Using a router and a straightedge clamp to square the ends of the core slab went better than anticipated.  With some fussing, the straight bit worked like a charm, giving me a crisp step down to run the bearing on the pattern bit against.  There wasn’t even any chipping on either first pass with the straight bit.

Quite a bit of fussing, actually.

Unfortunately, the pattern bit didn’t work as well and I did get some blowout on the second passes.  Nothing terrible, but I was kicking myself for not first scribing the ends (to sever the fibers and prevent chipping).  No harm, no foul, though, because I still had to plane the front face square to the underside.  All in all, I’m very pleased with the final length of 71 7/8″, which will be further augmented by the inner and outer jaws of a quick release tail vise.

Not bad, starting from twelve foot 2×10’s.

The core slab, now S3S with only the top to go, is approximately 4 1/16″ thick.  Assuming the slab doesn’t move any further (it cupped very slightly in the week after initial thicknessing), I doubt it will take more than 1/16″ to flatten the top.  At any rate, anything over 3 1/4″ validates my choice to use 2×10’s instead of straight 2×4’s.

I’ve already created the mortises on the back edge, and I’ll be creating the front mortises over the Eastern weekend.

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The first set of mortise strips went onto the core slab without a hitch (almost).  I’m very pleased with the result, but I’m glad I did the back mortises first.  When I get to the front mortises, I’ll have perfected my technique.

I don’t think this was faster than boring and paring, but it is certainly crisper.

After all the flattening, squaring and gluing (which I promise to write more about later), I’m sick of the workbench build.  Instead, I’ll distract myself for a couple weeks with a traveling tool tote, based heavily on Christopher Schwarz’ boarded tool chest from 2015, but scaled down.  I outgrew my soft tool tote long ago.  It’s time I upgraded my traveling setup.

I like this boarded tool chest design because it’s rabbeted and nailed, rather than dovetailed.  Dovetails are great, but this is a working piece that I want to complete on a decent timeline.  And call me crazy, but I really enjoy splitting rabbets (my shop-made fillister plane is only 5/8″, after all).  I will likely follow the oak-battened lid design of the source material, also for no other reason than it’s easier than a full dust seal of a traditional floor chest (but also because this tool tote won’t be populated full-time).  The entire carcass, including the ship-lapped floor, is only seven boards.

Two sides, two ends, three floor boards, all cut to rough length.

Made almost exclusively from 1×12 common pine from the home center, the inside dimensions of the tool tote will be slightly over 26″ long x 12″ wide x 11″ high. There will be plenty of room in the floor plan for a panel saw, two back saws, a jointer plane, a smoothing plane and a router plane, plus a chisel rack on the inside wall.  A single sliding tray on oak runners will hold everything else I need for on-site work.

One final note: it’s amazing what you can find when you dig through the stacks of common pine.  In addition to a nearly knot-free carcass, there is enough clear, quarter-sawn wood to laminate a stable lid.  Plus, the quarter-sawn off-cuts from the floor boards will become the walls of the sliding tray.  All of this from only twenty-four feet of home center common pine.

I feel energized.

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I had hoped to quickly and easily square the ends of the new workbench’s core slab with my compound miter saw.  Unfortunately, the slab is too heavy for the extending arm on the base and no amount of clamping pressure could keep it steady and square.  As a fallback option, I will use a straightedge clamp and a full size router.  A 3″ straight bit should hog off most of the waste, with a pattern bit to finish the job on the flip side.  My little trim router may have the torque, but it definitely doesn’t have the collet, so my full size router and D-handle base are coming out of retirement for one last job.

Once the core slab is squared off, I can begin applying the boards that will form the mortises.  Each mortise strip is comprised of three boards: two ends at 12″ long each, and one center board, sized to fit.

Seen here, surfaced but not yet cut to final length.

Each mortise strip board will be pre-sized and glued directly to the core slab, using the underside of the core slab as the reference surface and the tenon boards for each of the four laminations as spacers.  As a result, the front and back faces of the core slab must be absolutely square to the underside of the core slab.  The slab has probably moved since initial flattening last weekend, so the last thing before glue-up will be re-dressing the underside and faces.  And I still have to surface those tenon boards

The mortises are completed by adding another, full-length, board to each face of the bench top.  Then, on the front face only, a second full-length board, picked for its beauty, will complete the bench top and be the show face of the bench top.  This added depth also keeps the dog holes out of the mortise strip.

Finally, each front leg will be brought co-planar with the show face of the bench top by similarly adding show boards.  Having not thought it completely through yet, I would nonetheless imagine the show-faces of the legs will be sized and added after assembly and settling.

If I do it all correctly, only the topside of the bench top will require any further dressing.  IF.

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My weekend was somewhat productive.

On Saturday, I set up the temporary workshop at my parents’ house.  I even solved the biggest problem with my old workbench: stability.  I did so in two ways.  First, I screwed the top down to the frame with some 3″ No. 12 screws (no longer just relying just on the friction-fit 3/4″ stub tenons for lateral support).  Second, I loaded up the underside of the frame with additional ballast in the form of five-to-six foot lengths of lumber.  The net result is a workbench that now weighs about 300 lbs (better known as approximately what a workbench should weigh).

From L to R:  8/4 red oak, 6/4 maple, 8/4 maple, 2×6 Douglas Fir and 2×10 Douglas Fir.

On Sunday, I got right to ripping down almost all of the Douglas Fir 2×10’s that will become the new workbench.  Approximately 60 feet of 2×10’s became the following:

• 2 x 4.5 x 72 (times 12, for most of the laminated benchtop)
• 2 x 4.5 x 62 (times 4, for most of the laminated legs once crosscut)
• 2 x 4.5 x 82 (times 2, for the tenons on the laminated legs once crosscut)

The final 82″ of 2×10 (seen below the bench) is the prettiest lumber of all (even with a knot or two) and will become the faces of the front legs and the benchtop.  Some of the off-cuts from the 82″ lengths will also go to the strips of the benchtop that form the mortises (more on that below).

To be left out, for a week, to further acclimate.

Four things became apparent during the stock breakdown process.

1. I really miss my miter saw.  For this build, waste is anathema, and a clean, straight, crosscut is key to ensuring full length.  And it’s so much quicker than by hand.  my miter saw used to live in my old apartment.  I had no idea how much I missed it.
2. Even quarter- and rift-sawn lumber has internal stresses.  One of the 12 foot lengths of 2×10 (in fact, the clearest and straightest-grain of the batch) split lengthwise along the grain while I was crosscutting it on the miter saw.  There was so much energy bound up in the piece that upon splitting a shard of wood shot off the main board and hit me in the eye protection.  After cutting around those stresses, the remainder of the piece will become one of the strips that form the mortises on the benchtop.
3. I don’t have enough lumber for the entire bench.  The plan was for the lumber seen above to be the entire bench, but I don’t think that will work.  This should nonetheless get me a 4 x 20 x 72 benchtop and four 4 x 4 legs, and probably the short stretchers.  I think another 16 feet of Douglas Fir 2×6 will be plenty for the long stretchers.
4. Battery-powered circular saws have limitations.  Just ripping the lumber shown above used four full charges of double 20V batteries and three full charges of single 20V batteries.  I either need another charger or a corded circular saw.

More than anything, this post has helped me think through exactly how to use the available materials in the most efficient way practicable. I may need one or two more boards, but for about $100, I will have most of a proper workbench.

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While I wait for the Douglas Fir posts to dry out and become the top rails for my new sawhorses, I’ve doing a little bit of shaping around the edges. Literally.

One design element I’ve noticed in most saw horses of this style are the beveled feet.  Although the rake varies, very rarely are the feet left four square.  So I went with the crowd.

Subtle on its own, but noticeable in comparison.

Each bevel is about 3/8″ deep and 7.5″ long, but the measurements are not exact.  I am sans band saw, so all work was done with a No. 4 set as heavy as I could.

The most surprising part was the ability to work in both grain directions.  My No. 4 is by no means supertuned for smoothing, but it was sharp and I was able to work in both grain directions with only slight tear out.  And a couple final passes with my No. 4 1/2 in the correct direction cleared all of that up.

It’s nice when something actually works right the first time.  I’m pleased enough with the shape of this first foot that it will become the pattern for the other three feet.

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