Forstener bits work well for this. I squared the first few mortises with a regular chisel. The process was non-trivial and the results were a little rough. I went to Woodcraft to get a corner chisel. They had a nice example for $72.00. I considered it, but decided to get the mortising attachment for my drill press instead. It was $75.00.

Now, I've heard mixed reviews of drill press mortising attachments. For what I wanted, I was pleasantly surprised. The results were much better than using a chisel. I made a few practice mortises in some scrap as well and they came out pretty nice. I'm not saying such attachments are a replacement for a dedicated mortising machine, but they'll serve as a nice compromise. I have the Delta mortising attachment. I also looked at a Steel City model and it seemed identical.

[Pat Germain]

Here's a shot of a base just after I put it together. The plan calls for an 8' benchtop. I really don't have room for a bench that large. My benchtop will be just over 6'. It seemed to me reducing the base length by 24" made it too small. I decided to reduce the length by 12". This will mean less overhang than the Chris Schwarz example. That's fine with me.

As most people know, this bench uses draw boring to secure the tenons. This was the first time I've ever done this. I wasn't sure how it would work, but by golly it worked quite well. The instructions say to just twist the dowel into the hole. I wasn't able to do this. After whittling down the end to a point, I put some paste wax on the dowel and tapped it in with a dead blow mallet. That worked.

The best part about using draw boring for assembly is it requires no clamps. Otherwise, I would have had to buy a few more, larger clamps. While some guys might relish the excuse to buy more clamps, my budget is being pulled in enough directions already without another clamp purchase.

Lesson learned: For some reason, when I started to drill the holes for the dowels, I didn't use a forstener bit. As Schwarzeneger said in "Predator" just after punching the alien, "Bad idea!". The start of the hole had some serious tearout. Drat and double drat. Oh well. Live and learn. I never expected this workbench to be a museum piece. It's definitely a function over form project and, as a rather new woodworker, I'm learning a great deal in the process.

I'd rather be making mistakes and learning than being afraid to do something lest I screw up. Hopefully, the screwup to success ratio will continue to improve.

[Pat Germain]

Just to demonstrate the art of screwing up, I forgot to attach the picture to that last post.

I just started gluing up the top. I'll be sure to post some pictures of that process soon. The plans call for a 4" top using Southern Yellow Pine. You may recall I can't get that stuff in Colorado and I bought hickory. Well, a 4" hickory top is pretty expensive for what I'm building. After squaring up the hickory, each board was 5" wide. Rather than ripping off 1" and buying a lot more hickory, I opted to rip the boards in half. Sigh, a 2 1/2" top will look "Spindley" as The Schwarz would say. Well, I sure don't think the hickory will be sagging, even at 2 1/2". I can always build another top, or another bench in the future.

I recently saw an interview with The Schwarz on The Wood Whisperer web site. Chris built an example of his French bench from ash. I couldn't find any nice ash when I was looking. I'm sure I could find some nice examples if I looked again. Although, hickory and ash are the same price per board foot in my area.

[Chris Friesen]

The instructions say to just twist the dowel into the hole.

I think you misread the instructions. If you have two holes in a tenon you twist the drawbore pin (the tapered metal tool) into one hole, then pound the actual peg into the other hole. Pull out the pin, and pound in the other peg.

What offset did you use? I'm in the middle of making a bench as well...I tried 3/32" and it really didn't want to work. 1/16" seemed to be okay.

Lesson learned: For some reason, when I started to drill the holes for the dowels, I didn't use a forstener bit.

Brad-point bits work well for this. Better-quality spade bits will work too, but they leave the cleanest hole if you clamp the work, then turn off the drill with the bit still at the bottom of the hole. Wait for it to stop, then bring it back up.

Sigh, a 2 1/2" top will look "Spindley" as The Schwarz would say. Well, I sure don't think the hickory will be sagging, even at 2 1/2".

My bench top will also be 2 1/2" thick, but out of maple salvaged from a bowling alley. At that thickness it may have some "bounce" in the middle. If so, the remedy is simply to do any heavy pounding directly over one of the legs.

[Pat Germain]

I think you misread the instructions. If you have two holes in a tenon you twist the drawbore pin (the tapered metal tool) into one hole, then pound the actual peg into the other hole. Pull out the pin, and pound in the other peg.

What offset did you use? I'm in the middle of making a bench as well...I tried 3/32" and it really didn't want to work. 1/16" seemed to be okay.

Brad-point bits work well for this. Better-quality spade bits will work too, but they leave the cleanest hole if you clamp the work, then turn off the drill with the bit still at the bottom of the hole. Wait for it to stop, then bring it back up.

My bench top will also be 2 1/2" thick, but out of maple salvaged from a bowling alley. At that thickness it may have some "bounce" in the middle. If so, the remedy is simply to do any heavy pounding directly over one of the legs.

I did see the instructions say to twist the drawbore pin in. I thought I also read to twist in the dowels. As you said, I could easily have misread it.

Thanks for the drill bit tip. I have a set of DeWalt drill bits. They're not brad point, but something else I don't recall.

Glad to hear someone else is going with 1 1/2" on the bench top. My friend Dewey also suggested it would be fine. I guess I'm concerned only because my bench won't look like the pictures in the book.

Also, I forgot to mention I wasn't confident I'd be able to find a "draw bore pin". The Schwarz suggests you can get a tapered alignment pin at Sears. Sure enough, that's exactly what I got. Be sure to get the long alignment pin. Sears has shorter, less expensive examples which I don't think would work for such large mortises.

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/c...rawBoring1.asp

Found this.