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+-- Thread: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure (/showthread.php?tid=3058880)
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - msweig - 10-16-2007
Quote:
Don't worry, I'm not trying to use them as if they were mortise chisels.
Actually, you can probably use those if you wanted to chop out the whole mortise. I used a modern 1" Stanley (Not Fatmax) on my bench, and it worked fine. I also just chopped them.
As long as you increased the bevel angle to take a pounding that is. If not...um...yea...not my shining moment...
A mortise chisel gives you the advantage of having the wide side to help orient the chisel and keep it that way. You can use a standard bench chisel, it just takes a bit more control.
Looking good, btw
mark
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Bob Zajicek - 10-16-2007
Crooked Tail said:
No chisels were harmed in the making of these mortises.
ROTFL!
Ahem, well I didn't see your others, but those look first class. I think the tenons should turn out fine, just take your time. Good luck and I'm glad the adventure is continuing.
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Jonathan S - 10-16-2007
CT,
Its looking good. Are you using wedged through tenons? If so, did you chop the mortise first or cut the relief out of the bottom of the
sled foot first? I see they overlap.
Thanks
Jonathan
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 10-21-2007
Hi Jonathan,
Yep, wedged through-tenons. I cut the relief on the sled feet before I cut the mortises. Now I'm kind of wondering how I'm going to make the ends of the through tenons flush with the underside of the sled feet. Probably end up using a spokeshave and rasps. Its a good thing it won't show.
So I am working on the tenons, and the little bean counter in my head says that I can't have a big tenon saw right now, no matter how many fancy pictures people post. I tried a panel rip saw, but god that was a lot of work to make slow progress, and it was harder to control than I expected (way too wide of kerf).
I considered trying my framesaw, but figured that would be too cumbersome and difficult to control. I needed something smaller and lighter. So I came up with this (in that darned purple wood, of course):
I used the instructions and plans on TFWW. Many thanks to Joel for making these great plans available for free! It turned out pretty good, except I messed up on the handle and made it way too small. It's supposed to be 3 7/8" not 2 7/8".
This isn't the kind of work that bow saws are designed for, but it is working out ok. A bigger handle and a nicer bootlace
for a tightener and I'll be set. Also, I need to finish scraping and figure out what I'm going to finish it with. 
I had a helluvatime trying to drill holes in the bandsaw blade. I don't remember having any problem when I made my frame saw, and this is a piece of the same blade. What kind of bits do you guys use to drill holes in bandsaw blades, and is there any special technique? I can't remember how I did it last time.
Anyway, going to play with the lathe a bit more for a new handle (hand cramping on the small one). Won't get much work done on the bench today... Dad's going to give me a golf lesson.
But that's OK. Dad time is more valuable than shop time. 
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 10-21-2007
Here we go, much better:
Off I go... FORE!
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Jonathan S - 10-21-2007
Crooked Tail said:
Hi Jonathan,
Yep, wedged through-tenons. I cut the relief on the sled feet before I cut the mortises. Now I'm kind of wondering how I'm going to make the ends of the through tenons flush with the underside of the sled feet. Probably end up using a spokeshave and rasps. Its a good thing it won't show.
CT,
Would you do it differently if there was a next time. Cut the M&T's, glue it up then cut the relief? I am pondering this as I hope to be at that point on my bench by next weekend.
Nice saw, I have been eying Joel's plans myself. What did you use for hardware?
Thanks
Jonathan
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - mpphoto - 10-21-2007
Crooked Tail said:
So I am working on the tenons, and the little bean counter in my head says that I can't have a big tenon saw right now, no matter how many fancy pictures people post.
We'll keep trying
Your framesaw is so... purple!
CT, I like your style
I've only made holes in metal a few times and used a hand punch from Harbor Freight. Don't know how thick of a piece of metal it will punch though.
Michael
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Bob Zajicek - 10-22-2007
Crooked Tail said:
I had a helluvatime trying to drill holes in the bandsaw blade. I don't remember having any problem when I made my frame saw, and this is a piece of the same blade. What kind of bits do you guys use to drill holes in bandsaw blades, and is there any special technique? I can't remember how I did it last time.
Hey CT,
Here's a trick I learned ages ago for drillin' holes in heat treated metal, such as your BS blade. This works easily if you have a DP.. I can't recall whether you do or not. If you don't, you can probably jig it somehow, like with a drilled block clamped over the blade.
Anyhow, you chuck up your drill bit backwards, so the shank is pointing down. Clamp the blade below centered where you want your hole to go. Bring the drill shank down so it contacts the blade and just let it spin there for a minute or two. It's going to heat up and soften that blade right where you want your hole to go. When it smokes and discolors a little you'll be OK. You'll have lost the temper in that exact area, and you can then drill your hole. Remember to center punch the exact location lightly first.
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 10-22-2007
Jonathan: now that I have a bow saw, I would probably do the through tenons first, before cutting the relief, then cut the relief with the bowsaw. I cheated and cut the relief on the bandsaw. It would be difficult to maneuver the whole glued up piece on the bandsaw though. Last time I used a scrub plane and cleaned up with rasps and a spokeshave, and that actually worked pretty good. Once I'm done with the tenons, I think I'll stick a thinner bandsaw blade in the bowsaw and try using that the cut them more or less flush. I'm sure I'll still need to clean up.
For the bow saw hardware I used 2.5" long 1/4" lag screws. After my little adventure with the front vise, I learned a lot about the screwing properties of purpleheart. I figured it would easily be strong enough to hold the screws and the blade, even in end grain. So I drilled a 7/32" pilot hole, screwed the lag screws about an inch into the handle and toe, then whacked the head off with a hack saw. Then I sawed a slot down the middle and drilled a hole. I used some small nuts and bolts left over from my framesaw to pin the blade. I'm pretty happy with how it worked out.
Bob & Michael: thank you for the drilling suggestions. I was getting the blade pretty hot trying to drill through it, so much so that I nearly created fire the old way on the piece of scrap under the blade. I don't have a drill press, so I will try the block thing next time. I tried a regular HSS bit, a titanium bit, and a cobalt bit, and none of them wanted to cut. I will try Bob's technique next time.
That handpunch looks handy, but it says for sheetmetal and "mild steel." Probably won't work on a BS blade?
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 10-26-2007
First of all, Happy Nevada Day! State holiday, so I'm off work and get to mess around in the shop all day if I want.
For the first time in decades, it's not obscenely cold either, as Nevada Day is wont to be. I finally got the new trestles basically built. This is a dry fit. You can see the first advantage is that the legs are spaced much wider. Don't ask me why I made the first ones so narrow... maybe I was afraid of whacking my knee on them.... The joints are much better then the joints in the doug fir also. The doug fir was still green, and seemed very, very soft. This is poplar, but it is kiln dried. All but one of the joints are a good tight fit. The one that isn't tight I goofed up on, because I was fitting it to the wrong mortise. Moral of the story: clearly mark which tab goes into which slot.
With my new-found knowledge of drawbored joints, I am considering using it instead of wedges. What do you guys think? Wedges would be easier and quicker. Aren't they also supposed to mechanically draw the joint tight? As you can see, these are through tenons.
As for the underside of the feet, I've decided I'm not even going to bother trying to make the tenons flush. They can't be seen, and I actually think they look sort of neat proud.
Also, I'm getting ready to make the stretchers. This time around, I'll have four stretchers instead of two. They will each be about 4" wide, maybe slightly wider. I'm planning on placing them 1" above (and 1" below for the top stretchers) the shoulders of the legs. I know that is far apart, but I want room for cabinets, and that would leave me space for ~15" tall cabinets.