Bill Satko
Member
- Messages
- 3,223
- Location
- Methow Valley
I thought I would share my building of a sawbench for my shop. A sawbench is different from a sawhorse mainly in the width and height of its top. The low & wide surface helps you to handsaw boards by allowing you to secure the board with your foot or knee. All my bench surfaces and sawhorses are of a much higher height and I felt that I needed a lower surface for some of things I was trying to do. Besides we all need some place to sit while we are pretending to be "working in the shop"!
This sawbench that I am building is based on the one Harry Strasil designed in his tutorial over at SMC. Check out his detailed tutorial that was posted around July of 2006. This will not be a tutorial, but me demonstrating part of process I will be going through as I build one. For a different type of sawbench, check out the one that Chris Schwartz builds in the Autumn 2006 copy of Woodworking Magazine and is also shown in his blog. Chris considers his version a "traditional English form". I guess that makes Harry's a traditional American form. If you are unfamiliar with Harry Strasil, I suggest to check his postings at SMC. He is a wealth of information on traditional methods of woodworking (using tools with no tails). He is also a blacksmith and posts to a blacksmith forum.
Here a sketch of the sawbench I will be building
It will be 20" high. I will maintain that height, but the width and length may change slightly as I proceed. You will notice that the legs are splayed out for stability. Based on Harry's design it is splayed out 10 degrees.
It is getting late and I will post more tomorrow as I show how I surfaced the malcontent board that will be my top. This board did not appreciate the warm and cozy shop I stored it in and decided to warp. This will be done with hand tools!
I must warn you that after tomorrow's post my progress will slow quite a bit because of my tendency to bite off more than I can chew. I have a more urgent chore (see my kitchen cabinet post) that I must complete, but I will try to sneak in work on the sawbench when the wife is not looking.
You see, the sawbench is NOT on the "honey do list".
This sawbench that I am building is based on the one Harry Strasil designed in his tutorial over at SMC. Check out his detailed tutorial that was posted around July of 2006. This will not be a tutorial, but me demonstrating part of process I will be going through as I build one. For a different type of sawbench, check out the one that Chris Schwartz builds in the Autumn 2006 copy of Woodworking Magazine and is also shown in his blog. Chris considers his version a "traditional English form". I guess that makes Harry's a traditional American form. If you are unfamiliar with Harry Strasil, I suggest to check his postings at SMC. He is a wealth of information on traditional methods of woodworking (using tools with no tails). He is also a blacksmith and posts to a blacksmith forum.
Here a sketch of the sawbench I will be building
It will be 20" high. I will maintain that height, but the width and length may change slightly as I proceed. You will notice that the legs are splayed out for stability. Based on Harry's design it is splayed out 10 degrees.
It is getting late and I will post more tomorrow as I show how I surfaced the malcontent board that will be my top. This board did not appreciate the warm and cozy shop I stored it in and decided to warp. This will be done with hand tools!
I must warn you that after tomorrow's post my progress will slow quite a bit because of my tendency to bite off more than I can chew. I have a more urgent chore (see my kitchen cabinet post) that I must complete, but I will try to sneak in work on the sawbench when the wife is not looking.
You see, the sawbench is NOT on the "honey do list".