Workbench Progress
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- This topic has 367 replies, 51 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 7 months ago by Mexiquite.
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Anonymous25 January 2013 at 11:21 pm #6979
Thanks Gregory,…….I’m looking forward to it been finished and put to work 🙂
26 January 2013 at 10:55 am #7011Looks good Ken, you are not far off the finishing line . Having a good solid work bench is the prerecusite to creating the feel good work space
Anonymous26 January 2013 at 11:01 am #7012Thanks David, very true buddy.
Thanks juryaan, I cant make my mind up for the vice buddy. But it will be one of these for sure.
Nice looking bench Ken. After you start using it, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without one, as I did. The lower picture of your intended vise looks like the Lee Valley-Veritas vise I just installed on my new bench. It’s made in the Czech republic,
built like a tank, and I am very happy with it.I’m currently trying to build a workbench according to Paul’s instructions.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the suburbs, and I find it nearly impossible to get 2×4 Dry Pine or Spruce! And I’ve called 5 lumber yards!! I’m either left with the stuff at the Home Depot/Lowes, which is horrible and questionably dry… or we start getting into laminating 1×4 clear pine boards.
I guess my question to you all is, Where are you getting your wood? What kind of wood are you using? And is it necessary to get Dry wood? What about redwood? There seems to be tons of that stuff, dry, in my area. More expensive though. Thanks for any input!
Anonymous27 January 2013 at 12:12 am #7027Hey Phillip. I used premium Douglas Fir 2×4 8′ long from Home Depot. Premium means its not twisted 90 degrees at my store. You might find it listed as “white wood”. I think that’s their generic name for spruce, fir, whatever they have in stock. Look at the printing on the board to see what it is. Fir has a pinkish to whiteish color. See the very first posting on this thread, that’s my bench, and what fir looks like. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the quick replies guys, I went to home depot like you guys suggested and picked up a bunch of the KD Premium Whitewood/Doug fir. They don’t feel Kiln Dried or Premium in any way, but they are a bargain at less than $3 a stud!
I’ve been planing with my #4 all day,with the goal of squaring the rounded corners, and removing the machine marks (some of which are really deep!). The knots trip me up a little but I just kept on planing through them. Are knots bad for the plane? I don’t know how else to deal with them.
Anonymous27 January 2013 at 6:06 am #7030Sure thing Phil. And those are the studs I used. A shade under $3 as I recall. The rounded corners are a royal pain. I was fortunate enough to have a table saw to rip the edges off and get them square, plus a power planer to flatten the sides. I still had to plane a bit, but nothing like the 1/8th inch per edge to remove the rounds, then the faces. If planing gets tough, the grain may have switched on you in the middle of the board and youre “stroking the cat backwards” as Paul says. I had several places that happened to me. I was planing the edge of a left over stud this evening and the grain was opposite on the left edge from the right. I planed one way, and it tore out on the left. Planed the other way, and it tore out on the other side.
There’s nothing to do that I know of to help with the knots except use a thin plane setting and keep your blade super sharp. Don’t hit the full knot at one time, take maybe half or less and it will be easier. Don’t try to bulldog through it, break it down a bit at a time and outsmart it. Attack it from different angles. Keep the bottom of your plane oiled or waxed as well to help all planing. Keep at it buddy and success is yours. Slow and steady wins.
Anonymous27 January 2013 at 7:42 am #7031Hey Phil.
I had the same problem planing Vs knots. If you follow the great advice from Jeff, you will get there buddy. Timber in the UK is a lot more expensive.
Enjoy your bench build, I’m enjoying making mine. It will be so nice to start Paul’s projects on a proper workbench.
Very Best
Ken 😉
27 January 2013 at 9:29 pm #7040Guys,
I have the same vise Mark purchased and Ken is considering. Mine made quite a loud rapid “clanking” noise in the quick release mode as part of the mechanism rubbed against the threads. I finally removed the small plug located on the underside. The problem is I don’t know what that plug does so I’m not sure if will cause any issues down the road. However, the vise sure works alot more smoothly now so unless someone can tell me a reason for putting that plug back in, I’ll not worry about it. Thanks.
John
P.S. I used the same $2.82 studs and the bench turned out great; just not a visual work of art! And I learned about the #4 plane while making it!
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