Another New Fangled Workbench

MichaelW said:

Installment one, Thanks to the trailblazers and some basic layout and preliminary thoughts

This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.

I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).

A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.

I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.

I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment one, Thanks to the trailblazers and some basic layout and preliminary thoughts

This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.

I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).

A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.

I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.

I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment one, Thanks to the trailblazers and some basic layout and preliminary thoughts

This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.

I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).

A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.

I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.

I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment one, Thanks to the trailblazers and some basic layout and preliminary thoughts

This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.

I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).

A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.

I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.

I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment one, Thanks to the trailblazers and some basic layout and preliminary thoughts

This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.

I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).

A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.

I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.

I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment one, Thanks to the trailblazers and some basic layout and preliminary thoughts

This is actually the original first post in the series. I am obviously learning how the blog tools work. So for part I start here and then go back to read part II… Part III and thereafter will hopefully appear in the correct sequence.

I have benefited greatly from reading posts on this and other sites so this is my first attempt to return some knowledge to the community. First I would like to thank Jeff for his detailed and informative posts as they aided me greatly in addition to the copy of the Fine Wood Working (herein FWW) article with its openness to interpretation or ambiguity depending on your perspective. Thanks as well to David on his site the folding ruler show for an example of the extreme New Fangled Workbench (herein NFWB).

A short background on my fascination with this bench. I have been working with a group of students and a professional guitar builder in the Seattle area for a little over a year on building an acoustic guitar. My intention was to gain a deeper perspective on the instrument I love to play and along the way I became fascinated with woodworking, particularly with hand tools and tradition. So in acquiring several hand planes, chisels, and scrapers, I found myself in need of a bench to use them on. I started out with a free bench from a garage sale and before I knew a little about hand tools had put pegboard and hung tools on it only to discover that when I clamped anything to it or used the vise to hold something to work with hand tools, the greater portion of the tools on the pegboard would come crashing down. After reading several different books on workbenches, I came across one that referenced this bench in FWW and saw the video on the website. I knew at once this was the bench I wanted to build as it emphasized function and thrift.

I have watched the video better than a dozen times and made many notes on my multiple paper and pencil drawings of the bench and components. I am closing in on a bench that is 8' long and 3' high, 28" across plus perhaps another 6" for a tool tray eventually. As Jeff mentioned in the last installment of his blog, I am considering that some day I may want to move this so am toying with the idea of tusked tenon joints, or perhaps bed bolts if I chicken out or the traditional type of joinery seems to be ill-suited for the materials.

I have a few pictures to post, but it looks like I have to figure out the protocol here of having them appear within the blog. Hope to remedy that in the next post. I put some up on flicker, but can't quite figure out how to get the direct link to make them appear here. Any hints on making this work from Flickr appreciated. It is literally in the 111th hour so will stop here for now, but pick up again hopefully soon.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Installment two: Getting to know the planing beam

This is actually Part II of the series, Part I is in part II of the series and Part II is here, hopefully Part III and thereafter will appear in the correct sequence.

One evening after work last week I was finally able to carve out a little time for the NFWB project. I am waiting for a drill press on back order so in the meantime I thought I would start squaring up some of the stock I had previously cut for pieces of the bench. In this photo on the left side of the saw horses is what will become the planing beam.

I spent a couple of hours working it with my Stanley Jack Plane to take the roughness out of the stock. One of the things I find rewarding about handplaning is that I really get a close look at the wood. This piece was in rougher shape than I first thought from the equipment used to saw it out of the log, staples from the wrapping and a place or two where knots were running through the stock.

At the end of the evening I had made good progress getting the piece in much better shape, sharpening the edges and removing much of the roughness. There is still some improvement to be accomplished in the quality of it, but it is coming along nicely. You might notice some of the grain in the edge of the beam popping a bit from being planed smooth in the photo. It also has some twist in it introduced through my uneven planing, though I plan to follow up with some of my nicer planes to get it all squared up.

I would put myself more into the camp of the hand tool romanticists as opposed to the power tool centered practicioners out there. However, I am enjoying woodoworking for the process itself, if not moreso than the finished objects. My livelihood doesn't depend on woodworking and at the pace I work, that is a good thing. It really rewards my creativity and wonder though and in the process of planing my mind often wonders about the tree it came from, where it was located, how the big knot with the hollow spot was oriented in relation to the rest of the wood, and taking time to observe how it is changing. I can completely appreciate how much easier and quicker this would have been using a jointer and planer, and looking at my pile of stock yet to be planed… well I don't have enough room for them anyway.

In the course of the evening, I began practicing conscious incompetence as I knew my plane blade's edge was degrading in sharpness and it was requiring more effort to get shavings. The right thing to do of course is to stop and resharpen, but I chose to add more effort to it instead, not wanting to disrupt the experience. A little lesson from taking that path occured when the brass set screw in the knob worked a little loose and apparently into my palm. At the end of the evening I had a nice momento of my time.

Reflecting on the experience I considered the options of how to improve the situation for my next planing session. I perused the Hock blade site as that seems to me to be the gold standard in plane blades… cryogenically treated steel. Sharpen it up and how long could you go before having to sharpen again? A little research revealed that the blade and chipbreaker would be in the $50 neighborhood plus or minus. Well worth it in my opinion to have a premium quality tool. However, I also thought about my primary use of the Stanley plane I have is likely to be for cleaning up rougher stock and I have a couple higher end ECE planes for jointing and smoothing. My Stanley planes frog also had a little irregularity near the sides of the leading edge which I repaired with some JB Weld. Not perfect, but much improved in terms of eliminating the chatter along with tuning the other elements of the plane. At the end of the day I decided to purchase two standard Stanley replacement blades for my plane at a cost of about $20 and sharpen and hone them both up for the next session so I will have three blades to switch between in the course of working the stock.

Click to expand...

MichaelW said:

Lessons from the planing beam

I think the blog series will be in order from here forward. I haven't had a lot of time to allocate to the workbench project lately, but was able to get the additional plane blades and sharpen and hone them. Much more pleasant to have a couple extras at hand and take nice shavings. It is such a great feeling to have a plane well tuned and work a piece of wood.

visible above is a shot of the planing beam as I finished up one side. I have a combination square resting on it and got the sides, top and bottom all eventually registered square and also used a straight edge across the length of it. As I got closer to square, I kept the measuring tools close at hand to check my progress and it involved a lot of going back and forth, in some cases over correcting for compensation, but I can see how spending time with it you start to develop a feel for it and can even detect rises and twist by touch. Great fun.

I thought I would also feature my present planing setup. The irony I have read is that it takes a bench to make a bench and I have made due with having all my stock loading up a pair of sawhorses with just about 8 - 10" free on one side. I then clamped a block at about the height that the board comes to rest against my present (non-planeable) workbench to support the end of the piece. It is a riff off of the idea of the clamping wedge that will eventually be a part of the NFWB. On the day that my bench is complete, I will enjoy planing without having a load of stock just next to the planing run with sticker blocks to run my knuckles into, in the meantime it focuses the mind on where the plane is going and keeps me in check from getting to carried away.

Here then is the planing beam in place in the clamping set up. I have thus far found that I can pretty much plane the board in the direction heading towards this clamped piece. for the last 6" or so I have pulled the stock back from the clamping block and stretched one leg back on the stock to hold it on the sawhorses, undignified perhaps, but it got the job done.

I was able to finish off the planing beam and wiped it down with a thin coat of shellac for now. It will still have to be final cut for size and have openings cut to fit the clamps, but it is ready for those operations. My stock is not 100% knot free and it does have some rough spots yet from tear out below the working surface from the knots. I am leaving them be for now as I don't think they will hinder the operation of the planing beam and are more or less cosmetic issues. At some future point I may find a better piece to replace the present one, or cut a scarf join and supplement it with additional stock. For now though I am satisfied.

Click to expand...