CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure
So purple! I can only hope that your bench doesn't get so pretty that you start using the old one again

I look forward to the next installment. I also concur with the previous poster (Ted?) who said this pictorial should end up in a magazine. This bench that CT built should be an inspiration to us all.
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Thanks guys for all the positive feedback. You take much of the credit for all the encouragement you've given me over the months (!) of building this bench. Otherwise, I'd probably have given up!

The next installment will be cutting the dados and fitting the "Alan Peters" joint for the central divider. Against probably better advice and judgment, I decided to put it right in the middle. I like symmetry and don't think I'd store my planes in it anyway. The comment regarding keeping the nearly-identical drawer parts straight is well noted. I already had a little misadventure in that department building the new base. Mark well!

Now, I have to ask: what is a Neilson rating?
Turning impaired.
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Crooked Tail said:

You take much of the credit for all the encouragement you've given me over the months (!) of building this bench.



Sweet! I call the dovetails... thpthhpthtpphhtpt!
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Crooked Tail said:




Now, I have to ask: what is a Neilson rating?




Nielson ratings are how they rate TV shows. I don't watch TV much but from what I have seen I'd say they were in the 1 or 2%. So your thread is at least 50 to 100 times better than TV.

Now you just gotta decide what mags your going to publish this in. Woodsmith and Shopnotes are right here
Courage to be lonely
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Ahh, I don't even have a TV, which explains why I had no idea what a Neilsen rating is. This thread beats TV any day, eh? Someone here has a sig line attributed to Gaucho Marx which I like very much. It is to the effect: "I find TV very educational. Whenever someone turns it on, I go into the other room and read a book."

Anyway, I made a little bit of progress. I got the dados cut for the center divider. I've learned a little better technique since the last time I did this. That was on the nightstand I made for my mom, which seems like a century ago now.

Used a piece of scrap that I edge jointed straight to keep the saw straight and prevent it from slipping sideways and marring the wood.




Repeated on the other side, and cleaned out most of the waste with a chisel.



Used a No. 71 router plane to clean up and even out the bottom. Here's the top and bottom of the carcase, with pegboard groove and divider dado. I guess they don't show up too well because of the flash.




Next I'll (carefully!) measure around the top and bottom, and mark the location of the dados on the other side. Then I'll cut the through-mortises. The divider still needs to be trimmed to proper height and squared so I can make the tenons.

The old bench is actually handier for this task, because it is narrow enough to clamp the pieces on both sides. Getting some holdfasts should greatly increase the work-holding options on the new bench. I think I've put it off because I've got a psychological block about drilling holes in my new bench.
Turning impaired.
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Looks like you need some heat in that shop.

Nice work though.
For The Love Of Wood
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It's been a while since I checked out WoodNet due to other obligations.

Wow!

CT, that's certainly is a MOST EXCELLENT Workbench you've made.
I've picked up a few tips from many here in this thread that'll come in handy whenever I finish my [first] bench.

Thanks so much for sharing your [few] trials & many successes!

-Mike
PS This thread is definitely better than TV
God, Family, Woodworking, All things outdoors
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Looks like you are making some progress CT. I did not know that it got that cold in Nevada!

Jonathan


I only regret the tools I didn't buy!

“Think about it: Everything with a power cord eventually winds up in the trash.” John Sarge
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Well, I don't know about you guys, but I vote this thread "Best of 2007". I keep coming back to it, and have enjoyed it since the beginning. Congrats CT, and keep the posts coming!
The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.
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This is a great thread.

Now that I've seen this one, I really wish I had made space for cabinets in the bottom of my bench. I have all that space full, so it seems silly not to have it in a cabinet. Trying to decide how to proceed with the changeover. The problem is that my stretchers are too high on the legs.
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