The Joinery Bench Part : IV

So over the weekend I finished dovetailing the apron assembly, put in the dog holes and attached the apron to the top as seen in this photo. This is what your top and apron assembly should look like.I drilled the dog holes in a configuration that best suites my needs, feel free to put them anywhere you like, just be sure not to put one in line of where your vise screws will be installed. You can wait until the vise hardware and chop are installed to drill the holes. I like to start the 3/4" dog holes with a plunge router and finish them with a forstener bit.                                                                         ...

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The Joinery Bench Part III : Apron Assembly

I could not wait for the votes so I am doing the apron with dovetails. You can use dowels, box joints, or even just simple miters. The objective is to run the front apron across your width ( which should be roughly 36") and return your sides along the depth of the top and beyond to 24".Then directly behind and attatched to the top is the fourth wall of the tool tray, just cut to fit in between the two 24" sides and fasten from the outside with your method of choice. ( Those I will dowel peg in) So here are some pics of some of (one) the dovetailling and where the mid apron for the tool tray intersec...

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Vote Now! - Dovetails or Pegs

I am going to let you decide how to do the apron assembly on the Joinery Bench, Dovetails or Miller Dowels! I am heading downstairs soon to start so leave your vote in the comment section. But hurry I'm getting an itchy trigger fing...

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The Joinery Bench Part II : New and Improved Features!

So I now have my White Ash top glued up to a length of approx. 32 3/8". I told everyone to calculate a depth of 15". If this is what you did it should look like mine, minus the two ( yes two!) slots for stuff. Here is a pic of it. The next pic shows how the right hand tool slot is assembled. I used a 3/8" spacer with the end grain up, but it could be side or face grain, the width is 2" also variable. I then added an end cap the same thickness as the top X the depth as wide as it needed to be to make my length 34 1/2'. Which will make the benchtop 36" when the apron is applied. Now, while I was cutting the top to size with my Festool track saw...

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"The New Phonebooks Are Here , The New Phonebooks Are Here!!!!"

Good news Joinery Bench faithful. My "dealer" read my last post and personally located me a stash of 13" wide 8/4 Ash, Wooo Hooo! So I will be picking that up Friday morning and will be ready for post II with pics on what your top should look like, and how I like to do the saw slot. I will also start the apron assembly with what is sure to cause a fight I'm sure. Peg joinery or dovetails. I prefer to use dowel pegs, more to the point Miller Dowels, which seems like maybe I have taken one too many boards to the head area since I built it to primarily dovetail wi...

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I'll See Your Roubo and Raise You A Holzapfel

Mr. Schwarz over at the Popular Woodworking magazine is building a Roubo bench ( sliding dovetail legs and all) using only hand tools.It has a 5" thick top in cherry with only one joint in it, and 12 pounds of epoxy. So far it is looking very nice, but I am officially throwing down the gauntlet! I recently have recieved an offer to acquire the appropriate amount of Douglas Fir timbers 4" thick by 9" wide in whatever lengths I need to build, a bench?, yes a bench. Not just any bench, I also have a desire to possess a French woodworking workhorse, but I can't seem to envision giving up my Holzapfel style work holding power. So not only will this bench be Roubo, the opposite side will be Holzapfel! Yes! Twin screw and quick release on one side, as well as a leg and wagon vise with a deadman...

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The Joinery Bench: Part I - Tiny Wood?

OK. So this was to be the first entry on building the" Joinery Bench"," was" being the operative word, but found my recent trip to the local wood monger to be disappointing and frustrating.White Ash is my first wood of choice for this bench due to it's mass and strength, which is paramount for this project because of the small size. Tape measure in hand I fumbled through a honking stack of 8/4 Ash, all of which clocked in at less than 5" wide. What the? 8/4 lumber is 80% of the materials needed, and you only need 48/bf of it, but it needs to finish out at 6" milled or the legs are too small and the yield for the top requires more wood, and at less than 5" I would have had to buy 70/bf of it. Ash is pretty cheap, but spending $80 more and not even getting appropriate sized lumber to make the...

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