All your base...

I put the final drop of glue and a few screws in the base of my bench last night. The completed assembly is rock frickin solid. The joinery consists mostly of mortise and tenons, which attach the stretchers to the legs and the legs to the bench top. I used a few screws to reinforce the bench top attachment, but I don't think they were needed.

All the tenons were cut by hand and the mortises were roughed out at the drill press or by cordless drill and squared up with chisels. I won't get in to the construction details that have been blogged about by a myriad of other woodworkers, instead I'll let a few pictures do the talking.

Re-using the existing legs and stretchers makes for a hole-y looking base, but I didn't want to start from scratch with buying wood and in the end the previously used holes really weren't in the way.

I made the pegs from the discarded skirt of the bureau that prompted this project. From it I cut a couple 3/8" square strips and then cut those in to 3" pegs. I used a block plane to round them, but round isn't all that accurate a term for their shape. No matter, they worked just fine and the draw bored tenons relieved me from having to buy extra long clamps.

Most of the joints are not perfectly square and many have gaps, but this is not fine furniture. It reminds me of the days of building my own computers. I would use whatever fugly case I could scavenge and then fill it with quality components. The joints won't be featured in any magazines but the furniture I make with this bench may some day be.

Up next is flushing the stretchers, legs and top as well as installing a new vise. It will be nice to see the bench right side up.

Thanks for reading!
Jim