Hello,
I am now restoring my great grandfather's workbench. Here is the picture in the original condition.
I have burnt the original legs in the fireplace, as they were too low (the bench was only 75 cm high) and they were unstable (eaten by the worms, as the boards on the floor and up holding the bench were made of pine or fir).
I am now making a new set of legs from beech and I have kept the original oak tusk tenons, which were in good condition, so I just want to reuse them. I need to cut 60x30 - 40 mm deep mortices for the original tusk tenon stretchers.
I have first scribed with the knife perpendicular lines across the mortice approximately 3 - 5 mm apart where the chisel will go for chopping. It helps me prevent twisting of the bench chisel (I do not have mortice chisels) and position the chisel perpendicular to the mortice walls. I have used a 12 mm chisel to make 1/2 of the mortice depth on the left side, the same on the right side and I was left with 6 mm bridge in the center that was cleared afterward. Then I did the same thing from the other side of the board so I got a thorough mortice and finally, I cleaned the sides. So for one 30 mm wide and 60 mm long, 40 mm deep through mortice, I cut 4 x 12x60 mm x 20 mm mortices and then cleared 6x60 mm bridges in the center. The whole procedure took me around 45 minutes per one through mortice. I did not want to use a brace, as the chisel tends to twist more when clearing the walls.
I need to make 4 through mortices for this bench and I am also building another beech bench from scratch, where I will need another 4 mortices (you can see the wood for it in the picture)
My question is how long should It take for an experienced worker to chop out mortice of this size without using a brace? I just want to figure out if, on average, it takes so long for everyone or I can do it in 1/2 or 1/3 time once I get more skill.
Thank you.
I am now restoring my great grandfather's workbench. Here is the picture in the original condition.
I have burnt the original legs in the fireplace, as they were too low (the bench was only 75 cm high) and they were unstable (eaten by the worms, as the boards on the floor and up holding the bench were made of pine or fir).
I am now making a new set of legs from beech and I have kept the original oak tusk tenons, which were in good condition, so I just want to reuse them. I need to cut 60x30 - 40 mm deep mortices for the original tusk tenon stretchers.
I have first scribed with the knife perpendicular lines across the mortice approximately 3 - 5 mm apart where the chisel will go for chopping. It helps me prevent twisting of the bench chisel (I do not have mortice chisels) and position the chisel perpendicular to the mortice walls. I have used a 12 mm chisel to make 1/2 of the mortice depth on the left side, the same on the right side and I was left with 6 mm bridge in the center that was cleared afterward. Then I did the same thing from the other side of the board so I got a thorough mortice and finally, I cleaned the sides. So for one 30 mm wide and 60 mm long, 40 mm deep through mortice, I cut 4 x 12x60 mm x 20 mm mortices and then cleared 6x60 mm bridges in the center. The whole procedure took me around 45 minutes per one through mortice. I did not want to use a brace, as the chisel tends to twist more when clearing the walls.
I need to make 4 through mortices for this bench and I am also building another beech bench from scratch, where I will need another 4 mortices (you can see the wood for it in the picture)
My question is how long should It take for an experienced worker to chop out mortice of this size without using a brace? I just want to figure out if, on average, it takes so long for everyone or I can do it in 1/2 or 1/3 time once I get more skill.
Thank you.
And I don't know if you're stopping to sharpen your chisels...
