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Crooked Tail said:
Hi Jonathan,
Yep, wedged through-tenons. I cut the relief on the sled feet before I cut the mortises. Now I'm kind of wondering how I'm going to make the ends of the through tenons flush with the underside of the sled feet. Probably end up using a spokeshave and rasps. Its a good thing it won't show. 
CT, Would you do it differently if there was a next time. Cut the M&T's, glue it up then cut the relief? I am pondering this as I hope to be at that point on my bench by next weekend. Nice saw, I have been eying Joel's plans myself. What did you use for hardware? Thanks 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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Crooked Tail said:
So I am working on the tenons, and the little bean counter in my head says that I can't have a big tenon saw right now, no matter how many fancy pictures people post.
We'll keep trying  Your framesaw is so... purple! CT, I like your style  I've only made holes in metal a few times and used a hand punch from Harbor Freight. Don't know how thick of a piece of metal it will punch though. Michael
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Crooked Tail said:
I had a helluvatime trying to drill holes in the bandsaw blade. I don't remember having any problem when I made my frame saw, and this is a piece of the same blade. What kind of bits do you guys use to drill holes in bandsaw blades, and is there any special technique? I can't remember how I did it last time.
Hey CT, Here's a trick I learned ages ago for drillin' holes in heat treated metal, such as your BS blade. This works easily if you have a DP.. I can't recall whether you do or not. If you don't, you can probably jig it somehow, like with a drilled block clamped over the blade. Anyhow, you chuck up your drill bit backwards, so the shank is pointing down. Clamp the blade below centered where you want your hole to go. Bring the drill shank down so it contacts the blade and just let it spin there for a minute or two. It's going to heat up and soften that blade right where you want your hole to go. When it smokes and discolors a little you'll be OK. You'll have lost the temper in that exact area, and you can then drill your hole. Remember to center punch the exact location lightly first.
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Jonathan: now that I have a bow saw, I would probably do the through tenons first, before cutting the relief, then cut the relief with the bowsaw. I cheated and cut the relief on the bandsaw. It would be difficult to maneuver the whole glued up piece on the bandsaw though. Last time I used a scrub plane and cleaned up with rasps and a spokeshave, and that actually worked pretty good. Once I'm done with the tenons, I think I'll stick a thinner bandsaw blade in the bowsaw and try using that the cut them more or less flush. I'm sure I'll still need to clean up. For the bow saw hardware I used 2.5" long 1/4" lag screws. After my little adventure with the front vise, I learned a lot about the screwing properties of purpleheart. I figured it would easily be strong enough to hold the screws and the blade, even in end grain. So I drilled a 7/32" pilot hole, screwed the lag screws about an inch into the handle and toe, then whacked the head off with a hack saw. Then I sawed a slot down the middle and drilled a hole. I used some small nuts and bolts left over from my framesaw to pin the blade. I'm pretty happy with how it worked out. Bob & Michael: thank you for the drilling suggestions. I was getting the blade pretty hot trying to drill through it, so much so that I nearly created fire the old way on the piece of scrap under the blade. I don't have a drill press, so I will try the block thing next time. I tried a regular HSS bit, a titanium bit, and a cobalt bit, and none of them wanted to cut. I will try Bob's technique next time. That handpunch looks handy, but it says for sheetmetal and "mild steel." Probably won't work on a BS blade? 
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First of all, Happy Nevada Day! State holiday, so I'm off work and get to mess around in the shop all day if I want. For the first time in decades, it's not obscenely cold either, as Nevada Day is wont to be.  I finally got the new trestles basically built. This is a dry fit. You can see the first advantage is that the legs are spaced much wider. Don't ask me why I made the first ones so narrow... maybe I was afraid of whacking my knee on them.... The joints are much better then the joints in the doug fir also. The doug fir was still green, and seemed very, very soft. This is poplar, but it is kiln dried. All but one of the joints are a good tight fit. The one that isn't tight I goofed up on, because I was fitting it to the wrong mortise. Moral of the story: clearly mark which tab goes into which slot.  With my new-found knowledge of drawbored joints, I am considering using it instead of wedges. What do you guys think? Wedges would be easier and quicker. Aren't they also supposed to mechanically draw the joint tight? As you can see, these are through tenons. As for the underside of the feet, I've decided I'm not even going to bother trying to make the tenons flush. They can't be seen, and I actually think they look sort of neat proud. Also, I'm getting ready to make the stretchers. This time around, I'll have four stretchers instead of two. They will each be about 4" wide, maybe slightly wider. I'm planning on placing them 1" above (and 1" below for the top stretchers) the shoulders of the legs. I know that is far apart, but I want room for cabinets, and that would leave me space for ~15" tall cabinets.
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Crooked Tail said:
I finally got the new trestles basically built. This is a dry fit. You can see the first advantage is that the legs are spaced much wider. Don't ask me why I made the first ones so narrow... maybe I was afraid of whacking my knee on them.... The joints are much better then the joints in the doug fir also. The doug fir was still green, and seemed very, very soft. This is poplar, but it is kiln dried. All but one of the joints are a good tight fit. The one that isn't tight I goofed up on, because I was fitting it to the wrong mortise. Moral of the story: clearly mark which tab goes into which slot.
With my new-found knowledge of drawbored joints, I am considering using it instead of wedges. What do you guys think? Wedges would be easier and quicker. Aren't they also supposed to mechanically draw the joint tight? As you can see, these are through tenons.
Congrats on the new trestles CT! you're really making bench #2 out of bench #1... I can't say about the comparison of strength; but since you have done drawboring already - it should be almost as easy as wedges... I still think you could do PH racing-striped bench parts for the better off ww'ers.... a little non-metal bling goes a long way around here...
Skip
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I'd just wedge it since they are through tenons. I would really suggest practicing drawboring first, and chopping out a few more of those mortises to practice on is a bit of a PITA.
mark
-who used drawboring on his bench, and had to chop out another 1" wide mortise and cut a tenon to match for practice. Ugh. Cool technique though.
CT,
Your new trestles look great. Very nice hand work on the mortises and tenons. I had one thought when I read your most recent post. Here it is:
What kind of hold fasts are you planning to use? If you aren't planning to use them, then ignore this. If you are, then you need to leave enough free space beneath the bench top to allow for the shaft of the hold fast. I left about 11" under the top surface of my bench and this is ample for both Grammercy and Veritas hold fasts. (The 11" includes the thickness of my top.) If you butt your cabinet up against your top strechers, it doesn't look like you'll have enough room for holdfasts.
You've probably already thought about this, but I thought I'd mention it in case you haven't.
Hank
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I ran my stretchers across about the same location on my bench, and my tool cabs come up to just short of the top stretcher.. I have no problems with the gramercy holdfasts 
mike
I ain't a Communist, necessarily, but I've been in the red all my life
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Thanks, guys. I decided to just wedge them. I will need to practice drawboring more. I am planning on using Grammercy holdfasts. Could either of you guys do me a huge favor? Could you measure the distance from the bottom of the holdfast to the plane of the lowest part of the arm? I don't have the holdfasts yet, but with that measurement I can plan how much space I need to leave. 
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