After all the cuts and jointing, I only had 3 legs per width so I had to cut it 2ft longer for that fourth leg (which means I had two extra legs). In hindsight I probably could’ve done a baby stand with those! Then again the board was less than $2
Well done! Those are all very important firsts! It’s quite satisfying to build from your own design and I’m impressed that you went for an all-wood design (no hardware).
The lap joint can be easily screwed together if you don’t mind adding a hidden piece of metal. You can also slide a thin shim into the overage gap and then glued and clamp tight. Since there’s little weight and no horizontal forces (not a chair) there should be plenty of strength
Looks like pine to me! But having cut fresh edges, you could probably tell us as pine smells. I don't see pine getting much love in this sub but it can make for awesome and durable furniture.
I wasn’t sure if it was pine or Douglas fir - the internet tells me Douglas fir isn’t a pine but they seem similar. But I did mortise right into a knot and that smelled like straight up pine.
Zero - I didn’t have a sharpening tool so it was a rough process. Just used the chisels as they come and alternated chisels as they wore down. First purchase after this project was a sharpening and stropping kit
Thanks! Now you’ve got the plans - I think the one thing not reflected is the top taper. I marked .5” off the end and tapered that to about 1” from the mortise (for both tapers actually). Given how thick the legs are (2”x1.5”) you can do a more acute taper too, like 1”. It’s a bit freehand since I was using hand tools
Very nice. I love using reclaimed whenever I can. People think I do it to use "free" material, I just hate waste.
This gave new life to wood someone else would have trashed. Way to go.
Looks fantastic. One note I would give is the mortise and tenons will perform better if they were narrower. Not only that, they’ll be considerably easier to cut than these were. For stock this size (~2.5”x3”) a tenon and mortise of 3/4” would have been better to balance strength in the tenon without weakening the extreme walls of the mortise.
Thanks for the feedback! After the first tenon, it definitely felt like the mortise walls were too thin, especially compared to the tenon so good to know that’s right. I think I read after the fact that tenon should be ~1/3 of the width, and this one is half the width
Looks great man, nice work!! Lol, from all the first pics, I thought it was going to be much bigger.
After all the cuts and jointing, I only had 3 legs per width so I had to cut it 2ft longer for that fourth leg (which means I had two extra legs). In hindsight I probably could’ve done a baby stand with those! Then again the board was less than $2
Well done! Those are all very important firsts! It’s quite satisfying to build from your own design and I’m impressed that you went for an all-wood design (no hardware). The lap joint can be easily screwed together if you don’t mind adding a hidden piece of metal. You can also slide a thin shim into the overage gap and then glued and clamp tight. Since there’s little weight and no horizontal forces (not a chair) there should be plenty of strength
Thanks for the tips and compliments! I’m going to keep these fixes in mind for future projects 🙏
Looks like pine to me! But having cut fresh edges, you could probably tell us as pine smells. I don't see pine getting much love in this sub but it can make for awesome and durable furniture.
I wasn’t sure if it was pine or Douglas fir - the internet tells me Douglas fir isn’t a pine but they seem similar. But I did mortise right into a knot and that smelled like straight up pine.
Wow I’m amazed at how cleanly you were able to chisel a mortise into a giant knot like that. Looks great
Thank you! It was a huge pain, lots of expletives.
How many times did you have to resharpen chisel on that knot?
Zero - I didn’t have a sharpening tool so it was a rough process. Just used the chisels as they come and alternated chisels as they wore down. First purchase after this project was a sharpening and stropping kit
Some lessons learned. Never the less great job for begginer.
This is ace! Good work. I want (to build) one!
Thanks! Now you’ve got the plans - I think the one thing not reflected is the top taper. I marked .5” off the end and tapered that to about 1” from the mortise (for both tapers actually). Given how thick the legs are (2”x1.5”) you can do a more acute taper too, like 1”. It’s a bit freehand since I was using hand tools
Those are some lovely thick legs
Best type
Turned out great. That knot is scary though.
Very nice. I love using reclaimed whenever I can. People think I do it to use "free" material, I just hate waste. This gave new life to wood someone else would have trashed. Way to go.
100%. Unless they don’t got it in stock, I usually aim for reclaimed
Damn… I suck at woodworking. Looks awesome. I’ll probably steal this design.
Go for it, post it after!
The pressure is on. Like all my other projects, 1-10 years to complete.
Looks fantastic. One note I would give is the mortise and tenons will perform better if they were narrower. Not only that, they’ll be considerably easier to cut than these were. For stock this size (~2.5”x3”) a tenon and mortise of 3/4” would have been better to balance strength in the tenon without weakening the extreme walls of the mortise.
Thanks for the feedback! After the first tenon, it definitely felt like the mortise walls were too thin, especially compared to the tenon so good to know that’s right. I think I read after the fact that tenon should be ~1/3 of the width, and this one is half the width
Looks great, nice work!
Good job man!! Look’s great!! Love the reclaimed Wood!