description and a few pictures
Here are few shots of the new bench and a couple of the old bench.
I built the new bench with the goal of having one with fewer parts and which could easily fit in to my truck. I also wanted the parts to be a bit smaller and lighter than the first bench. Annother challenge that I was shooting for was to put a leg vise on it. With the help of Jim Campbell I decided to take out one of the cross supports, to allow for the vise, to change from 4x4 rails to 2x4 rails and to mortise the bench legs into the top. The idea of the funky wedges was mine. Ii can't blame Jim for that one.
So far it has worked pretty well. It is a little tall and I will probably need to chop an inch or two off of the legs. I am amazed at the difference that switching out the 4x4's has made. I don't sweat when I move the thing around. It is a little more prone to slide across the floor though, but floor is also kinda slick. Haven't taken it outside yet.
I liked the way that the old bench assembled. Lay one bent on the floor. Slap the side rails in. plop the other rail on and that was it. It was easily done by one person and just flowed well. The new one is a little more cumbersome. You do one end then the other. Sliding the tenons through the mortise got much better once I cut the excess off.
I tried to get rid of the wedge deal, less to loose. But couldn't figure out how to do that and keep space for shelf on the bottom. Oh well, atleast they are cool looking.
I still need to finish flattening the top. Can you say avoidance. And I need to pop some holes in both the apron and the top. We'll get there.
I get to try it out at the museum in Raleigh in June. Nice slick granite floors. If it is too light I'll make new rails that are 4x4's. That should add a little weight.
I don't know why it cracked so much. The other didn't. Hmmm. Now that I think of it I built the other during the summer and it has never come in the house. It has always been the "it's pretty outside" lets work on the porch bench.
I love the new vise. Jim made me drill the second hole for the screw. I just couldn't cut it.
Jerome
And there are a few more shots here:
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=1932&ppuser=
Great bench! Do you have more pics? I'm interested in the long tenons. Are you going to trim them shorter? Put a 'tusk' in them? If so would you insert the tusk vertically or horizontally? I'd like to try that but am not sure if I could drive a skinny mortise vertically through the tenon without splitting it.
