Byron Black Workbench [Beginner] Final Submission [Complete]

[ByronBlack]

Dave - I guess at my stage of experience I'll be making many more mistakes, so I've got to cover them as best I can and carry on

Mike. The mortices as you can see in the legs are fine these weren't the problem, the problem came when I tried to cut the mortices in the trestle feet and tops. Because the mortices where smaller and virtually square I found it a lot harder to accurately drill the holes without deflection of the forstner.

What I should have done, is stopped after the first one and worked out a better solution, but I stubbornly continued, and the errors only really showed when I cut a couple of tenons to fit (hence the repairs you see on the legs) due to the inaccurate mortices in the trestle feet it meant hours of shaping each tenon to the custom hole in each mortice and invariably they weren't square, so they had to be trashed and a new solution found, so I have to put up with the mortices in the legs reminding me of the screw-up

 

[Fecn]

Looking good ByronBlack - It is, as you say, an excellent solution... Looks good and provides a nice sturdy base for the workbench.

It's horrible when things keep going wrong and you end up ruining hours or days of preparation work... the worst part is, when I do it, I'm often thinking "I hope I can get away with doing this without tearing it out"... or 'I should find some better way to guide this, but here goes...". The pros make it look easy, but they're using a vast range of knowledge and experience, so they know what clamps and jigs to use and how to guide things. It's not so easy to decide what techniques you need when you're working on your own stuff.

Good to see you back on form.

 

[ByronBlack]

Update

I've made some good progress over the weekend and this morning, so thought i'd update the thread.

I've glued up the worktop in three sections (8 Inches each) so that I can pass them through the p/t and get them as flat as possible to reduce the amount of flattening of the top once it's installed.

Some pics:

Dog holes were drilled on the individual stave before glue-up using a drill press, these are 20mm diameter holes to accept my MFT hold-downs, clamps etc.. I went a little crazy with the glue on this one - won't make that mistake again:

Two of the 8 Inch sections now glued up and partially cleaned/flattened - put on the workbench to get an idea of size; there is one more section to go yet. I also will need to crosscut both ends to final size:

Made some faces for the vice; these are just from the same stock as the stretchers, re-sawn to proper size. I'll add some chamfering or moulding detail to these:

Third worktop section glued-up. As with the second section (not pictured) I used biscuit to aid in alignment. The first secton slipped a bit in the cramps; I didn't use a loose tongue as planned due to my inabilities and inpatience with the router (and the last of my good cutter burned the wood and ruined the blades ) I did however use the router to cut the slots to use as a basic tool-holder for chisels and rasps during work.

Bench base getting it's first coat of danish oil. I'll give the base and the worktop about 3 or 4 coats:

Thats it for now. Later today the third section of worktop will be removed the clamps, and all three parts will be uniformly sized on the thicknesser and then biscuited and glued to make up the final 24" deep top. Tomorrow should then see the top cut to final size, vice fitted and the start of the flattening/smoothing and finishing process.

 

[ByronBlack]

Update

After a few days hiatus and a few evenings of beating SWMBO at squash, it was time to tackle the part of the project that I was probably the most concerned about at the beginning - drum roll...... flattening the top!!

There are two main ways to do this i've summised: go to a lot of effort of making a perfectly flat elaborate one-use jig and sled for the router - OR go to a lot of effort and hand plane it.

Can you guess which approach I decided on? Of course the hand plane route, after the shenanigans of using the router over the course of this project, it's firmly tucked away out of sight where it's evil can no longer diminish my mojo.

So, with a lot of help from Paul (Chapman) and some information on how to use back-bevels by a certain Mr. C!! I tackled the flattening!

The top was quite bowed from the glue-up of the three sections, this is down to two things: the edges probably weren't at 90 and the cramps I have are the cheap Axminster Ally sash ones - upon tightening the boards rose in the middle by about 8mm or so.. achk!

Anyways, using a combination of a scrub blade, and a regular blade with a back-bevel in my No.7 I planed at 90 degrees to the top (side to side) and first took out the high edges from the concave side, I then flipped it over and took out the hump of the convex side. All in all this took about 5 hours on and off!

On to the pics:

This is the action of the planing that I took - you can see the pencil marks in the 'valley' of the concave side, I just kept going at the edges until I finally met in the middle, and then took very fine full length shavings until all the pencil marks were uniformly gone:

Wider shot of in-progress on the concave side, you can see i've virtually flattened the middle section, just working on the ends:

I forgot to take more in-progess shots of the convex side, but here it is finished:

All I have to do now is scrape with the grain to get it super smooth, lightly chamfer the edges, install the vice and then attach to the base and add the finish, should be done by the start of next week! (and trim the edges to final size of course)

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me so far.

 

[wizer]

well done Byron, it's looking really good mate.

 

[wizer]

well done Byron, it's looking really good mate.

EDIT: So good I said it twice

 

[Paul Chapman]

It's looking good, Byron 8)

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[ByronBlack]

Workbench now finished.

The photos:


I'll get the bad bit out of the way first. I've come to the conclusion that the reason for my lack of Mojo is the result of voodoo curse, but instead of it being applied via a voodoo doll, it's being embodied by the Triton Router - look what it did to my worktop whilest I was trimming the edges with a bearing guided trim bit:

The flesh wound inflicted on the worktop was luckily at the further point away from where i'll be working so I left it there as a reminder, here's a pic of the finished top:

Here the bench is complete (Forgot to add the vice jaws for the final photo, i'll update that before long). Not as grand as I wanted it to be, and many many mistakes, but it's a heavy pipper and looks nicer in the flesh than in the photo, so i'm very happy with it:

Project Summary

First off, my desires and expectations far out-weigh my skills and abilities, so this is has been a very important learning oppurtunity and I've learnt more about my approach to woodworking as well as more general things such as techniques.

Things I've learnt from this project:

- Using a rod makes things easier.
- Beech is a puppy.
- A drill press is an essential piece of kit.
- Rasps are incredibly useful hand-tools.
- Glueing up large tops is very tricky - I'll most definitly be revising my techniques for this one.
- Make sure you have the right capacity of tooling before attempting a project (all those cutters, drill bits etc... add up and cause delays when you don't have them at hand).
- Don't be so stubborn towards not using power-tools. In the end looking over the entire project it's been a good combination of both power and hand-tools, and I shouldn't be so stuck in the neanderthal ways if its easier to do with a power-tool.
- Routers are pure evil.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and tips especially Scrit, MarkW, Paul Chapman, Mike.C and anyone else who went out of their way to explain basic things to me over and over and over again

 

[Paul Chapman]

That looks very nice, Byron =D> =D> Something to be proud of.

At least you've finished yours - I'm still gluing up the top of my table

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[promhandicam]

=D>

Looks very nice to me Byron. Sooner or later a workbench is going to get dinged but I'm sure you must be annoyed that it got a ding in it before it was finished. Although you are obviously upset - it in no way affects the quality of the work you have done or the functionality of the bench. Just one thought - why not add a shelf on the top of the stretchers for tool / wood storage - if only 'cos it gives a bit more weight.

Steve

 

[ByronBlack]

Thanks for the kind comments Paul - I have to say, now that it's finished i'm not bothered by the mistakes, I am quite proud and excited about putting it to use on my next couple of projects.

Steve - i'll be adding a shelf as soon as I get some ply, I intend to use the space to hold all the workbench jigs, cutting blocks, shooting boards etc.. and as you say it'll make it even more bottom heavy

I was annoyed at the time about the 'ding' via the router, but at least it wasn't my hand, and to be honest I'm not overly bothered by it, it adds a little interest

 

[TonyW]

Lovely job Byron. The WIP shots and your commentary on progress a great help - inspired me to try and finish my own bench asap (current work for daughter allowing).

Couple of questions if you dont mind

What finish have you applied to the bench?

I notice that you used a lot of F clamps - need more myself. They look similar to the Machine Mart ones I have seen. What do you think of them?

Cheers
Tony

 

[DomValente]

Lovely job BB .

Dom

 

[Dave S]

Well Byron, it's been a rocky road, but the end result is a fine bench. I'm sure many fine things will be made on it.

You've documented the project very well andf have been very candid about mistakes, errors of judgment and things that just plain didn't go to plan. I'm sure the thread will therefore be very useful to others contemplating a similar project (myself included, when I can find some time!). I particularly like your 'lessons learned' section in your final post, where you reflect on the experience and what you have got from it.

Thanks for sharing your experience, and good luck in the competition!

Dave

 

[wizer]

fantastic mate, looks smashing. =D>

 

[Fecn]

Very nice Byron. If I had the space to put it, I'd build myself one the same. Thanks for an interesting thread and good WIP photos.

 

[JFC]

Great job mate , may i suggest a sacrificial top to avoid more dings ? My work bench is a work horse but i still use a chuck away top .

 

[WellsWood]

Well done Byron. =D> =D> =D>

So glad you got your "mojo" back and persevered through the hardships of this project. It certainly seems to have been worth all the aggro, it looks stunning. Don't worry about the dink like the router slip, it'll soon pick up a few more of those - it is a workbench after all :wink: .

What's next then?

p.s. how are you getting on with that new bandsaw? are we going to get a review?

 

[Philly]

Bravo, Byron!
Now that is a bench that will help your work in leaps and bounds.
Best regards
Philly

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Triton Router - look what it did to my worktop whilest I was trimming the edges with a bearing guided trim bit:

Thats not a wound it's a bit of character or if you like a bit of history. :lol: Now all you need is bury it with tools and some saw dust. It looks really really good. =D>