workbench diy

Shaping the Feet and Finishing the FrameIn my last post I finished the leg to bench surface joinery and can now get into the rest of the mortise and tenon joinery to complete the frame work. As mentioned, the stock is 1 1/2" square so Im making 1/2" tenons and mortises. Its a work out chopping through the Ipe but my mortise chisel is up for the task. Remember I usually bore out the waste with my brace and bit but this wood wreaked havoc on my vintage augers and they only went in about 1/8". So lots of hammering and sawing and fitting the tenons. One nice thing about the 1 1/2" stock is the tenons are relatively small so after a few hours of banging around the basement Ill have the frame complete.
Chopping a MortiseFirst thing is to establish the perimeter and I do this with some crisp knife lines. In this first shot you can see where Ive marked the overall size of the stretcher and then in the middle you can see my scribe lines...notice I marked off the center? This would have given me somewhere to register my auger bit but as mentioned, it didnt quite work out that choice.
To begin, I place my mortise chisel at the far end of the mortise area, about 3/16 " achoice from the scribe line. I hammer down, taking small bites as I go. Im holding the chisel so the bevel side is facing my body and work my choice down the mortise section. Im careful to stay inside the lines and not to hammer the chisel in too deep...yet!
Once I get to the end of the mortise section I stop just shy of the scribe line, again somewhere in the 1/8" range. I then go back and carefully pry out the small chips and get ready for a second, deeper pass. This time Im a little harder on the hammer and begin working my choice down through the hardwood.
I continue on with this routine until I get close to my finished depth, checking after each pass. Once the mortise is at its finished depth Ill square up the ends. Place your body in front of the work so you can eye the chisel straight down, square into the opening. If you have trouble chopping square then place a square on your bench top, behind the work for reference. Another mortising trick you can try is marking the finished mortise depth on the back side of your chisel with a felt marker before you begin; that choice you can make sure youre not chopping down too deep.
This process is repeated fifteen more times and when complete Ill begin to saw out the tenons. Refer back to my last post to see my set up for that.
When everything is looking good I go back and re-visit the foot components and shape them.
This being a workbench I could have easily left them square- not like anyone will be looking at them ~ ;) but Ive alchoices liked the look of rounded feet on workbenches. I find it gives the bench a traditional look and there will be much less chance of me tripping on them while I stumble around the shop. My own workbench has square feet but I think that taking the extra 30 minutes or so to round them over adds a nice touch.
Shaping the FeetTo begin shaping the feet I draw out the arch and scribe the lines to determine the recess in the top of each foot. On my bench hook Ill make the first cross cut to establish the small fillet down and then Ill put the stock upright and rip down to remove the shoulder.
Next, I make an angled cut to remove most of the waste and with some rasps and files I fair out the curve.
As you know, my work shop is in my basement and the floor down there is far from flat! With that in mind I decide to remove the middle, underside of the feet to create four contact points where they meet the floor instead of the bench sitting on the entire length of the foot stock. This will make for a more stable bench.
To remove the material I make a series of cross cuts down to my desired depth which in this case is 1/4".
Then I grab my biggest, meanest Japanese chisel and start chopping the waste out between the saw kerfs. I take my time doing this part so I dont blow out any of the wood grain. Working from the inside of the foot I chop down a little over half choice and then flip the board over and now working from the outside, show-side of each foot to complete the cut.
A quick going over with a sharp card scraper and its done. When I have the first foot shaped Ill use it as a pattern and trace the rest of the feet off of it. This will insure theyre all the same without having to measure every time. A bit of sanding and theyre good to go!
With the feet shaped and the joinery cut Ill do another dry fit and well call it a day. I begin by laying out the left front and back legs and insert the cross stretcher and foot. Ill mirror this assembly on my bench top with the right hand side as well.
Leaving the frames flat on the bench top Ill insert the cross stretchers.
Finally, Ill peg the right hand frame onto the end of the stretchers and stand the whole unit upright. Im happy with the results and my joints are looking pretty descent. In this final shot you can see how the work surface will slide down into the front slip joints and sit on the rear stub tenons. When I glue up the frame Ill drill and peg all of these joints for a bench thatll probably be around a lot longer than I will...My mortising is done for today but Ill add another cross stretcher at the top, rear of the frame that will serve dual pupose- itll have a dado running along its length to peg the drawer holders into as well as another pick-up point for the surface to sit on. This final cross stretcher will be made of oak because I want it to be at least 2" wide and as you know, the Ipe came pre-dimensioned at 1 1/2".
In the next post Ill cut the giant hole in the work surface top for the granite insert (the horror-the horror!) as well as make the final stretcher and some last minute details before I glue up the frame assembly and build the under carriage that will hold the granite in place...stay tuned.

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