Roubo Part 3

My perfect (from 5 feet away) dovetails

I am still not great about taking pictures of every step, and even worse about posting them.  Next was to cut the endcap for the tail vise and mill the last two boards for the front slab.

Can you see the router table?

The important parts here are to create the dog holes in the second to front strip (it's easiest when the strip isn't attached), and then the dovetailing of the endcap.  I followed Jameel Abraham's procedure, except that the tails were cut by hand, not cut with the bandsaw I don't own. After gluing the last two laminates to the slab, I installed the tail vise hardware.  I was hoping to use it for milling the legs, but the stools the slab is on are not a workbench, and I couldn't find my router table (its under a pile of maple) to make the dogs safely .

One leg assembly

The legs are 2 pieces of 5+" 8/4 boards glued together, so I milled those first and got them gluing.  While they were becoming one, I milled the stock for the rails, and by the end of the weekend I had all the maple for the project dimensioned.  I spend the next week with a router and edge guide routing the large mortises for the rails, and then marked and drilled the holes for the drawbore pegs.  I then brought the tenons  on the rails close to size with a dado stack in the table saw.  I cleaned them up with a router plane, and fit them in the legs.

Checking for square and marking for pegs.

Just to be certain I pounded them all together (without glue), and checked for square.  They were close enough.  I used a 3/8" bradpoint bit to mark the location of the holes on the tenon.  When I drill those I will move the hole in the tenon 1/16" closer to the shoulder, and when pegged, it will pull the joint together.

It almost looks like a bench

This week I started working on the leg vise.  I had thicknessed the slab of mahogany a week or two before, so this was mostly cutting out the shape and laying out the locations for the hardware.  I decided to do somewhat of an ogee pattern at the bottom, and so I made a router template and guide bushing to get close (using the 1/2" x 2" bit), then used a flush trim to bring the top inch to the dimension I wanted.  Looking back I should have just left it the size it was with the guide bushing and saved myself the headache of sanding on the drill press, and spending a lot of time making it look smooth.  It still needs some work, but that will have to wait, as its decorative, and right now I just want a bench.  The rest of the vise installation is much of same, routing with an edge guide, and drilling holes for the hardware.  The new thing is that much of the hardware for the leg vise is attached using bolts that seat into tapped holes in the leg and chop.

Now I just have to put the pieces together.

A busy few weeks( a very late Roubo Part 2)

Gluing the back slab.

I was able to get the two top slabs glued up.  I decided to give myself a break, and picked up some Titebond II Extend.  That was a huge help, and allowed me to get both slabs glued up with very little touch-up needed afterwards.  Surprisingly I didn't use ALL of my clamps (some were too small).

The following week I started a 2 week long class/test at work, which consumed almost all my time, and all my energy.  I was able to take a short break, and cut some dovetails, make a sticking board and stick some moldings.  All in preparation for a demonstration at the hand tool splinter group meeting.

Second load of pear

"Floating" wine rack

I was also given a free pear tree, as long as I cut it up and hauled it home....2 carloads later....looks like I have a couple dozen bowls to practice on. I also had to make a wedding gift.  I decided on a wine rack similar to one I made for us a few months ago.

After the class I was finally ready to get back at working on the bench.  I had flattened one side to send it through the thickness planer, but after all the reclaimed oak, and surfacing the boards for glue up I decided to change the blades.  Turns out the last time I switched blades I tightened the bolts a little too much, and rounded 8 of them trying to get them out.  Luckily I had a screw extractor that worked for 7 of them, and then broke getting the last one out.  Now a week later I have replacement bolts, the blades are new and sharp, and its time to get back to work.

One hour later, and the slabs are nice and parallel and exactly 4 in thick.
I think the title should more correctly read a busy few months, as I am just now posting this, and part 3 is done and 4 is close.

Roubo: Part I

After much deliberation, and essentially procrastination, I have decided I need a hand tool bench.  And now I'm on my way.

Originally I was going to build Bob Lang's 21st Century workbench, as I viewed myself as a hybrid woodworker.  Over time, I have developed my hand tool skills, and find myself spending less and less time using power tools.  When I saw the Split-top Roubo, I decided that was the bench for me.  Add to it that the WoodWhisperer just finished building one, with detailed videos (and discounted vises), and the clock started.

Wood for bench in front of lumber cart.

I ordered the vises from Benchcrafted in July, they got here a week or two ago, and I decided that they would look better on a bench than in boxes on the floor so I went and bought (not quite enough) a bunch of 8/4 soft maple.  After wrangling that home in the Subaru, I have to admit I was a little intimidated by the size of the project (see word 6 of this post).

In addition I have a bunch of other (significantly smaller) projects that I have been putting off.  After mulling around Sunday morning trying to figure out what I should work on (instead of plopping down in front of the TV) I finally balled up and started the bench.

All my scraps  shims were farther away than my screwdriver

I figured I would start with the top, since its big, and can get in the way for the rest of the build.  As I looked at the boards 9+" wide, they all had a slight cup.  To save thickness, I wanted to rip them in half first.  Due to recent experiences ripping long boards on the table saw (a potential future post about the past) I decided that was a bad idea, so I turned to my Disston (4.5 TPI, 0 rake, minimal set).  I only which Lee Valley made one of these for saws (maybe next year): Veritas® No-Fuss-Tool Shroud.

4 boards ripped in half

After 32 ft of ripping I had 10 4.25"+ boards in just over 2 hours, I was pleasantly surprised.  I used my standard approach to jointing.  Use a cambered jack to get the boards to lie flat on my bench, then send through the thickness planer.  After getting the other face parallel the whole length I started flipping the boards.  Since they don't all have to be the same thickness, I just took off enough to get all the rough cut marks off, and of course the 2 faces square and parallel.  What I ended up with was  20" of flat boards, enough for the front and back top glue-ups.

Thicknessed, and ready for the next session

Next chance I get I will joint one edge with my No. 7, then to the table saw to square the other edge.  Then I need to decide whether to glue up 2-3 at a time or all at once. The trade-off being accuracy/waste vs time.