Workbench advice needed – legs are twisted
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Hi all,
For the pasts few months I have been working on my first workbench. Physical discomforts and other activities (housebreaking our new puppy, for instance) have slowed me down considerably.
Nevertheless, I finished the laminations before the holiday break and the past few days I have started on the legs. I must say that things really started to “click”: my chisels and plane irons come out sharper than ever, planing square is achieved more quickly and I finally truly understood the lesson “always use your square on the same two reference sides” 🙂
Today I finished the first pair of legs. The mortise and tenon joints (my first!) are quite tight and actually came out square and everything. However, during glue rehearsal I noticed there is quite some twist in the legs. It seems I forgot to check the top rail for twist. Looking at the photos now I can’t believe how I could have mist that astonishing amount of twist in the first place.
Anyway, I am considering the following options. Needless to say I don’t look starting over on the legs.
1) nothing – the twist might be flexed out later
2) make a new top rail – at my current skill level this will take me 1 to 2 afternoons
3) untwist the current top rail, leaving the tenons undersized. I could fix that by a) driving a dowel through the loose joints or b) using wedges to tighten the loose joints.Your advice would be greatly appreciated, as always.
Regards,
WesleyAttachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Hi Wesley,
Based on what I can see in the photos, I’d be inclined to remake the rail. This will be a bench you’ll use for many years and you’ll always know about that twist. You may also find that the twist will make problems for you further along on the build (I’m thinking about the aprons in particular). Although remaking the part will take a couple of afternoons, when you think that this is a bench for life a couple of afternoons is a small price to pay. Of course, I’m assuming you have sufficient wood left to remake the part.Hope this is of help,
Jon
3 January 2015 at 5:04 am #122979Not too much to remake the rail. One of my leg frames had a twist to it as well I didn’t notice until after glue up. I left it. I need a working bench more than a perfect bench so I left mine alone. Mine is put together with the wedges and some carriage bolts so I could redo the leg sometime, but I don’t see that happening. Esthetically is about all it affects, you can level it out if its really off.
3 January 2015 at 6:42 am #122980At this stage in construction I’d advise remaking the rails. This is assuming the problem is with the rail itself, and not that the mortises are out of square.
Thanks all. That is pretty unanimous: redo the rail. Luckily I didn’t glue up yet and I have enough stock to make several more rails. Indeed the bench is going to last me many years, what is a few more days in the grand scheme of things?
I’ll save the panicking for later, should the mortises turn out to be out of square.
Wesley
3 January 2015 at 9:14 am #122985Weslee, check the mortises before you do the new tenon. If they’re out of square, you could always try widening them up and paring them to square. Then just make a fatter tenon next time.
3 January 2015 at 12:35 pm #122991It’s always best to chop the mortise first. That way if you take off too much, or make a mistake and need to take off a bit more to fix it, you can always just compensate with the tenon. It’s always easier to take material away than put it back. Also, be careful creeping up on your tenon thickness. My workbench scrap pile contains a number of perfectly dimensioned stretchers with tenons I made too thin. And it’s an amazingly fine line between too thick and far too thin. A good fit should go in with a minimum of effort, and support the weight of the leg if you lift it. I had one oversized tenon I could jam in the leg, but it started to split the top. Too tight is no good either.
Just a few more tips from the front lines here in workbench city.
Ugh.. This is so frustrating..
I checked if the mortises we twisted. They were slightly so I removed it. Then I made a new rail. Everything fit. A little twist, but significantly less than before. I was happy. I started dreaming about the end of the project.
This morning I decided to glue up. Glue freeze. Ouch. After 20 minutes of banging ing and clamping I finally gave up. One of the mortises has a permanent gap of about 5 to 6 mm.
This is seriously messing with my Zen thing, man.
6 January 2015 at 2:53 am #123111Better to have it freeze on a workbench then a fine dresser or something! Chock it up as a learning experience 🙂 Keep up the good fight and keep going.
6 January 2015 at 7:58 am #123126On my workbenches the mortises are slightly long, so I have gaps on a few of my joints. Not worth crying about. So long as everything is square and solid, you’re fine. You’ll do better next time.
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