[mochoa]

Makes sense, cant wait to see it!

My parallel gide will be a wooden screw with a nut I can flick with my foot (Al, fire away). ;-)

 

[RGtools]

I forgot about the mcguire version of the splay….thank you , thank you, thank you Mauricio. I have been puzzling on how do to a good knock down version of the splay bench.

 

[mochoa]

Glad to help Ryan!

 

[mochoa]

I like the splayed leg, its very solid structurally, I mean, I can plane on it now with no glue or pegs or anything, and my joints arent that tight… But also the stretchers are very wide with gives it a lot of strength.

 

[Brit]

You should never plane with tight joints Mauricio. A bit of stretching first also works wonders.

 

[Bertha]

^tight pants, that's a totally different story.
.

 

[mochoa]

 

[mochoa]

What about edges of on the base? Just break the edges with sandpaper or chamfer with the router? What do the cool kids do?

 

[lysdexic]

My bench is 34 1/2". I am 6'3". However, and feel free to make fun, I have short arms I guess. When I stand next to my bench my 5th MCP joint, the knuckle at the base of the little finger, is still 3/4" higher than the bench top. So, using that criteria, my bench should be a touch over 35".

 

[lysdexic]

I am going to break the edges using all of the above. I will use a block plane wear I can.

 

[mochoa]

Scott are you going for a heavy chamfer or just easing the edges?

 

[BrandonW]

I broke the edges with sand paper save for the dogholes which I used a chamfer bit in a router. This, of course, was before my chamfer plane, though.

 

[lysdexic]

Just easing the edges so it is comfortable to touch, use and move.

 

[RGtools]

You can get a block to most places if you angle it right. But for a heavy chamfer on an assembled bench I might go with a router.

 

[lysdexic]

Andy, I have researched H2O borne poly. One thing that I like is that does not yellow and doesn't change the color of the wood. I am intrigued. I'd like to hear why you would chose it - if you can pull yourself away from the men's diving competition.

 

[Brit]

1. Thin with water so no special solvent needed
2. Kinder to you and the environment
3. Easy to apply with a brush. You can literally just slap it on fast
4. Easy clean up of tools
5. Does not discolor the wood. Personally I think this is an advantage on lighter woods such as maple.
6. Touch dry in around 15 minutes, re-coat in around 2 hours. No need to worry about dust and insects landing in the finish
7. Extremely tough and durable
8. Resists spills (beer) and unwanted staining
9. Foolproof

On a workbench, I would use a matt varnish and thin it with about 10% water (experiment as each make is different). I would apply the first coat, wait 2 hours and apply the second coat. After 2 hours or the next day, I'd lightly go over the surface with P240 and vacuum off the dust. Apply a third coat and you're done. If you wanted that silky smooth finish (you don't on the top), lightly sand with some P1200 or P1500 or 0000 steel wool.

 

[lysdexic]

Thanks Andy

 

[Bertha]

my 5th MCP joint
lol.
.
There's a really good argument for H2O poly. It's strong as $ and like Andy says, goes on fast in thin coats. It doesn't dry like shellac, which is my favorite finish for that reason. You can't beat the water protection and it really doesn't interfere with the color of the wood. I couldn't agree more with Andy. On a bench, I might be inclined to use a penetrating oil myself. I'm worried that my delay-of-gratification problems will preclude it, however. I might do poly over clear shellac. Not sure yet.

 

[Bertha]

Don't tell anyone, but my purpleheart humidor is oil-poly over walnut-tinted danish oil. I wanted that water resistance in the setting of forced humidification. 50% people here said it wouldn't adhere; 50% said it would. It did. >6 years out and the finish is like new.

 

[Bertha]

Studley bench, meh
.