New Guy

[bubba1]

Here is the long way around to how I ended up on this forum:

Last T-Day MsBubba and I made a Texas run to see the kids and pick up my tools. Ken M had kept 'em in his barn for the last 15 years while I was traveling around the world to some of the better garden spots i.e. The Sudan and Afghanistan. The planes and chisels were in reasonable shape as were most of the other tools, it's good to have friends. The machinery was long gone. My old work bench just needed cleaning off, the vices lubed and the top flattened and it was working the same as it did 15 years ago, only problem it really doesn't do that good a job of clamping, typical of benches with metal vises. I knew the bench would need replacing if I were going to have a hand tool shop and my plan was to set up a hand tool shop with a good band saw and maybe a jointer and planner for dimensioning rough stock. All I really wanted to do was turn large pieces of wood into smaller ones and have an excuse to buy old chisels and planes. It didn't quite work out that way.

On the way home MsBubba decided our next project was to redo the kitchen (we had just finished painting the outside of the house), that was OK with me, at least it wasn't painting and someone else would be doing most of the work.

Time to cut to the chase.

After several weeks of looking at what was available at the Orange Store and the Blue Store and the cost of installing it, in a moment of shear stupidity, I said "Ah Shucks (at least a close approximation), I'll build it myself". Almost one year later, at the cost of a Pentagon weapons system and a total 180 on my shop, I'm almost finished. All that is left are 14 doors and a little finish trim work. Most of the doors are cut, just need to finish glueing up few more panels and get 'em painted and hung. Hang in, I'll get to the point.

So one year later I'm finally getting around to setting up my hand tool shop and a bench build is first in line. I stumbled across BenchCrafter a few weeks ago while looking for bench hardware and ordered their Roubo kit, shortly after that (I think from their site) I found the WoodWhisper.

Here is the kitchen, my best guess is about 200 man hours spread over about 6 months.

[JerrySats]

Hi Bubba

Welcome to the site , thats some story and heck of a good friend to hold your tools that long . The kitchen sure looks great , your time and effort really shows . Look forward to hearing about and see your bench build .

Regards

Jerry

[bubba1]

Hi Bubba

Welcome to the site , thats some story and heck of a good friend to hold your tools that long . The kitchen sure looks great , your time and effort really shows . Look forward to hearing about and see your bench build .

Regards

Jerry

Thanks,

Yep, as I said it's good to have friends, not many would haul your stuff around for that long. There was a lot of stuff, a bunch of Record planes with a few Stanley's including my boxed Stanley 45, a few dozen or more chisels which I'm still trying to finish sharpening, and all the other junk a tool junky's wood shop gathers over a decade.

I'm getting ahead of myself and went looking for bench wood today, the orange store has DF for about $1.00 USD a board foot (if I did my math right). I could save some serious money by going that route but I'm still leaning towards using Ash for the top and either Ash or Hickory for the base. Hickory is really heavy and stiff and would be great for the top but is so tough to work I think it's best to limit its use to the base and I may even chicken out using it there. BTW, the kitchen shelves are Hickory, really beautiful when it behaves but it is like working with out a net, you never know when disaster will happen, just that it will.

[Jfitz]

Hi Bubba - nice work on the kitchen!

I saw your other post on your shop too...looks like you're diving right back in (although at 200+ hours into your kitchen project, I would say that you're already back!).