Nice Legs!

I've been making gradual progess with the bench over the past couple days. Trying to take my time (I've got plenty these days!) and get it right as I plan on using this contraption for the next couple decades.

I got the legs and strechers glued up over the weekend and then trued up on the jointer/planer... and once again I sing the praises for Harbor Freight and their almost reasonable quality tools. My full fleet of Chinese clamps, and the few nice Besseys I own, were employed in the glue-up. I've gone through 2/3 of a gallon of Tite-Bond so far; should have bought stock prior to buying the 8 barrels of the stuff.

Next was to start drilling all of the square holes (not easy!) for the leg/top mortise and tenon joints. Being the case that I don't have a workbench yet (issue being addressed) or a real drill press/mortising machine or the desire to cut 2.5"x5"x2" mortises by hand, I had to cobble together a solution involving a relatively flat concrete floor, a couple stacks of offcuts from the bench parts, and my trusty $25 mini drill press sourced from Tractor Supply Co.

In the end, it actually worked well and left the underside of the benchtop with four massive mortises somewhat resembling the silouette of a block of Swiss cheese from the deli counter. The liberal application of my butter soft Sorby mortise chisels squared the mortises nicely and I was able to trial fit the legs. I need to trim a bit of length off of the tenons, but things fit up nicely.



*** Begin Sorby chisel rant ***

About a year ago I was trolling the aisles at a Rockler store back in Cincinnati and noticed that they had Robert Sorby bench and mortise chisels on clearance for 75% off. Having the tendency to sometimes buy things I don't absolutely need just because "its a good deal!", I pieced together a set of 6 or so bench chisels and a set of 4 or 5 mortise chisels. At full retail, the combined price of these dudes would have exceeded $500... I left $135 poorer, but the victor (so I thought) as I just scored a great set of chisels relatively cheaply. And my other set of Marples chisels, though they sharpened up nicely and held an edge pretty well (my set was still made in Sheffield, England) looked just too crude with they're big goofy blue plastic handles.

I got home, admired my victor's spoils, honed an edge or two and put them away. I used a couple here and there while wrapping up Norah's crib and thought they seemed to work admirably.

Then came the baby, Nisha wrapping up her PhD, fixing up the house, moving, etc. They didn't get used much for about a year.

The Sorby chiels, though beautiful, suck. They sharpen up nicely but a couple whacks with a mallet into the Southern yellow pine benchtop to clean up the mortises typically resulted in a dinged up, folded over edge. Say what?! Pine!

A bit confused/frustrated at these events, I searched the internets about others' experiences with these quickly dulling finger nickers and found many similar gripes. Bummer. Theories abound regarding as to why these things won't hold an edge, everything from bad materials to intentional weak heat treatment to keep the steel somewhat ductile so they don't shatter when some numbskull uses the chisel to open a paint can. Ick. Anyway, it looks like others have luck hardening the Sorbys with the liberal application of a MAPP torch and quenching in oil. I guess that'll be the next project... unless anyone in blogdom wants to buy a set of lightly used Sorby chisels! :)

*** End Sorby chisel rant ***

Next is to continue the mortise-a-thon and cut motises in the legs for the strechers, cut the ends of the benchtop square, fit the face and wagon vices, et voila! I can start woodworking! Wait. That's what I've been doing.

Well, its already 9:30am and I haven't applied to any jobs yet! Better get to it...

Justin

Tarnation! Lamination!

*** Begin Baby Update ***

Whatever Norah had, which we think was the H1N1 thing, she's over it and back to her chipper self. She came home early on Wednesday with a 103 degF fever. After two visits and being poked and prodded with nearly every pointy instrument at the disposal of her new pediatrician, no one was able to tell us what was wrong with her (and according to the doc the flu test they have available is of very questionable accuracy). Poor kid. Whatever it was, she (and her parents) didn't enjoy it.

*** End Baby Update ***

More workbench stuff... and maybe a couple baby pics if you suffer through the post...

On Saturday I glued the 21 benchtop boards to each other, ending up with five large blocks that I squared up on the jointer and planed to final thickness. The original intent was a 3.5" thick top but when I was ripping things to width on the table saw the wood bowed and bent all over the place, thus requiring lots of attention on the jointer/planer.

Today I squared and trued up the five blocks, test fit a few times, and glued the top together. Woodworking is fun. Big glue-ups, especially with fast-setting glue, aren't fun. No matter how many times you think about how to tackle it, run through the process and sequence and stage the work, it seems like some hiccup will suface and a few choice words will be uttered. This glue up went ok, but not without spilling big globs of glue, tripping over stuff (did I mention I need more space) and bouts of dizzyness/nose blowing due to whatever disease Norah passed on to me. Here's a couple shots before and after.




Final thickness will end up around 3 3/16" or so; should be plenty thick and heavy enough to sit still when I want it to... and maybe sit still when I try to move it!

Ok, ok, enough rambling. Here's what you're after:


"I want strawberries and nothing else!"

Chicken / Egg? ... Woodworker / Workbench?

To do much woodworking, one needs a bench. But if one is building a workbench that requires a bunch of woodworking... You get the point.

Today really highlighted how important a workbench is. Today also highlighted that cutting down a stack of 12-foot-long 2"x12" boards in a one car garage, chock full of junk that used to live in a basement, is a royal pain in the neck. It was a bit like playing chess as you had to plan a couple steps in advance so as not to trip over something and let loose a string of profanity. I can't wait for us to get into a place with more garage/shop room... Now if only I'd get a call back about a job. (that's not in Indianapolis)

The day's activities consisted of many hours making long wide boards into shorter thinner boards. Lots of shorter thinner boards. To make the chore a bit safer I made a nifty collapsable (see above comments about limited space) outfeed table for the table saw.

I got a pretty early start this morning so I started off with sub-120dB tools. Yep, handsaws. Its no wonder that people, myself included, are generally "huskier" than people were 50-100 years ago. Besides the lack of garbage processed food and General Tso's chicken, you really had to expend effort to accomplish something.

I spent a couple good hours cutting boards to length with my trusty,70-year-old Disston crosscut saw. Once everything was cut to length, I briefly considered grabbing my 90-year-old Disston rip saw and starting to cut boards to width. Really briefly. By this time it was 9:30am and the romance of using only antique steel and physical exertion had waned and I fired up the table saw.

The end result is was this larger stack of boards, stickered and resting comfortably. And sore arms.

Norah's 1st art project and cute Old Navy hat/gloves

Norah made a trick or treat bag at the daycare.

This is the front of it.

This is what she actually painted.

If Norah was a little older and actually went trick or treating, we thought she could be little red riding hood in this poncho/coat and Casey could be the big bad wolf.

I don't have the Gap stock or anything, but if you have little girls, go to Old Navy and get these hat/glove combos. They're too cute! (I didn't see what the boys had, so I can't comment there)

...oh and yeah Carrie, that is the super cute jacket that your parents bought. It's 3/6 months, but I still manage to squeeze her in it.


The back is super cute too!

Untitled

Halloween, new stuff, and

Justin and Norah on our hike


Justin's exited to see these on the road...


Justin took this cool pic of a Bluejay.


My friend had some Indian clothes made for Norah and here is one that almost fits her now.




Norah was a skeleton for her daycare Halloween party


Our house on Halloween night


Norah and Dada


Norah and Mama


Norah playing with our decorations

Woodworking? Really?

Seeing how the title of this blog seems to indicate some sort of tie to woodworking I thought it would be nice to at least mention that I'm trying to set up a small workshop in our one car garage in the house we're renting.

I've been pouring over internet articles and Chris Schwarz's "Workbenches" book for a few days and have settled on an idea of what my new workbench will look like. After applying for another job and taking a 5 mile jog this morning, I headed to Home Depot to pick up lumber.... What a workout! After picking through the whole bin and heaving split, warped and other undesirable boards to the side I ended up with ten decent 2"x12"x12' planks of southern yellow pine and a gallon of Titebond II. I think each board weighs around 60lb. By the time I had my stuff picked out, I had literaly left a puddle of sweat on the floor by the lumber bin. Eww. Labor of love I suppose.

Loading 600lbs of lumber that is 12' long into a compact pickup with a 6' bed and driving down the interstate back home seemed a bit dicey, but I took great comfort knowing that the load was secured with ten dollars worth of the finest Chinese ratchet straps you can buy from Harbor Freight. A free-body diagram and summing the moments about the CG of the goodies in the truck bed would have looked pretty ugly but I got home without issue and stacked the boards in the garage. They're now resting comfortably separated by 1/2" square stickers to allow them to acclimate to the garage, essentially being outdoors. I figure I'll give the wood a week and start milling stuff down to size.

The bench, when finished, will have a leg vice on the front left corner and a nifty wagon-style vice on the right side. It should weigh around 300 lbs when its complete. This one shouldn't not rock and scoot across the floor when I'm using the hand planes. If so, I could always throw bags of concrete on the bottom shelf... :)