In this post, I’m going to go into some detail on how we built our sawbenchs. I’m going to explain the types of cuts (1st, 2nd, and 3rd-class) we used. This should give you and idea of when to use the different types of cuts and why.

The next 2 days of the class were spent making our sawbench. A sawbench turns out to be an essential tool for the sawyer. When using a handsaw (crosscut) or large rip saw, the sawbench allows you to work with the lumber at the proper height and angle for the saw. For a crosscut saw that is 45 degrees, and for a rip saw that is 60 degrees. If you tried to use these larger saws at your regular workbench, you will find the cutting action very uncomfortable and awkward. I found this out on the first couple of cuts we made.

We didn’t have our sawbenchs yet and I think no one wanted to go up and try Chris’s, out for fear of putting a cut into it! Luckily most of the other cuts we we had to make were made with backsaws, which work well at the bench.

The first task was to cut the legs to rough length, and at a 10 degree angle. This really was a rough cut, as the legs would be cut to final length after the bench was completed. We also worked on the shoulder cut at the top of the legs. The legs are set into the top of the bench, and the top rest on these shoulders. It was a fun challenge, seeing that everything was cut at 10 degrees. I started out with the cheek cuts, and used a 2nd-class cut for these. I then moved on to the shoulder cut, which were 1st-class cuts. I did pretty well, seeing that I still didn’t have much sawing experience under my belt yet. The cheeks and shoulders were cleaned up using my large Lie-Nielsen shoulder plane. It was pretty easy to clean up the cuts to the gauge lines.

One thing I learned during the class, once you get enough sawing under your belt, it won’t matter if the cut is at 90 degrees or 10 degrees. As in most everything, experience breads confidence. Also, as I got more experience sawing, the amount of clean up I had to do was less and less. The closer you can get with your cut, the less work you will have to do with some other tool.

Out next task was to start on the large stretchers. They had to be cut to length and the ends needed to be squared up. I used a benchhook and my Lie-Nielsen 5 1/2 bench plane to shoot the ends. Our next challenging joint was the half-dovetail on the stretches. A half-dovetail is a very traditional joint in bench construction. It’s a little easier to to cut than a full tail, and a half tail gives adequate support and anti-racking strength.

These dovetail joints are also lap joints and are let into the legs. The angle cut on the dovetail and vertical lap/cheek cuts were treated as 2nd-class cuts. They needed to be flat and square, but the finished surface wasn’t critical. Both of these surfaces are concealed inside the joint. The cheeks were also cleaned up using a router plane. The router leave a pretty nice surface, but if you have some tearout it’s not that critical.

The shoulder cut on the on the other hand is a 1st-class cut. This cut needs to be dead on. The shoulder can be seen, and must be tight. My cuts weren’t perfect, so I had to spend some time with shoulder plane to get them nice and flat.

Then the challenge was to half-tail cut in the legs. Use the stretches as your templates. I clamped a stretcher to a pair of legs and marked out the joint with a marking knife. I then used my marking gauge to mark the depth of the lap joint. I made the depth of the lap joint about an 1/8″ of less the thickness of the half-tail on the stretcher. This makes the stretch sit proud of the leg, which can hide any slight imperfections you might have in your joint.

Now that everything was marked it was time to cut. These cuts were all 1st-class cuts. These cuts will be seen and need to straight and square. There was a lot of material that needed to be removed. There are a few strategies that you can use. You can use a chisel to pare away the material. You can also make multiple saw cuts across the area and take the material out with a chisel. I tried both and they both worked well. To use a chisel alone, I think you need a large chisel, at least 1″ or more. I tried it with my 3/4″ chisel and it took awhile to pare away all of the material. Whichever method you use, you will most likely finish up with a router plane. The router plane does a very nice job of flattening and cleaning up the surface.

After all of the joints were cut and cleaned up, the large stretchers were glued to the legs. Glue should be enough, but some students chose to screw them also. I just glued mine. If you screw them, you can screw from the backside of the legs so that the screws aren’t as noticeable.

Now came time to attach the leg assemblies to the top! As mention earlier, the legs are inset into the top. This meant laying out those cuts and removing the material. I clamped a leg assembly to the top and used a marking knife to markout the joints. I think we set the legs in about 5/8″ of an inch. I treated these cuts as 1st-class cut. I used the multiple saw cuts technique to remove the waste. Then used the router plane to flatten up the bottom of the cut. When attaching the legs to the top, we used screws. It needs a little more support than the glue can give.

The small stretchers were the last pieces that needed to be cut and fitted. By this time, the simple half laps on the stretchers were a piece of cake. Again, the shoulders were 1st-class cuts and the cheeks were 2nd-class cuts. The cuts were cleaned up using a shoulder plane and now one of my favorite tools the router plane.

The slot cut into the top is a ripping slot. It’s used when ripping smaller pieces. It allows the bench to give support to the cut while allowing the saw to travel a few inches into the cut. You then move the board forward and proceed with the cut. If needed you can flip the board around and start cutting from the other end.

The final step in the process is to cut the legs to the proper height, for you. The top should be just at the knee or slightly below. For me that ended up being around 20″.

The holdfast you see on the bench is used to hold boards in place while chopping mortises. Chris told that these benches were also commonly used as mortising benches. The holdfast is positioned so that it can hold the workpiece over one of the legs. This give you a lot support while chopping the mortise. Also, if you flip the holdfast around knock it onto the top, it functions as a handle .

For those who would like to make one of these benches, Chris did post some plans on his Lost Art Press Blog. The plans are pretty close to what you see here, but there are some slight differences. For instance, the plan doesn’t include the half-dovetail in the long stretcher. It wouldn’t be that difficult to add it if you want that feature.