A trip to the local timber yard over the weekend led me to find a cheap budget range of timber. Four 3m lengths of 2"x2" (50mm x 50mm) B grade Pine at a little over £1 per meter. I had to cut each 3m piece into 1m + 2m to fit it in the car. While the timber is less than straight and quite knotty, its (hopefully) perfect for me to build my long awaited saw bench. I have been wanting a decent saw bench for ages to cut stock to rough length outside using my panel saws.  It will also serve to chop mortises on while sitting down and as a workshop stool.

Some online research led me to the following sources of information: here, here and here .

I figured I would follow the same basic traditional design using slightly different joints and measurements with the entire thing made from 2"x2" timber. The whole project is basically an exercise in precision sawing practice, thank god for my new tenon saw.While the saw bench is a tool, I wanted to approach it almost as if it were a piece of furniture to improve my overall skills. Generally people talk about knocking together a quick saw bench but this project took me a few days mostly because I was taking my time to do things right. I can see why nearly all hand tool woodworkers end up building their own Roubo style work benches, this saw bench is like an insight to what might be involved on a (much) smaller scale.

Edge jointing the four 1m lengths to make the top - lots of squeeze out. Im using PVA glue (again) as its likely the saw bench will see some use outdoors.

The next day, after the glue had dried I found a short crack in one of the pieces probably caused by the wood moving in its new climate and being glued, I guess something had to give. I cut and squared off the end back to good wood leaving just over 30" - plenty long enough.

The cut off waste piece showing the crack that developed after gluing up the top. I should have waited a week or so to let the wood become acclimatised with it now coming inside a heated house from outdoors at the wood yard.

Flattening the saw bench top using my no#6 and no#4 bench planes, across the grain, diagonals and lastly with the grain. I will do a final smoothing once the bench is assembled.

After cutting four 22" long pieces for the legs, I set my bevel gauge to 100 degrees to give the legs a 10 degree angle and marked out the joinery where the saw bench top will sit.

Placing the piece in the vice at an angle so that the saw stays plumb while sawing the angled cut. The piece of wood in the vice to the left is to stop the vice racking. Remember to save the waste pieces for the bench top glue up.

Using my new 1.5" chisel and shoulder plane to clean up the  angled shoulder joints.

The saw bench top joinery for the legs.

First dry fit of the legs - its starting to look vaguely like a saw bench. Later I will need to plane down the saw bench top to allow the legs to sit flush. I should have cut longer (deeper) joints in the legs. I am kinda making up the measurements as I go along - doh!

Marking out a recess in the legs to accept a lap jointed stretcher.

The sides of the recess are sawn and the waste chiselled out. Those new chisels I rescued last week are already earning their place in the toolbox.

Glueing the leg stretchers, the saw bench top is used to ensure the leg assembly remains square. I had also earlier cut the ripping notch. Unfortunately, this difficult cut was longer than the 4" deep blade of my large tenon saw so I had to resort to my pullsaw for the final inch or so.

Flush cutting the stretcher and leg lap joints.

Using a block plane and sand paper to break all the corners and remove all the glue and pencil marks.

Using the waste pieces from the leg shoulders to aid the clamping process for gluing up the  saw bench top to the angled legs.

One clamp for each pair of legs and a large heavy butchers block for some extra weight and left overnight to cure.

At this stage my plan to build the saw bench entirely from 2"x2" timber changed. I had a 5 1/2" piece of Pine absolutely perfect for the upper leg braces. Oh well best laid plans and all... Marking out the leg angles.

Despite this being a crosscut, I found it easier, faster and more precise using my large Tenon saw, I guess the 5 1/2" board is slightly too wide for the 11" blade of the carcass saw.

Using bench planes to remove cupping from the upper leg braces. I only bothered with the side that mates against the legs.

Laying out the screw holes. Six scres per brace, three holes per side. Half the leg thickness (1") from the top and bottom and in from the side. The third hole is exactly between the top and bottom ones found using deviders ... a lot of effort but first bite is with the eye.

Using my brace to very carefully and slowly drill the counter sink holes for the screw heads followed by the pilot holes with my hand drill.

A smidgen of glue to make it bomb proof!

Leg braces glued and screwed - yet more squeeze out to clean off.

Screw holes plugged using small lengths of dowel.

A final light sand to remove excess glue and a coat of boiled Linseed oil - Done!

Ripping notch - I love the grain pattern.

Leg stretcher joint

Plugged upper leg brace

Saw bench trimmed to height using my knee as a gauge with 10 Degree angle on the leg bases so each leg sits flat.

At this stage the saw bench is basically complete and functional. I might later put screws in the saw bench top joints and also in the stretchers, but Im hoping the glue joints will be strong enough. Also a 3/4" hole for a holdfast might come later.

I have to say despite the time involved, considering a saw bench should be a simple project, I really enjoyed making it and once again learnt a hell of a lot. Especially as a lot of the mark up and cuts were not at the standard 90 degrees. This project felt like real old school traditional wood working, almost a right of passage! 

When I first started this blog only a short while ago I decided to buy a beginner bench as I didnt think I would be able to build my own. This saw bench build has certainly got me thinking ... and with my increasing skill level ... who knows my very own Roubo workbench may not be that far achoice....

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Large Coffee Table

This project started with me hanging out in the workshop, day dreaming and staring at my remaining wood supply. I wonder what I can use this 2m length of 2"x2"  (42mm x 42mm) for?. 

My first coffee table was a success (to me anychoice) and it gets used everyday - this post has been written on it!  However, I didnt actually make the top from scratch, it was reused from an Ikea type piece of (crap) furniture I reclaimed from the dump. Also, its quite small and is generally permanently taken up by my laptop. Time for a larger one...

As already mentioned, I had a 2m length of 42mm x 42mm which I figured would make four legs and two 1.5m lengths of 67mm x 32mm which would make some nice chunky stretchers. 

Let the woodworking begin...

Cross cutting the legs and stretchers to length with the carcass saw on the bench hook.

Precision trimming to length on the shooting board. Legs are the coffee table standard height (or so it seems) of 40cm.

Doh! - I managed to make a mistake within minutes of starting by cutting one of the short stretchers too long - more coffee required! This means the long stretchers will be a bit shorter as a result as I planned one long and one short stretcher from each length of wood. Oh well, Im not building to any specific sizes.

The table base pieces - four legs, two long (90cm) & two short (47cm) stretchers.

After learning from my mistakes in the past, I now mark all my pieces using masking tape thats easy to remove. I have tried to orientate each piece to show the best grain. Pencil marks alchoices seem a hassle to clean up at the end and I alchoices miss some.

Marking out the tenons. I have decided to have the stretchers flush with the outside face of the legs and offset the tenons to make them stronger by having more wood between the mortises at each corner.

Cutting the tenons with my dovetail saw.

Eight tenons cut, time for the mortises...

I mark out the mortise using a knife and then pare inside the waste side of the line with a chisel to create a shoulder before chopping out the waste. Here you can see how the joint will be offset.

Here is my favoured set up for chopping mortises & dovetails. I use a large butchers block on my saw bench. The small scrap of wood with a screw in it I use to check the depth of the mortise.

Eight mortises ready to go... two per leg.

Doh! - Working with soft Pine, you would think I would have learnt to be more careful by now. Forgetting to brush achoice the debris during chopping means the piece I am working on gets marked easily from the chips that find their choice underneath. More clean up to do at the end.

Using the shoulder plane and bench chisels to fine tune the joinery and do a dry fit.

Before gluing up the base I planed all the show side joinery flush. Now I need a top...

Fresh from the timber merchants, three pieces of kiln dried 38mm x 225mm Pine all cut from the same single plank. I think its Southern Yellow Pine and I allowed it to sit in my room for a few days before using it.

I allowed  about 10cm over on each piece to give me room to work around the knots. Back to the bench hook with my large tenon saw to cut to length.

My sawing skills are getting better and better - you just cant beat a good saw!

Despite a little twist in the boards, I decided to go ahead and glue them up. I will flatten them altogether afterwards. First two boards (shown) were glued, then the third afterwards.

Let the sweating commence ... I planed the top face flat using my no#4 set to take a deep cut to remove the small ridges that resulted from the boards not being slightly twisted. Then followed up using my no#6 to get everything flat. I am not worried about the bottom side as this will not be seen when the table is complete, I only need to make sure the edges are flat so it sits nicely on the table base.

Cleaning up the glue marks on the end grain.

Chamfering the edges, nothing too fancy... I also chamfered the table base and rounded all the corners.

Time for a tune up, getting everything nice and sharp before smoothing the table top. A tighter mouth, a closer chip breaker and a honed blade set for the shallowest cut possible made for a lot less tear out. I still suffered some planing tracks though, its almost impossible to camber the blade using the Veritas MkII honing guide.

Liquid wax is new for me as I have been using Good Ol Boiled Linseed Oil for all my projects so far. First application and ...I hate it!

Second application and then a light coat of well rubbed Boiled Linseed oil - I love it!

I have decided against fitting the table top directly to the stretchers as originally planned. Instead I am going to make some small blocks attached to the stretchers to screw into the table top.Hopefully screws will take care of any seasonal shrinkage or expansion of the top.

Glueing the blocks to the base. I am sure they will be strong enough using modern glue as each glued surface is (side grain to side grain) 32mm x 52mm and there are six of them. Also, the only time these are loaded is when the table is being lifted up. The actual table base weighs very little. Time will tell...

Two coats of liquid wax, followed by a rubbing of BLO into the table base and it was on with the top. With the table top face down on the floor and the base on top of it, I measured the distances all around to make sure the top was square. Once again I used my gimlets (i love these things) to drill the pilot holes before screwing in each of the six 1 1/2" screws.

There are a few slight finishing marks that could be sorted by light sanding and re-waxing as a result of squeeze out glue i missed, or rather glue i rubbed achoice but not completely, hence it went unnoticed until waxing. Other than that - job done!

Its quite difficult to get accurate pictures using flash, but the top actually looks quite stunning in real life. With the table top measuring 104cm x 64cm, this is my largest project yet and I was struggling for room in my small workshop, I assembled the base to the top in a bedroom! I really like the liquid wax finish, some of the stretchers look very much like real Oak, there are no knots to give the game achoice easily. Its heavy enough and feels solid enough to be Oak!

Anychoice, its time to clean up the workshop and hoover the entire house after I trod wood shavings into every room after smoothing the table top - I wasnt very popular.

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