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Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

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Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 29 Mar 2018, 15:40

Hello
Some timber scavengers, or beginners may find this of interest
SAM_2683.JPG
(196.63 KiB)


Planning to turn this iroko, a timber from both the Ivory coast, and Ghana in west Africa, into a fine Scandinavian design workbench with some modifications, mainly attempting to beef up the thickness wherever possible for a few reasons,
and possibly making the tool well more functional however possible, be it inset metal if need be, although this can be designed afterwards, so I will proceed.
This will have the traditional tail and shoulder vice, Ala Frank Klausz, so I may run into trouble wanting to beef it up, but I have the Klausz plans at least to go on.

I thought I'd show some tips I've found, on processing this stuff into usable timber again, suitable for fine work.
Its getting warmer now, nearly enough to do some gluing, I've been selecting and preparing this timber for the last good while...so pretty eager to get going.


I think is worth sharing some things that would be a... If I was to start again kinda thing, here's how I would do it again
Here we go .
Getting a hold of a solid composite fire door would be a good start, these get turfed out of buildings all the time, bars and hotel renovations ...look for these in skips and the dump.
Take any softwoods suitable to make a base with too.
But always take any hardwood doors like iroko and red meranti first. you can carry a whole door easily if you have just a panel saw in your rucksack.
Cutting the rails (short lengths) at the joint is a cross grain sawing, not ripping operation.
Saw the bottom and top before anything else, and try sliding out the panels.
If having to saw out the middle rail, don't overshoot it , or you will cut into the panel. I will try to illustrate this when I find another door.

Stripping off nails, and crud afterwards, a metal detector wand is very much essential for this task folks!

So a fire door would be nice and flat, ideal for using as a reference to work to.
Construct a bench with this composite top "floating" as in... not something that is gonna deflect, by being pulled down into a warped shape.
This bench will be used as a reference so protect it from damage.
You will be able to check this for flatness when you have a plane, and two lengths
of timber later on...
SAM_2747.JPG
(206.99 KiB)



A cheap Bailey style plane for planing the varnish or paint off, like a no.4 or 5
for this task, is narrower than the two below...
And two nice old Stanley Baileys... no.5 1/2's with thick soles (bases) throughout the length, and not lapped by an oaf!
I use these two 5 1/2's every time I go in there.
SAM_2736.JPG
(201.98 KiB)




So with the timber jointed face and edge, and the tenons removed from the mortises, these salvaged lengths are left for a while till you have enough stock...


Onto some planing tips regarding jointing for a beginner ...
Here is a shot I found from a few years ago, as you can see the crayon on the timber as a result of the work being rubbed on the bench, this is the high spot to be planed off.
DSCN1990.JPG
(385.79 KiB)

Just rub the work for 2 seconds, or you will rub it off your coloured reference area.
You are aiming for no gap to be between the timber and the bench, only the very ends....like just a few mm of crayon on each end of the timber...
You can use an angle poise lamp to great effect here, along with pivoting the work
and making sure it doesn't wobble and stays put after you get the jist of things.
A flat bench will teach you this, and how to plane faster than any other methods,
Not in a vice, just with the timber resting, not clamped on the bench planing against a stop in front usually.
A batten clamped or doweled in will do nicely, with two dog holes 19mm thick as thin dowels will break. DAMHIK

After you're able to surface timber dead flat to your bench, you then test this by planing two lengths up, which are the entire length of your workbench.
They should match perfectly together with no gap.
Use these two pieces then as winding sticks to test for twist on your bench.

This now is an essential time to have learned how to use the cap iron, ala David Weaver (David W on youtube) He is the only one on youtube, and elsewhere who goes into detail on this, and I suggest you dismiss the rest!

The iroko will be troublesome to work otherwise, most of the time.
As one of these Stanley Baileys is setup to tackle anything, regardless which grain direction planed, it will not produce tearout
Consequentially a plane that has the cap iron in effect will not nose dive off the ends, thus is more reliable than having to employ stop shavings, as you would have to with the same plane, if it had a very mild camber.
(NOSE DIVE) as in progressively taking far more off at the ends, by not lifting up at the end of the cut.
One of the many reasons why a bevel down plane is much superior to a bevel up plane.


SAM_2746.JPG
(220.92 KiB)



Fast forward to today, onto the next stage...learned some more more things during this time
After surfacing the timber face and edge, marking out the stock to thickness,
flipping over the work and expecting it to be dead on, is not without some more finessing!
Don't omit to stand the timber on edge again, and offer the square up to the thicknessed piece, It will more than likely need a few swipes taken off.

These three lengths, or bearers I have heard them recently called, along with a
long blade of a machinists bevel protractor really upped my precision cleaning out these mortises.
After initial rough cleaning of the dried glue and varnish, which degrades the timber sometimes! the endgrain should be worked on next, as it is a big waste of time to have the long grain prepped for gluing, only to have to pare it again for a fresh gluing surface...months later
SAM_2734.JPG
(210.13 KiB)


So with the mortises marked out, a good time to check your carpenters square, if you haven't allready, and give it a knock to true it up, as its not critical work marking out these "dutchman holes" since you may have to chop past the lines anyway...as they will be custom fit.
You really want the square to be bang on when taking the last swipes before laminating these.
Laying the square on the benchtop, offering it to the work as the reference

SAM_2723.JPG
(176.87 KiB)

This is where the long blade of the machinists bevel and the M&W no.400 square
is a real sure thing, even though both vintage tools have significant wear, which BTW was the only way I noticed it.
Still waiting until it warms up a bit to start filling, so I will be repeating the same on the rest of the stock for the next while

Tom
Last edited by TomTrees on 30 Mar 2018, 02:25, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Andyp » 29 Mar 2018, 17:40

I do like the idea of using reclaimed timbers. I am interested to see how this progresses.
I do not think therefore I do not am.

cheers
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby 9fingers » 29 Mar 2018, 17:46

Tom,

Nice to see you posting about your project.

There seems to be some confusion in the way you have uploaded and inserted pictures which has lead to the duplications.
Could I suggest to have a read of this thread viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2850
where give guide lines on how to use the photo hosting.

I could go in and edit it for you but possibly best if you find your own way round for the future.

Hint you don't need to use img tags. Simply once you have uploaded a photo, use the "place in line" button to insert the photos where you would like them to show.

Kind Regards
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Malc2098 » 29 Mar 2018, 19:40

Waiting for more with interest!
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Mike G » 29 Mar 2018, 20:51

That's a bizarre way of flattening a board, but if it works for you.......
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby 9fingers » 29 Mar 2018, 21:16

Mike G wrote:That's a bizarre way of flattening a board, but if it works for you.......



Anything using hand tools is bizarre in my book but everyone to their own :lol:
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Phil » 30 Mar 2018, 07:07

:text-goodpost:

Looking forward to this WIP.

Tom, how did you find the Iroko in terms of splinters? I have only used it once and spent more time digging splinters out of my fingers than the project time.



9fingers wrote:
Mike G wrote:That's a bizarre way of flattening a board, but if it works for you.......


Anything using hand tools is bizarre in my book but everyone to their own :lol:
Bob


:text-+1:


Using reclaimed timbers is a good idea. Most of the projects in the old days were from scavenging where ever I went. Factories that imported raw materials or machines were a favourite.


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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Woodbloke » 30 Mar 2018, 15:30

Andyp wrote:I do like the idea of using reclaimed timbers. I am interested to see how this progresses.

Agreed Andy, the parsimonious side of me is in sympathy with the idea of using reclaimed timber. Not iroko though :twisted: - Rob
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Pinch » 30 Mar 2018, 19:51

Hey Tom, great thread you're putting together here - I read through it last night. 8-)

I too am all for a bit of woody salvage.

You have a busy looking workshop and the pair of Jacks look dandy. 8-)
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 06 Apr 2018, 10:22

Hello again
Thanks Bob for helping me figure this posting malarkey thing out.
Now to confuse matters again, and post more photos of the progress which has to be done beforehand :eusa-doh:
Strange as it might seem to some folk, we all love some piccys :)
Square edge.JPG
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Drilling out tenons.JPG
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Chisel out tenons 2.JPG
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Rough cleaned mortises .JPG
(185.29 KiB)

Phil, I haven't really noticed any splinters from this stuff, if anything it might occur to me when bundling up some moldings,
Glass is only thing that gets embedded in my hands from this work.
I suppose this is about as splintery as it gets, wanting to forget about some stacked lengths that took a fall and knocked of the sharp edges :twisted:

Woodbloke, I had to look up what parsimonious means.I think it describes me anyway....
Quite stingy with unusual morals :lol:

Still doing wood prep as its very cold yet, I can't wait till gluing season
Thanks for the interest

Tom
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 17 Jan 2021, 21:22

Suppose I should do some sort of an update on this bench build thread.
I still have the interesting parts to do yet, eager to get it finished when it starts to get a bit warmer,
Made this table for the job, but its a bit of a pain bringing timbers into the house to laminate.
This really dries the timber out on the surface and can cause some checking so must be kept near wet.
a heavier blanket needed.JPG
(194.06 KiB)


Some shots of laminating
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Bench dogs.JPG
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Bench dogs 2.JPG
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Bench dogs 3.JPG
(186.85 KiB)


tent.JPG
(212.43 KiB)

Tent2.JPG
(193.53 KiB)

SAM_3100.JPG
(177.11 KiB)
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Trevanion » 17 Jan 2021, 22:13

Oi! I wondered where all my doors went! :x

Found any calcium deposits in the Iroko yet? Possibly the fastest way to ruin a set of planer knives except running timber with staples through the machine.
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 17 Jan 2021, 22:17

Plenty of lessons learned in laminating during that time.
Finding out glue instantly grabs is not fun when alignment is a concern.
Had plenty of thickness in that dog section before that :oops:
Core close to completion .JPG
(195.31 KiB)


If I didn't mention before, I found plans online for the Frank Klausz workbench
and am copying the dimensions for it, albeit opting for a 4" top throughout, rather than only for the dog section.
This should make the tail vice interesting to do, in a traditional(sh) fashion

Some end caps were laminated, and my first opportunity to misread the plans, as the short end cap is too short!
It might get used for the tail vice though.
End caps laminated.JPG
(192.38 KiB)


So now that benchtop was mostly done, I was eager to get a base made for it.
It was a bit of a hazard, really difficult to get around, quite messy
and was sitting on all of my short stock.

The base on the plans was a bit skimpy, so decided to beef it up a bit, and was wanting to keep the overall look of the Klausz bench at the same time.
This looked about right
80mm.JPG
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Got some thick enough timbers and plugged them
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I don't have my measurements offhand, but to get the dimensions for a 4" thick, I think
I kept the theme going of having a half inch strip going up the middle.
This method is quicker and less wasteful than cutting strips and laminating them afterwards.
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Got some stock for the strechers
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An issue which can be annoying on a flush bench when planing wide stock, is that the strechers can make contact with your knee.
This bench has an overhang, so I tested it out to see how things went, it was one of the main issues with the other one, no issues there.
SAM_3371.JPG
(195.64 KiB)


I lost some of my photos so bear with me.
Had a try at a pig sticker to get the most out of the way
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I have this plate of aluminium which I find very handy for all sorts of things like mortice walls
I found it dosen't work too well like this
SAM_3635.JPG
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But used this way is very accurate
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Found out this isn't the way for marking out, what a mess I made... mentioned later on
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(206.86 KiB)


And eventually got working on the tenons
SAM_3655.JPG
(212.5 KiB)
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby AJB Temple » 17 Jan 2021, 22:32

Very interesting thread and thanks for posting.

This made me laugh out loud:
This now is an essential time to have learned how to use the cap iron, ala David Weaver (David W on youtube) He is the only one on youtube, and elsewhere who goes into detail on this, and I suggest you dismiss the rest!


He knows a lot, but is not for for one word when ten will do.

Mr T is right of course about Iroko knackering planer blades. But what are we to do? Not use the stuff? I made a few things from Iroko (40mm planked work surface for a utility room, and some gates) and it was not as bad as all that. Planer blades can be sharpened - bearing in mind I don't have a super fancy spiral cutter.

Looking forward to seeing how you progress. I would like to make another bench but never do as there are too many jobs on my list.
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Trevanion » 17 Jan 2021, 22:42

AJB Temple wrote:Mr T is right of course about Iroko knackering planer blades. But what are we to do? Not use the stuff? I made a few things from Iroko (40mm planked work surface for a utility room, and some gates) and it was not as bad as all that. Planer blades can be sharpened - bearing in mind I don't have a super fancy spiral cutter.


Iroko is fine to work with 99% of the time but on occasion you come across these big deposits of Calcium Carbonate which is a hard white mineral that is just like putting stone through your machine. You can usually tell if it's present if the raw sawn timber has a sort of whitish cloud on the surface where the saw has gone through the deposit so you can avoid it, but it does catch you out sometimes and you're left crying with massive gouges out of your knives :cry:
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 17 Jan 2021, 22:48

Here is the way I'm going about chopping that waste anymore...
A wee chop aiming well away from the line first
SAM_3724.JPG
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Two whacks of an awl, and drilling a pair of holes afterwards
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Chopping is far easier this way
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Cutting to the line, might have got a bit carried away and got too close with that knife wall idea,
SAM_3749.JPG
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Worked alright on that cut, but went past the line on some whilst trying to stay away from it.
SAM_3750.JPG
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I could have done the other rip cuts for the shoulders before I cut the checks off, plenty of tenons to learn from.
This came in very handy to the rescue, and I have some nice coasters instead of firewood.
SAM_3751.JPG
(195.5 KiB)


Aluminium plate and marking gauge to the rescue again
This is how I will be marking out from now on
SAM_3752.JPG
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Shoulder plane and Bailey to get a fit
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SAM_3760.JPG
(202.71 KiB)


The shoulder plane works great for this
SAM_3761.JPG
(176.1 KiB)

SAM_3767.JPG
(196.87 KiB)
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby AJB Temple » 17 Jan 2021, 22:54

I know you're right Mr T. But if we want to use Iroko, as I did, or if it is just available in our shop cheaply or free from a reclaim, then it's worth taking the risk. The alternative is not use the wood.

I've used just enough to do a pair of big gates and my work surfaces in a previous house, and was lucky enough to have no damage. I was aware of the risk and I sent the blades off for a resharpen after each job. My planer is not super duper though - a triple blade Axi trade 10" (from era when their machines were reasonably OK).
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 17 Jan 2021, 23:19

I can't say that the iroko is bad for dulling cutters AJB, as I can only compare it to
other reclaimed tropicals in the workshop, some a heck of a lot tougher like what I think is afrormosia
and some other tropicals which might be in that ball park of iroko.

I don't cut it often to have any experience with tablesaw blades, only have gotten around to making it feesable to use recently, and even at that, it fires dust everywhere.
I use it for reclaiming timbers, cutting close to a rebate without hitting putty, as that destroys a blade in seconds.
Iroko does seem to blunten a bandsaw blade quick enough, I suppose.
I had issues with my bandsaw for some time, and damage was likely to blame as well as dullness,

I've never really cut anything else of a decent quantity to know any different, so ignorance is bliss I suppose.

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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 18 Jan 2021, 00:04

More fitting of these legs, as my terrible Dyscalculia is very evident.
I think I flipped this one around, but it is a better illustration of how I will be marking out from now on.
SAM_3713.JPG
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Here's another use of this plate for finding high spots and for keeping parallel.
A large hex key like graphite stick from the art shop, is good for marking aluminium.
Cast works even better for transferring.
SAM_3696.JPG
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Somehow I'd made an error in calculations :lol:
SAM_3796.JPG
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Decided, well actually the dog did, to omit the middle strecher for the shelf on the plans
SAM_3794.JPG
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Now time for the strechers to get plugged
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Making sure anymore to chamfer the sharp front edge before planing
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Four strechers for my own take on the base design
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That was the second time round, as I cut them too short :oops:
I think it was when I was going from these measurements, not keeping strictly to the plans, and daftly referred back to one of the many copy books with dimensions when cutting them to length.
I really have to get more organised about this :lol:
SAM_3802.JPG
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So time for a better mock up of the base
SAM_3803 (copy).JPG
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Got some copy book cardboard and figured out the profile on the skis, can't find pictures of that part.
Trial and error, with a good deal of research on what looks good.
Cut the corners on the bandsaw and dug out the old beltsander to get it a bit closer.
SAM_3809.JPG
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Sawed that stop and pared it close enough for now, leaving an extra bit for dents in the meanwhile.
SAM_3818.JPG
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SAM_3828.JPG
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(415.24 KiB)


Time to glue these up as the weather was starting to get cold
SAM_3848.JPG
(393.06 KiB)

SAM_3858.JPG
(416.36 KiB)
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 18 Jan 2021, 00:27

Here's a shot of those pieces of copy book templates
SAM_3876.JPG
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Started work on the mortises, making deep cuts both end and long grain away from the line,
SAM_3878.JPG
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SAM_3881.JPG
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SAM_3883.JPG
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That plate makes for easy paring
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Mortises done
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Started work on the tenons next, using that marking gauge as a router plane, and using the bench as a straight edge seemed to ensure tenons were coplanar, but turned out to be a lot of faff.
SAM_3912.JPG
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SAM_3936.JPG
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SAM_3938.JPG
(331.33 KiB)
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 18 Jan 2021, 00:49

With all tenons close enough, I didn't want to surface one face spot on,
it was time to work on the shoulders
Found the lowest knife lines and mark them to ensure I wouldn't go past them with the shoulder plane
SAM_3940.JPG
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Chopped to make it easier
SAM_3944.JPG
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A quick skim to check for lumps on the faces
SAM_3952.JPG
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Some might notice the heater on in the background, as some spelching occurred
SAM_3954.JPG
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More fitting and shaving
SAM_3957.JPG
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With the tenons fitting snug, mapping out the high spots for the shoulder plane
SAM_3964.JPG
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Making sure the tenons are going in straight, still very tight
SAM_3967.JPG
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With one end of them done, time to do the other end
SAM_3970.JPG
(196.24 KiB)


The tenon cheeks were still too tight on the other end, and it was getting annoying having to use the bench for reference.
I tried using a beam instead, and pleased that it was a much more reliable method for finding high spots.
I also planed up a custom shim for checking instead of finding an offcut which was a bit rough.
SAM_3972.JPG
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Works 10 times better!
SAM_3973.JPG
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SAM_3979.JPG
(227.46 KiB)
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 18 Jan 2021, 01:02

Pleased to get that done as it was getting messy
SAM_3982.JPG
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Delighted to slide the top onto the base
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And with that a big tidy up, which is still ongoing :lol:
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Not going to do any more work on the base until the top is finished, and
have a lot of stuff to do round the house, so won't be back at it until it heats up a bit.
Been making use of the space since then, but that will be on another thread.

Tom
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby TomTrees » 19 Jan 2021, 03:27

Trevanion wrote:Oi! I wondered where all my doors went! :x

Found any calcium deposits in the Iroko yet? Possibly the fastest way to ruin a set of planer knives except running timber with staples through the machine.


Sorry Trevanion, I missed your post while I was updating this.
I find planing this stuff no bother anymore, since realising how effective the cap iron is.
Planing alternating grain when a cap iron not set close enough on the tougher examples, will blunten an iron
quickly, but more from slamming into the grain, rather than from minerals I think.

The densest stuff tends to have mineral deposits of some sort, and I used to set those bits aside as they seemed really difficult to work at the time, instead of sifting through it all to find these lengths now.
On one face of these denser examples will often look like Panga Panga and have a shine/haze to them.
I remember having to surface them using a no.80 scraper, it was hard going.
I would have thought this was silica though as its sparkly, not chalk like or calcium deposits like in Mitch Peacock's world of woods video of Panga Panga.

Although have seen examples of calcium like substance on bits which have knots or bark inclusions and often stuffed with fillers, and punky, so difficult to get a clear picture what it is.
I planed up some with this (before I was using the cap iron correctly) and noticed no bother planing it,
but I can't mention how blunt the iron got, as I do plenty of angle grinding in here, and have to run a ruler to find any pin head sized steel on everything before planing it.
Hard to be sure if its mineral deposits, putty or steel/grit a lot of the time.

Scraper planes is probably the worst offender for blunting, now that I think of it,
although I have never used a scraper on other woods to compare.
I don't get much bluntening issues now on the Bailey planes, but always did notice it on the shooting plane,
even when I was working easier lighter examples of iroko.

I might see if I can dig out some of those calcium bits, and compare it next to what I thought was silica.
Maybe I might try and see which seems to blunten first.
I ain't no scientist and I'm not going to be able to do proper test though.

About your door's...
Not sure if you had a cap flap on them, but sounds like it could well be, just a loyal shop dog earning his keep
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby Custard » 19 Jan 2021, 12:16

Congratulations on what looks like a very solid and professional job!

:eusa-clap:
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Re: Scandinavian workbench from salvaged Iroko

Postby AJB Temple » 19 Jan 2021, 12:37

Top notch work.

Please would you explain the use of the aluminium plate a bit more. I am being exceptionally dim there.

(I would have to tidy up your workshop. OCD tendencies here re my shop :oops: )
Don't like: wood, engines, electrickery, decorating, tiling, laying stone, plumbing, gardening or any kind of DIY. Not wild about spiders either.
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