I'm building a workbench. I asked for some advice here. Well I pulled the trigger, bought a bunch of tools and got started.
I spent the first few days trying to learn to make things sharp. The Lie Nielsen tools came sharp, but they all recommended putting an extra five degree micro-bevel. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos then proceeded to do it wrong anyhow for a few tries. Then I finally got wise and made a stropping block.
Then I was able to get things paper-slicing sharp.
The wood came Tuesday and I was out with a friend last night. Tonight I decided to try gluing up the legs. If I ****ed it up, I'd lose less wood than if I tried starting out with the top. I took out the jack plane, waxed the bottom, and tried to get two pieces so they would lay flat against each other. I should have tried harder because the glue-up did not go well.
Check out this gap:
Realizing my mistake only after clamping failed to rectify the problem, I tried to get the pieces apart. But even after five minutes it seemed the wood glue was way too strong for me to pull apart with my hands. Impressive! I guess we'll just go with it and see how we do. If I have extra wood left over at the end or some extra time to go by the lumber yard again, maybe I'll remake this leg.
I also machined another leg tonight. This one seems to be sitting much flatter against itself. I can press the edges together with my hands so I hope that with some luck and a little more glue, I'll have a proper glue-up tomorrow night.
My parents were also kind enough to give me a home depot gift cert for my birthday. I think I need some more clamps. It would be nice to be able to glue up more than one thing at a time. I've heard good things about pipe clamps . . .
I spent the first few days trying to learn to make things sharp. The Lie Nielsen tools came sharp, but they all recommended putting an extra five degree micro-bevel. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos then proceeded to do it wrong anyhow for a few tries. Then I finally got wise and made a stropping block.
Then I was able to get things paper-slicing sharp.
The wood came Tuesday and I was out with a friend last night. Tonight I decided to try gluing up the legs. If I ****ed it up, I'd lose less wood than if I tried starting out with the top. I took out the jack plane, waxed the bottom, and tried to get two pieces so they would lay flat against each other. I should have tried harder because the glue-up did not go well.
Check out this gap:
Realizing my mistake only after clamping failed to rectify the problem, I tried to get the pieces apart. But even after five minutes it seemed the wood glue was way too strong for me to pull apart with my hands. Impressive! I guess we'll just go with it and see how we do. If I have extra wood left over at the end or some extra time to go by the lumber yard again, maybe I'll remake this leg.
I also machined another leg tonight. This one seems to be sitting much flatter against itself. I can press the edges together with my hands so I hope that with some luck and a little more glue, I'll have a proper glue-up tomorrow night.
My parents were also kind enough to give me a home depot gift cert for my birthday. I think I need some more clamps. It would be nice to be able to glue up more than one thing at a time. I've heard good things about pipe clamps . . .