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: Piano Bench Construction Pt. 1 Date: Monday, December 01, 1997 6:13 PM The bench size I normally make is 19" high and 14" X 30" which matches the normal size bench cushion available from GRK which is an added source of potential profit. The top can be made in one of two ways. The first and easiest is to build the top and rails of the bench out of hardwood furniture grade plywood. I normally use Birch as it is readily available and works well and takes color easy. Because I buy so little quantity of wood I wind up paying retail but thats just the way it is. From one 4' X 8' 3/4" sheet you can build a number of benches so the cost is not as bad as it seems. From the 4' X 8' sheet mark out the lid area at 14& 1/2" and 30 & 1/2". Use a hand saw to cut this out of the sheet. On your table saw you can cut it to the correct size. I have a Craftsman Contractors 10" saw with a Forrest Woodworker II blade. With this blade very little sanding is needed afterwards. I normally put strips of masking tape over where the saw blade is going to saw through the wood which keeps tearout to a minimum. To cover the edges of the plywood I use edge banding. You can buy the edge banding in White Birch at most hardware superstores like HQ, Builders Square, or Home Depot. I try to get mine from a mail-order company called Woodworkers Supply where I also get other hardware for the bench. I get the 7/8' edge banding . With a iron set to cotton temperature you can glue the banding on the edge of the top. I like to do both long edges first. After gluing it on I like to take a piece of hardwood and rub over the entire glued surface several times to secure the band in place. I then wait about 5 minutes and trim of the ends and edges. Next glue on the 2 end pieces of edge banding. I usually cut the edge banding about a 1/2" to long section to glue on. After pressing on with the hardwood rub I wait about another 5 minutes. The entire lid, edges too, (both sides can be sanded with 150 sandpaper on a random orbit electric finishing sander followed by 220 rade sandpaper. Set this piece aside. If you wish to use solid hardwood select the several pieces you are going to use to try to match the grain as pleasing as possible. I haven't come to a firm decision about making sure the grain is running opposite from the other to prevent warping. I try to have pieces that will be about 2" too wide and the same too long. Try to select the straightest boards you can because warpage will eally mess you up. I then use my jointer to make sure I have true 90 degree edges to work with. You have the choice of using biscuits, dowels, or I have been using my router mounted horizontally on a table cutting out a 1/4" groove to within 1 & 1/2 " from each end. I make the groove about 1/2" deep in both boards. It takes several passes to do this. You can then get a 1/4" thick piece of Masonite and cut a strip just under 1" thick by the length you have just slotted out. For one bench I tried just edge gluing a very carefully jointed edge and used titebond. I did not detect any problems just edge gluing this lid, and since I guaranty my benches for the rest of my lifetime I hope it stay glued. For the next step you need several clamps that you can not only pull your boards together but also keep them level under pressure. There are a number of clamping systems available to do this. Where ever I have a glue line I will stick a piece of 1/2" masking tape along both sides of the glue line. When the clamps are applied I have wax paper underneath to keep the clamps and hold downs from sticking to my work. You can never have too many clamps. Do a dry fit of everything to make sure it will pull together level and all the way. Then proceed with your glue. I use regular white glue most of the time because of the long period of time that it takes to set up gives me ample opportunity to shift things around to where I want them to be. Make sure you coat both sides of the Masonite as well as both slots to make sure your pieces are not glue starved. After clamping I rest the glued up piece with all clamps vertically so the glue runout will run longways with the joint rather than across the board making a mess to clean up and get rid of. I will normally let this dry in clamps 48 hours before removing the clamps. When the clamps are removed, peel off the masking tape and use a wide sharp chisel to remove glue residue along your joint. If things come out right you can use a belt sander very lightly and carefully to even out any level irregularities. This is usually the most difficult for me as it seems as careful as I can be the two boards don't quite come out level with each other. I have to really exercise my patience at this junction. This is a very important place to have the bench lid level and sanded uniformly smooth so your stain will not mess you up when it comes time to finish. When your worked up lid is smooth you can decide whether you want to use your router to rout and edge pattern for a bevel. If you do, always cut the bevel on the cross grain directions before the long grain. That way any tear out will be absorbed by the long grain routing. This is the part you can't do when you use plywood. A nice bevel really sets off your lid to looking much more expensive. Next step is part II making the rails out of solid or plyed wood and choosing what method to hold all together, whether metal corner brackets or some kind of wood locking joint. Part III is creation of the bench legs, tapered square or rounded. Part IV is making the bottom and deciding where it will go and how to attach it. Part V is putting it all together so all legs reach the floor with hinges, lid travel stops, rubber buttons. Part VI will be on how I finish my benches
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