It’s still unbearably cold in the shop, but last night I was able to finish up a project I have been wanting to do for a month. Back when I got my Veritas saws, it became evident after about 5 minutes, that I needed some type of bench hook for sawing. A while back Popular Woodworking, published plans for a simple bench hook, and it was exactly what I was looking for.
So after about 2 hours of shop time, I had 2 bench hooks for sawing. One if for perpendicular cross cuts, and the other is for 45′s. I made them out of poplar, because its cheap, and easy on the saw blades.
I haven’t gotten much done in the shop recently, because it’s been unseasonably cold the last week. Even though it was uncomfortable in the shop, I was able to make a bench appliance I’ve been putting off for months. I’ve been using my hand planes with greater frequency lately, and since I don’t have a proper woodworking bench, It’s a real pain to secure lumber for planing. Thus I made what I’m going to call a planing stop bench hook. The only thing exciting about it, is that I used pegs to attach the hook the the base. It roughly 10″ wide by 20″ long and made from 3/4″ MDF, scrap red oak, and 3/8″ Birch dowel.
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I love the look of the pegs
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Ready to rock and roll
Last night I finally finished one of the two utility benches, I’m about 80% done with the second one. To finish the top I used BLO (boiled linseed oil), spar urethane, & Johnson’s paste wax. A lot of traditionalist woodworkers will scoff about applying a film finish to a workbench, but this bench is going to be exposed to a lot more than glue dribbles.
To see some additional shots from this project check out the following posts:
- The design concept
- Welding the frame together
- Welding together the leveling feet mounts
- Rough cutting the lumber for the top
- Gluing-up a top
It’s been over 3 weeks sine my last post, so I think it’s time I give everyone an update. Since my last post, I have been diglently jointing, planing and gluing up boards for my bench tops. It’s boring work so I will spare you the details, but the good news is I’m done with that phase of the project. I’m now into the flatening phase, but thats for a different post.
Thus without further ado the photos .
About half way done with one top
A close up
One glue-up done, one to go.
Last week I promised I would provide an updated MC histogram, so Friday night a broke out the moisture meter and took some readings. I found it really interesting, that in only 6 days some of the boards had shown significant changes in MC.
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