Any woodworkers?

Yeah. COVID prices for the cherry (kill me), left over maple from the floor install on which the unit sits.

I must admit that the engineering is not as over-wrought as I normally prefer. The top carcass is held up primarily by wood screws from the legs into the carcass (with carefully selected plugs covering the holes). Two screws per leg. I wanted to cut a sizeable hole through at an angle and use large dowel, angled so as to have it naturally slide towards the legs. However, I thought of that too late in the build, and I don't have one of those hand drill angle things, and the thing won't fit under my drill press. So, the rule is: don't put heavy stuff on the top! Maybe I'll go back and add that support later, but I think it might take away from the clean-ish look.

The bottom carcass is sized to hold LPs, even though I'm probably never going to store records in there. I felt that it would be a waste to not size it for that. After I'm dead, maybe some zoomer will appreciate it.

Thanks for the love y'all!

 

Got some shop time today. So I grabbed an off cut from the leg stock and did some layout for the tennons. Nice to have exact size stock to make test cuts on.

I'm using the tennon jig to make all the cuts. First I tested the shoulder cuts.

Then I tested the cheek cuts. I made it slightly oversized.

A rabbet plane trims the tennon to fit.

It trimmed up well and fits nice.

 

With the set up and test cuts done its time to move on to cutting the tennons on the leg stock.

The large leg stock is quite steady in the tennon jig.

Cutting the shoulder cuts.



Tennkns formed. They will be planed to final size.

A pile of off cuts.

First one fitted.

 

I am in Ca. If I had a bench like that I would shelter under it during an earthquake!!

That thing is going to be solid.

 

First leg is all fitted and ready for glue up. Yeah it's going to be heavy and stout!

Sidew view.

One more leg to go.

This leg will set in 19" to allow room for the vintage record vise that I restored.

The vise will get wood jaws.

There will be plenty of mass on the other end.

Making progress. The joinery is time consuming but also very enjoyable to me.

 

I have wanted to build this bench for years. It will be exactly what I want in a bench, massivly heavy and solid hardwood. It will fit my style of work. I've seen a lot of nice benches, split tops etc, but they don't suit me and the way I work, this one will. It'll be the last bench I ever build.
P.S. I grew up in San Diego in the 60's and 70's.

 

My wife does a girls weekend every year with eight friends from high school. They are all spending next weekend together in Mission Beach, San Diego. So, I used up a bunch of scraps and batched out 8 succulent propagation stations today. One for each friend. I will sand, oil them, and add the test tubes tomorrow. She is going to fill them with cuttings from her succulent gardens and gift them to each life long friend next weekend.

 

Don’t mind my sarcastic ass. But I’m a child and unable to contain myself

 

When it's done, are you offering shop tours?

 

Are you in the Detroit area?

 

I'm a transplant to Virginia, from the Chesterfield Twp. area. We'll be up there a couple times this spring / summer. I want to build a beefy table when we move, and I like what I'm seeing.

 

Give me a shout when your heading up here, maybe we can get together .

 

Those mortise and tenon table legs...I can feel my crunched toes already!

 

I garuntee if you walk into this bench it ain't gonna move, you'll bruise your hip, lol.

 

The word you’re looking for is delicious. Just take them from the barns not the city.

 

@wilcam47 posting here cause we were talking about your project in this thread but I hope this will suffice

I cut lettering in two different sizes so you can choose what works best





Also scaled down that Navy sign in case you could use that instead or incorporate it in another project you gift or sell



It's smaller at 8 5/8" total length

 

They all look good!

 

Have you thought about bringing the vice in a little more toward the center then notching out a channel in the "rail" of your legs to accept enough space to slide the bulk of the record vice? My calibrated eye measures that at about 2 to 3 inches toward the middle of the bench. Even though you mentioned that there will be plenty of mass on the other end, I'm still concerned with the length of the bench and if you were to really lean in on something with a hand plane or something similar. With the bulk of your legs, it doesn't seem that you would loose any of your structural stability by notching out a space for the rails of your vice. I hope that makes sense.

-J

 

Well I like having my vise on the corner of the bench it suits my method of work. My old bench is just construction grade 2x material and it's set up the same way, I can sit on the end of the bench and it doesn't lift. This bench is way way heavier than the old bench. I bet I could park my motorcycle on it and it won't lift, lol. But thanks for the thoughts and input. It's all good.

 

My son saved this from my Father In Law’s shop today. What do you think it is and what should we make out of it?