In the Shop
My Saw Bench
by Roy Griggs
One of the things you need if you are going to use
handsaws is a good saw bench. I built this bench to suit my size and the way I
work. All of the materials are recycled lumber, and it was built mostly with handtools.
For convenience sake I
added a couple of hold-down holes to my bench, which greatly improves my ability to handle
long stock. The holddown is a hand-forged product of Phil Koontz, a Galoot
living in Alaska.
Construction
My bench is constructed of one red oak 2 x 6 x
8-0, a couple of pallet runners 3 x 3 x 3-0 and a couple of cut-offs for
the stretchers. One piece 1 3/8 x 4 x 40, became the side stretchers, and
one 1 7/8 x 2 5/8 x 20, the end stretchers. All the materials were planed
flat and square to a very loose tolerance. The top is splined and edge glued.
Stretchers are mortised into the legs with thru dowel in the tenon. The top is
just pegged into the top of the legs.One addition I need to
make is to put holdfast holes on both sides instead of just one side. Also the
bench would be better with a couple of inches added to the width of the leg spacing,
but as is, it is not un-stable.
Drawing done with AutoCad 2002
The run-down on how it
was built is to follow so if you are interested read on
My 2 x 6 x 8 piece
of red oak was anything but straight and flat. So I cut it into 3 shorter
pieces before trying to flatten it. I used a Stanley Type 19 No. 5 ½ for this
operation. With each piece I first trued one edge and squared my boards from
there.
The next step was the groove for the spline; now I could have done this
on the t*bl*s*w in about five minutes, but I perceived it as an excuse to use
my Stanley #45 combination plane. That took probably 2 hrs. but was a learning
experience (to put it mildly). A #45 is a perscnickety tool and even after
doing this I dont think I really understand it, yet. After cutting my grooves
I made splines to fit. Always make your splines after you cut the grooves, my
3/8 x 1 ½ splines became more like 9/16 x 1 1/8.
The hand hole was
drilled at each end with a forstner bit in my Stanley 10 2101A brace and the
remainder was removed with a chisel. Then faired with rasp and files. The
sawing cutout was started with the forstner and then the rest was cut away with
my favorite handsaw a Disston D12 crosscut. The corners were rounded with rasps
and files.
The 3 x 3 pallet
runners were rather ratty looking so I planed all 4 sides and wound up with two
pieces approximately 2 Ύ square. I put a 45 deg. bevel on one corner, with a Stanley No. 3, and cut them into 4 pieces 18 long. I next cut to length my stretchers and
smoothed and flattened them. They had previously visited with the t*bl*s*w so
the edges were already square.
To assemble the base I
cut an 1 ½ long tenon on each end of the stretchers by removing Ό from each
face. I then oriented the stretchers and legs, marked my mortices from the
tenon and chopped them out. After much fussing and trimming I had a base
assembly. With the base glued and clamped I used an 8 Stanley 965N brace and
3/8 Irwin auger bit to drill the holes for the pins in the tenons and
installed them.
To attach the top to
the legs I turned some pegs that are Ύ dia. By 2 ½ long with and integral cap
1 Ό dia. X 1 ½ long, totaling 4 long. I then drilled a 1 Ό hole about 1
deep in the top. And continued the hole with a Ύ bit about 2 ½ down into the
leg. A little glue in the holes and drive the pegs into the legs till they
bottom out at the cap and cut them off flush.
I added a second 2
thickness to the edge where I drilled the holddown holes. In order to resist
the racking forces between the two pieces when the holddown is set I put three
½round dowels thru the bottom piece and into the top (overkill).
As this is a working
bench I did not spend a lot of time on the finish, it was sanded with 150 grit sandpaper and then
given several coats of spar-varnish.
And Bobs your uncle
.
© Roy Griggs
December, 2005
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