Newbie refurbishes a bench

[Richard D]

This was less about actual woodwork than justifying to SWMBO why it is that I've suddenly started buying woodworking machinery (the real purpose of which is to make little boxes for certain board or card games, my "main" hobby).

So the tatty old bench in the back garden went from this:

To this:

Iroko slats, having been cut to length, profiled on the woodrat, thinknessed on my new P/T (as no matter how carefully I'd measured them beforehand, the slats would only fit through the castings on *one* side, not the other. Which gives me an excuse to mutter something about Chinese quality control, again). The slats have been finished with some BLO. The iron sides have been shotblasted and powdercoated. For the money spent, I could probably have bought at least two similar benches, but that's not the point.

 

[Chems]

That looks great. What P/T did you buy in the end?

Was the Chinese quality control aimed at the P/T or the iron casting on the bench?

 

[Richard D]

I bought Graeme's Elektra Beckum planer/thicknesser. It's bigger and heavier than anything that I might have bought new, but that means it's also better.

The crack at Chinese quality control was aimed at the iron castings on the bench - nine of the ten holes were mostly in the right place, but the tenth one was WAY off. Generally speaking, though, I've seen more quality control issues with Chinese-made goods in the last 5 years than I've had *good* experiences with things made in China. As a general rule, if there's a well-known brand overseeing the manufacture of something (esp. hi-tech stuff) like Nikon, Casio or Apple then problems are few and far between; but in any other situation, you get what you pay for and the "made in China" tag is not a source of comfort. Unlike, say, the "made in Germany" label on the P/T.

And the lesson I learned doing this was to measure, check, measure again and check again, before cutting or drilling anything. As it was, I pre-drilled all of the wood based on where the holes were in the old wood that was coming off the bench. But the old slats were much thinner and narrower, so where the holes were didn't matter nearly as much as it did with slats that are a lot wider and thicker.

 

[Chems]

Ah yes that looked like a really great machine.

Regarding your cutting and measuring, have you heard of relative dimensioning as the wood whisper likes to call it? You basically do away with measuring all together.

http://thewoodwhisperer.com/relative-dimensioning/

It is a revelation when you start doing it, something so simple. I don't know why I ever used to try to get a fit off the saw first cut or such.

 

[OPJ]

Looks like a great improvement.

Will you be applying a finish and have you considered fitting wooden plugs to hide the screw heads?

 

[TrimTheKing]

Looks like a great improvement.

Will you be applying a finish and have you considered fitting wooden plugs to hide the screw heads?

Olly, Olly, Olly, tut tut!

He said it's been finished with BLO. :roll:

:wink:

 

[Richard D]

Was BLO not a good idea? I debated with myself not finishing it at all, TBH.

If I'd recessed the screws further, and if I had any way to cut plugs, I might have thought about it. But the other ends of the bolts are on show anyway, so it probably isn't worth the effort. If I was making a bench entirely of wood and from scratch, on the other hand ... but that's something for another day.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Was BLO not a good idea? I debated with myself not finishing it at all, TBH.

If I'd recessed the screws further, and if I had any way to cut plugs, I might have thought about it. But the other ends of the bolts are on show anyway, so it probably isn't worth the effort. If I was making a bench entirely of wood and from scratch, on the other hand ... but that's something for another day.

Sorry Richard, the rolling eyes was mocking Olly for not seeing it.

I have no idea whether it's a good idea or not, but I don't see why it wouldn't be. Should be fine I would think.

 

[Benchwayze]

Nice work Richard...

As you say, hang the expense. It's the doing and the making that count.

I should do the one I have in my garden. The woodwork is greyed, and the bolts are loose.

All I shall do though is wire-brush the dirt from the woodwork, and give it all a coat or two of Boiled Linseed Oil.

If it works, I'll post pics. If it doesn't.. I'll get some new Iroko (Which is a timber I like working with. Me being lucky and having no allergies!) :lol:

Edit for Olly...

If Richard's bench is like mine, the bolts that hold the slats need re-tightening from time to time, so it isn't prudent to cover them with plugs. Mine is held together with brass bolts, which is a nice surprise from 'Asda'!



Regards
John

 

[OPJ]

D'oh! Sorry!

(Thanks, Mark... )

Boiled linseed oil should be fine, as long as you allow it to dry before sitting on it. That shouldn't take too long, anyway. If you had bought raw linseed oil however; you'd have to leave a "wet paint" sign on there for several weeks! Only thing you may need to do is recoat it, every couple of years or so (that's no hardship). Otherwise, Osmo's UV oil is supposed to be the business for external oil finishes.

 

[Richard D]

I briefly considered the Osmo stuff, but it was literally double the price of the wood!

I think that I might do a picnic table and bench combo next. I have the tools, it'd be almost rude not to. And aside from the worries about the dust from iroko, I found it a lot easier to work with than the little bit of oak I made a small box from this week.

 

[GraemeD]

You've done a cracking job there Richard....hopefully it will earn you sufficient brownie points with SWMBO to carry on your slow but steady acquisition of more space in the garage!

Looking forward to seeing some of your game boxes.....

Cheers
Graeme

 

[Richard D]

The car's been relegated to the driveway for the meantime!

I've got bigger, grander plans, but I hammered out a quick sliding lid box for a card game yesterday. The woodwork is barely adequate (and a marking-up error means that the side facing the camera was *supposed* to end up on the inside of the box, where the planing tearout wouldn't show), but it was really an exercise in learning to do dovetails on the woodrat, combined with an experiment as to how deep the grooves could be cut before the oak gives up (answer - deeper than I expected).

The box is currently being finished with Danish oil - I'll redo the lid because (i) I can do better quite quickly, making it out of solid oak on the 'rat which will cover up a couple of mistakes that I made, and (ii) I've decided that I'm really unimpressed by oak-faced plywood. And yes, my dovetails will be far better next time.

I've got far grander plans for my boxes, but I'm slowly working up to the point where I can execute the plans as neatly as possible.

 

[GraemeD]

You don't have to apologise for that....if this is your first go at several techniques, like dovetailing on the 'Rat, then you're doing more than ok! Of course it will be better next time....we all feel that way about our work...and if it wasn't that way, where would the challenge be?

Nice to see some good thin oak on there.....having a P/T in the house certainly opens up the possibilities, doesn't it!

Keep 'em coming.....

Graeme