Roubo Bench - Mostly Done!

I made some good progress on my bench this week.

To recap my progress up to this point, I built this bench in a class with Christopher Schwarz at Dictum in June.  Once it was home, I put it in my little cave of a workshop in the basement, after cleaning out a bunch of the old junk.

New bench freshly installed in the Bat-Cave.

The first thing I did was scrub the top with my home-made scrub plane.  The top was already glued up when we got to the course, so I didn't have much say in grain direction, etc.  It is made up of four massive European oak beams about 5 1/2" square.  There was one in particular that was bowed, and created a hump right down the middle.  I chose to put this on top thinking scrubbing it off would be easier than scrubbing the others down to it's level on the other side.  I was right.  This took only about 10 minutes.

Scrubbing off the hump.

After scrubbing.

My Krenov-style scrub plane in action.

It leaves a fairly pronounced scalloped surface.

It even worked well on the end grain.

So, this is the state my bench has been in for the past few months.  I did a couple things like installed a planing stop, wooden dogs, a tail vice, and had been working on the Benchcrafted face vice.

I actually have been using this bench in this state.  I completed a Krenov-style laminated jointer that I needed for the flattening process.

Now that I have the face vice done, I feel like it is time to flatten the bench.

First, I emptied the shop and cleaned the corners.  All my stuff went in the hallway for a couple days.  Sorry, neighbors!

After making the shop suitable for doing this job by making space, I started by planing across the grain with my BU jack plane with a toothed blade set for an aggressive cut.  I was reluctant to do this with my scrub plane, as I thought the surface left would be difficult to clean up.

This worked great.  I started by knocking down the high spots.  Just make sure to put a small chamfer on the far side to prevent most of the blow-out.

Toothed blade with an aggressive cut. 

I then used the toothed blade to go at a diagonal on the top.  First one way, then the other until everything started to get at basically the same level.

Next up, joint the top going with the grain.  My new Krenov jointer has been tested and I find it does what it is supposed to superbly.  The only problem with it is that the mouth tends to clog up if you don't remove the shavings after each pass.  When using it on an uneven surface (such as this one that has toothing plane tracks on it) the mouth fills up and clogs with all of the dust.  Nothing seems to eject.

I don't think this is necessarily a problem with my construction, just a limitation of this style, with the cross-pin designed as it is.  This is a finesse tool, and cleaning up toothing plane tracks is not a finesse job.

Out came the regular blade for the jack plane, and a few minutes along the grain and the tracks were mostly gone.  NOW it's time for the jointer.

This is probably my favorite plane of the moment.

Taking slightly overlapping passes, I only had to go over each spot four or five times before I was getting nice, full length shavings that indicated the bench was probably as flat as I would get it.

I have to say I am impressed with how this bench works.  It made me realize that I have never before had the opportunity to work on a truly flat work surface.  What a treat!

Complete! (mostly)

I drilled a hole for a holdfast, and two more holes in the leg to store my holdfasts.  I only drilled one hole for now until I see where I could most use another one.  That, and it was a pain, as I had to do it from the underside.  These Gramercy holdfasts won't hold in such a thick top, so I had to drill half-way through with a larger bit before finishing off the rest with the proper size.

Now all that is left is the sliding deadman, and finish.  I am thinking about painting the legs with milk-paint to match my sawbench and toolchest.  The top will either be left unfinished, or perhaps some boiled linseed oil.  I haven't decided yet.

In the meantime, this bench is perfectly functional and I intend to use the snot out of it.

Next up:  Complete the tills in the toolchest.  I have been hung up on this because I am reluctant to resaw the wood I have to make the tills.  Luckily, Steve Branam has posted a how-to today that makes me excited to try it.

Wish me luck!

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