Moravian workbench build #1: The Top

Before I decided to Blog about it I milled SYP 2 X 10 after ripping. I ran them through my jointer, planer and table saw to get S4S. I had some boards get angry and had to get replacements due to some warping. I glued and clamped on saw horses. It became obvious that although I had carefully milled the wood it would be impossible to clamp them dead flat. I did however get the top to be free of knots so I will call that a small victory.

I contemplated gluing it up in two sections so I could run each through the planer but had doubts on even that being dead flat after rejoining. It was about this time that as much as I just wanted this to just be done I decided to go hand tool only. Time to bring out the planes. Using my No. 5 I got a great work out flattening the bottom side and trued it up with the No. 7. After a good honing the same was done to the top. It really felt good to work up a sweat creating a pile of shavings. I decided “I like this”. I received a restored No. 8 this week from a fellow LJ’ er but will save that for the final flattening after I get the slab on some legs. I gave him a “meh, it looks okay” on another thread but that was tongue in cheek, the plane is beautiful. I can’t wait to put it to work.

I also cut the ends off one side with a cross cut saw but worked myself to death and drifted badly. I put the saw in my saw vise and gave it a sharpening. The second cut was much better and faster.

I decided to move on to prepping for the wagon vise. Although I had a router that could have made quick work of it I stayed true to my goal a chiseled out the mortice. It got progressively more difficult as reached my depth of 1” 9/16”. I was hoping to get my router plane to true it up but it was too deep for that.

The next mortice will be in the end of the bench so my knuckles with thank me because I can come in from the side. I am at a stopping point as I need a No. 16 auger bit to cut the ends of the wagon vise slot. I bought a set of Irwin’s but it stopped at No. 15. I am hoping for my 16 to arrive Friday so we’ll see. After I hog out the rest of the slot with a No. 14 I will need to true up the sides of that mortice and remove material along the shaft.