Woodworking – Diary of an Emacs tragic

Finished my workbench!

Jason — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 11:45:15 +0000

I finished my workbench. It took me about 12 months and a broken toe to do it. Very happy with the result but now I need to fit the vice. I copied Paul Sellers’ design from his YouTube videos. In fact his videos inspired me to get into woodworking to start with.

Poor man’s router with wedge fail

Jason — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 12:05:45 +0000

I tried making a Paul Seller’s style Poor Man’s Router plane. It worked quite well but I couldn’t get the chisel’s blade edge to be really perpendicular to the surface of the wood. As an alternative I thought I’d try cutting a slot into the piece of timber and making a wedge to fit it to hold the chisel in place.

As much as I tried I couldn’t get the wedge to hold the chisel firmly enough that it wouldn’t slide up once I started cutting into wood with it. I think this was partly to do with it being a bevel edge chisel. This meant there was less surface area in contact with the wood, so less friction and easier to slip.
I might try making a hardwood wedge for it. I also need to try a firmer chisel instead of a bevel edge one. The extra surface area might be enough to hold it.

Workbench progress

Jason — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 05:25:19 +0000

Test fitting the wedge that secures the leg to the skirt

Wedge retainer fitted

At last the bench self supports with the fitting of the first skirt

Workbench tops resting on the leg struts