Today it felt more like work than woodworking, these boards are heavy! It's the first day working on the top and we were able to get most of the boards milled on 2 sides. We will let them rest until tomorrow then mill them to final size.

We started by using the Festool track saw to make the long cuts but the boards proved to be too much work for it. We switched to the table saw which is not as accurate but since we are only cutting them too ruff width its not that big of deal.

After we had them to ruff width it was time to run one face over the jointer then stand it up and joint the edge. It's safe to say we have enough hamster bedding to last a lifetime!

Here are all but about 4 boards that we need to build the workbench top. After a short trip to hardware specialties tomorrow we will have all we need to finish.

Well here we are, the base is done and not a moment too soon. Let's see if I can remember everyone that helped with this phase, thanks to Steve T, Jeremy H, Dohn W, Jim P, Dave J, Jonathan S, Tony S, Bill P. I don't think I've left anyone else out but if I have sorry. No time to sit back though, 9am tomorrow we are back at it working on the top and we have even less time to get it done.

Today was a busy one. We made a good amount of progress and I think we are in good shape for finishing the bench in time Artistry in Wood.

We started with cleaning up the rest of the inward facing pieces of the legs and stretchers. Then dry fit everything, checked for square and drilled the draw bore holes in the tenons.

Glue up is always a stressful time in any wood shop but thanks to the draw bore pins this one couldn't have gone any easier. Just clean off the extra glue and we're done.

While we waited for the glue to set up Steve got to work on cutting out the cleats that will hold the shelf on the bottom of the bench, I think he needs to learn how to use a dust collector.

once the glue set a little we trimmed the pins flush. We will let the leg sections sit overnight to give the glue a chance to cure all the way. Then we will finish sand and plane the base, drill the holes for the carriage bolts and barrel nuts. After that it will be time to turn our attention to the bench top.

Yesterday was all about the chop and leg vise. After removing the chop from the clamps it needed a slight bit of final flattening with a hand plane and a power plane. Once we had it to final thickness I could start the layout of the large mortise, screw hole, and the overall shape of the chop.

Next I took a short break from woodworking to catch my daughters hamster Sugar who had got loose in the wood shop the night before!

Now back too work. After we made all the necessary cuts and did a rough sanding of the chop I was ready to start installing the vise hardware.

I started by installing the steel plates that the criss cross legs rub on during operation. Then pounded one of the upper pins in through the criss cross to hold it in place.

The screws in the flange on the vise handle are machined screws so we had to drill a 1/4" hole then tap using a 5/16-18 tap.

Here we are, a lot of work to get this far. I'd like to thank all the club members that have been involved in getting us this far I feel pretty confident that we are a good ways past half way. I think we have a good chance of finishing in time for the Artistry in wood show!

My grandpa passed away about 11 years ago around the time I got married. A few years ago, I was looking around his old garage and found an old hand plane sitting on a shelf. I was surprised because I did not know him to be a wood worker. I took the plane home with the hope of restoring it but it ended up sitting on the shelf for another few years.

Today, one of the club members came over to work on the club bench. He also has experience tuning and restoring old hand planes. He showed me how to tune up and work on it. Now I am happy to say my grandpas old plane is now in working condition. Now I will be able to pass this down to my children.

Today was all about the leg vise and chop. We cut the holes in the leg for the all thread and the flange.

Next I cleaned up the inside faces of the legs to get them ready for glue up. I used a number 4 1/4 plane that I picked up from Lee Valley.

Here's Jeremy sneaking around behind a clamp bush! Tomorrow we should be ready to pull it from the clamps and cut the chop mortise and all thread hole.

So here it is Tuesday on week 2? or is it 3? We've got about 2ish weeks left to try and get this woodworking masterpiece done if we are going to display it in the Artistry in Wood show that starts in the middle of next month. At this point that looks like a tall order but still doable.

Started my day with chopping out the massive leg vise mortise. Did most with the mortiser and finished it off with my Festool router and edge guide. Now had I had the bigger router I would have elected to do the whole thing with it but the mortiser did the job fine.

Here she is finally ready for some finish sanding and a few grooves for the lower shelves. I've placed half of the leg vise assembly in the mortise so you  can get an idea of how it will mount.

You can see below that the draw bore holes have been drilled in the legs but not the tenons. I will use a drill bit to mark the location of the hole on the tenon through the leg, then I will dis assemble the leg and drill the hole about 1/32" over from the mark. This way when the leg is assembled the oak dowel will pull the joint together when it is hammered in place.

Did you know that woodworking could be this much fun? Not much got done over the weekend but I did manage to pose for this picture.

All of the short stretches have been fit now they are awaiting layout for the draw bore holes. The front and back long stretchers have also been cut to length and the layout for their tenons is done. She's starting to look like something now, maybe a table? or a child's day bed.

To cut the tenons I clamped them upright on the crosscut sled and cut all the shoulders. Then moved the stop block and cut the cheeks off.

Here it is Monday morning and I am all alone fitting the long stretchers into their legs. Almost everything has gone very well up to this point hopefully my luck continues. Once the last 2 tenons are fit then we will be ready for the leg vise hardware and glue up of the base. That hopefully will come on the next blog entry!

Have you ever tried to cut tenons with a blade you have not sharpened in 2 years? it does not work so well, I learned how to make smoke signals at least. Alright on to a new blade and things were moving well today. We cut all the tenons on the short lower and upper stretchers and started to fit them with a shoulder plane.

I was feeling like doing some hand work so I finished off all the shoulder with my new tenon saw from Ron Bontz. A little more work with the shoulder plane and pairing chisel and they should fit nicely.

Everything is coming together now. A few more cuts and drill the draw bore holes then we will be ready to move on to the front and back stretchers.

Today was action packed, we cut all the 1/2" through holes and counter bores. We cut all of the tenons which will need a little clean up with a shoulder plane. I also cut most of the mortises. Upon cutting the through holes we figured out that the carriage bolts were way too tight of a fit, so we bored them out just a bit with a hand drill now they slide right in.

My Powermatic mortising machine made short work of all the mortises but you had to be careful on the second pass not to deflect the bit into the open cut.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have all the leg work (hahaha) done so we can  start to fit the stretchers. Its possible this thing will start to look similar to a workbench soon.

     Well its not everyday you spend 4 or 5 hours in the wood shop and don't really do any cutting. Today was one of those days, myself and another club member spent our time laying out all of the mortises and tenons on the legs. As you can see from the leg second from the left we apparently do not practice the whole measure twice cut once thing, but its ok because there is a mortise there (we got lucky).
     Hopefully tomorrow we can get another set of eyes on our layout so we can start cutting everything. Then it will be on to the stretchers, you should always stretch after you do legs!