Everyone knows I have too many hobbies working with the lasercutter has caused me to consider woodworking again. I suspect there is a Maslow CNC in my future, but in the mean time. I watched a ton of YouTube and saw this mini bench which started a flurry of copies videos.
Monkey See Monkey do kicked in, and I could not help myself, but I’m a cheap skate so no exotic woods for me. Four x $2.80 “white wood” studs from the orange box store later. I have my version of the mini bench. Why so cheap? Well a newb should not waste precious trees to learn on.
When I did wood working in the past I had a mentor, not now unless you count Essential Woodworking Hand Tools a wonderful book by Paul Sellers. I bought the book and Highly recommend it. He also has a ton of very informational videos sharing his vast knowledge in an easy to understand manner, on YouTube or available at his site https://paulsellers.com/ I only wish his DVD’s came in the US region encoding, but I will survive on internet versions. Much respect for someone who shares their knowledge and life lessons freely. It makes us all better in the end.
I snagged a 6-1/2” Woodworking Vise with Bench Dog for $20 kongbucks to finish of the cheap build. It works great onto of my Kreg portable workstation. I left the sliding tail legs long so it would clamp down on top. A single row of holes in the mini bench work with the vice in a tail position and the portable workstation’s included bench dogs. Now with a place and a way to hold projects let more projects begin.
I learned a ton which is the whole point of making things. Success with the jig to cut sliding dove tails without a table saw, When I revisit this build. I plan to cut them by hand with the lessons I’ve learned. The tails came out straight and uniform. Not so much success for the mortise or pins portion. The make shift fence jig slipped and the gap was ugly in the front. However the overall fit was very snug and took a mallet to get it all the way home.
Since the “white wood” is soft I did a few coats of Danish Oil to help protect it, but expect a work surface to take a beating. Maybe I’ll do southern yellow pine on the next one.
