Today I started out by checking the squareness and moisture content of the roughly milled parts for the workbenches. None of them had moved that I could perceive. The moisture content had dropped about 1% since I brought the stock into the shop. At 9% I shouldn't have any issues with unexpected wood movement.
I re-jointed all the parts and then started planing all the stock down to the specified 1 5/8". As I was preparing to rip the parts to width I noticed
In the June 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking there is an article by Chris Schwarz titled "The Milkman's Workbench". Chris approached me about possibly making one of these benches for someone in need and I gladly accepted. After I started planning for the build in earnest I decided that I might as well build two of these at the same time.
It's been five years since my shop building was completed. During that time the shop has undergone a lot of changes. Every woodworker I know likes to see someone else's shop. So I thought that this would be a good time to document the state of the shop and maybe provide you with some ideas to use in your own shops.
When I was building the Shaker Trestle Table I espoused my love for the Lie-Nielsen #62 with a toothed blade. Well, Deneb Puchalski from Lie-Nielsen has put together a video demonstrating that very thing and doing so better than I could explain. The one thing missing from the video was a close-up of the surface after using the toothed blade. Fortunately I have one in my blog post. Hopefully this will help make things even clearer.
Just like any passionate hobbyist woodworker I have read just about eveything I could get my hands on with regards to woodworking. I've also bought and rented my fair share on woodworking DVD's. After a while I got to the point where I just felt like 90% of what I was reading/watching I had seen before. I decided to take some classes with Chuck Bender at the Acanthus Workshop in Pottstown, Pa. Chuck has an extensive portfolio of amazing period furniture, having worked as a professional in the trade for almost 30 years.
It's time to make the top. As you saw in my previous post I am going to make the top from three wide cherry boards. The boards were sawn by a local sawyer with a Woodmizer bandsaw sawmill. Most of the cuts are nice and smooth, but the cut between two of these boards was very wavy. That is going to lead to a lot of cleanup work. The boards range in width from 15" to 12". Since my jointer is only 8" wide I needed to find a way to flatten one side of the boards before I run it through my 15" planer. There are several options here.
I'm on vacation from work this week so I've been able to get quite a few hours of work in the shop. The base for this table is from a big maple tree my next door neighbor had cut down to put a pool in. I cut mortise and tenon joints for the leg-to-foot joint, which I will also draw-bore, and a notched bridle joint for leg-to-brace joint.
Yesterday I started preparing to make the top for my trestle table.
A few weeks ago I brought some boards down from the attic to give them time to aclimate to my shop. My cherry log has been drying for about a year and the 4/4 stock is down to about 10% moisture content now.I trimmed the sap wood off of three of the boards from the tree and cut off the end where the tree started to bend. That left me with 8' boards. The final table length should be about 84" so I've go a little to play with still.
In my last post I had just decided to order the Oneida Air Pro 1500. Business must be good for Oneida Air Systems because the dust collector was back ordered for about a month. That worked out just fine because it gave me plenty of time to get the ductwork and install it.
After more research I decided to go with 26ga spiral pipe as opposed to the snap-lock. Here are my Pros and Cons for each:
I have been contemplating the purchase of a new dust collection system for several years. After entirely too much research I decided that a two-stage cyclone system was what I neededwanted. I also wanted to make sure that this was the last dust collector I would ever buy.
Next I had to decide which model to go with. Recently several manufacturers have come to market with some nice portable 1 1/2hp and 2hp models that are very attractive.
Gunpowder Woodworks 