The Leg Vise I made the leg vise out of a very hard piece of maple. I decided to make is a little fancier than I had originally planned. I had the vise cut out and was just going to do a simple chamfer and call it good. Then I saw the work my friend … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 14

Finishing I got the first coat of finish on my new bench. I debated with myself for quite a while about whether or not to put a finish on it. I eventually decided I wanted to add a finish and then had to decide on the finish to use. The Douglas-Fir is soft enough I … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 13

The Glue Up The time has come for the glue up. This is a nerve wracking step that is a barely controlled panic. Once the glue starts being applied you have a time limit imposed. You have to get everything together before the glue hardens. I knew this would take more time than usual for … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 12

The Leg Vise The leg vise is made from the same maple board as the end vise front jaw. It is one of the hardest and heaviest hunks of maple I've ever worked with. I think it will be a great vise. Ripping down to the width of the top of the vise was the … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 11

The End Vise I had a new Woodriver 10 1/2" quick release vise and I wanted to use it on my new bench. I'm also going to have a leg vise and I know many people don't have vises on the other end of their bench. I think it will be handy to have and … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 10

Squaring The Ends The next task was to trim and square the ends of the bench top. The top is 5" thick and I need to do it with a handsaw. The first step was to cut a kerf around the ends with my Veritas Combination plane and the kerfing plate I made for it. … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 9

The Short Stretchers I chose a cutoff from one of the thick barn beams for the short side stretchers. This meant I needed to resaw it in half. Before I set up the bandsaw I thought I'd try my freshly sharpened old rip saw and see how far I could get. It's a great old … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 8

The Long Stretchers The long front and back stretchers came from a piece of the barn wood that didn't seem like great wood at first. It was darkened from age and the ends were too dirty to show the grain direction. I clean them up with a scrub plane and a jack and was quite … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 7

The Top Sliding Dovetails The mortises for the straight tenons were cut but we can't fit them until the sliding dovetails are cut as well. I started by cutting a knife wall for the saw to follow. The cut starts with the saw vertical until it can be tilted to the angle of the dovetail. … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 6

The Top Mortises With the leg tenons cut it was time to chop the mortises and sliding dovetails. This post is on the through mortises. They are large and the top is 5" thick. Getting perfect presentation joints is not the top priority. I'm going for strength and will wedge the joints from the top … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019, Part 5