CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure

[Skip J.]

Crooked Tail said:

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Skip, you got it! I did finally acquire a (cheap) bandsaw which actually works pretty good for being an old Taiwanese knock-off. But the way I laid out this board (I could have done it different if I was using my noggin), it needed to be ripped all the way down the middle before cross-cutting, to avoid marring some of the pieces with the cc saw. So ripping something that long on the BS without any help would have been difficult and probably dangerous.

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My thoughts exactly... I just bought a D-8 rip with a thumb hole from Lynn Dowd and plan on burning fewer electrons myself in the future.. do you have a feel for how the framesaw compares to ripping with an old Disston?

[Crooked Tail]

I haven't (yet) had the pleasure of ripping with an old Disston. I have an inexpensive German made rip saw I bought from Woodcraft. It is much easier than cross cutting (for me anyway), and I can cut very straight lines with it.

However, the kerf is probably 2 to 3 times wider than that of the frame saw. It takes considerably more work than the framesaw to saw the same length. However, because of the wide blade, the cut is straighter and there is much less clean-up with a plane afterwards. So it is a trade-off. If I need to rip something where I don't have much wiggle-room in width of the board (where I can't afford to lose much width), I use the rip saw. If I have wiggle-room, I use the frame saw, unless it's a short piece.

In this case, cleaning up with a plane after the frame saw is less work than using the rip saw, and still having to do a little clean up with the plane.

I'm planning on getting a wider blade for the frame saw, or building another one with a wide blade, so that it will be easier to make long, straight cuts, especially for large ripping projects like this.

[Skip J.]

Crooked Tail said:

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I'm planning on getting a wider blade for the frame saw, or building another one with a wide blade, so that it will be easier to make long, straight cuts, especially for large ripping projects like this.

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Thanks! I'm going to try some long cuts with the D-8 before I decide on a framesaw. Josh has volunteered to make me one for our next trade, but I'm probably going to be ready for more of his famous beer by then. I made several long rips in a doug fir board with my Japanese saw awhile back, but the thin blade was hard to control of a long length - and I guess I'm preparing for the day when my Japanese saws need sharpened.

I know Bob (CedarSlayer) uses wide blades on his bow saws, so I suspect it would help the frame saw too.

[biocmp]

CT, did you state where you got the frame saw? or does anyone know a maker?

[Crooked Tail]

biocmp: I built my own framesaw, that saga is here.
There are links to several webpages with directions at the beginning of the thread.

Funky Space Cowboy also has built a couple, and CedarSlayer I'm told makes killer bowsaws.

[Crooked Tail]

Although I'm still working on the base, I'm also planning the cabinet, since of course the cabinet will sit in the base.

What do you guys think of this design? I am thinking of using maple for the sides, with about 2" of purpleheart laminated at each edge. The purpose is 95% aesthetic, the remaining 5% is because maple costs less (at least at 4/4 anyway). It will make the dovetails show at the sides, yet from the front and back of the cabinet, the carcase will appear to be all purpleheart. Would I be inviting splitting because of differing rates of wood movement? If so, how could I eliminate / minimize that?

[Crooked Tail]

Well, I got all the legs, feet, and arms milled. I'll round the corners tomorrow hopefully and then get started on the joinery. Family obligations for the rest of today.

[Crooked Tail]

OK, I'm about to start on the joinery for workbench base version 2. The parts are the same size as before: 3.5" square. Now I recall the trouble I had last time. My "deepest" backsaw is only 2 1/4" deep. I guess I'll have to cut the tenons extra wide, because the rigid part of the backsaw will cause the blade to angle inward after 2.25" deep. Then I'll have to finish with chisels.

Or is there a better way?

[mpphoto]

Crooked Tail said:

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Or is there a better way?

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I consider the bandsaw a "galoot-friendly" tailed tool.


Michael

[LENPAM]

I agree the bandsaw is a quick and easy way to make tenons,especially large ones.I still do the shoulder cuts first with a good hand saw to make sure their nice and square but the bandsaw saves a lot of time cutting away the faces.Len