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Walnut & Ash Contemplation Bench Build Thread - Hand tools (& a bit of table saw)
Hello! I've been behind on posting progress on another build that I have going and have flat out just neglected to start a thread for this one. Well, here it is so far. I am building a small, single seat bench. The seat is 6/4-ish walnut that I got from Mike1950. It was planed when I got it from him and had some bark and live edge. There was a large split that I have stabilized with three Duthmen (1 top, two on bottom). The rest of the bench is made from a large ash beam that I had picked up from my local hardwood guy. It was originally about 8' long and around 3 3/16" x 5 1/4". After I cut my selected chunks by hand from the original beam, I seat about with my hand planes making it square and flat. Needless-to-say, this was a long process that I visited on and off while working on other things. I made a ton of shavings, measured often, and got it pretty square. I used my table saw to rip some excess material off of the three lengths of ash as I don't have a hand rip saw as of yet. I also used my table saw for the initial cuts for the mortises (grooves? I am not sure exactly what to call these joints) in the sides of the legs. I chiseled the material out of the center by hand. I also cut the tenon (or cut out the shoulder? Again, I am not really sure how to classify these joints) with a hard back hand saw and cleaned up with a chisel. The three parts of the base fit VERY snug from friction alone, but I chose to knock them apart and secure them with some epoxy as well--for good measure. I then cut blind mortises (about 5/8" deep) into the bottom of the seat for the legs to fit into.
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Well, this is where I am now. This has been a on-again, off-again project, but I am going to focus on getting it completed now in the next few weeks. I'll do my best to document some more as I clean up everything and start finishing.
I am realizing more than before how bad these phone pictures are. I'll try and document better--especially with the finished project!:thumbsup:
Hello! I've been behind on posting progress on another build that I have going and have flat out just neglected to start a thread for this one. Well, here it is so far. I am building a small, single seat bench. The seat is 6/4-ish walnut that I got from Mike1950. It was planed when I got it from him and had some bark and live edge. There was a large split that I have stabilized with three Duthmen (1 top, two on bottom). The rest of the bench is made from a large ash beam that I had picked up from my local hardwood guy. It was originally about 8' long and around 3 3/16" x 5 1/4". After I cut my selected chunks by hand from the original beam, I seat about with my hand planes making it square and flat. Needless-to-say, this was a long process that I visited on and off while working on other things. I made a ton of shavings, measured often, and got it pretty square. I used my table saw to rip some excess material off of the three lengths of ash as I don't have a hand rip saw as of yet. I also used my table saw for the initial cuts for the mortises (grooves? I am not sure exactly what to call these joints) in the sides of the legs. I chiseled the material out of the center by hand. I also cut the tenon (or cut out the shoulder? Again, I am not really sure how to classify these joints) with a hard back hand saw and cleaned up with a chisel. The three parts of the base fit VERY snug from friction alone, but I chose to knock them apart and secure them with some epoxy as well--for good measure. I then cut blind mortises (about 5/8" deep) into the bottom of the seat for the legs to fit into.
Well, this is where I am now. This has been a on-again, off-again project, but I am going to focus on getting it completed now in the next few weeks. I'll do my best to document some more as I clean up everything and start finishing.
I am realizing more than before how bad these phone pictures are. I'll try and document better--especially with the finished project!:thumbsup:
