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.

Kid's Table and Chairs - The legs have been a challenge

It has been two months since my last update, but that's not due to lack of shop time, it's due to lack of progress. I've spent a good amount of time trying to cut the rears legs of these chairs and as of this moment, they are still not done. Allow me to explain.

The rear legs are angled out from where they meet the apron to floor and to the chair back. So far in the small number of cuts I've made I have not yet cut any piece other than in a straight line and I am finding that cutting the inside angles is a challenge. My original plan was to rough out the shape on the bandsaw and then clean them up using a plywood template and the router.

Building my shop on a budget - My bandsaw and drill press

My wife and I have done a fair amount of business on craigslist, both buying and selling. Our play room is bursting at the seams with quality, used toys we acquired for our boys and when the toys are outgrown, off to craigslist (and most recently freecycle) they go. I've sold my unused electronics, a small table saw and even a car and all have been decent experiences. So it was a no brainer for me to turn to craigslist to hunt for used tools.