Tag: tools

Weekend Sawbench

~ George Crawford ~ 9 Comments

A Saw horse or a full-size workbench, for Hobbits?

Baumeister_-_Holzschnitt_von_Jost_Amman_-_1536.svgLiving where I do, without a proper workshop, I have moved to a more portable setup.  Along with this, I have pared down by letting go a number of cumbersome tools.  However, a flat, solid surface is sorely missed.

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A less messy version of my current shop.

I find myself working on the seat of the shave-horse or on top of saw horses quite a bit with my small table-saw serving as a layout table (when the project is small enough).  And yes, I do miss the full-size table saw for ripping long boards.

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Here’s a recent photo of me in my make-shift workshop.

A little over a year ago I began scheming for a small, pre-industrial-style setup.  Something an itinerant carpenter or bodger would be likely to use.  It needed to be easy to move and store but provide a solid clamping and layout surface.  I wanted it at the same height as my shave-horse so that they will work in concert for large projects.  So, when my friend Mick gave me a thick, rough-sawn maple board last summer, I decided it was to become the top of a new saw bench.

First, before the mail comes flooding in;

there is no perfect formula for a saw bench!  For thoughts about height, look here: “A Proper Saw Horse.”

There are some wrong and right things to do, but all in all, there are as many combinations as there are woodworkers.  Much depends on what you make and how you work.  I am 6’1″ and after much changing and experimentation, I use 22″ tall benches for hand work.

“Off-side” of the saw bench under construction.

 

For what it’s worth, here is the bench I came up with last weekend.  It maybe grew a little too much, trying to more than a saw horse, but still not a Roubo.

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Roubo’s bench.

Materials: All of the materials for this project, other than lag bolts and a few stainless steel screws, came from the scrap pile; all recycled lumber except the top which came from Mick.  Legs and bracing are constructed from oak while the till bottom is dimensional pine from an old shelf.  The legs are splayed at 12 degrees in both dimensions.  Dog holes for stops and holdfasts will be added soon.  The little vise was a last minute addition as it’s never a bad thing to have too many ways to hold things.  This increased the project price to just over $20 US.

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A work in progress, but coming together.

Had I considered the vise sooner I probably would have positioned the legs to place it closer to the left end but this will due.  The little hardware till on the top will hold those wily drill bits and pesky chisels looking for an escape as well as corralling screws, pencils, and marking knife.  More work will be done, and I’m considering a second till near the bottom of the legs to store the shooting board and bench hook as well as a safe place to set a saw while working outdoors.

Comments and criticisms are certainly welcome and more information about this project will be forthcoming in the near future.

Restoring a Disston D8 Thumb Hole Rip Saw

~ George Crawford ~ 1 Comment

This is an excellent documentation for restoring an old saw. So many are out there just waiting for a bit of new life.

MVFlaim Furnituremaker's avatarMVFlaim Furnituremaker

While scouring antique malls looking for tools, I ran across this nice rip saw stuck in the back corner of a booth. It’s a Disston D8 Thumb Hole saw and considering it’s age, it was in very nice condition. Even though it had some rust on the blade, I knew it would clean up just fine.

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The first thing I did was take the saw apart and dip the blade in a bath of water with food grade citric acid. I let it sit overnight allowing the acid to eat all the rust off the blade.

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While the blade cooked, I focused my attention on the handle. Using Soy-Gel paint stripper, I cleaned all the gook and grime off the apple wood handle using a steel wool pad.

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Here’s the handle wiped off after just a few minutes of paint stripper on it.

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In the morning, I took the blade…

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Table Saw 1889

~ George Crawford ~ 3 Comments

Table SawA circular saw is a tool which no workman who has once seen it at work would care to be without, for it is a labour-saving tool of the first importance, and enables its owner to do many things with an amount of ease, exactness, precision, and rapidity that cannot be attained with saws actuated by the hand and arm. When an amateur becomes the possessor of a lathe, one of the first things he will do is to have it fitted with a circular saw and the necessary appliances in the shape of table, fence, etc., to enable him to use it
conveniently and with due effect. The professional workman, on the other hand, although he will not be without a circular saw to be worked on and by his lathe, wants something stronger and heavier that will save him the labour of using the rip saw, which has made many a man’s arm and shoulder ache when the absence of suitable machinery in the workshop has compelled him to keep at this kind of work for many successive hours, perhaps, if not through the entire day; and every man who seeks to save time and labour, and therefore money, either for himself or for those in his employ, will, or ought to, take care to have a thoroughly efficient machine well suited to the requirements of his business in his workshop.

From: “Our Guide to Good Things,” in Work– March 30, 1889