| Blog series by buck_cpa | updated 03-05-2014 11:38 PM | 4 parts | 10646 reads | 6 comments total |
Part 1: Legs first
Legs first… I know this seems backwards (especially given the various blogs and books on the subject) but I’m going to give it a shot. My neighbor gave me a 12’ 6×6 pressure treated beam. I read somewhere that you should not use this stuff in the shop, but I’ve been around the stuff my whole life and it hasn’t affected me. Nevertheless, that’s what I’m using for the legs. I cut the legs to 35” on the chopsaw and planed them square (they ...
Part 2: The top
For the top, I decided to use construction grade 2×4s. However, I did not realize that I was short by a few when I started. My father in law gave me some redwood 2×6s from a deck he took down a few years ago. He told me all the rich people in Belle Meade, TN used to have their decks built from the stuff, but now you can’t find the stuff anywhere. The 2×6s he gave me were rotten for first inch. I ripped it off the top inch at the tbsw and planed them down to 1.5”. Th...
Part 3: End caps
For the end caps I decided to use some walnut I bought a while ago. I went with a standard C-channel end cap. I really wanted to do a sliding dovetail, but it seemed a little too difficult at this point in my woodworking. First I cut a straight edge with my circular saw across the end. I flipped it over and offset my cut 1/16” and finished the cut. Then I used a pattern bit and cleaned up the 1/16” excess. I read somewhere this method was much easier that attempting to matc...
Part 4: Stretchers
The stretchers are made from construction 2×6s. I cut a 1/4” off each side to make square (no round edges) and let them sit in the shop for a month or so. One of them twisted, so I was glad I had extras. I followed Schwarz’s plans pretty closely as far as the dimensions and making the stretchers coplaner with the legs. First I put the legs through the benchtop (upside down) and marked all of my mortises using a few smaller pieces of the 2×6s that would be the actual stre...
