After a couple of weeks he couldn't wait and we started truing and sizing the lumber. that's when one of his old heart problems flared up and he ended up in the hospital. Everything was put on hold for several weeks. This pattern repeated itself several times over the next months.
I'll cut to the chase: today we stood the bench up. He still needs to install his vises, drill some dog holes and trim the ends but he has a working bench. What should have been a couple of weeks job once the wood settled down ended up taking four months.
It's as ugly as granny panties with tons of mistakes because I would tell him what needed to be done and maybe show the procedure then leave it to him to do it. But as said many times during the build: "It's a work bench". That's the bad news, the good is: It is strong and solid. It sets on the ground with no rocking, the base is within a couple of mm of being square, the slab has no twist and is flat enough. It will make a hell of a good first work bench, a lot better than my first one.
A photo of Mickey with the completed base:
Good to read Mickey is going to be around to use the bench.
ReplyDeleteHeck, I don't find that ugly. Good job!
ReplyDeleteBruce Mack
Ralph, Bruce,
ReplyDeleteThanks...I worried that I was going to be storing DF bench parts for awhile. Just got off the phone with Mickey....He's a happy guy and beavering away to finish the last little things. It was good to help him out. I've built enough benches I can almost do it on autopilot, once the wood is stable it's about 40 to 60 hours to finish depending on number of tea breaks and doggie butt scratches.
ken.