Be sure to read, understand and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your power tools PROPERLY will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. And remember this. There is no other more important safety rule…than to wear THESE…safety glasses…
How many of us have this lined burned into our memories, able to conjure it up and recite at will? As much as this has become a joke, Norm Abrams did a lot to inform all of us on safety in the wood shop.
Add to this the mantra of no long sleeves, removing rings and other jewelry, and tying back long hair that has been beat into our heads at woodworking shows, classes, and by carnival staff while in line for a roller coaster.
Planing beam accessory for my Joinery Bench
So with all this stimulus to do the right thing why is it I always forget to remove my wedding ring in the shop? Sure I’m a hand tool guy so this advice doesn’t really apply…that is until you bore 42 3/4 – 1 1/2″ holes in 5″ thick stock with a brace and bit over the course of 3 hours. Let’s just say the blister under my ring is large enough that my wedding ring cut off circulation to the finger and I HAD to remove it eventually.
I finished up the planing beam accessory for my Joinery Bench this weekend and between boring out the monster mortises and installing dog holes up the leg and down the beam, my brace arm and auger bit file got a workout.
I guess my week days of sitting in front of computer running marketing campaigns doesn’t help toughen my hands after all. Who knew?
This post is boring. *rimshot
Actually, the planing beam looks sweet.
Shannon -
That is a nice looking beam. How long did it take to cut the joint?
I actually did the same thing with my hand digging a hole this weekend. A blister right at my wedding ring. I was a gymnast in a former life, and we would have blisters all of the time. Here is a nice little write up on how to care for them:
http://www.sportsmd.com/SportsMD_Articles/id/370.aspx
Jonathan
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The through joint took about 2 hours to finish. It would have taken much longer on kiln dried stock and something much harder than the Red Cedar I was using. As it is, the higher compression inherent in a softer wood allowed for more “whack it til it fits” technique.
Thanks for the article, it gives me flashbacks to my rock climbing days.
What – you didn’t like the one we made in an hour at WIA ’11?
That’s one sweet-looking planing beam, Shannon. Beautiful joint. When would you use it instead of your workbench, and vise-versa? Also, do you think that the foot is far enough out of the way that you won’t be tripping over it?
Chris
Chris, the truth is I built this beam primarily in response to so many of my Hand Tool School members who have a small apartment space for their workshop. I know a lot of people who want a Roubo or similar bench but just don’t have the space. So probably the beam will not get set up much in my shop but when I ever travel again (like to WIA) it will be invaluable for demonstrations. I can also see setting it up to stick shorter mouldings thereby keeping my regular workbench clear for other work.
I thought about the skid getting in the way so I had to balance “wheelbase” and stability. With the Wonder Dog set just behind the leg and the overall beam being only 55″ long you don’t move your feet much. When I start the plane cut I generally have the leg nearest the bench past the skid and my outside leg either level or slightly behind. As I step forward with that leg the skid is on the other side of my body so it never gets in the way. I’m glad you bring this up though as I think we sometimes forget about using the bench while we design it.
Shannon, I too am one “…who ha(s)ve a small apartment space for their(my) workshop”. You said this planing beam is an “accessory” for your Joinery Bench. This is probably a dumb question, but would you please tell me if the planing beam is dependent on (attached) or independent of your Joinery Bench? I couldn’t see the other end of the planing beam in the picture so I wasn’t sure. I’m assuming that the beam needs to be braced or backed up to something to keep it stable.
If the planing beam is dependent on the Joinery Bench, this would mean I would need to build a Joinery bench as well which I probably need anyway. I’m currently looking at building an inexpensive Roubo style workbench but it’s on the largish side and I’m challenged as to how to fit this in an area off the end of my bed. If I can do decent hand tool bench work with the Joinery Bench and the Planing Beam, that would be the preferred way to go. Also, I have no idea as to how I would be able to build the Roubo style workbench, so maybe the Joinery Bench is more doable.
Thank you Shannon,
Dean
Dean, this design does require that the far end of the beam rest on something. In my case it does attach to the stretcher of my Joinery bench via two hardwood pegs. A second leg could be build so that the beam stands alone but I feel that pairing it with the bench makes for a complete solution for the space challenged woodworker. If you can hang tight until early next week I will be publishing a small project build using only this bench that goes from rough board to finished piece. This will be a good tour of the functionality with what I’m dubbing the “apartment workbench”
Thank you Shannon, that would be great. – Dean
Hi, I lovethat planing beam assesory- do you have any more pics of it?
Mark, I’m working on a video of the whole bench showing off the features and hoping to work on a small project to demonstrate them all.