My First Real Project

My first “real” wood working project.

There was a battle here...

 I call it that because this was what I consider my first real foray into hand tool woodworking and I can be perfectly honest to say that it shows. While working on my first work table/bench, I knew I’d need support for sawing boards by hand. I did have some plastic sawhorses, but those weren’t sturdy enough. Besides, they were just too tall to be anywhere close to comfortable for hand tool use. After seeing a project on the internet about a saw bench, I decided that project would be perfect. It would give me an opportunity to try my hand at a couple joints that I had never done before and provide a useful tool for all future projects. Looking at the tools I would need, I decided I had everything I “had” to have (handsaw) except for a set of chisels. These would be needed to chop out the mortises in the legs (and pare down to the lines that I could not saw to). Not knowing what in the world I was looking for and thinking of just a quick fix until I could do more research, I wound up at HF with a few bucks in my pocket and on a mission. Picked up a set of chisels for just a few bucks—and yes, there is a reason they are only a few bucks. I also wound up with a nice little replaceable head mallet that I still abuse regularly. It abused the chisels just fine, though unnecessarily…

Did you know chisels should be sharpened to a fine edge that should be pretty much invisible to the eye? Huh. Me neither…

Not pretty, but it does its job!

So now I have the tools I would need for very little out of pocket cost. Now on to the lumber.  I chose a wider top. I picked a 1x12. No reason, other than my brain was telling me a 5-6” width couldn’t make a good saw surface.

As a side note, Yes, I can and often do try to go my own with anything, including hundreds of years of history and high praise from current woodworkers. And yes, I am incorrect in my previous assumption about the width, but not because either was wrong or better. It just doesn’t matter. Build what you want.

An extra notch or two

So here it is. My saw bench. I beat out mortises with chisels. I don’t say cut or chopped, because I found out during this process how dull tools can hinder your work. These things fought back I think, but they were finally beaten into submission. I should really have just used the claws on my framing hammer. I’m sure it would have cut my time in half, at least. (It couldn't have been any more rough!) In all honesty, these were my first and I believe it shows. Tell you what though, I had a lot of fun and I wound up with a saw bench that has seen me through a year of service and is still going strong. I’ve “added” a few notches as I found good places to put them. The notch in the side is actually really nice for crosscutting longer pieces. I can clamp boh sides to the bench without worrying about tearout. It also stands too tall based on the suggestetd height. Mine is just above my knee. Oh well. What do they know, right?

But it works. It’s ugly, but it does its job, and I’m good with that. I’m not afraid to saw into it, cut extra notches, or spill something on it. The saw bench is a tool and I use it as one. I like it. I got to work with wood, spend time in a peaceful shop, and I realized that yup, this is for me.

This is the newer one. A few projects later

Oh! I almost forgot! Sharpening! Dude, mortises are not supposed to take an hour each. Sharpen your chisels.