Tool Care and Maintenance

One of the things you need if you are going to use handsaws is a good saw bench.  I built this bench to suit my size and the way I work. All of the materials are recycled lumber, and it was built mostly with handtools.

 

For convenience sake I added a couple of hold-down holes to my bench, which greatly improves my ability to handle long stock. The holddown is a hand-forged product of Phil Koontz, a Galoot living in Alaska.

Construction

My bench is constructed of one red oak 2” x 6” x 8’-0”, a couple of pallet runners 3” x 3” x 3’-0” and a couple of cut-offs for the stretchers.  One piece 1 3/8” x 4” x 40”, became the side stretchers, and one 1 7/8” x 2 5/8” x 20”, the end stretchers.  All the materials were planed flat and square to a very loose tolerance.  The top is splined and edge glued. Stretchers are mortised into the legs with thru dowel in the tenon. The top is just pegged into the top of the legs. 

One addition I need to make is to put holdfast holes on both sides instead of just one side. Also the bench would be better with a couple of inches added to the width of the leg spacing, but as is, it is not un-stable.

The run-down on how it was built is to follow so if you are interested read on...

My 2” x 6” x 8’ piece of red oak was anything but straight and flat. So I cut it into 3 shorter pieces before trying to flatten it. I used a Stanley Type 19 No. 5 ½ for this operation. With each piece I first trued one edge and squared my boards from there.

The next step was the groove for the spline; now I could have done this on the t*bl*s*w in about five minutes, but I perceived it as an excuse to use my Stanley #45 combination plane. That took probably 2 hrs. but was a learning experience (to put it mildly). A #45 is a perscnickety tool and even after doing this I don’t think I really understand it, yet. After cutting my grooves I made splines to fit. Always make your splines after you cut the grooves, my 3/8” x 1 ½” splines became more like 9/16” x 1 1/8”.

Drawing done with AutoCAD 2002 ™

The hand hole was drilled at each end with a Forstner bit in my Stanley 10” 2101A brace and the remainder was removed with a chisel. Then faired with rasp and files. The sawing cutout was started with the Forstner and then the rest was cut away with my favorite handsaw a Disston D12 crosscut. The corners were rounded with rasps and files.

The 3” x 3” pallet runners were rather ratty looking so I planed all 4 sides and wound up with two pieces approximately 2 ¾” square. I put a 45 deg. bevel on one corner, with a Stanley No. 3, and cut them into 4 pieces 18” long. I next cut to length my stretchers and smoothed and flattened them. They had previously visited with the t*bl*s*w so the edges were already square.

To assemble the base I cut an 1 ½” long tenon on each end of the stretchers by removing ¼” from each face. I then oriented the stretchers and legs, marked my mortises from the tenon and chopped them out. After much fussing and trimming I had a base assembly. With the base glued and clamped I used an 8” Stanley 965N brace and 3/8” Irwin auger bit to drill the holes for the pins in the tenons and installed them.

To attach the top to the legs I turned some pegs that are ¾” dia. By 2 ½” long with and integral cap 1 ¼” dia. X 1 ½” long, totaling 4” long. I then drilled a 1 ¼” hole about 1” deep in the top. And continued the hole with a ¾” bit about 2 ½” down into the leg. A little glue in the holes and drive the pegs into the legs till they bottom out at the cap and cut them off flush.

I added a second 2” thickness to the edge where I drilled the holddown holes. In order to resist the racking forces between the two pieces when the holddown is set I put three ½”round dowels thru the bottom piece and into the top (overkill). 

As this is a working bench I did not spend a lot of time on the finish, it was sanded with 150 grit sandpaper and then given several coats of spar-varnish.

And Bob’s your uncle….

© Roy Griggs
December 10, 2005