CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure

[Skip J.]

Crooked Tail said:

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Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'll give you more info for those who asked:I did just try the extra weight thing. I just laid a piece of ply across the stretchers and threw some pavers, sandbags, and random garage debris onto it. Didn't make any difference. I'm so torn... I am not happy with it as it is, but $200 would be fun to spend on a LV shoulder plane, or new chisels... but don't worry, if I remake the base, I will buy a couple real mortise chisels first!

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Sorry... but better to know now don't you think????

Good ideas here, keep on truckin'.....

[FordPrefect]

It sounds like bolting a snuggly fitting cabinet would stiffen up your bench a lot. Plus, leave you with the money to buy some nice tools. When I built my bench I didn't cut mortises and tenons for the stretchers. I drilled in two 3/4" dowels to keep the stretcher from spinning and keep any future weight off the bolt. Part of my reasoning was pure laziness, but the other part was the thinking that if the stretcher wasn't quite stable enough I could quite easily remove it and scoop the end grain so that only the top 1" and bottom 1" actually contact the leg. Then bolt the sucker tight to add stability.

That solution may still work for you with the current base, but I think if you do the cab you won't need to take anything apart.

[Denny Lawson]

CT

My opinion FWIW, the trestle can be fixed. I chose to use upper and lower stretchers on mine and it is very solid. I don't think the wood species had a lot to do with that. If its racking than either the stretchers aren't solid or the top is not secure.

If you really just hate the thing, you should rebuild it. You are going to look at it every day. I wouldn't save it though, because if it was me I'd always look at it and think..."I shoulda just kept it.."

if you decide to build a new trestle, take the "old one" out back and beat it into a pile of kindling with a big hammer. its a very rewarding way to provide closure to a project that didn't quite turn out as expected.

[timgren]

I wouldn't rebuild the tressle, I would finish it to match.

Wood species dependent, A hard maple color look can be achieved if you us Belhen's water based grain filler (natural) with a few drops of transtint amber additive. Seal with 1 lb blond shellac. Then use a single coat of pickeling stain. (Behlens is good... Olympic also has good results). Let this fully cure, then lighty sand with 400 serrated AL. Then topcoat. An oil will bring our the ambers (which will match an oiled maple). A waterborne finish will retain the pre-finish color which will match unfinished maple.

I think the racking is mainly due to the stretchers being set too low. If you are going to use a single set of strechers, they need to be tall (6-8" at least), and placed close to the center of the trestle. OR, like Hank pictured above, a double set of bolts.

Since you are planning for a tool cabinet, I would make a 3" lower stretcher, and a 5" upper so you have enough space in between. Once you have both sets installed, you will notice a very significant difference in stability. Added weight won't resolve racking. It may in fact add to the momentum. Of course securing the top to the sleds will help a little, but not much.
What you don't want to do it use a tool cabinet as a stretcher. It will be pushed and pulled out of shape in no time.

Let us know how it works out.
Tim

[BlueMaxx]

Hank, I notice on the bottom of your legs some level mounts. I have though abit about that and am curious what you ended up using?

[Skip J.]

Hank Knight in SC said:

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Skippy,

I don't want to hijack CT's wonderful thread, but I'll respond to your question with apoliogies to CT.
Hank

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Hey Hank;

I think you're actually responding to Slippy here, but I do like your photos and description of your foot solution, very heavy duty!!!!!

[FordPrefect]

I think CT needs a refresher on what an ugly base actually looks like.


I think she may be suffering from PurpleheartVersusDouglasFiritus, it's not as rare as it sounds. But the cure is to know that firry legs are not that uncommon

[Crooked Tail]

Ford: I think it looks good. It matches the rest of your bench, in style, color, and grain. Have you built your tailvise yet?

Thank you guys for all your wonderful advice (how would I build this thing without Woodnet?)!

I fiddled with the base some last night, and lag bolted the top down to it. That didn't help. I checked the stretcher / leg joints, and they all seem nice and tight with the bolts. I can't figure out why it's wracking only on that one side. My tenons must be just too loose either in the trestle or the stretchers, even with the bolts (or both).

The current lower stretchers are made of poplar, are 5.5" wide, with a 3.75" x .75" tenon. They are made from boards from the BORG, two 3/4" boards laminated together. I could get some more poplar from the BORG and make some upper stretchers also. And this time be much more careful about my mortising / tenoning.

If I'm still not happy with it, I could go buy some 8/4 poplar, and remake the trestles. I could reuse the same stretchers. (Although I'd have to learn to cut mortises from tenons, instead of tenons from mortises, like I usually do.)

As timgren suggests, I could probably finish it to look like maple. Or maybe I should skip the BORG altogether and just redo it out of poplar. It would also cost probably about half as much. I'll call the hardwood place today to get a price.

[FordPrefect]

Thanks, I am pretty happy with it. It's not elegant like many of the benches seen here at Woodnet, but it's heavy, and pretty solid. If you look closely you can see knot holes and other defects but I was more concerned with keeping the stretcher as thick and tall as possible. I think they are 7.5" x 2.75".

If you do rebuild the trestles, cut through mortises and wedge the hell out of them. Wedges seemed able to cover my poor mortising technique

The tail vise is almost done. I need to install the guide rail and slap some finish on it. It is far enough along that I can use it to clamp a stick for use as a saw stop for my Ryoba (and, apparently, a skull gouger when I duck my head under to look at how to install the guide rail.) The only real complaint with my bench so far is that I should have put feet on it like Hank Knight did. I have one foot that needs a wedge under it to keep the whole thing solid. If you do decide to rebuild the trestles, that would be the perfect time to add decent, adjustable feet.

[Bob Zajicek]

Crooked Tail said:

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I fiddled with the base some last night, and lag bolted the top down to it. That didn't help. I checked the stretcher / leg joints, and they all seem nice and tight with the bolts. I can't figure out why it's wracking only on that one side. My tenons must be just too loose either in the trestle or the stretchers, even with the bolts (or both).

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CT, I think you've hit on it... you've got some loose tenons. Tight bolts and square shoulders will eliminate side to side or left to right racking in a straight line, but the tenons are what really help to hold things in place on a diagonal, along with your top to some extent.

When you've got time, take the bolts out of your stretchers and check for some slop in the fit of their tenons. I'll just betcha you're going to find some there. You shouldn't have any at all. A nice, snug push / tap fit is what you're after.