A Dedicated Sharpening Bench -part 4

Dimensioning Frame Stock

I mentioned in the first post that I'm using some 'off the shelf' hardwood for the bench frame; this was great for my budget but not ideal for my hand tools. Because it was 'dimensioned' at the mill (and I use that term very loosely) I have to re-dimension it all again before I can start laying out my joinery. They're definition of square must be a little different than mine!
The Ipe is an extremely dense South American hardwood and is very unforgiving to hand tools- perfect irony isn't it? Here I am making a new sharpening bench and the wood species I'm using is ripping the edges off of my plane irons so fast that I'm going back and forth to my old sharpening area being reminded with each pass how much I'm looking forward to having this new one! Some strange motivation I suppose?
With that I begin planing and dimensioning, sharpening and planing some more. The reverse grain is very unusual in this species, its tones and weight are similar to teak but the dust coming off of it is 'Kermit the frog green'...If you're ever using Ipe with power tools make sure you wear a mask! I'm finding the small amount of dust coming off while hand planing a little irritating to my nose and throat. When I have all of the frame components cross cut to length (including joinery) and all surfaced, I can begin my layout.

Whenever possible I like to lay out my joinery in groupings ie: the legs get clamped together and the mortises for the cross stretchers are laid out together. This will help keep things consistent and insure continuity between the pieces. I use a pencil to mark off the thickness of each component and then a deep scribe line with my knife for the joinery.

Mortise and Tenons

All of the joinery for the bench frame is mortise and tenon except the front legs into the top apron by way of the slip joint.(refer back to part 3) The Ipe is close to 1 1/2" square so I'll follow the rule of thirds and lay out 1/2" mortises. I begin at the top of the back legs where they meet the bench top. I saw a tenon into the rear leg tops and chop out the mating mortises. Over in my shoulder vise I get out my favourite back saw and make some dust. You may notice in the pictures my set up for sawing the tenons- I hold them in the tail vise and have my bench hook next to it on my bench top. This is an efficient set up when you have a lot of tenons to cut. I start by ripping down the two cheeks and then turn the workpiece and rip the other two shoulder cuts. Then it's a simple matter of unclamping and sawing at the bench hook without ever having to take a step. I'll get both tenons cut and then back into the tail vise to pare down to the scribe lines.






















I've heard some woodworkers say you should saw 'right to your scribe lines' and I suppose in a perfect world this is true. I unfortunately live a few blocks East of a perfect world so I try to leave a bit of material to pare away to. This is especially true on the cross cuts where I want a crisp shoulder line.

















With the tenons cut I'll forget that measuring tapes were ever invented and use the actual work piece to lay out my mortises. Again, I begin with a pencil and mark out my perimeter and follow with a knife line to determine the actual mortise size.




























I begin with a brace and bit and bore out the bulk of the material. These are relatively shallow, stub tenons so I trust my eye and bore down into the oak. For deeper tenons I'll wrap a piece of tape around the bit to show me the finished depth and for really special work pieces I'll actually make up a wooden 'collar' that slips over the bit creating a built in depth stop. But as mentioned, today I'm using my eyes.

From there I'll use my mortising chisel to chop off the little 'wings' left between auger bit holes and square up the ends. I'll clean out the bottom and get ready for a dry fit. The brace and bit method of cutting mortises is a fast and accurate method but I should also mention when you first lay out the mortise it's a good idea to scribe in a center line. This will give a point of reference for the bit to find center when drilling. The first dry fit shows me that I need to remove a little meat off of the tenon. This is another one of those wood working myths- tenons don't have to look pretty! I know we see them in our favourite woodworking magazines, all crispy and shining like a new dime but really-?
They do need to be straight and they really should be square but besides that they can be as rough as you make 'em. Keeping that in mind I use a rasp to trim the tenons.






















It's fast and easy and all of those 'scratch marks' left behind will actually make for a better glue joint. Another dry fit and it's on to the next one.


The bench now has four legs standing proudly, although still inverted on my bench top- I decide to address the bottoms of the legs and the feet. It's a natural progression, but I don't give the sequence too much thought. I suppose you could cut all of the legs first and then move onto all of the stretchers... I enjoy watching a work piece come together and at the end of my work day I like to see what I've accomplished. So I started with the legs and then onto the feet; at least I'll be able to stand the bench upright and get a sense of where things are going for tomorrow!

The process of cutting the mortise and tenons throughout the frame is pretty much the same system as described above. Pencil to scribe lines and then bore out the waste and.....what's that? The wood? Too hard?
Oh yeah, I almost forgot- the crazy-dense exotic wood from South America proved to be a little too hard for my auger bit so I wasn't able to remove the waste like I did in the Oak. Imagine, the quarter sawn white oak in the bench top is actually the 'friendlier' softer wood! That's saying a lot.
So instead of removing the waste with my brace and bit I resort to the crashing and bashing of the mortise chisel. It actually went pretty quickly. As hard as this wood is, it works pretty well and while chopping across the grain for the mortises, I exploited the brittle under tones of the Ipe. The tenons were done as described and before I knew it the legs and the feet are complete...at least for tonight. Next time I'll shape the feet and finish the frame. Stay tuned.

A Dedicated Sharpening Bench- part 3

Cutting some Joinery
















With the bench top work surface squared on six sides I'll measure and lay out the rabbets for the bread board ends.






















Deep scribe lines will help eliminate cross grain tearing and when I clamp the piece into my shoulder vise I'll again add my thicknessed backer board to help with the spelching. I begin the rabbet with a special purpose rabbet plane but once established I change over to my medium shoulder plane. I find I get a better inside edge with the shoulder plane. I think this may have something to do with the nicker on the rabbet; it's necessary when getting the rabbet established but I find the small nicker helps the plane to slowly work its way out from the edge. With the shoulder plane this is eliminated and I can create a much cleaner rabbet.














I should mention that the rabbet plane I was using has a small set screw so I could have stopped and retracted the nicker after the first few passes, but having the shoulder plane ready was a little faster.

With the rabbet cut I'll check for square and flip the board over to cut the bottom edge. This same process is repeated on the opposite end of the surface establishing the thickness of the bread boards. From here I get my apron stock prepared and cut to length making sure I've included all of my joinery. I measure and plough out the dado in the end pieces. Once the grooves are complete I change gears to lay out and cut my dovetails for the apron. These dovetails are laid out as you would for any through dovetail except we're dealing with a larger scale. I scribe the thickness of the aprons to their mating pieces, lay out my dovetails and start sawing. The oak, at 1 1/4" thick is just about the maximum my small dovetail saw can handle but I get them done and can now lay out the mortises for the bread boards.
















I've only cut my dovetails into one end of the apron- I'll wait until I finish and fit the main work surface into the side aprons before I commit to the placement of the opposite front apron.















Bread Board Ends

At this point I can dry fit my dovetails and check my dado is lining up between the pieces. I measure and divide the long tenon I still have rabbeted into the ends into three tenons. The entire length of the side will have a small shoulder plus these three tenons. I mark out the cuts and the mortise position inside the dado. For 90% of the mortises I cut I follow this procedure. Once properly laid out I begin with a brace and bit and remove the bulk of the waste.
















I then follow with a mortise chisel and clean up the ends as well as determining the final depth. With the mortises chopped, the tenons cut I'll try a dry fit. Now I can establish the opposite end of the front apron and I lay out and cut the through dovetails.













The back apron is laid out and the dovetails are also cut at this point.















I follow with my plough plane and plane out another dado into the top of the rear apron. This groove will become a channel for a work holding tray later in the build.
From here I cross cut, plane and glue up some pieces to create the back splash which also serves dual duty as the front panel on the tool tray.

















This also gets a matching groove opposite the rear apron we just finished. I'll bevel the inside of these grooves to make the sliding tool holder a little easier to move.















I have my work surface and apron joinery complete; in the reading and research on work benches I've done I decide to incorporate a through bridal joint for the front legs where they meet the apron. This will create a very strong frame as well as making the front legs of the workbench flush with the front apron- a real benefit when I add some other work holding features to the piece. This being a small work space I try to make the most of my workshop projects and have them serve dual duty.
I lay out and rip down the deep leg joinery; this is sawn down and then the bulk of the waste is removed with a fret saw and cleaned up with a chisel. The corresponding tongue of the slip joint is cut into the front apron.

With a good dry fit I'll measure and mark the small shoulder that needs to be cut into the back of each leg. Since the leg stock is 1 1/2" thick and my apron stock is only 1 1/4" thick, I have 1/4" of material that needs to be removed so the work surface can sit up tight to the apron. I could cut out a small section of the work surface, leaving the full depth of the legs but I decide to remove the material off of the legs creating a small shoulder the surface will rest on. I can do another dry fit with the front legs attached and really get a sense of the bench dimensions. I begin with the two apron ends and then dry fit the front into the dovetails. I insert the rear apron and flip the piece over on my bench top. Now I can slide in the front legs and see how I'm doing...so far so good! Here are some shots of the dry fit assembly thus far~















Top surface with side and front apron attached.






















Rear apron dovetails















Tool tray framed with rabbets


















That completes the top joinery and front legs for now; I'll get my stock ready for the rest of the frame and start the mortise and tenons next time...
cheers!

Additional content-
Had a comment on how I cut the half lap in the legs- here are a few additional shots. The half lap or bridal joint is laid out and the legs are ripped down in my shoulder vise. I then remove most of the waste with a fret saw and clean up the bottom with a chisel. The small rear shoulder that will sit under the table top is cut on my bench hook- hope that explains it more clearly...thanks for the comments.

A Dedicated Sharpening Bench- part 2

Assembling the Cut List...

Working off of my sketches and existing examples of trusted, work bench construction methods, I come up with a plan and begin adding up the numbers. This is generally how I approach a new design, from the sketch I mock up some shapes and sizes using off cuts and batons around my shop to see if in the 'real world' things still look like they do on paper. I settle on the overall size and start down my cut list taking into account the joinery.

The top work surface is where I begin and the two panels of 1" thick, quarter-sawn white Oak are cross cut to length leaving about 1/4" extra for love. The oak used is offcuts from a past project and has been in my shop for over 7 months now, so I know it's extremely stable and will make a great work surface and apron. When I originally purchased the wood it was dimensioned before it left the mill so I can surface it all pretty quickly. From jointing plane to smoother I'll get the top glued up before I even begin thinking about the apron.
This being a work shop project I'm really trying to keep the budget at a minimum so the bench top and apron are made from off cuts as mentioned with the lower frame made from Ipe. It's an extremely dense exotic I noticed at my local hardware store. They sell it these days as a high-end decking material. This particular stock was already finished at 1 1/2" square and came in 12' lengths. At $15.00 a length I couldn't go wrong. It does come with its edges all beveled but this being a work bench I can live with it. I'd prefer to have square stock to begin but I can deal with the 'off the shelf' lumber for the sake of the budget. Now 1 1/2" stock may sound a little undersized for a workbench frame but keep in mind the scale of the piece and the fact that this Ipe is like iron!

Jointing the Edge

With the oak cross cut to length I'll go ahead and joint it. To begin, I clearly mark the planks for grain direction and lay them on my bench top, reference faces up. I decide what two edges I'll be jointing together. I mark the orientation of them with a builders triangle on the face surface and 'fold' them back together keeping the inside edges up. This book matched pair will be clamped together in my face vise and jointed simultaneously. I use a bevel-up jointing plane with a nice wide iron at 2 1/4" and work the edges together. I'll take a series of through shavings checking for square as I go. I finish off the process with a couple of stop shavings to insure no bumps along the edges. Again I check my work with a reliable straight edge and finally, a light pass again planing through, end to end. The nice thing about edge jointing two boards together like this is if you're edges are slightly out of square it really doesn't matter; because of the book matching we did when we clamped them, once unfolded any inconsistencies will cancel each other out. That said, while you're planing, try your best to keep things square! (maybe this is one of those rare occasions you can get in some practice time while actually working on a project and not just something from the scrap wood pile?)

The Glue Dance

With the edges jointed I'll glue up the panels and set them aside for the night. Here's my method for gluing two panels together.
To begin, I set my clamp opening to an 1" wider than the actual piece and lay them down across my bench top. These pieces are just under 3' long so I'll be using 5 clamps, three will go on the bottom and two more across the top.Lay the two planks across the three bottom clamps and a quick dry run will show how things should hopefully go. These two are sitting really nicely together and the joint almost closes itself! It's a good day when that happens...
Because of the stopped shavings I took earlier, when gentle pressure is applied using only the middle clamp, I'm confident the outside edges of the joint will be tight.
So a generous amount of glue is spread and I begin again at the middle clamp bringing the pieces together. I use down ward thumb pressure across the joint to keep the seam flat and won't over tighten this first clamp yet- I'll come back to it in a minute. With the middle of the stock held firmly together, I'll use a couple of 'F' style clamps placed on the outside edges and draw the seam down flush along its length. Then working out from the center again I start tightening things up. I stagger the pressure as I go, from left to right and then left outside and finally the right outside clamp. With the five clamps secure I'll move back across and re tighten them all down to finish. Take a step back and have a look- double check your grain is running in the proper direction and your building triangle is mated happily back together. This will be your last chance to change anything!
Go make a coffee and check your email, come back in an hour and begin cleaning up the glue. I'll work between the clamps and remove any squeeze out after it has started to cure but before it's too hard to easily scrap away. This is also when I'll usually remove the two outside 'F' clamps; if I leave them on overnight I'll have some deep bruises to deal with tomorrow.






















"Top of the morning to ya!" The glue set up overnight so I remove the clamps and get ready to work. A card scraper down the seam removes any final bits of glue- I'm careful not to tear away any wood with it. I'm happy with the results- this oak is stable and sits well on my bench top-another good sign! I'll double check with my winding sticks and a metal straight edge taking note of any high spots or twist across the surface.
















A few light passes with the jointer followed with a smoothing plane and I'll double check one edge for square. I now have a reference face and edge and can continue on with dimensioning the panel. I'll use my panel gauge and scribe the finished width around the perimeter; because this was pre-dimensioned wood and I took my time with the glue-up, I'm happy to say the piece is almost square with just a few light passes along one end. With that, I now have a panel with two long edges, completely parallel and square with one finished face.
















I'll check the thickness throughout the panel to see if it needs any dressing and working from the bottom, I'll plane the stock to final thickness. Not much to remove so this process is pretty straight forward. Four sided stock with two ends that still need to be addressed- that's where I'll go from here.

Planing End Grain

I get asked alot how I deal with the long end grain on panels. I think some woodworkers are intimidated when it comes to this area so I'll show you the steps I use.
So first things first I'll scribe a deep, crisp line around the perimeter with a knife working off a reliable framing square. The amount of wood I'm removing is very minimal, no more than 1/8". Again, the time I took to carefully glue up the panel makes these later steps so much easier.

With my line scribed I'll place the panel vertically in my face vise and block up the bottom off of the shop floor. From there I'll clamp the left side of the panel in the vise and hold the right side with a surface clamp installed in one of the 3/4" holes I have across my work bench apron. My bench didn't come like this but it's a feature I could never live without. Before I fully tighten the vise and clamp I like to place a small level across the top of the piece.






















Also, because we're dealing with end grain and I don't want to blow out the face grain on the far edge of the panel,(spelching) I'll clamp a piece of scrap wood, thicknessed the same as the work piece and tighten everything down to get started.

I'm using my bevel-up jointer again, set to take a fine shaving and carefully work my way down. I'm taking light passes, always watching for those first shiny edges starting to appear. It's hard to put into words but you'll know it when you get there. Being careful not to over-shoot, I work my way down so I can see my scribe line still wrapping the entire perimeter. With that tiny strip left glistening, I know the edge is square. (but I'll still double check it!) Now I can safetly measure up off of this edge and follow the same procedure for the sixth and final side.















So there you have it- a work bench surface, square on all six sides. It may seem like a lot of steps but the above process probably didn't take much longer than it just took me to write this post. I'm ready to begin the bread board ends and assemble my pieces for the apron. That will be next time.
Cheers!