Just Do It

Years ago I was asked to be liturgist during a church service. That meant getting up in front of the congregation of 200 and reading passages from the bible.

Besides running a lathe, public speaking is probably the only thing I'm afraid of. Oh, and spiders.

When I mentioned my anxiety about getting up in front of the congregation to my parents, my Dad said, "Bulls**t, get your *ss up there and do it."

Dad's not the best motivational guru but I did what he said, didn't trip on my way to pulpit, didn't faint, and lived to read another day.

What's this have to do with Get Woodworking Week?

I've noticed how often we delay starting a project because we're afraid we'll mess up, waste wood, make something that's not fit for show, won't know what we're doing, etc, etc., especially if we're planning to do something we've never done before.

This can be a roadblock, particularly for new woodworkers.

My advice is to just do it. Jump right in. Find a project in a magazine that spells out the details and start building.

One of my very first projects.
And I'm proud to show it.

As Chuck Bender said at a recent SAPFM meeting: woodworkers are afflicted with paralysis by analysis. Because of this and for other reasons, Chuck has started an online program to help woodworkers get moving.

And once you build your first couple projects, be proud of them. They represent the beginning of your exciting adventure in woodworking. The first project I made (which I no longer have because someone in the house pitched it) was a few small pieces of wood tacked together to form a box, and a scrollsawn cactus, painted with crazy southwestern designs, glued on the front.

Be fearless.

It's what I'm going to tell myself when I stand up in front of a group of strangers in April to give a presentation at a local museum.

And if you need more words of encouragement to get started woodworking, I'll be glad to give you my Dad's number.

Roubo Design

A few people have asked about the two boards that make up the top of my workbench. Here is my design so you can see what it will look like.

I do not plan to glue the two boards together. That way, I can more easily remove the top by myself when I need to take the bench on the road.

Half a bench or skinny hall table?
You decide.

The two boards will be separated by about an eighth inch gap. Because it's winter (low humidity), I'll keep an eye on the space, and as we approach Pennsylvania's 75% summertime humidity—and the boards expand like my waistband at Christmastime—I can shave off some wood in between the two.

The boards will be supported by upper stretchers on the end assemblies. I'm hoping that with each board pinned to two legs and supported by the short stretchers, it will keep the top stable. If they slide at all, I'll need join the two boards with something that still allows them to be separated for disassembly.

The long lower stretchers will be tusk tenons so they can be removed. Both sets of short stretchers, upper and lower, will be mortised and glued into the legs.

Tenon/dovetail number two.

I plan to build a separate tool box that will sit on cleats that are attached to the lower stretchers.

I may or may not build a sliding deadman. It might not be necessary because the bench is so small, but it adds a coolness factor. And I'm all about aesthetics.

The leg chop will reflect my love of all things Pennsylvania German. I may tweak the design once I get to that part of the build but you can bet that it will have curves.

Transferring marks from one board to
the other. Pictured are the undersides
of the workbench top.

I'm fitting the third leg right now. Tenon/dovetail number two fits really well and took less than half the time. I sped up my time once I stopped paring like a girl.

Fitting the Legs

After countless hours of chopping and paring, testing and tweaking, I finally got one of the legs to fit into the top of my workbench.

The next three should go a little more quickly because I learned something very important: trust my layout lines.

Rather than sneaking up on the lines and testing the fit of these very heavy boards along the way, I'm going to cut right to them.

Because these legs will need to be removed on occasion, I left a sliver of a gap between the tenons and mortises. I also rounded over the sharp corners of the front of the dovetail slot. Otherwise, they're too fragile and would chip.

The joint slides together easily. This being winter with low humidity, I expect that they'll be a little tighter when the weather gets warmer. Nothing a little paraffin wax...or more paring...can't handle.

When all the legs are fitted, I'll trim the tops so they're flush with the benchtop.


This is a more difficult build than I had expected but it's a great learning experience.

And that's what it's all about after all.

Get Woodworking Week

Tom Iovino, of Tom's Workbench, has come up with a brilliant idea.

As shop classes are being discontinued in our schools, as people spend more time on the internet than working with their hands (I'm guilty of this one), and as the knowledge to build, repair, and swing a hammer is disappearing, woodworking bloggers are being called upon to help save woodworking.

Read about Tom's idea here. All next week, he'll post links to bloggers who are writing words of inspiration to encourage folks to put the mouse down and pick up a woodworking tool.

Nice one, Tom.

Make A Joint Stool From A Tree

Make a Joint Stool from a Tree, by Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee is now available from the Lost Art Press.

Preorder before the February 27 press date and get free shipping.

Why am I promoting this?

Do I get a free copy? No. Do I get a handmade joint stool by Peter Follansbee? No. Do I get homemade chocolate chip cookies for life? No.

I am promoting this for a purely selfish reason, however. The Lost Art Press prints the kinds of books that I want to read and I want them to keep printing them.

What Has Four Legs But Cannot Stand?

A workbench with no top!

But that's next on the list now that I've finished the joinery on the legs.

By the time I was working on the fourth leg I had managed to find a good technique for getting all faces square and flat.

I had been using floats, which worked great, but they left a rather rough surface.

By using a chisel, the surfaces are smooth, which will help them slide into the mortises more easily.

When squaring up the surfaces, I found that if you make your cut lines really deep, saw close to the line, then pare to the line all around the edges with a chisel, it's easier to remove everything in between.

I used a straightedge to check my progress. If you hold both ends of the straightedge and try to rock it like a seesaw, it will reveal high spots. If it doesn't rock, there are no gaps, and the straightedge rests on the cut lines on both sides, the surface is flat.

The tenon on the bottom has been
squared up. The one on top still needs
to be pared.

I worked on these legs for a long time to get them as square as possible. I believe I averaged about eight hours per leg.

If only I were able to be that focused at my job, I'd be a rich woman.

I used a router to clean up the outside cheeks. By sliding two legs together end-for-end, the router was supported on both sides.

Using the router was a welcome break from all that chiseling.

What's Better Than a WIA Conference?

2 WIA Conferences!

Popular Woodworking Magazine has answered the pleas from the West Coast. In addition to the regular show in Cincinnati, they're taking the event all the way to California!

I wonder how Megan's going to fit her workbench
in the overhead compartment....

News Flash: Maple is Not as Soft as Poplar

I had planned to build a poplar base for my Roubo workbench.

But wise friends talked me out of it, arguing that poplar would never hold up to the cherry top considering that the bench would be broken down for transport on occasion.

They were right of course, so I chose soft maple instead.

I started cutting the through-tenons and dovetails on the legs this weekend and figured I'd have all of them cut and squared up by end of day Saturday.

By Monday afternoon, two legs were finished.  And I have concluded that "soft" maple is, in fact, anything but.

Theoretically, the tenons and dovetails will fit snugly in their matching mortises, but not so tight that they can't be knocked apart.

This is going to be tougher than I thought. Maple is unyielding. So in order for all the pieces to fit, they must be square and flat.

In other words, I fully anticipate that there to be gaps in the joints once the bench is finished.