buck_fast
Established Member
Hi everyone,I'm new to woodwork and have been reading these pages for months and also learning from you tube videos. I found plans on the internet for a garden bench,so have decided to have a go as my first project. They were demolishing secondary school round the corner from me so I asked them if they had any hardwood I could get,they gave me some old benches from the PE department . They were planks of a reddish coloured wood about 1 1/4" thick 11" wide and about 8ft in length,I got about 5 of those along with some other hardwood that is light in colour with a kind of rose colour running through it.
Anyway,back to the project,I bought a cheap table saw,a bench planer and a thicknesser. I started by cutting the wood to length and squaring it up and thicknessing it. I then marked off the mortises and roughed them out with a router and finished them by hand,then it was onto the tenons cut in the table saw.After cutting the tenons for the straps at the side of the bench I decided on a dry fit,the tenons fitted well(I was as proud as punch with myself). Next I went into the house to check the plans on my computer(I havent got a printer and I wasn't want to take the laptop into my dust filled garage),it was then that my first mistake was noticed,I had made one of the side straps for the garden seat at 11" up from the ground and it should have been 12 and a quarter up.(so that is why everyone says measure twice and cut once?) So I have 4 mortices to plug,I have done one and run the leg through the thicknesser and I'm pleased with the result. Onto the rest of them tomorrow.This is going to take me ages but please stick with me,your help will be appreciated.I will try and post some pictures.
Cheers,George.
http://s1068.photobucket.com/albums/u44 ... nt=007.jpg
Some of the wood I got from the school.
Anyway,back to the project,I bought a cheap table saw,a bench planer and a thicknesser. I started by cutting the wood to length and squaring it up and thicknessing it. I then marked off the mortises and roughed them out with a router and finished them by hand,then it was onto the tenons cut in the table saw.After cutting the tenons for the straps at the side of the bench I decided on a dry fit,the tenons fitted well(I was as proud as punch with myself). Next I went into the house to check the plans on my computer(I havent got a printer and I wasn't want to take the laptop into my dust filled garage),it was then that my first mistake was noticed,I had made one of the side straps for the garden seat at 11" up from the ground and it should have been 12 and a quarter up.(so that is why everyone says measure twice and cut once?) So I have 4 mortices to plug,I have done one and run the leg through the thicknesser and I'm pleased with the result. Onto the rest of them tomorrow.This is going to take me ages but please stick with me,your help will be appreciated.I will try and post some pictures.
Cheers,George.
http://s1068.photobucket.com/albums/u44 ... nt=007.jpg
Some of the wood I got from the school.
