Project Update: A Deadman in the Shop

After a couple of unforeseen and unintended delays, I'm back at it. First, I asked a friend, Darrel Wallen, for a little help machining some of the hardware for the workbench. Darrel is a retired Navy machinist who kept at it after his years of service and has a metal shop at his home that's quite impressive. Darrel cut down the hardened screw - one piece 18" long and two pieces 9" each. The one piece will attach to the leg vise chop/leg and the other two are for the Moxon vise. He also machined down the screws and placed the handwheels and he lathed the enormous hex nuts for mounting the washers, which my next door neighbor, Mike Crane, brazed onto the nuts with some brass.

At this point, I believe all of the hardware necessary is completed and ready for installation.

Now, I just have to figure out how to get everything installed properly. It should be interesting.

Before installing all of these parts, I'll go ahead and make the deadman. This is a vertical board 1 1/2" thick that rides the length of the bench face between the legs; it contains dog holes that will allow me to place dogs or holdfasts to support any long board I put in the leg vise. You can see an example of one in the photo below.

Why do they call it a deadman? I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure there's a good story behind it.The top of the deadman rides in a slot routed into the bottom of the bench top and the bottom rides on a funky pyramid shaped structure that I have yet to add to the front stretcher. I'm hoping to at least get the dead man completed this week.

On a couple of unrelated notes, I was able to slice up some nice koa for Darrel using the Laguna SUV as thanks for helping me with the machining. It went well, yet I can see that I will need a better resaw fence should I choose to do more of this kind of work.

My wife and I also made our monthly pilgrimage to Astoria, Oregon where we visited Astoria Vintage Hardware and I found a No. 5 in pretty rough shape for $10. It has a lot of rust on it, but, frankly, I've seen worse. I oiled it up and will start grinding rust off when I need a deadman break this week.

Until next time...

Project Update: Dry Fitting Success

After all of the work Random Roger Green and I did on the workbench leg mortises, it turns out I had not only placed the long stretcher mortises in the wrong place (placed them flush with the back of the legs when they needed to be flush with the front), we also cut them to the wrong depth. It just never amazes me how I can complicate the simplest task tenfold. It's a gift. So, I had to plug the square holes in preparation for a do-over.

Once they dried overnight, I sanded off the extrusions, redrew the holes and started the mortising process over - again. They say practice makes perfect. I sure hope they're right.

In the end, I was able to mortise all of the stretchers, both long and short, and test fit them with all of their respective tenons.

A few were a little tight and required some cleanup, but, for the most part, all went well and I was able to dry fit the shelf stretchers.

I was becoming a little demoralized with the project, so this was a big help in keeping me motivated to finish the thing in the next couple of weeks. As well, Random Roger Green's consistent help, advice and encouragement have been keys to my completion of this side project. Along with this, I've had to keep in mind the "reason for the season," as they say. The whole point of this exercise it to create a workspace that will help me build harpsichords, violas da gamba and whatever the hell else I come up with. It's been interesting.

On a completely unrelated note, I drove by Goby Walnut and Hardwoods and they had put out not one, but three, free boxes packed with some really nice cuts of claro walnut. I couldn't help myself. I packed the new car full with just a fraction of what was in the boxes and was able to find storage for it in the shop. But it must stop. It  really, really must stop. Good thing I don't have a larger shop, right?

Now, if I could just figure out what to do with all that beautiful walnut.

Until next time...

Project Update: It's Mortise Time

As you may recall, I cut the tenons incorrectly on one of the short stretchers. The good news was I cut it too shallow and needed to go deeper - from 3/4" to 1", This was easily accomplished using Random Roger Green's awesome tenoning jig.

Once I completed the final shortie, it was quick work to cut the tenons into the long stretchers. I don't have a photo of the process because I did them on the Laguna SUV and it's incredibly difficult to take a selfie while cutting a six-foot piece of wood with a 1" band saw blade. I did, though, snap photos of the long ones lined out for the tenon cuts and then all of the completed tenons.

Once these were completed, I could begin the exacting process of redrawing the mortise lines onto the legs. Why do it just once when you can do it four times, right? The thing is, I didn't account for the width of the thin-kerf table saw blade when calculating the dimensions of the short stretchers, so I lost 1/8" from the tenon widths. This I can live with. Though I cut the long ones with the Laguna SUV, I kept the same measurement for the tenons - 1 5/8" - that I used for the shorties. As Random often says, "It will be fine...it's just a bench."

Speaking of Random (Roger Green), he was kind enough to come over Monday evening and help me get things back on track, particularly with the mortising. As you probably know, he dropped off an enormous Powermatic mortising machine for me to use on the legs. The thing is a monster. And I love it. Too bad it must one day takes its leave of Tortuga Early Instruments Worldwide Headquarters.

The first thing Random helped me with was deciding on which chisel to use. Now, these chisels are interesting - they're designed to make square holes. The way this works is a drill bit sits inside of the hollow square chisel and clears most of the material while the razor-sharp chisel clears away the remaining wood. So, yes, it's simply a drill press that makes square holes.

The first step was setup of the mortising tool.

Once Random was satisfied everything was set up properly (drill bit/chisel mounted and depth and width stoppers aligned) and the appropriate chisel was chosen - we ended up using (I believe) a 1/4" chisel - we tested it on a block of scrap wood. Testing is always a good idea, one by which, as you know, I do not always abide.

Then, Random cut me loose on drilling the mortise for one of the short side stretchers and, voila! - it worked!

Everything lined up and looks pretty darned good. The one thing I will do for each of the mortises is draw its complementary tenon directly onto the leg because no two tenons are ever cut perfectly the same. Ever. I used this same idea for the mortises I cut into the bench top, using each tenoned leg to trace the mortise outline and that seems to have worked out okay, as well.

The next steps are to complete all of the mortise cuts this week so we can mount the stretchers, which will involve the use of "draw-boring," something I think you will find quite interesting in a future post.

Until next time...

Project Update: A Pleasant Diversion

From time to time, my wife, Tonya, and I travel around the Pacific Northwest taking our time and stopping where our whims take us. This past weekend, they took us to Aurora, Oregon, a town widely known for it's historic buildings and antique shops. What we didn't know about this quaint, little township is that it started out as a Christian communal settlement. Yes, they were Communists! As were the original Church "members" so many years ago in Palestine. But, I digress.

Originally, this little town was a western offshoot of a group based in Bethel, Missouri. Like the Latter Day Saints in nearby Nauvoo, Illinois, they sought greater religious freedom by trekking west to establish a settlement that would allow them to practice their particular brand of Christianity. Fortunately, they landed in the Oregon Territory as the Aurora Colony and the rest is, as they say, history.

We roamed around town visiting many nice antique shops with a wide range of old stuff, including this nice, little No. 3 hand plane for only $20!

Yes, this was a great find, but I can say with complete candor that most of the other planes, scrapers, marking tools, and rulers I found throughout the little town were covered with that typically fine, invisible sheen of 22k gold that one expects when the word "antique" is bantered about and everything is priced accordingly. What we did not expect to find was one of the most pleasant, carefully curated museums we've ever had the pleasure of frequenting - the Old Aurora Colony Historical Museum.

After watching a short video on the history of the group and loitering about, Cool Volunteer Guy directed us to "the courtyard." What we found there was astonishing - at least for me. Outside in various barns and buildings were woodworking tools of all shapes and sizes. And by sizes, I mean they had everything from small hand planes to a barn-sized treadle lathe - all set up and in fair working condition! The first barn we hit held several seat clamps (not really sure what they're called) for hand scraping with a spokeshave.

This is where they work with children to create their own pegs. Cool Volunteer Guy said they see 4,000+ kids go through the hands-on experience every year. Amazing! Next, we observed the barn-sized treadle lathe.

Imagine having to work this thing with your leg while maintaining the accuracy of your cuts. Next, we stood just a few inches from a workbench that looked strikingly familiar.

See that leg vice? That's how the Old Guys used to make them. There's neither an end vice nor a deadman on this one - they simply drilled dogholes into the edge of the bench. Very cool - and just what I would have done. Finally, we took a peek inside a workshop that makes mine look clean and organized.

Cool Volunteer Guy told us that they have hundreds, if not thousands, of old timey hand planes in storage. Heck, I thought they had them all on display. Of course a real workshop would have been better organized with a more historically accurate workbench, but I still enjoyed this one enormously. What an experience!

Until next time...

Project Update: Finishing Up the Stretchers

To complete the bench shelf stretchers, I needed to plane down the alder 8/4 planks I picked up last week. The first step was to plane them to final thickness, which I determined was 1 3/4".

As you may recall, I had the original 10' plank cut into 6 1/2' and 3 1/2' pieces.

After planing, I chopped each of them to length.

Once I got them chopped down, I cut them to width and started cutting the tenons on the table saw using Random Roger Green's cool, old tenoning jig.

I then proceeded to cut the negative space out of the tenons that resulted in this:

What's wrong with this picture? Well, on the top one, I cut out the tenon - the 3/4" piece, rather than the 1" piece. Hey, I was tired. And should not have been working in the shop. So, the next step is to simply cut the shallow one deeper. Easy peasy. I'm traveling for the day job this week and will get things shaped up this coming weekend.

On a completely unrelated note, one of my Facebook Friends, Alan Ollivant, let all of us know that his company, North American Wood Products, was moving locations and would be holding a super-sale of their current stock. Alan was right - it was a sale and it was super.

Yes, that's the inimitable Mark Roberts of Mark Roberts Guitars and Ukuleles in the shot above. I also introduced myself to Charles Fox of American School of Lutherie and Fox bending machine fame. He kindly invited me to visit one of his classes in progress, an offer that I will gladly take him up on soon.

I arrived early and managed to brave the feeding frenzy to pick up this stash of my own:

Guitar necks for $5, free bracing stock, figured maple at a fraction of its original price. I also picked up some "piano wood" they had standing in the shop "for 15 years."

It's the wrapped wood in the photo above and enough for at least two soundboards, maybe three. They're 1/2" planks that I can resaw to my heart's content. This was one of those sales I always hear about, but miss. I did not miss this one. I'm stocked up for a while now and I believe I got enough wood to build at least two treble violas da gamba, as well.

I am, as they say, good to go.

Until next time...

Project Update: Mortises and Stretchers

After speaking with Random Roger Green about what type and size of wood to use for the bench shelf stretchers (these are simply the pieces of wood that run the length and width of the bench that hold the lower hand plane shelves), I decided to hold off on cutting the mortises for them into the legs. And it's a good thing I did. The best piece of alder I could find was at Shur-Way Building Center here in Vancouver; it was a plank that was dimensioned as "8/4" (2" with some planed/sanded off) and roughly sanded. It was about 11 inches wide and 10 feet long, so I had them cut it into 6 1/2' and 3 1/2' pieces for transport home.

Given that the planks were rough-sanded and just under 1 7/8" in thickness, I decided I'd plane and sand them down to 1 3/4" thickness with the tenons being 3/4". This meant I needed to once again redraw the mortise lines into the legs. Fortunately, this is the last time I'll need to mess with that.

As I ran the alder plank through my little 12" lunchbox planer, chips began blowing out everywhere. What a mess. It's bad enough I don't have a connector to my dust collector on it and I have to duct tape it to my shop vac. That was it. I'd been noticing lines in my planed woods from a nick in one of the blades and this was the last straw. I took the thing apart to see what I could do with the clog and blades.

It turned out I should have done this, oh, a couple of years ago. What a mess. Wood chips and fragments were lodged in the blades and the dust exit was completely clogged with stringy wood. I don't even know what kind of wood it was, but it prevented the planer from blowing the chips into the shop vac. Once I got it cleared, I turned my attention to the handle that had broken off the last time I used it. Fortunately, I had one laying around that fit perfectly.

When I reassembled the planer, I discovered the blades could be flipped around to reveal complementary, unused, razor-sharp edges. This was a huge relief for me because this little planer has been the hardest working tool in my shop (besides me) and I didn't want to junk it just yet.

Once I get the stretcher planks planed down tonight, I'll cut them to size and tenon each end of them using a nifty, old table saw tenoning jig loaned to me by Random Roger Green.

I just cannot imagine how this project would have gone without Random's help, insight, and encouragement. Thank you again, Roger!

Until next time...

Project Update: Massively Massive Tearout

As I completed the cleanup of the leg number four kerfing, I drove the chisel too far into the "other side" and basically ruined the top of the bench by creating massive, unnecessary tearout. This happened because, in my zeal to get that final mortise completed and out of my life forever, I disregarded Random Roger Green's advice: work one side at a time. This means chiseling and cleaning up the first two inches of the top before flipping the slab over and working the remaining two inches of the bottom. I got carried away and worked the chisel from the bottom through the top and created three HUGE chunks of tearout.

Fortunately, I was able to sift through the detritus on the floor and find the pieces I could glue back to repair the damage. This was a good lesson for me. Slow down, listen to the voice(s) of wisdom (thanks, Random), and proceed slowly and carefully, especially when working on something that will be visible in the end product.

The result:

By the time I remove the tape later today, the tearout will be virtually invisible. The lesson learned will not.

I next turned to the legs. During our last meeting, Random Rog told me I could go ahead and cut the legs to length. Of course, it's too early to mount them - I still need to cut the lower shelf stretcher mortises into them. Because my final desired leg height is 31", I went ahead and set up cut lines 27" from the tenon notches in their tops.

I then broke out the chop saw and went to town.

This illustrates another advantage of using 4x6s for the legs. I could not have made this cut if I had used 6x6s.

The next step is to set out the cut lines and start drilling/chiseling out those shelf stretchers. I also need to settle on wood for the stretchers and shelf pieces. Random is recommending alder, but Chris Schwarz uses pine on his smaller bench example. Needless to say, the cost for a piece of 8/4 pine will be less than alder, but I'd rather do this one right.

So many experts, so little time.

Until next time...