Workbench: Episode 4

Posted 15 December 2017

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Time for the rails. They are cut to size and planed before the tenons are laid out. They are then cut to size using a combination of the saw, chisel and router to get a tight joint.

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Previous: Workbench: Episode 3

53 Comments

  1. Very timely release of the fourth episode, as I’m just finishing the mortises. Are there any major advantages of using a haunched tenon on that top rail as opposed to the shoulder cut shown here?

    Production, lighting and camera work great again too.

    2. I was thinking the same. The old YT workbench videos show the haunched tenon and the plans for this bench show it as an option. Would be nice to know why this shoulder? Type tenon has been chosen instead.

      1. The haunch helps prevent twisting. You still have a wide tenon surface, but with less end grain movement that could make the tenon cup, or warp. So it prevents tenon integrity with a smaller surface. Same reason why in some cases for very large tenon surfaces, you split the tenon in two.
        The top rail is the one carrying the load so it is imperative it is strong and stable.
        There’s no need to haunch the bottom rail tenon as it is a through tenon and its purpose is to keep the legs together

    3. The haunch helps prevent twisting. You still have a wide tenon surface, but with less end grain movement that could make the tenon cup, or warp. So it preserves tenon integrity with a smaller surface. Same reason why in some cases for very large tenon surfaces, you split the tenon in two.
      The top rail is the one carrying the load so it is imperative it is strong and stable.
      There’s no need to haunch the bottom rail tenon as it is a through tenon and its purpose is to keep the legs together

  4. I’m looking foward to start building mine during the hollidays. I am going to incorporate a removable tool holder to have that roubo style clamping option of the split top. And I’ll probably be adding a leg vise wit a wooden screw and an end vise.
    It’s only about the fifth design so it might still change 😁.
    Thanks for another great video.

  6. Hi Paul,
    I have been following your new bench series and have also been getting to grips with your new method of making m & t joints using the router plane. I am wondering if the router plane method could be applied to the bench construction, or do you think that the tenons are too big for this? I have also wondered about using a scrap piece of stretcher material to support the free end of the router during tenon reducing operations so as to avoid the router plane end swinging free. (Your employment of the bench plane on the tenon ends slightly frightens me!) I am enjoying these videos so much!

    1. supporting the router past your workpiece needs the support to be exactly in the same plane as the workpiece face. I frequently find that hard to realize. Pauls method with the bench plane, guided by the router groove and the knife/gauge marks on all sides is so reliable and so achievable, I never reached for the elongaters anymore.

  8. Paul,
    Thank you. As always, a very well done presentation. I’m looking forward to building a new workbench myself in the near future. I do have a question tho. When it came time to surface plane the rail, you picked up one plane then switched it with another. And when you were adjusting it it looked like it was your scrub plane based on the appearance of the blade in the throat. Is that correct? And did you have a particular reason for choosing that one?

  9. Hi Paul, enjoying your new series you make it look so easy, practice makes it so I’d guess.
    Just one question, “what happened to the split that was appearing at the end of the mortise as you neared
    Completion”.
    Please keep the good ideas flowing and a merry Christmas to you and the team.

  10. Many thanks for that great video and in particular for the valuable hints to fit the tenon in the mortise – with the router plane.
    That helps a lot in my next steps prior to build the workbench: work on small saw horses (perhaps they’re better called “saw ponies” 😉 ).

  12. Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Joyous and Prosperous New Year!

    As always, your videos are a wonder to watch. You impart information in so many different ways without seemingly thinking about the teaching aspect. It’s as if teaching is part of your nature in all you do. Marvelous to see!

    At about the 9 min 30 second mark in this video you mention that your layout will be true if your square is true and registered on the correct sides. Of course this is true, but it would be helpful if you expanded on this a bit and showed how to test that a square is truly square, and what to do if it is not (provided, of course that the error is correctable). This would make a good subject for a short video lesson.

    All the best,
    Bob from central Texas

    1. It’s about a minimal set of tools. It’s a way of eliminating the need to buy a shoulder plane. But if you happen to have one then use it 😀. The advantage of a shoulder plane is that you could save a little time prepping your stock. You could flatten one face and edge to register your layout lines. Then on the side that hasn’t been prepped you could use a shoulder plane because it doesn’t rely on the rail being coplanar to the tenon cheeks.

      1. Two different functions.

        a router registers against the face of the work. It is primarily used to dress the tenon cheek.

        A shoulder plane isn’t named a cheek plane. It was designed to dress the shoulders.

  18. Hope you still monitor this older, but still very relevant link.

    After chopping my 6″ mortis’ (morti?), I’m ready to cut the rails. In the US, a 2×6 is actually only 5 1/2 in width. The 6 ” rail on the video looks to be one piece. The question that comes to mind: is 6″ lumber available in the UK, and hence the 6″ verses 5 1/2″ recommendation for the width. Looks like I’ll be gluing up to get the 6 inch width. For future (?US) viewers, to prevent an extra glue up step, would a 5 1/2″ rail be adequate?

  19. Use what you have available.
    None of the dimensions are critical.
    Although you should adapt everything.
    If you lumber is 5 1/2 or whatever , make the mortise and tenons accordingly.

    The dimensions for my workbench were inspired but not copied from the 2012 workbench [made in the garden] dimensions.
    The recycled lumber I have used for the rails was about 85 X 30 mm so I made my tenon and mortises 85 X 10.

    If your mortise is too big, two solutions:
    – glue up to increase the tenon height; or
    – glue a shim in the mortise.

  20. I just finished my workbench last month. Benoit is absolutely correct. Get in the ballpark and you’ll be fine. Most of the measurements are off the stock itself, so the absolute dimensions don’t control. What is important is that the components are close to identical with each other. Also, if your joints aren’t perfect that doesn’t matter too much either. Those giant mortises mean your bench is going to be solid which is the important thing even if there’s gaps in the joints. Nothing has improved my woodworking like finishing the bench!

  21. I will add that I made a 10mm thick tenon for 2 reasons:
    – it is common practice to make the tenon 1/3 of the rail thickness;
    – I have a 10 mm chisel to chop the mortise; otherwise I could have made the tenon 1/2″ thick.

    So one not only has to adapt to the lumber available but also to the tools available.

  22. Looking back at episode 3, (you might have not catch this) Paul says that he made his rails exactly 6″ … and so he could measure the mortise.

    Now if one look at this 2012 blog:
    https://paulsellers.com/2012/06/making-the-workbench-4/
    pictures 3 and 4,
    one will see that Paul doesn’t measure the mortise but uses the actual rail to report its real width on the leg to determine the mortise length. That is the best way to avoid mismatch.
    old video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84KDvRIwfIY
    look from 4’19”

  23. A friend of mine made the same mistake of cutting a 6″ mortise and later noticing his rails were 5″ and some.

    You must understand where measurements go and measure properly. I honestly didn’t even bother making all rails the same height, just parallel. I measured the end of each mortise hole by marking each pair and placing each piece right to the top mark of each mortise. I then measured the bottoms. They could be of totally different heights and it wouldn’t matter!

    I think Paul could have measured the mortises from the rails instead of just saying his were dead on 6″. I don’t see a benefit to having anything dead to a tape measure value here.

  24. Thank you all for your thoughtful and helpful comments. Benoit, I did review the 2012 blog and found it insightful for future mortis and tenon work. Had I of thought through the concept, instead of “strictly” following the 6″ video mortis, I would have saved myself a lot of time “fixing” an undoubtedly novice’s mistake. Unfortunately, that’s how a lot of us learn. Perhaps with age, and mistakes, come wisdom.

    Patrick

  25. Although most of the processes are shown in the video, one has to listen attentively. Otherwise one can miss important information.
    And importantly, there are little gems in what Paul says.

    Me too I don’t always catch all at the first (or even at the nth) view.

  27. You can pare down with a chisel. Saw close to the line and then place your chisel on the line and cut aiming upwards. When you’ve gone down to the line on all 3 sides (like a raised panel), pare down the bump in the middle to make it all flat. Keep checking yourself frequently since it’s a pretty big tenon.

  30. my poor man’s router was a quick and dirty affair.
    I had to enhance it with a screw to prevent chisel moving.
    see picture.

    anyway, nobody will ever see those workbench apron dadoes.

    I now have a veritas router plane.

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