hello and welcome to saw bench show #5. this is the final episode in our series on the saw bench i am going to complete the project on this show i have everything ready last time i joined the pairs of legs with their stretchers and i joined them with wedged tenons it's a very good way to join things together. and now i will join these pairs together with stretchers into one single unit.
i dream of using a computerized mortising machine to make perfect mortises very easily in my dreams that is but i made these by hand and it was a lot of work but good practice for me here is the top and as before i will assemble the top onto the base without glue so i can take it apart but as it dries it will fit perfectly to the top and after that i will glue the top onto the base.
any time you break the glue up into sections it makes it simpler it's well worth the time so if we're ready let's begin i think i'm ready i have mymise en place, i have my brush, my glue i have my wedges and my clamps let's get to work oh, my glasses. ok, i'm glad i divided this into sections but it worked out well
everything fit together nicely, i don't see any gaps and when the glue is dry i'll pull this off i hope the base comes off and then we'll continue i'll wait 24 hours which to you will be about five seconds, so i'll see you in a moment. there you are, and here is our base. i'm happy with how it turned out. no gaps in the joints, it looks great
now we do the final glue up and that's exciting. i cut off the excess tenons you can see here that's what we had after they were glued in i cut them off with my flush cut saw it has zero set on the teeth so it won'tscratch the surface it has a flexible blade as you can see. i hold it against the surface with my two fingers and guide it back and forth
with a little practice you get good at it you get a nice smooth cut. it's a good saw to have i have many of these perhaps i'll give them to kids to play with. so let's look at the top. here is the top. i've cut out the bird's beak. i notched the cut line
and used my panel saw it is a little rough, i have to clean it up but it is ready and let's see what else. i'm ready, i keep putting it off but i am excited get it done so let's get going here. i have my glue i have my brush hammer let's see here
i think this is the best way how are we doing, alright? that is the bottom. oh! sorry dear! sorry.... i'm ok, do your thing. that was stressful. i must admit that was difficult i had trouble getting the legs to fit and it was "panic city"
but we got it assembled and that was the last of the glue ups i will clean this up when i return...in ten seconds i will put the bottom shelf on i will bore a hole for the holdfast and i will apply a finish we're almost there. i'll return in a few seconds the glue is dry and all the hard work is done
it came together nicely and everything fits the last glue up did not go so well i think you saw that too when i fitted the legs to the top i made sure they would fit and by pulling, i could get them to fit when i applied glue, everything changed the glue was like grease and everything was slipping and i couldn't get the tenons into the mortises
things got worse joaneen put the camera down to help me and a we both pulled on the legs i picked up the base and accidently hit her in the eye so then she is trying to help me with a swelling eye things were going badly finally a grabbed a knife and beveled the mortise edges and that made is easier for the tenons to fit i should have done that first we got the top on and it ended happily
so i am very relieved and here we are i trimmed off the excess tenons with my flush cut saw and smoothed it with my stanley 80 cabinet scraper this is simply a card scraper with two handles and a flat bottom and is useful for removing tear out or plane tracks or the tenon end grain
sandpaper would have taken a long time and made lots of dust also i found this hammer is very useful for driving the wedges, it's a lighter weight hammer i could feel when the wedges were fully seated the hammer would bounce off the wedge i wouldn't get that feedback from a heavier hammer good to know now we must bore a hole for the holdfast the top must be at least 1 3/4 inches thick
and that is this top's thickness so i glued on a board to increase the thickness to 2 1/2 inches and that is closer to the optimal thickness so i will clamp the top and bore that hole. okay, we are clamped and ready there are a few ways to drill this hole i could use a drill press or an electric drill i could clamp a plunge router to the top
and drill it that way but i like to use my brace and bit this is a 3/4 inch double spur auger bit and i will go slowly and position it carefully and view it from the front and the side that works best for me, so i'm ready, here we go as i said, i will go slowly and try to go as straight as possible that works for me
i think that will be fine we have the hole drilled now we will work on the shelf on the bottom these boards will be glued along the bottom stretchers to support the shelf boards here very simple tongue and groove joinery you can see me use a small plow plane to make a tongue and groove joint watch japanese tool box show #2
you can see me do that there so that is how the boards go we're almost finished see you in a moment hello, i'm enjoying the view from my new saw bench ok, i'm coming down i'll be careful workshop safety here it is
i'll turn it so you can see everything this project is now finished i have the shelf on and a coat of danish oil on it that is my favorite finish for a project like this it has a nice color and brings out the grain look at the beautiful grain along here poplar isn't known for its grain but i put that beautiful grain on the front this bench weighs 27 pounds
it will serve as a saw bench but also a low work bench and also a step stool and also a seat for friends when they visit so i will put a cup holder in the bird's beak i'll call that a beer's beak maybe i know i have taken a simple piece of shop furniture and turned it into a major hollywood production with all the time and effort i did with thesejoints and assembly but it was a fun challenge
and i enjoy developing my skills and learning new things woodworking had taught me that if you have a complicated project if you divide it into smaller steps you'll be surprised what you can accomplish so i invite you to challenge yourself with your own projects where do we go from here? good question we are deciding now what to do next time and when we do you will be the first to know all credit to roy underhill, he made a workbench
similar to this, using the rising dovetail on his tv show see the link below to watch his show thank you for stopping by and see you next time so that is that so there is that so there's that so that's that so there....is that
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