Gayus Wood

Rigor Mortise and Tenon

I then went ahead and installed the two vises. Im afraid I didnt photo-document this part. I blame this on the frustration level involved in the tail vise: it uses two little steel guide-ring bushings that truly tested my patience. They really improve the performance of the vise but my word, they were a pain to install. At one point I was tempted to go blow $50 on a right-angle impact driver (Yes, I own the JobMax. Yes, its a great tool) specifically for the task. Must resist impulses to buy tools for one-time needs. In the end I got the SOB installed and am pleased with it. It really reduces the amount of play in the vise. The face vise doesnt have the guide bushings and has a remarkable amount of play in it. *sigh*

Completed benchtop:
Well, kind of completed: the general construction is done but there is plenty of detailing to do.

Then I flipped it over to start work on the leg assembly. One nice thing about traditional woodworking vises is that you can use them upside-down! Not an asset 99% of the time but it was nice here. This picture reminds me of the expression "building a plane in midair:"

I just thought of something: this project makes extensive use of the three types of joints: butt, corner, and angle. The floating tongues were butt joints, the ostrichtails were corner joints, and now time for the mortise and tenons. There are 16 of them total in the undercarriage: 8 blind and 8 through. I dont really enjoy busting these guys out. There is just too much chopping with the chisel. Its loud and tiring. I cut a few tenons by hand and then decided to just go with the bandsaw. I feel Ive put in my time cutting tenons with the ryoba, dont particularly enjoy it, and Im not especially good at it. As I mentioned before, this is my last project with the Japanese saws, so farewell big ryoba:

Big, chunky joints; but darn if they arent solid.

I was joking with my mother-in-law about "the next workbench I plan to build." I was kidding, but this picture does suggest a man who needs even more space, doesnt it?
Among handtool aficionados its trendy to refer to power tool use as "burning electrons." Ill tell you what, it takes a lot of red-ox reactions to complete a mortise through a 2" thick piece of maple. My body is killing me from all the work today. Heres the result:
The next step is to complete the tapered mortises through those projecting tenons and make wedges to secure the legs longitudinally. I know that may not be clear but youll understand when it is complete. The goal is to have a really solid bench but be able to dis-assemble it if needed. I dont plan on moving in the next couple of years but Im sure it will be appreciated when I do. Why the quick-clamp in the photo? Yeah, I had a little blow-out on my last M&T. Did I mention I dont enjoy mortise and tenon joinery?