Roubo Workbench - More Progress

[KenOfCary]

I finally got back to working on the Roubo Bench. So far I've got the 2 back legs fitted into their dovetails / mortises.

View image in gallery​

Lesson learned. Don't use the 100 year old antique Mallet to pound in the legs, that's a job for the 2 pound brass hammer and a 2x4. (I was able to repair the Mallet good as new with a little glue.)

View image in gallery​

I had a hard time following the lines cutting the dovetails on the bench it being 5" thick. Then I remembered a trick I saw the Schwarz use in a video. The angle is exactly 45 degrees. If you watch the reflection of the edge in your saw blade when it is exactly 90 degrees then you are cutting 45. If you want to cut a straight 90 then the reflection should be parallel to itself. You can barely see the 90 degree reflection in the above picture.

Time to get working on the front legs now.

- Ken

 

[eyekode]

Looks great! But I dont understand your schwarz...

 

[KenOfCary]

Looks great! But I dont understand your schwarz...

It was either Christopher Schwarz or Roy Underhill talking about the importance of having a shiny saw blade. If you can see a reflection of the wood you're sawing in the blade you can use that reflection to line up the saw to either a perfect 90 or perfect 45 degree angle.

To do the perfect 90, the reflection should look like the wood is uninterrupted and just continues straight on to infinity. As you tilt the blade the reflected edge of the wood will start to tilt with the saw. When the reflection looks like it is tilting exactly 90 degrees or straight down in this picture then the saw is being held at exactly 45 degrees.

It was much easier to keep the reflection pointed straight down than to follow 2 pencil lines on opposite sides of a 5" piece of wood. To start the cut I chiseled out a very small wedge to make a starter kerf for the saw using the widest chisel I had.

Hope that makes it a little clearer, it's hard to see the reflection in the picture. Maybe I need to take one with a light shining directly on the blade.

Try it with a shiny saw on a piece of wood. You'll see the reflection tilt as you tilt the blade.

- Ken

 

[eyekode]

Ken, thanks for the details. I had to run out and give it a shot. Works like a charm! Quite easy to judge square!
Salem

 

[MarkE]

Looking good. :icon_thum

 

[scsmith42]

Ken, that is coming along nicely! Post some more pix when you get a chance. Thx.

Scott

 

[CarvedTones]

Very nice! They just reran that episode the other day and it was Schwarz as a guest on the Woodwright who gave that tip. Roy's saws are sharp and he cleans rust off but no one would confuse them with a mirror.

 

[Semmons23]

Looking good. Any chance you can post a parts list/wood list so I have an idea how much I might need to purchase?

Thanks

 

[KenOfCary]

Looking good. Any chance you can post a parts list/wood list so I have an idea how much I might need to purchase?

Thanks

The parts list I'm using is straight out of Schwarz' book and the magazine article in Popular Woodworking. The hardest part to find is a 5" x 18-20" x 6-8' piece of Maple (or the wood of your choice.) He used legs that were 4 x 5-1/2 or so but mine ended up being 4x4' after milling.

Here is the material list.

1 Top 4-7/8 x 20 x 72 <== Mine ended up 5 x 17-1/2 x 96 after milling
4 Legs 5-1/2 x 4 x 34
2 Long Stretchers 2-1/2 x 5 x 45 1/2 4-1/4 Tenon Both Ends
2 Short Stretchers 2-1/2 x 5 x 17 1/2 2-3/4 TBE
1 End Vise Chop 3 x 4 7/8 x 14 <-- I used a BenchCrafted traveler vise instead.
2 Long Cleats 1 x 1 x 37
2 Short Cleats 1 x 1 x 12
Shelf Pieces 1 x 15 x 43
1 Leg Vise Chop 1-7/8 x 8 x 33
1 Parallel Guide 1/2 x 2 7/8 x 15


I got all of the wood (all maple) from Jack (saw4you) for between $200-300, but I don't know if he has another big slab of Maple like that one. It was a lucky find. I was going to glue up 8/4 maple to make the top until I found he had a very large tree coming in that he custom cut for me.

- Ken.

 

[scsmith42]

For what it's worth, I have one 20" x 6' x 3.5" slab of QSRO left from our Roubo Bench slabbing event earlier this year. It was sterilized via ammonia fuming, and is around 18% MC (or thereabouts).

It is already S2S too!

Send me an e-mail if interested.

Scott