James Grebe R.P.T. from St. Louis pianoman@inlink.com "Only my best is good enough" ---------- > From: drgrebe <drgrebe@inlink.com> > To: pianoman@inlink.com > Subject: Bench Construction Part III > Date: Wednesday, December 03, 1997 5:39 PM > > > First a correction. My use of the word Rabbeting got past my spell > checker. I wrongly printed it for the hare rather than the cut out. > > So, the object of this bench is to have all 4 legs reach the floor at the > same plane. > I purchase Poplar 2X2's which are really 1 & 1/2" square and are glued up > from 2- 1 X 2's from HQ and are available from most places that sell > hardwood. They come in 36" lengths so you can get a set of 4 legs from > just 2 of these. It works well that they are 2 boards glued together as > they tend to be warp free and probably stronger since the grain orientation > is different. Since they are 36" long you can cut them into 17 & 7/8" > pieces. I use a sliding cut off jig with a measured stop block on my table > saw so I can get precise repeatable cuts and this is the one place where > you need four legs the same length. > Now you have 4 legs and we will proceed with the metal corner bracket > assembly. Measure down on the corner bracket with 2 sides attached. to > mark where your bench hanger bolt will go into the leg. The top of the leg > should be flush with the top of your bench rails. On my drill press table > I have a jig made from 2 2X4"s which have 2- 45 degree cuts out of them so > they will cradle the bench leg with a corner sticking straight up. I use a > 1/4" brad point drill bit. Position your jig so that the top edge of your > leg lines up flush with the edge of the jig and clamp down your jig so that > the drill bit goes right into your guide mark on your first leg. You can > now drill repeatable holes in all your legs. Set your stop on your qwill > travel so that it drills just a little deeper than the length of the > threaded portion on your hanger bolts. I use 2 & 1/2" 5/16" -18 size which > I get from Woodworker Supply. The catalog # is 892-750. When you get your > 4 holes drilled you will notice that the drill bit has peeled up some nasty > splinters around the new hole. From here I go to my radial-arm saw and I > have another jig which looks like my drill press jig so that the corner is > sticking straight up. I set the saw blade height at about 1/4" down into > the corner and slide the leg back and forth under the blade to create a > flat plane that extends from the top of the leg to 3/8" inch past your > hole. This removes the splinters and give a finished appearance around > your hole. > Since square legs tend to look clubby I taper them. I use a tapering > fixture on my table saw so that the taper starts 3" from the top of the leg > extending to the bottom of the leg. At the bottom of the leg it become a > 1" square where at the top of the leg it is 1& 1/2". After you make two > consecutive tapers you have to rig up some way to move the leg out to make > up for the parts you just shaved. I have screwed 2 round head screws into > the bottom fence of the fixture to push the leg out so that the taper is > the same on all 4 sides. From this point on to the belt sander to lightly > sand all four surfaces of the leg to get rid of any saw marks you just > created. If you are using corner bracket construction your home. > If you choose to mortise the legs into the rails you have to rout out > matching mortises in the legs as you have in the ends of the rails. You > want the legs to stand out from the rails of your bench so make sure where > you set the router it will allow for this. I use masking tape on the fence > of my router jig to mark start and stop places. Again rout in 1/2" This > is a good time to make your floating tenons. Take your 1/4" Masonite and > cut a strip just under an inch wide and measure how long your mortises are > in the rails and legs. Cut them to that size and round over the Masonite > on a belt sander to match the curve at the end of your mortises. > Now take all your rails, Masonite tenons, and legs and start assembly > without glue. I use 2 -24" Bessey clamps for the short sides and 2 -36" > Bessey clamps for the long rails. Make sure that all the rails are flush > with the top of the legs and that all joints are going to pull together. > Hopefully it all pulls together and all four legs reach the floor with no > wobble. It should also be square. If so, glue it up, keeping the parts in > the same place as when you just clamped it together. I leave mine clamped > for 48 hours. I usually turn the whole thing upside down just after > clamping so any glue run-out doesn't run down the legs. > If you choose to have round legs, tapered or other wise you should turn > the legs on your lathe to your own design. > ( Do not have the hanger bolts in your leg when you are turning them! ) > I have a copy attachment for my lathe but I find I can match 4 legs better > just by matching measurements as I go. At the top of the leg where you > want it square (the top 2 &3/4") I make a small kerf cut with a miter saw > to mark where my turning stops. At the corners I saw in slightly deeper to > make sure the corners will not get fuzzed up with my turning tool blade. > After turning each leg to your design sand the leg as it is turning with > 240 sandpaper followed by synthetic steel wool (ScotchBright Pads). > James Grebe > RPT from St. Louis > pianoman@inlink.com
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