Drilling holes for bolts and all-threads

Using some 3-1/2" bolts to glue up two boards at a time. It is easier to keep everything square and straight this way. Also there's no rush just gluing two boards together.

The holes are 5/8" so that when I get ready to glue up the 6 sets of paired laminations, I can use the 3/8' threaded rod - hopefully the holes line up well enough.

 

Glueing up pairs of boards and then glueing up quads

This is the first two boards glued together the night before this picture. I have taken the bolts out and everything looks solid. Time will tell. This first one was probably the worst for glue coverage as I was in a hurry - it has been too long since I glued boards together. I keep thinking that if I didn't hurry, the glue would set up and I'd have to do everything over again. But I think it will still be OK. I used plenty of glue on both sides and the only part I'm really only slightly concerned about is the end corners - I don't remember if I spread the glue all the way out.

This Yellow Pine is beautiful!

Here is my glue up area. I had some old closet doors to use as a flat work area - they are hollow and light, but fairly flat and easy to clean up the glue because they are painted. I got wise and started using a cheap plastic putty knife to spread the glue out more evenly.

Glue is running out, so that's a good sign!

Now all five pairs have been glued up.

So the first pair from the day before and the second pair from early morning get glued together at the very last of the day before going into the house.

And here is a quad glued up- the camera amplifies the difference in height of the laminations - this end curled a bit on one side before the glue-up.

More later.

 

Glueing up pairs of boards and then glueing up quads

This is the first two boards glued together the night before this picture. I have taken the bolts out and everything looks solid. Time will tell. This first one was probably the worst for glue coverage as I was in a hurry - it has been too long since I glued boards together. I keep thinking that if I didn't hurry, the glue would set up and I'd have to do everything over again. But I think it will still be OK. I used plenty of glue on both sides and the only part I'm really only slightly concerned about is the end corners - I don't remember if I spread the glue all the way out.

This Yellow Pine is beautiful!

Here is my glue up area. I had some old closet doors to use as a flat work area - they are hollow and light, but fairly flat and easy to clean up the glue because they are painted. I got wise and started using a cheap plastic putty knife to spread the glue out more evenly.

Glue is running out, so that's a good sign!

Now all five pairs have been glued up.

So the first pair from the day before and the second pair from early morning get glued together at the very last of the day before going into the house.

And here is a quad glued up- the camera amplifies the difference in height of the laminations - this end curled a bit on one side before the glue-up.

More later.

I dont believe you need to rush that much with the yellow glue. I usually glue three at a time, all 6,7 or 8 ft long. Then glue them up in pairs and pairs into slabs. Works well and if you spred the glue even and on both pieces and dont try to mash them when clamping, you will have great bench tops, just remember your 7 Ps, pryier proper planing prevents piss poor proformance. Sorry for the bad word here, just the facts..

 

Glue Curing Box

Here is what I did yesterday: made a long box to keep the wood and glue warm while curing.

Everything I needed was laying close at hand - literally! I had four old closet doors that I used as shelves a long time ago that were standing in the corner. I had used a couple of them as a flat work place to start gluing up the boards for my slab. I found 8 little metal angle braces with screws that I had bought a while back and never used. It is 78" long (my 72" boards fit just right) and 12" X 15" otherwise.

I will cover the ends with some old blankets.

And I had a single bulb and bare fixture hanging right beside my shop light. It was 40°F in the shop when I put the thermometer inside and closed the ends up with blankets.

Everything hooked up and ready to go.

I found that with an extra blanket on the top, it will stay 60°F inside all night. Even with outside temps as low as 7°F like last night.

 

Glue Curing Box

Here is what I did yesterday: made a long box to keep the wood and glue warm while curing.

Everything I needed was laying close at hand - literally! I had four old closet doors that I used as shelves a long time ago that were standing in the corner. I had used a couple of them as a flat work place to start gluing up the boards for my slab. I found 8 little metal angle braces with screws that I had bought a while back and never used. It is 78" long (my 72" boards fit just right) and 12" X 15" otherwise.

I will cover the ends with some old blankets.

And I had a single bulb and bare fixture hanging right beside my shop light. It was 40°F in the shop when I put the thermometer inside and closed the ends up with blankets.

Everything hooked up and ready to go.

I found that with an extra blanket on the top, it will stay 60°F inside all night. Even with outside temps as low as 7°F like last night.

Yes this works well, i did the same for a dog house but in place of blankets on the ends i used plywood with styrofom glued to it and on hinges with weather striping. Its amazing how much heat you can get with just one light blub. I used a 75 watt blub and have a happy dog. His water never frezzes as the temp stays about 58 to 65 degrees depending on outside weather, we to have had 4 degree nites and still a happy dog. You do have to keep a watch on the blub as they dont last but a few weeks being on full time..

 

Getting Close to Full Width

I ended up gluing inside my apartment where it was warmer. Ice and snowoutside. It is wide enough now that it won't fit inside the glue box anyway.

All 12 boards glued up. I think that I will add 2 more to make it 21" wide.

Finally got a decent picture of all 14 boards glued up. Now to find help carrying it down to the garage when the weather turns nicer. It weighs over a hundred pounds. Not bad.

 

Reinforcing my old sawhorses

I'm adding some reinforcement to my old sawhorses. I want to set my workbench top on these for a while and I don't want them to wobble or collapse. I'm just using some old 3/8" T1-11 siding that I had from a long time ago.

Some small "A" frame gussets attached with drywall screws.

And with what was left of the siding, some 6-5/8" wide stretchers/stringers.

Line it up flush on the right, and whack the left side off. I'm using my "three drill system" - the old orange B&D for drilling the pilot hole/my grandma's old silver metal bodied drill with the countersink bit/old green and putty gray B&D with the side chunk missing and the phillips bit driver embedded in the chuck (seriously, no amount of force in the universe will loosen the chuck, I even broke the chuck key for this drill trying to loosen it). Works good, except for all the cords going everywhere, but I'm used to it by now.

Stretchers bow in on this one. The sawhorse lumber is from an old chicken barn 2X4s and has twisted or was twisted to begin with maybe.

And a little bow to the outside on this one.

 

Remainder of yellow pine lumber for workbench

Here is the remainder of the yellow pine that I need for my workbench. I had decided to give this thing legs and a skirt (hmm, sounds bad I know - hey maybe it's a Scottish bench? LOL). The 2 X 12 was for the skirts on the front and the back, and the 2 X 8's were for leg stretchers. I had 6 pieces of center ripped 2 X 10's left over from making the top that I could use to make the legs. Still deciding whether to make a regular workbench or stay with my original plan of making some very sturdy Japanese trestle style horses to put the benchtop slab on. What to do, what to do?

This 2 X 12 is beautiful. The winter growth rings are wide and it is a heavy board. It has part of the pith of the tree running down the middle and after cutting the 12 footer in half has begun to cup a bit at one end. I will monitor the cupping and decide whether to cut a little bit of the pith out and re-glue it together. That's probably what I'll do.

I am leaning toward this style of "horse" to set the slab on and keep to the original plan of a Japanese style slab on horses work surface. (Watching Stumpy Nubs video on making a saw bench is what gave me the inspiration for this particular design - I'm not sure where the original style came from.)

Beginning on the Saw Bench/Saw Horse stands shown above.

 

Beginning Cuts on Saw Bench/Saw Horses

Cheap tools (except for the Starrett combination square - left over from my metal fabrication days) are getting the job done for now.

My saw cuts are getting better. Fairly square - they need to be since I haven't dug out my jack plane and my block plane needs sharpening, and I don't have a solid place to hold anything down yet.

I'm using my Swiss Army knife to mark my cut-lines and putting a shallow kerf line on three (or sometimes four) sides before making my thru-cut. Much better accuracy this way.

These four braces came out relatively equal in length with saw cut only (no planing - just a bit of sanding of burrs off the ends).

 

Cutting more boards for the saw bench style saw horses

All the boards are cut now and lined up.

A couple of the uprights and the top boards standing up on the work area.

Marked them to keep track.

Beautiful end grain!

 

Dovetail Saga - Dovetail Number One

Beginning dove tail number one.

This is how I clamp it up to work on the end cuts.

More saw cuts to remove waste between the pins.

It doesn't want to fit yet.

Got start whittling it down - just now wants to fit together.

About 1/3 of the way.

Almost there!

Finally! Not too bad for first dovetail ever.

 

Dovetail Saga - Dovetail Number One

Beginning dove tail number one.

This is how I clamp it up to work on the end cuts.

More saw cuts to remove waste between the pins.

It doesn't want to fit yet.

Got start whittling it down - just now wants to fit together.

About 1/3 of the way.

Almost there!

Finally! Not too bad for first dovetail ever.

Off to a great start Rodney, good job!

 

Dovetail Saga - Dovetail Number Two

Went a little past the mark on the tails on this one.

Yikes! Looks a little bit jagged on the back side - that's the side it's more difficult to keep an eye on.

Uh oh! Big mistake - back to the lumber yard to fetch more wood to fix this mistake. Just a teeny bit discouraging.

 

Dovetail Saga - Dovetail Number Two

Went a little past the mark on the tails on this one.

Yikes! Looks a little bit jagged on the back side - that's the side it's more difficult to keep an eye on.

Uh oh! Big mistake - back to the lumber yard to fetch more wood to fix this mistake. Just a teeny bit discouraging.

Just shorten the bench up maybe?

 

Dovetail Saga - Dovetail Number Three

Tails of dovetail number three. Middle is humped up, but at least it's not cut past the mark like the ends are.

Starting to look sloppy. I'm not sure if I was getting tired or what here. Good picture though - the camera decided to focus on the boxes and stuff in the background.

Dovetail number three I think - Whoa! Little bit of a gap there dude!

And the view from the end - Wow, too much space in between the parts. I know what happened though. The first dovetail, I was very cautious (because I had never done one before) and I ended up trimming and paring a lot to make it fit (apparently that is what you are supposed to do - but it seemed like a LOT of work - but probably because I hadn't sharpened my chisels and I wasn't using them on these dovetails - not good.)

 

Dovetail Saga - Dovetail Number Three

Tails of dovetail number three. Middle is humped up, but at least it's not cut past the mark like the ends are.

Starting to look sloppy. I'm not sure if I was getting tired or what here. Good picture though - the camera decided to focus on the boxes and stuff in the background.

Dovetail number three I think - Whoa! Little bit of a gap there dude!

And the view from the end - Wow, too much space in between the parts. I know what happened though. The first dovetail, I was very cautious (because I had never done one before) and I ended up trimming and paring a lot to make it fit (apparently that is what you are supposed to do - but it seemed like a LOT of work - but probably because I hadn't sharpened my chisels and I wasn't using them on these dovetails - not good.)

Sharp tool are a must, especially with softwoods, where the fibers tend to compress instead of shear if the tool is getting dull. I'd try making a dove tail guide and using a marking knife if you haven't.

The longest journey always begins with the first step.

 

Dovetail Saga - Dovetail Number Four

Pic of the tails (I've miss designated some of the other pictures in DT 2 & 3 I think - calling them tails when they were actually pins - doh!) on the second top piece.

More tails - this piece really has a lot of resin in the knots - smells good, but gums up my saw a lot.

The resin makes the wood almost translucent.

Had to trim a shave off the pins to make it fit right.

That's a sliver for sure - all done with an old Stanley back saw - the kind with a solid plastic handle - I don't remember how old it is, but it sure beats the one I have with a thinner blade and hollow plastic handle. Cut so much better.

I'll use it for a shim sometime.

Again as with the other dovetails (no. 2 and no. 3) there is WAY too much space in between the parts. The only thing to do is to use 2 part epoxy I guess. Not sure about this.

View from another angle of dovetail number 4.

Standing up on their own. Entirely too much daylight coming in through the cracks!

The 2 X 12 they are sitting on is crowned in the middle - not enough to topple them over though.

 

Transition from Dovetails to Rabbet Joints

If thy dovetail offend thee, cut it off!

I decided to not use these dovetails that I have been practicing on. I read on two different articles that you should practice on scrap wood and not on your project (which is what I have been doing). Plus, I want the joints to reflect a similar quality/skill level as the rest of the project. So, I am "ditching" these dovetail pieces and transitioning to rabbet joints (not as strong, not as "flashy", but adequate) with oak dowels for added strength and appearance. I actually bought enough wood to cover this design change when I had to replace the pins on dovetail number two that I cut matching the tails (oops!).

I made a quick and expedient marking gauge.

The only thing to buy is a thumb screw and dowel. Cheap.

Works pretty well on soft yellow pine.

Also made a couple of bench hooks out of some scrap white pine I had laying around. Really soft wood, but works for what I am doing. Really makes cutting the joints (all straight cuts now) so much easier - and more accurate!

Not extremely precise, but accurate enough and square enough for what I am doing on this project. It is pretty soft wood, but I don't have any wood that is actually that hard except for a couple of tiny sticks of red oak. Otherwise I have always worked with construction lumber which is fairly soft (except for some old seasoned wood from old chicken barns and old farm houses).

OK, here is the first rabbet cut - all made with just the back saw. Not too shabby. I'm getting better at cutting my straight cuts accurately. I'm thankful for that.

Straight lines, straight cuts. The marking gauge helps a lot.

This is the first rabbet joint held together to see how close my saw cuts come to fitting. Acceptable. I like the way it looks too.

Two pieces cut exactly the same. I like it!

 

Transition from Dovetails to Rabbet Joints

If thy dovetail offend thee, cut it off!

I decided to not use these dovetails that I have been practicing on. I read on two different articles that you should practice on scrap wood and not on your project (which is what I have been doing). Plus, I want the joints to reflect a similar quality/skill level as the rest of the project. So, I am "ditching" these dovetail pieces and transitioning to rabbet joints (not as strong, not as "flashy", but adequate) with oak dowels for added strength and appearance. I actually bought enough wood to cover this design change when I had to replace the pins on dovetail number two that I cut matching the tails (oops!).

I made a quick and expedient marking gauge.

The only thing to buy is a thumb screw and dowel. Cheap.

Works pretty well on soft yellow pine.

Also made a couple of bench hooks out of some scrap white pine I had laying around. Really soft wood, but works for what I am doing. Really makes cutting the joints (all straight cuts now) so much easier - and more accurate!

Not extremely precise, but accurate enough and square enough for what I am doing on this project. It is pretty soft wood, but I don't have any wood that is actually that hard except for a couple of tiny sticks of red oak. Otherwise I have always worked with construction lumber which is fairly soft (except for some old seasoned wood from old chicken barns and old farm houses).

OK, here is the first rabbet cut - all made with just the back saw. Not too shabby. I'm getting better at cutting my straight cuts accurately. I'm thankful for that.

Straight lines, straight cuts. The marking gauge helps a lot.

This is the first rabbet joint held together to see how close my saw cuts come to fitting. Acceptable. I like the way it looks too.

Two pieces cut exactly the same. I like it!

The last picture is very telling. I cannot achieve those results yet. It is a lot of technique… but probably has to do with my lack of proper layout, and accurate lines to begin with.

Good job.

 

Rabbet Joints - Well Underway

Cutting dados for stretchers. I finally sharpened my new Kobalt 5/8" chisel and I am taking my time removing the waste. Also being real careful not to cut below the mark on depth.

All cut for one side of one horse and laying on the work surface (uprights are on the wrong side - it fit much better with them switched to the correct side (reversed).

Stretchers fit nicely.

Gaps aren't too big or wide. Good for saw bench/saw horse.

And it stands up on it's own without any help from glue, clamps, or screws (yet anyway). And it's square!

Glue added to stretcher joints and held together with "bunk bed" screws.

"Bunk Bed" screws up close:

 

Oak Dowels in Screw Holes

From my "bunk bed" screws holding the rails on while the glue dries overnight, to 5/16" oak dowels glued in enlarged holes.

Here are four more pins for the next rail.

Gluing up the top rail now using new HF 1/2" pipe clamps. At first I didn't think they were going to work. The back clamp wanted to slide badly. But after I took some Coleman stove fuel to the pipes to remove much of that gummy, waxy finish they worked brilliantly. They are a little bit heavy, but they seem to work fine so far. I have pre-drilled (drill press so they will be perpendicular) some 3/16" pilot holes through the top and sides so that after the glue dries, I can enlarge the holes for dowel pins to match the bracing rails/stretchers.

This joint closed up nicely. Looks OK.

More dowels prepped for installation.

I put the remaining dowels in the first assembly. I skipped a step (finish drilling pilot holes in the top rail and uprights) and that was a mistake. I thought I could drill the 5/16" hole straight the rest of the way (I had gone so far as to drill 3/16" pilot holes in the top part of the joint on my drill press before gluing the pieces together.) Almost all of the 6 remaining dowel holes were crooked. One barely blew out the side of the upright (bleep!) It's not noticeable, but I know it's there, and I know its a mistake that I shouldn't have made. Why do I get in such a hurry? I've been really taking my time sawing and chipping out the dados by hand with my sharp chisel. Then I get careless and do this. Lesson learned? I wonder sometimes.

Here is the second upright assembly (that goes with the first one to make the first saw bench/saw horse). I glued the stretcher rails up last night and used the bunk bed screws to hold it together while the glue dried. I used a little bit more glue on this one than the first one and was worried about glue getting on the screws and them being difficult to remove, but they came out very easily. These screws seem to have a plastic waxy coating on them that shows no signs of glue being able to stick to it in any way. I bought them at Lowes and they came 50 to a box for about $19. At the time I bought them I didn't know if I was going to leave them in as a fastener or not so I bought enough to cover all the places I would put them. They were worth the money for sure - excellent screws.

And the shop as I was leaving to let glue dry until I come back. The pieces for the second saw bench/saw horse are in the background.

My new flush saw. It's a HF buy, but it works for what I need it to. I would not use it on anything "fine" though - it's so sharp and jagged that it wants to cut into the surrounding wood as well as the dowels. But the handle is pretty fancy looking wood! It as the best looking one on the rack and had that speckled look, so I chose this one.

Here are the screws:

Cut off oak dowels.

This is a clearer image of the dark oak dowels in contrast to the lighter yellow pine. Looks good I think.

The pattern of the grain in the oak dowels is almost checkered or speckled.

One of the finished rails.

 

Oak Dowels in Screw Holes

From my "bunk bed" screws holding the rails on while the glue dries overnight, to 5/16" oak dowels glued in enlarged holes.

Here are four more pins for the next rail.

Gluing up the top rail now using new HF 1/2" pipe clamps. At first I didn't think they were going to work. The back clamp wanted to slide badly. But after I took some Coleman stove fuel to the pipes to remove much of that gummy, waxy finish they worked brilliantly. They are a little bit heavy, but they seem to work fine so far. I have pre-drilled (drill press so they will be perpendicular) some 3/16" pilot holes through the top and sides so that after the glue dries, I can enlarge the holes for dowel pins to match the bracing rails/stretchers.

This joint closed up nicely. Looks OK.

More dowels prepped for installation.

I put the remaining dowels in the first assembly. I skipped a step (finish drilling pilot holes in the top rail and uprights) and that was a mistake. I thought I could drill the 5/16" hole straight the rest of the way (I had gone so far as to drill 3/16" pilot holes in the top part of the joint on my drill press before gluing the pieces together.) Almost all of the 6 remaining dowel holes were crooked. One barely blew out the side of the upright (bleep!) It's not noticeable, but I know it's there, and I know its a mistake that I shouldn't have made. Why do I get in such a hurry? I've been really taking my time sawing and chipping out the dados by hand with my sharp chisel. Then I get careless and do this. Lesson learned? I wonder sometimes.

Here is the second upright assembly (that goes with the first one to make the first saw bench/saw horse). I glued the stretcher rails up last night and used the bunk bed screws to hold it together while the glue dried. I used a little bit more glue on this one than the first one and was worried about glue getting on the screws and them being difficult to remove, but they came out very easily. These screws seem to have a plastic waxy coating on them that shows no signs of glue being able to stick to it in any way. I bought them at Lowes and they came 50 to a box for about $19. At the time I bought them I didn't know if I was going to leave them in as a fastener or not so I bought enough to cover all the places I would put them. They were worth the money for sure - excellent screws.

And the shop as I was leaving to let glue dry until I come back. The pieces for the second saw bench/saw horse are in the background.

My new flush saw. It's a HF buy, but it works for what I need it to. I would not use it on anything "fine" though - it's so sharp and jagged that it wants to cut into the surrounding wood as well as the dowels. But the handle is pretty fancy looking wood! It as the best looking one on the rack and had that speckled look, so I chose this one.

Here are the screws:

Cut off oak dowels.

This is a clearer image of the dark oak dowels in contrast to the lighter yellow pine. Looks good I think.

The pattern of the grain in the oak dowels is almost checkered or speckled.

One of the finished rails.

Builds coming along nicely, looking forward the final result. Are you planning on using Japanese planes with this bench?

 

Putting On The Feet

Here I am cutting out a chunk of wood from one side of the "feet" boards. It's so much easier to chip out waste if there are smaller wafers standing. This reminds me somehow of piano keys.

One side almost done. Just a little more fitting and then glue and dowel pins.

Have to trim a bit on this one side of one of the upright posts to get the two boards to close together at the back.

Fuzzy picture from the front.

And the 'feet' for the right side have saw cuts, but still require chipping out waste and fitting to upright posts.

Walking around on wood chips!

More pics of the other side and ready to glue on the feet.

 

Gluing Up The Feet

Here is a shot of the upright posts in their "sandwich" mortises.

Left side: C-clamps do the job.

Right side: Pittsburgh bar clamps and one C-clamp.

Almost complete.

Front and back upright assemblies are skewed by about 3/16".

It's beautiful wood though!

And the top rails are dead even in height.

 

Gluing Up The Feet

Here is a shot of the upright posts in their "sandwich" mortises.

Left side: C-clamps do the job.

Right side: Pittsburgh bar clamps and one C-clamp.

Almost complete.

Front and back upright assemblies are skewed by about 3/16".

It's beautiful wood though!

And the top rails are dead even in height.

Starting to look like something to work on, oh, wait its a great workbench. Looks good my friend..

 

Gluing Up The Feet

Here is a shot of the upright posts in their "sandwich" mortises.

Left side: C-clamps do the job.

Right side: Pittsburgh bar clamps and one C-clamp.

Almost complete.

Front and back upright assemblies are skewed by about 3/16".

It's beautiful wood though!

And the top rails are dead even in height.

Thanks benchbuilder. I am really satisfied with how it is coming out. It's 1/2 of a fancy set of "legs" for my work slab that I'll be bringing down before long. These 2 X 12s have really been nice to work on too though. One down, one to go. Got a little more done on the feet tonight - put some oak nails (dowels) in for good measure (you can't see the back side in this photo, but the dowels stop about 3/16" from the surface so they only show on the front side, but they go almost full length through everything):

I was going to glue in a "spacer" somewhere in between the two uprights, but I've decided to make a "T" shaped piece 28" long that will set on top to make it a little bit taller (friction fit), and removable in cases where I need less height for certain tasks. I like the idea of mobility and modification to fit different jobs.

 

Saw Bench/Saw Horse No. 2 - Layout & Beginning Cuts

Straight cuts done fairly quickly, cleanly, and accurately now - becoming second nature.

Needed to to shave off a bit more than I wanted to deal with using a chisel, so I am using my mitre/back saw to dissect this "whisper" of a shaving.

Thinnest sliver I've ever re-sawn before.

Oops! Almost messed up! Got be careful with layout & marking.

More marks - I've gone to marking waste with an "X" even when it's so obvious, just in case.

Saw cuts ready for chisel chopping.

Second upright on saw bench/saw horse number two.

Chopping out waste with chisel.

Looking kind of snaggled.

I wait until most of the waste is removed before final sawing to the line on the middle cuts. Easier to see.

Getting down close to flat on the bottom of the dado with chisel cutting.

Close-up side view of cut-out.

Sharp chisel makes the difference. Easy cutting on this one. Wood is pretty soft.

Stretcher beam laid into dado cut. Short by about 1/16" - need to chop a bit off the stretcher.

Getting ready for the glue up using "bunk bed" screws - these are the pilot holes just drilled.

Upright structure with "bunk bed" screws test fit in progress.

Dry run with 1/2" pipe clamp to hold everything together. I used some ancient Coleman stove fuel to take most of the black stuff off these pipes. Now the clamps don't slide so bad. I do have to hold down on the lever on the friction end of a couple of them though.

This second upright was out of square by 1/4", so I put a couple of 48" pipe clamps (didn't remove the black stuff off of these very well, so they are getting my wood all black!) on the diagonal - carefully, easy does it.

 

Moving Workbench Slab

Some photos of my workbench slab after getting a friend from work to help me move it from my upstairs apartment living room into my garage. (Well, actually, he just heaved it up on his shoulder and carried it for me. I'm SO out of shape! Thanks dude! I did make him a good deal on one of my 75" walnut slabs though, so it worked out well.)

I have a lot of work to do in getting this top surface flat and relatively smooth.

Airplane runway view.

You sure can tell where I DIDN'T wipe the glue up while it was still wet. I know some people talk about just chipping it off with an old chisel after it dries, but I like to keep it "contained" just after putting the clamps on. Clean-up is easier then. But I hardly stain or finish anything. And when I do, I don't worry that the glued part doesn't accept the stain or finish like the rest of the piece. It just doesn't bother me. But I haven't made any 'fine furniture' yet either. I might change my ways at some point. You can tell also where I used the Elmer's brown glue and the TiteBond II yellow glue. It's a workbench top though and it's going to get some abuse.

Picture of my benchtop after first pass with HF 7.5 amp power planer (3-1/4"). Went to HF to get some "C" clamps that were on sale and got a power planer. I had read many reviews and the 7.5 amp one is the better one, so I got it. Thanks to the dude at the check-out for getting me 20% off the already ridiculously low price (90 return policy in case anything blows-up). No worries though because I got the 2 yr warranty. I was all set to hand plane the top of my workbench/slab, but my Stanley No. 7 needs restoring (clean up really good, flatten irons - they are bent a bit at the top, replace missing screw on front of tote, and sharpen the dickens out of the iron). I was afraid that the electric planer would be loud, but it's really relatively quiet. I was pleasantly surprised. I've really got to keep an eye on the tiny sawdust collector bag on this thing - it fills up in a hurry! I didn't notice it was full for a bit and wondered why shavings were flying all over the place - BAG FULL! Motor got warm, but not hot - caught it in time before I blew the thing up immediately after purchase! LOL I set the blade at 1/16" and I really like the way it shaves off a little bit at a time. I had never used a power planer before this. Kind of cool!

 

Finishing Up Saw Bench/Saw Horse No. 2

Making up a bunch of oak dowel pegs.

I use my old Delta belt/disc sander to clean-up the splinters and chamfer the ends of the dowels. Those oak splinters are a big pain!

Oak dowels come in all colors!

I keep the sets together and use them on the same joints as much as possible.

Second upright on Saw Bench/Saw Horse No. 2 was out of square by 1/4" (diagonal measurements) - after removing the 48" pipe clamps, this is the resulting diagonal measurements:

I call that square! I need to clean the black stuff off my 48" pipes.

Here are a couple of oak dowel nails glued and hammered in. I don't know if there is enough glue in there or not, but the fit is fairly snug and I think they will hold for a good long time. Not worried. The amount of glue around the edge after I hammer it in is way less than the amount I put on the dowel, so most of it is going into the hole and around the dowel.

And the two uprights side by side. I forgot the one dowel on the end of the top beam though. Had to add them after I discovered the omission.

Laying out the feet for the SB/SH2.

End cuts down to the line. This is the near side that I can see when sawing.

And this is the back side away from me. Close enough.

And one foot with half mortises all hogged out.

This is the only one of four legs that actually fit the width cut. I had to chop out an extra 1/16" on the other three (actually for good measure, I removed one thin-kerf width of material on all four openings).

There always seems to be one side that has a big gap. I did a dry run clamp-up before the real deal and the gap closed fine. I did have to tighten all the C-clamps bit by bit simultaneously. It worked though.

And finally, here is SB/SH2 with it's feet all glued up. The only thing left to do is flush cut the oak dowels in the uprights and put 16 oak dowels in the joints on the feet. Then I just need to make the "T" plates for the tops of each of the horses and THEN I can put the benchtop slab on them! Yay!

Forgot to put in spacers at the top in between the uprights when I glued up the feet on this one. I almost didn't get this one in there. I spread the uprights apart at least half an inch. I kept waiting to hear wood splitting. But it didn't. Whew!

Oak pegs in the feet - cutting ends off tomorrow after work and then they will be done (except for adding the modular/removable "T" spacers).

Here are both of them side by side: brothers!

 

Almost Finished!

This is what it looks like all put together.

Still have to do a bit of flattening to the top side. It started out almost perfectly flat. But a couple three boards had warped so there were a couple of low spots. I've removed about 1/4" so far, leaving only two spots untouched by the planer - one about three or four square inches and another just a bit bigger.

I've been taking several 45° angle passes across the entire surface.

 

Workbench Modifications & Additions

I made about 10 half inch deep cuts to remove most of the waste wood for the groove.

My white pine 1X2 saw guide and clamps.

Here is the 1-1/2" wide by 1/2" deep groove the length of the top board.

I can't believe how good it looks! I made and used my "poor man's router" that Paul Sellers talks about in one of his videos. It is a poor man's router made poorly by me. But it worked well enough to get the bottom of the groove flat. I'll have to take a picture of it and put it up here.

Not too bad a fit. It's not tight, but not too loose either. It will work.

Dry fit before I drill the holes for the screws and glue it up.

"Bunk bed" screws holding it toether while glue sets.

Screws taken out.

Holes over-bored to 5/16" for oak dowels.

And oak dowels glued in their places.

"T" boards from the end view.

Rough finish and joins, but they will work OK.

Flush cut dowels sanded down.

T-board going on top of saw bench horse.

One day I may put some holes for dowel pin inserts in the vertical part so I can adjust the height.

For now though it will have to look like this.

This one upright post stuck out too far below the foot, so I shaved it off a bit.

Hanging on by just a few wood fibers.

There is a gap on this one in the same place as the other one. Oh well. Shouldn't affect it too bad.

And this is what it looks like with the t-board attached.

I declare the saw bench horses comlete!