Projects

Sawing Bench

I built this sawing bench in the spring of 1999 after a conversation on the porch with, among others, Tom Holloway. The sawing slot supports boards on either side of a rip cut and the handhold not only provides a convenient way to pick it up but also allows a clamp to be used to hold the board in place. It’s made of red oak and finished with two or three coats of boiled linseed oil. Subsequent to these pictures, I fumed it with ammonia to test a setup I had made for fuming a dining table and chairs. Even with the BLO, it worked fine. The bench is much darker than what you see here. Here’s a shot with a board clamped in place.

And here’s a shot showing the leg details.

The top is ~ X” x X” and it’s X’ tall. I made it come just to the bottom of my kneecap. After using it, I’d make it reach the middle of my kneecap if I had to do it again. It’s very sturdy, as I often use it to stand on. To test it, I had my son step up on it with me and it held us both fine – total weight of ~440 lbs (200 kg).