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987Ron
2887 posts
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31 followers
in about 2 years
in about 2 years
More from 987Ron
Sycamore Bench
Received a large Sycamore slab several years ago. 18 inches wide, 3 1/4 inches thick by 8 ft. long. It was over 4 years old when i got it and it sat in my shop for another 4 years or so. The tree it was from had fell across a driveway to a farm here in south Ga. The slab was rough, cut by a chain saw I was told.
Made a sled for the router to smooth both sides, ending up with a 2 3/4" thick slab. Removed the bark on the edges and sanded them out.
Cut one narrow end off to make the legs and feet of the bench. The bench top then was 48 inches by 15 inches narrow end and 18 inches on the wide end, After final dressing and sanding wound up being 2 1/2 inches thick.
Attached the legs using a through mortise with a walnut wedge. The mortise was cut through using the router and a pattern made of 3/4" MDF. The corners were then squared using a chisel. The tenons are 2 inches by 5 1/4 inches. The feet and legs are also through tenons.
Total weight about 50 lbs. The bench stands 18 inches tall. Finish is 4 coats of poly, no stain. Sycamore has lovely grain patterns and I wanted it to show.
The bench now resides in our bedroom and is used daily to help this old codger get his daily attire on.
One of my favorite projects.
Made a sled for the router to smooth both sides, ending up with a 2 3/4" thick slab. Removed the bark on the edges and sanded them out.
Cut one narrow end off to make the legs and feet of the bench. The bench top then was 48 inches by 15 inches narrow end and 18 inches on the wide end, After final dressing and sanding wound up being 2 1/2 inches thick.
Attached the legs using a through mortise with a walnut wedge. The mortise was cut through using the router and a pattern made of 3/4" MDF. The corners were then squared using a chisel. The tenons are 2 inches by 5 1/4 inches. The feet and legs are also through tenons.
Total weight about 50 lbs. The bench stands 18 inches tall. Finish is 4 coats of poly, no stain. Sycamore has lovely grain patterns and I wanted it to show.
The bench now resides in our bedroom and is used daily to help this old codger get his daily attire on.
One of my favorite projects.
Ron
22 Comments
nice looking bench ron, i love live edge.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
That's slabulous Ron!
Agree with the desire to keep that grain on display, entire design just flows along.
I'd also be proud to have something that large out of my shop where it can't keep mocking me!
Agree with the desire to keep that grain on display, entire design just flows along.
I'd also be proud to have something that large out of my shop where it can't keep mocking me!
That's a good looking bench Ron. Nice build also
Nice work Ron,
Through tenon looks really tight. Well done joint.
Through tenon looks really tight. Well done joint.
Petey
Really well done Ron! Good job.
Mike
That’s quite the slab! Nicely done.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Thanks for the comments.
Ron
Gorgeous! I like projects that allow the wood itself to be the focus. Really pretty slab and the end product looks great.
Nice looking bench! The style of the legs is cool.
No name noobie here
Ron,
That's one beautiful bench, terrific grain on that wood. Nice work maximizing the use of the full 8 foot length, and great work on the through wedged tenons, nice tight fit.
That's one beautiful bench, terrific grain on that wood. Nice work maximizing the use of the full 8 foot length, and great work on the through wedged tenons, nice tight fit.
Mighty fine workmanship Ron.
Appreciate the comments, thanks.
Ron
Great job putting a beautiful piece of wood to use!
Neat job 987... the live edges will give the grandkids a ball watching strands of spaghetti struggle over the edge.
Those tenons.... why 133.35mm? Do you expect guests to whip out their tape measure and detect that extra 6.35mm?n I suppose if yazll gonna stick with imperial, yazall might as well use those unnecessary fraction.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Duck when all one ever knew from birth on, when all one ever saw, when all the tools ever shown was/is Imperial why would one ever seek a measure that was completely unknown, not available and totally foreign?
Some of my tapes and sticks do have metric on one side but why go to the expense and trouble to replace perfectly good, known, and reliable tools with something that is unknown.
It would be a lot of confusion to.make a project that was to be used with items of imperial sizes in metric. Too much trouble.
Believe it or not in maybe the 8th grade in school we did get exposure to metric as well as the abacus and other things.
At my age, 86 my mind has had years of conditioning to thinking inches, eights, etc. To clutter up what is left of those grey cells with millimeters, centimeters, kilos, and such would be or could be disastrous, my projects would have kilos of errors for sure. So 2 inches by 5 1/4 inches it is.
Besides I have no idea why 5 1/4 was used.
Some of my tapes and sticks do have metric on one side but why go to the expense and trouble to replace perfectly good, known, and reliable tools with something that is unknown.
It would be a lot of confusion to.make a project that was to be used with items of imperial sizes in metric. Too much trouble.
Believe it or not in maybe the 8th grade in school we did get exposure to metric as well as the abacus and other things.
At my age, 86 my mind has had years of conditioning to thinking inches, eights, etc. To clutter up what is left of those grey cells with millimeters, centimeters, kilos, and such would be or could be disastrous, my projects would have kilos of errors for sure. So 2 inches by 5 1/4 inches it is.
Besides I have no idea why 5 1/4 was used.
Ron
We could compromise. We can start using pseudo metric, say 12-7/8 mm and LBD could use pseudo imperial, howz about 5.125 inches
Sounds good like the decimal thought. Or Australia could convert to Imperial. Imperial does sound more like a Royalty headed country than metric.
Ron
Besides I have no idea why 5 1/4 was used.
It's a generational thing Ron, remember these?:
Yes, used them Big capacity. 64k Osborne computer with its 5 inch screen in black and white. Later 9 inch screen in orange on a black background on separate monitor. Aww the good old days. And bag phones.
Ron
That turned out nice Ron. I like the wedged tenons. They look pretty strong.
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