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Seems like everytime I get going good down in the shop, I have to stop and play "Driving Miss Daisey" for the Boss. Usually takes up half the day......like this morning's excursion into the Dungeon Shop.. Got some things moved around, and finished the last mortise on the #1 side frame.. Looking decent enough. Had a few trips upstairs to bring down other tools......then had to clear almost everything off the bench, cleanest it has been in weeks, BTW, just to set #2 side frame where I could work on it Even the chisel rack was emptied out. Laid out for some more mortises.. And allowed a few tools back onto the bench. . You know, just the needful ones, right. Got to chopping away, soon had one mortise fitted Square is set to the depth I have to dig to. Then I had to add the flat area. Cleaned that up with a plane or two. More chopping, and the next hole was dug.. Been using that #78 to polish the flats a bit. Decided to stop ( my mistake) and place side frame #1 back in place, to check the fits, and the front seat support... Quite a bit of fine tuning to do, someday. Still need to do the front and rear support's mortises. Got just to this point.....time to go drive someone around town, again.... Well, picked up some sandpaper and two 7/8" dowels. Those will go through the front legs and the back legs, and maybe a wedge. Should be fun to drill that. IF I get some more shoptime, I can chop two mortises, and then figure out HOW to glue this thing up. Once it does get out of the army of clamps, I can fit the center seat support, and those dowels. Oh, and I guess i had better resaw some slats for a seat? Need to make some armrests...much later.. Now, getting shop time? Twould be a nice thing, it would.....

Lots of chopping going on. I got the tenons to size this morning, and laid out the mortises using the tenons as a guide. Just a few tools were needed for this job. And a clamp to hold the near end. The area I was chopping in, is right over the leg of the bench, no bouncing that way. Square was set to the center of the leg, minus half the thickness of the tenon. Mark from both sides in, and the area to be removed shows up. I mark the top and bottom of the mortise by laying a tenon on top, and tracing the lines. A Few chops. Stick the 1/4" chisel at a start line, bevel towards the middle. Four good hits with the hammer, wiggle the chisel, hop to the next spot, repeat. Near the other end, reverse the chisel so the bevel is towards the middle, again, Hammer it down, Pop out the chips, and start all over again. The wider chisel is there to square the sides. After a few chops, Test the fit, and adjust if needed. That little block is to keep things over the leg of the bench.  You can see the other clamp as well. Apron fits? Rotate the leg 90 degrees, and repeat the above. After awhile, you'll have a few legs done. One Tip: Keep track of where the nortises are, just wouldn't do to have one on the wrong side. So far, so good Three legs done, fourth is marked out for it's mortises. No mis-placed holes, so far. Debate is going on. Those bottom squares could use a stretcher? Maybe add a bottom shelf? Single Brain Cell Sketch-up is on overload. Details are " sketchy" as of yet. Have to check the lumber rack and see IF I have enough for "extras". Stay tuned might get complicated, might not...

Pulled a late nighter. Wanted to get the LAST of the mortises chopped out. Got frame #2 out of the clamps. Clamped it down to the bench's top. Parked the shop stool where I could sit and chop. Yep, I was going to plunk my behind right down there and chop away. Trying to help the back a bit.. Laid out the first part, making sure it was the one that went there, had to keep checking the other frame to make sure. Started to mark a number and letter in a sharpie, just to tell me where each end of each part went where.....been known to get that sort of thing Bass Ackwards... Had to adjust it a bit. Laid out the toys...er...TOOLS for the job.. Just a chisel and a mallet, nothing fancy. I did have a "Bullpen" set up, for other sizes as needed.. This was after the first mortise was done and fitted. Dog holes are nice, they can either hold a chisel from rolling onto the floor, or they allow all those small chips to fall through to my nice, clean floor... After each mortise was done, I'd either rotate the frame around where I could get to the next spot, or just test fit. a bit. Got three done, got the parts sitting where the needed to be, grabbed the other frame, just a test fit, for now... Not too hateful? Then I had to take the frame back off, rotate the mess one more time. I also had to move my seat to the new location.....chop out #4 mortise, and fit the last part. Then the frame came back on to the pile of parts, final test fit of the table's base. Then pile the rest of the parts on top, as The Boss doesn't like MY stuff sitting on HER Washer... I think I'll called it a night. Maybe a glue up tomorrow.....I also have some special corner brackets to use. Might just keep things square that way. yeah, yeah, that one corner is leaning a bit, a glue up will fix that right up..might just have enough clamps to do the next step......maybe. Stay tuned.....

I tried to at least get the last two legs done today......road trip to take the GrandBRATS home kind of cut into shop time. I did manage to cut a few mortises in the last two legs, about half of them, anyway. This time, I kept the mating rails cloce by, and marked where each went. Also found out the the white sap wood is VERY spongy. One mortise could have been dug out with a fingernail....it also liked to split. Tried a test fit,.... It is the leg on the bottom with the sappy wood. Got out the pipe clamps, again. needed a hammer as well. Pipe clamps wanted to twist back off. Used a c clamp to keep one in place, and a lot of cussing. Finally got three pipe clamps in place. Added a few nails, trying for at least ONE through the tenon. One or two went through the sap wood and into GOOD stuff. A check of the diagonals...off by a 1/16"???? I suppose I could let that slide.....Football was on, decided to call it a night. Stacked most of the parts back on top... That rough looking 1 x3 on top? It will be one of the Breadboard edges, Need to rip a few more out of this old plank.. Might be enough left for that? I'm using that Workmate back there as a till for the wood bodied planes. Still have four more mortises to chop, and then the two halves can have a get together with Elmer? Stay tuned to this batty channel...

Painting WAS to be done today...Landlord fell asleep. He will try to get here in the morning...maybe. Sooo, that left me with not much to do....wandered down to the shop. had a few more tenons to cut, and then they'd all be done. Two of the parts had a curved side. Rather hard to clamp up in the vise...unless you keep a bit of scrap from where you cut the curves out. had to trim a bit off, to clear for the saw cut. Waxed up the backsaw Saw about a third of the way down. A chisel to pop the waste off, that old woodie plane to trim it flat. Rotate and repeat. The two curved ones were down, the non-curved one was almost easy. Set them out to show off N Not too bad? Should have stopped here...but..... Decided to try to chop out a mortise or three. Used the tenons to mark out where to chop. As long as I got which tenon went where. Here on the "Flat", wasn't too bad. Takes a few different chisels. Note the mortise in the side of the leg? This is where things when downhill....in order to clamp a leg so it won't hop around.. lay out where the tenon will go. It was while I was fiddling with the long aprons that things started to hop off onto the floor.....then a BIG dizzy Spell hit....Ok, enough is enough. Got out a pipe clamp, the bottle of Elmer's and a couple 1" nails. Glued up two legs and a top apron. Used a bottom apron to hold the legs straight. left a few short aprons in place... laid the rest of the small parts out. Thought about trying to fight my way through the mess.....maybe some other day. I did find out that the panel for the bottom shelf was a bit too short It will just reach to the legs...it was supposed to go a bit past them.....maybe a breadboard edge on the ends? I'd have to notch the breadboard to fit between the legs. Big panel sittin up IS the table's top. This will be the bottom of the top. Got to hide that knot, after all....stay tuned

That I picked up at the tractor fest. A bright red Craftsman 7" wood worker's vise. But, about the only spot on my bench would have been the end of the bench. Grabbed the vise, and a pencil, juggled things around until I had marked a spot out for it. The "End cap" on my bench is just a 2 x4. Needed to notch it in such a way, that i could add two lag screws. needed it to be lower than the bench's top, too. Finally, juggled a bit more, and marked a spot. It sat between the bolts for the bench's legs. Had to miss them. Sabresaw to do the vertical cuts......horizontals weren't working. Got out the circular saw...one pass and done. Big chisel to finish the notch. Had to notch a bit into a leg, though. This is seen from below. More about that pine stuff in a bit. had a Hammerhead driver set up Got some big screws, and got the vise installed... But, I wasn't quite done with this thing. needed some "jaws" made. had some 1x4 pine. Cut it to length, saved the cut-off. More juggling with a pencil. Needed to mark a mortise of sorts. needed the top of the pine to be just a hair higher than the bench's top. Needed to remove enough wood to cover the metal part screwed to my bench. Once a few lines were marked out, time for a BIG clamp, and a chisel or two And start to chop away what didn't need to be there. At one point, the chisel hopped up and bit my hand! Not a slice, just a bounce off. made a mess. that Aldi chisel is quite sharp!.. This was more like a mortise for a hinge. About 1/2" deep, little over 3" front to back, and 7" wide....Whew. Took a break, to get a bandaid, and a fan.....hot down there. Got pretty close, and pared to the lines.. Something like this. Laid out for some countersunk screw holes, and drilled them. Including the pilot holes. Slapped the pine face into place, Hammerhead to drive more screws About like this. The extra was just sitting there. Then I closed the vise up,set the moving face into it's spot, and added more screws. Ran the vise in and out a few times.....needed oil on the metal parts that move. Closed it back up Grabbed a jack plane, and planed everything flush with the bench's top. Block plane to add a champfer arounf a few edges. and a coat of BLO to the outside. Opened it back up, to check for any droop I think this $10 vise is finally installed. Lots of cussing, and a cut hand. had to go to the store to get a couple lag screws and washers....put them in place tomorrow, I am tuckered out. BTW: that Aldi's chisel? It was part of a 4 pc set @ $7. The one I was using? was about 7/8" wide, and so is the cut on my hand. I sharpened it went I got them, haven't had to since.

According to the inventory of the remaining wood stash from the old bed frame: 1 1x6x7' rail in plywood ( soaked) 1 1x 6 x 7' rail might be a glue/lam board, lots and lot of thin plys 1 1 x 10 x7' pine board 2 trim piece from the headboard So, there was just enough for a frame and planel lid. Cross cut to 1 x 6 gl board to just under 34" long, then ripped in right down the center. Front and backs are cut. Cut a section @14" or so long, and ripped it right down the middle. ends are done. Got out the router, and made some grooves. The two short sections needed tenons on each end. Got out the sharpest saw in the shop Hey,it works, ok. A Disston D-8 11 point crosscut saw. Then a chisel to knock off the waste. There is a stop block behind the rail, and another on the end. One to clamp the part to, the other as a stop block for the chisel work. Got all four tenons made. Time to try out some new toys! These just came in the mail a few days ago...REAL Mortise chisels. Since the tenons go deeper than the panel's grooves, time to try these out Another set of jigs. One to clamp the part in place, the other to keep it level in the first jig. Finger clamp to secure things in the jig. I can also raise the parts up, and clamp under them, for the times I need to plane an edge. Chisels worked great, soon had a frame made And NOW I can measure for a panel. I had that 1x10 to bring in to the shop. Cross ut to section to 29" or so. Needed about 13" in width......from a 1 x10??? Ok rip a filler strip to get the width to 13", AFTER jointing a few edges straight. Tried the edges to see which fit which edge, and made a witness mark across the joint. Panel is now sitting ON my benchtop, hogging about every clamp I have While the rest of the parts chill out in a forlorn corner of the shop. LUNCH TIME! Maybe tomorrow, I can make a raised panel, add a frame around it, and add some trim You can barely make out the profile on the trim boards. That old finish needs to go, Stay tuned...

Got the second front/back panel in and out of the clamps. Added the mending plates at the top, and a cleat for the floor along the bottom. Then just stood it upYep, going to be wee bit bigger than the first one. Then Spent most of today getting some parts made up for the two ends Just imagine two of each of these. And I got the router fixed up to route some more grooves, First one was burned.....Hmmmm, checked the speed setting? Ah, clear down in 3rd gear...moved it up into 6th gear and try again. Much better. Ran a few planes around, to get all these parts to match up. Trimmed a few ends square. Awaiting the bench to be cleared off, before the chopping of mortises begins, again. Cleared off the bench? Weellll I have a blank in the clamps right now.. Ok, so the plan to recycle the old raised panels from the bed frame didn't work out. Needed to make new, larger panels. This is actually two panels, just need to cut them out of this big blank. One board in it needed a little joiner work In this shop, that IS a little joiner. Added a couple 1x3 of barn wood, one on each edge, abd glue it up. Now I just sit back, and watch glue dry.....I'm bushed.