voiceover:the woodwhisperer is sponsored by powermatic and clear vue cyclones. marc:on today's show, we're building this power-sculpted contemplation bench, not to be confused witha constipation bench. (upbeat jazz music) this bench includes a lotof cool design elements and fun techniques thati think will really add to your woodworking toolbox of tricks.
let me show you some ofthe details of the design. the wood i used is one of mypersonal favorites curly maple. and as you can see, we've gota lot of curves going on here. the top is pretty straightforwardwith this wave pattern. the legs actually have curves in the vertical dimension as well as horizontal, so there's quite a bit going on there, and the legs are slightlyangled at three degrees to give it a little bitmore of a wider stance.
we have a big open mortise and tenon joint here at the top, and a taper in the legs. we start at 10 inches and goup to 8 inches here at the top. why would you want a bench like this? there's a lot of things youcan do with a sitting bench. i call it a contemplationbench because for me it's a place to just sit and think, maybe ponder my next project. and it's actually veryuseful around the house.
let me give you some examples. (upbeat music) regardless of how you decide to use it, a bench like this isgoing to help you refine your design skills as wellas give you some experience with one of the most funtechniques that i know of in woodworking, andthat's power-sculpting. lets get into the details. i'm tracing the shapeof an early prototype
onto a sheet of 1/4 inch plywood, and that will serve as my starting point. from there i can use various drawing tools to modify the design to my liking. and here's the new version. i refined the curves and added a three degree slant to the legs. i also increased thewidth and added a taper. time to make the templates.
i redraw my shapes ontoa few template blanks and then cut them out at the bandsaw. the curves are then finessed at the oscillating spindle sander. if you don't have one ofthese, there are a number of tools that you can use suchas a cabinet makers rasp, a spokeshave, and a shop-made flexible sanding strip. i'm using some nice figuredmaple for this project, and
a bandsaw is perfect forcutting the rough parts to size. the top and legs areactually going to be made of three pieces of stockeach, and all three pieces will come from the same board for the sake of grain continuity. the boards are then jointedon one face and one edge, and then sent throughthe thickness planer. each board is then rippedto width at the tablesaw. to create the tenons on each leg,
we're going to cut the outside pieces a little bit shorterthan the middle piece. because the legs areangled at three degrees, we'll set the saw threedegrees off from 90. a stop lock makes sure that all pieces are cut to the same length. (whirring noise) now you can see how we end up with an angled shoulder and a large tenon.
to create the open mortise in the seat, we simply cut the middle piece short using the same three degree bevel cut. the pieces are then glued back together to give us our leg and seat blanks. a test fit shows how the basicstructure will go together. using the template, i traceout the curves on each piece. to help guide my sculpting,i'm using a drill to make holes that willserve as depth gauges.
as a completely optionalstep, i'm first using the bandsaw to cut awaysome of the excess stock. there are quite a fewpower-carving options on the market today, but i'm going with the arbortech turbo plane. installed in an angle grinder, i can remove a lot of stock in a hurry. first up is the primary curve in the legs. i use a light sweeping motion to work my
way back to the guide lines on the sides. in the middle, thedrilled holes let me know when i've reached the appropriate depth. pretty cool, huh? to smooth out the surface,i use a 7 inch polisher outfitted with a sanding disc. other tools that can helpin this process include a spokeshave, a rasp, anda flexible sanding strip. the taper is cut intothe legs at the bandsaw,
and a plane is used tosmooth out the edge. (scraping) now for the secondary curve. the goal here is toscoop out the material, then taper up into the middle of the leg. the back of the legs receive a slight relief, which is done with a rasp. the seat is pretty straightforwardcompared to the legs and i use the same sculptingprocess i used before.
now i can add someround-overs to ease the edges. in areas where the router can't reach, i use a small rasp to create the profile. to assemble the bench, i'm using epoxy for the extended working time. a high density filler will make the epoxy thicker and stronger. with the joints taped offfor easy cleanup, i can add the epoxy to the jointsand put the parts together.
with a clamp holding everything together i drive two screws into each side. the countersunk holescan then be capped off with tapered plugs,which i make out of some scrap walnut using tapered plug cutters. (knocking) once the glue is dry, i canremove the excess tenon stock. the angle grinder removesthe bulk, and then i use a die grinder with a ball millto finesse the final shape.
while i'm at it, i can use the ball mill to flush the plugs too. the rest of the work is donewith a rasp and sandpaper. at this point the entire project can be sanded through to 220 grit. to bring out the depthof the figured grain, i'm starting with a coat of danish oil. i apply it liberally to the entire project and then wipe off theexcess with a clean rag.
after giving the danishoil about a week to cure, i then add a few coatsof gloss wiping varnish with light sanding between each coat. i then finish up with a final coat of semi-gloss and call it done. i hope you decide to buildyourself a contemplation bench. with a structure like this it's basically three pieces of wood put together, there's a lot ofdifferent ways you can go,
so if you build one orsomething like it, make sure you send me a picture so i canshare it with the community. i love seeing what you guys are up to. i should mention that this project is from the wood whisperer guild so if you want all of thedetails, from top to bottom, we've got about seven videos focused just on this projectalone, nothing's left out. you can go to thewoodwhisperguild.com
to get that information. thanks for watching everybodyand we'll catch you next time. (guitar music) [i'm taking] my frustration [right out]. (giggles) (laughing) help me [man], help me. ow.