Beams to Dreams

It’s time to get started. No more planning, no more thinking and hopefully no more tooling up. First order of business is to start cutting my beams down to size. Though it’s not as straightforward as it might appear. I’ve learned a few things about buying wood, some which I already knew but didn’t quite register with me. I guess i’m an experiential learner… 1st off, country folk are savvy and you should drive a hard bargain. I still can’t decide whether I got a good deal… On one hand, walnut beams are exceedingly rare and should cost a small fortune. On the other hand these beams have checks, pith, debris and the tree ate a small fence and a few lag bolts back in 1982. All in, I probably did very well, especially considering I wouldn’t have been able to buy the same amount of wood in ash or oak from the local hardwood supplier for any cheaper. Actually it would have been close to double. The trade off is that I had to dig metal out of a few beams, I’ll have take care to mill the pith out where ever possible and I’ll probably end up having more dutchmen than than the Netherlands.

It took a bit of rotisserie but the bosch glide got it done.

Used a mdf sled to get straight and true edge.

Hot damn, it actually worked!

Legs were looking a little hairy and needed a shave.

I wasn’t kidding about the pith & checks. I might need to drown those dutchmen in epoxy.

proto-roubo | walnut-henge

An Industrial Revolution

The machine shop side of the workshop is complete. Ducting has been run and the sub-panels in. I won’t go into too many of the details as it was more of a hassle than anything else. Numerous trips to home depot, rona, lowes, to purchase all manner of ducting, fittings, screws, hose clamps tape, in various diameters, gauges and orientations. But it’s in and I have enough parts left over to build a small space station. Nasa, look me up if you’re reading this.

A French Connection

I’ve been deep in the minutiae of workbenches for some time now, it’s been one of more extensive rabbit holes I’ve travelled down. I’ve poured over all the books, have read countless build threads and I think I’ve reached a point where I have a clear idea of what I want for my own. Initially, I was really drawn to Chris Schwarz’s cherry slab roubo, to my eye’s it was just about perfect except it was a little on the small side. It has a purposeful honesty about it, whereas the more popular “benchcrafted” style benches come across as more cold and clinical. My plans changed when I stumbled across 1stdibs.com, which is a veritable treasure trove of workbench design ideas. And it was there where I found it, a french bench with perfect proportions, a design which sang to me across the centuries, and It’s the one I will build. It differs from the modern roubo interpretation in a few ways. Its front stretchers are inset and not flush, It has drawers, lacks the dovetail tenon and has an overall wider stance than most. I’ll need to make a few modifications of my own, I’ll add upper support stretchers , a quick release tail vise, a shelf to the underside and will thicken the top somewhat. It feels good to be able to stop searching, no more endless research, it’s just time to build.

Christopher Schwarz’s Petite Cherry Roubo

The French Bench

A quick sketchup plan