I started the process of ordering a work bench for the shop at the end of December. Then I realized I had ordered the short one on accident, so I cancelled it and looked for the longer one. The shop I had originally ordered from did not have any, so I tried out another shop. That was the next day. I put the longer bench on order and have been waiting since. Today, it finally arrived.
The box was in perfect shape, so that restored my confidence after imagining that the bench was going to come in a manky box, looking utterly destroyed from its long journey. The driver came to the door and asked me where I wanted him to put the box, but I said if he would give me a minute, I could get a pallet fork on the tractor and get it out myself. He was quite excited! Especially as the yard did not look ready for him to run a pallet jack across it. Once I had it outside the door to the shop, I opened it and got the trestle put together with the help of my youngest daughter. Everything went together easily and well. Then came time to put the top on.
I lifted the end of the top, and considered if I could use the dolly to get it into the shop and do a partial lift at one end of the top to the kneel saw table, then up to the trestle with the other end, then slide it up. I lifted it again and sent a message for help. With two grown men lifting the top off the forks and into the shop and right onto the trestle, it took a lot out of us! I think the trestle must have weighed forty pounds, and the top weighed the rest of the 290 pounds the paperwork said it weighed.
The next tasks were to try it out for a couple of simple things, then get to cleaning the workshop! The place has been a mess, and I have not wanted to deal with it till I got this sorted out to get an idea of the final layout. The shop, being an old garage, I want to close off the car door and turn it into a wall with a window and a door in it, then build a rustic bench under the window to take working pieces of wood while I build on the bench opposite it. Going to plan, it will also be a great place to take some photos on the rustic top and under the window light. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.
Now, about the projects on the plan so far. I want to make a couple of blanket chests for the girls, and I have a few projects in the house that need finishing up. I also want to make a couple of weaving tools for missus, such as inkle looms and eventually, if I can get my head around it, some more complex looms, as well as maybe a drum carder. She has also asked for things like shuttles for the looms she already has. Then comes the furniture. I want to make reproduction pieces of things such as pie safe, and perhaps a Coolgardie safe. I would like to look at butcher block counter tops for the kitchen, handmade, of course, especially as a power plane for such big pieces is challenging. We could use a cabinet for the kitchen that would also work as a good-sized bread bin, since that seems to be a family favorite. Then there is the big goal. Since seeing Anne of All Trades on YouTube working on Windsor chairs, I have had a real hankering to build me a couple of those. I have always loved the styles, and the proper joinery to hold them together. I think that would be a real accomplishment to be proud of. Well, if it comes out half-way decent! Time to learn how to use milk paint! My interests lie in 18th and 19th century designs. With the Sjoberg’s Elite 2000 now sat in the shop, I have my “…official Red Ryder Carbine action, 200 shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing that tells time.”
The next thing and perhaps final for the shop’s power tool collection should be a band saw. That’d be handy for resawing and preparing stock for the lathe. There are a few more planes and hand tools to get, too. I have the basic sharpening tools on the way to finally sort that out, and to keep the plane irons in top shape. Especially important now that I have a bench to do the work on, and I plan to keep the planes busy. I could use a mill for outside to reduce logs to lumber, seeing as I always seem to have access to logs thanks to the pursuit of firewood.
Am I excited for this? I think so. I am about to embark on a life’s ambition to really get into woodworking and to start building my own furniture, as I am so unhappy with what’s on offer down at the furniture store. I have held off because I was convinced to try hand planes by my Missus, and I did, and soon discovered that a proper plane is easier to use than the old ones I had used in the past, and that I really needed a bench that would hold the workpieces properly while I planed them. Believe you me, with this bench that excuse dies. On I go.