Woodworking 101

So yesterday, after procrastinating more than enough, I decided to purchase the materials to construct a solid workbench for the wood shop. I had looked through the books and magazines for plans and, as luck would have it, an issue of Shopnotes that arrived in November or there abouts had plans that would be easy enough to construct,sturdy enough for my needs and, most importantly, wouldn't cost an arm and a leg in materials. (As with all benches, the vises are the most costly after the materials and I figure I can retrofit them on this particular baby.)

I headed to the local lumber/hardware store (Arnot Building Supply in Mansfield) to get the necessaries and then spent the afternoon and early evening breathing sawdust and relearning some basic skills involving the construction of a mortise and tenon joint, using a dado blade on a table saw and doing various and sundry things to wood that would be easier if I had a work bench. (It's a Catch 22 situation.)

I did learn a couple of things:

1- I must get myself a dust collector and air filter for the shop. I was wearing a face mask filter but tiny dust particles still get through and cleanup was a significant time investment. Luckily there is a Grizzly supply store down on the other side of Williamsport that might have just what I need in that department.)
2- Wobbling dado heads (as opposed to stacked) are inexpensive for a reason---they aren't going to produce work to very small tolerances. Get a stacked dado blade set for the next project.
3- The bench will be one sturdy son of a gun! Made from two-by lumber and some 4x4 posts for legs it's going to be heavy to move about. I just hope the joinery is tight enough (see #2) to keep it from wobbling when I'm working on it.
4- The plans called for making your own specialty hardware (cross dowels) to connect the legs to the spacers and risers. Market ready cross dowels are available but the article does NOT give a source and the builder's supply store is NOT a furniture maker's store. So I'll have to improvise (with lag screws) and hope that it won't compromise the ruggedness and sturdiness of the final product.
5- I'm going to have to shift some of the stuff in the workshop around to make room for the bench (and future dust collector and air filter).

So I'll be back in the workshop today trying out some new/old skills and seeing how far I can progress on this project. But first I'll have to make another run down to Arnot to get some long skinny lag screws.

Later.