16/3/2015

My daughter thought it was necessary to strike a pose on the (first) finished saw bench.

25/3/2015

I moved on to the second of the two benches to be finished. Here you can see how useful the split-top (design of my workbench) can be for operations like this. I am marking out the pins, using the tails as a template for those of you who are unsure what “operations like this” means.

Here I am fitting the dovetail joint.

The second saw bench after being glued and screwed.

This is another example of how the open end of my split-top provides additional work holding options compared to a conventional design. In the picture I am chopping off the protruding waste of the wedged through mortises.

1/4/2015

I thought it might help to point out the few design improvements I made to the saw bench. As stated earlier in this series of posts, I used the design of Ron Herman as a starting point. I added the strips of wood as pictured to improve the grip of a holdfast as it increased the depth of the dogholes from ¾” – 1½”. It obviously also adds some strength.

 

I removed some wood (arch shape) from the footing to improve it’s stability on an uneven floor.

 

I drilled the two big holes in the end boards as grips when carrying the bench with two hands. The elongated grip hole in the top enables one to carry or move the bench with one hand. You will also notice the amount and position of holdfast holes.

 

I gave the finished benches a liberal treatment of a tung oil, diesel and turps mixture before the long weekend.

 

Now that they are done I need to move on to building a few bow saws and a frame saw.