Nice night, hanging with fellow woodworkers in Covington on the eave of Woodworking in America.

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I love benches. I’ve ranted here before about how much I like them, I’ve written essays about my bench design ethic and I’ve been very excited that this winter’s Guild Build is a bench.Though my favored designs usually lean towards the Rouboesque and I’m a big believer in Chris Schwarz’s “the legs should be flush with the front edge” rule, I’ll freely admit that there is no right bench for everyone.Lately, I’ve been reading and re-reading John White’s article on his Wired Workbench from Fine Woodworking. It’s not what I would typically think of when a Workbench is mentioned, but the more I look at this bench for power tools, the more I like it.It incorporates very efficient (and cost effective) clamping, integrated dust control and holds the cords and hoses out of the choice (similar to my boom arm). I think it makes for a very functional power tool bench. I’m very temped to build one myself once I’m done with the Clockwork Workbench, but alas I have no room. Luckily my Dad’s shop is roughly the size of my house, so maybe he’ll make one.

I was hoping to embed the video here, but all Ive been able to do is link to it. Check it out on the Fine Woodworking site. So that Im not without image, heres a photo:

If that bench has wet your appetite, here are a few more recent blog posts about workbenches.Chris’s bench design essay I & II.Kari has a recent post about the benches of WIA11.Marc is building a split top Roubo with the Wood Whisperer Guild.Vic is posting all the time about his Split Top Guild Bench build.Shannon’s now classic Roubo build.Schwarz’s Petite Roubo Talk.My Petite Workbenches.Marc’s build or buy postKari’s joinery benchShannon’s joinery benchMorton’s Sourcing the LumberMy bench build postsI’m sure I’ve missed many a good post, so if you have a post about a work bench, or know of one, please share it in the comments.

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Last year at Woodworking in America we ran around with our recorder (twice, actually) and asked the same 5 questions of everyone we could find.Last Years Questions:

1. How did you get into woodworking?
2. Whats your favorite tool?
3. Who has influenced you the most?
4. What was your biggest stumbling block & could it have been avoided?
5. How has the internet influenced your work?

This year, thanks to the generous help of our members, we have a much better recording rig. Were setting up to record an episode or two of the MWA Podcast while were in Cincinnati.

The initial setup of the new rig.

Thats not to say we wont again also unleash Tom on the marketplace floor with the upgraded recorder. Since some of the fantastic woodworkers well run into are folk weve already asked the 5 questions of (at WIA last year and on the podcast since), were looking to come up with 5 more questions for WIA2013.

So far we we have two questions for this year.

1. What was the first woodworking project you built?
2. What was the last woodworking project you built?

As you can see, we need three (3) more questions. Thats where you come in. Please post the questions youd like us to ask in the comments below (or on Google+). Well go through them and add three (3).

Thanks for all the help & support. We hope itll payoff in great Woodworking in America content.

 Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.

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Stewie has just finished this dt backsaw, the same of previous post but made whit a different wood. Enjoy it!
Well this one is of the same design but I have used Makore as the handle wood. I have included some end grain photos of the handle so you get a better idea of the amount of work that goes into achieving a quality finish. That also goes with the shaping of the bevels on the brass hardback. It takes a lot of time to do this by hand and I sometimes curse the extra effort required, but it does add that extra flair to the final look of the saw.
Stewie;

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Should have more than a one hundred years these tongue and groove planes. I picked up them from ebay, maybe they come from Austria or Germany. No marks on the plane body, neither on the blades.They cut a 8 mm tongue and groove.

When I had them I noticed they needed a restoring job. The plane body showed numerous worm holes, although the wood was solid enough.

The main problem was that the wooden screws was blocked into the body and for two of them I cannot unscrew. The only solution was sawing the plane body for reach the thread and release the screw. The damage was inevitable and a repair needed!I dislike to have these tools only for collecting them; I love to use them too. So I attempted to a structural and functional recovery, preserving, if possible, their lived-in look with some sign of aging

After washing with soap and treated with an anti-worm product (although the old holes seemed empty), blades and steel skates received a anti-rust treatment.

The pieces were then re-glued and veneers were used for closing the saw grooves. Then I closed the worm holes, leaving some intentionally.

The functional recovery concerned after all in to steady contact points (soles and fences). For this job I used mahogany strips. This wood is also present in the wedges and regulating screws.
The skate bed and sides were rectified by a big file and by sliding the plow on the abrasive paper while keeping it square.

The two half-skates are inserted into a groove of plane body. At heel ant toe, the skates have dovetail shape and are firmly held by a nail driven into the body.

One wooden screw has split while removing it and I had to repair by gluing.

All screws had difficulties to move in their threads, so I used a thin cylindric rasp for easy their action.

Blades are hand forged; the plow plane blade was worn-out, so I had to substitute it.I started from a 32 mm single plane iron, cut by a angle grinder (cooling often) and refinished at bench grinder.

By looking at old blade, it shows a trapezoidal section and slightly tapered sides; this avoids the cutter binds into the groove walls, even if the plane rocks a bit.

Moreover, the original blades show a convex shape for a stronger holding of them by wedge; I imitate this for the new blade and it works. 

Finally, I rectified the contact surfaces (soles and fences) for having the cutting edge square to the fence and parallel to the sole. Of course I tried to cut a joint.

 

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+Tulus Soemego shared this video on Google+ last week. Im not sure of the brand, but its still fascinating to see how one of the most used items in the shop is made. This video from How Its Made is well worth checking out.

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