New bench is coming together!

I’m using a laminate / mortise and tenon construction method using baltic birch glued up to create the legs and stretchers. The stretchers (tenons) are comprised of 3 strips of 3/4 birch glued (and clamped). The legs are 5 strips of 3/4 birch glued with the mortise created with the gap (last set in the image below).

Everything is ripped wide at 3 9/16 and after gluing I’ll clean up the edges back down to a final width of 3 1/2. The bench top is another piece of 3/4 birch and a piece of 3/4 MDF sandwiched (and screwed) together. I’m planing to drill holes for bench dogs and add a proper cabinetry clamp… maybe a Jorgensen. We’ll see.

It’s really hard to build a bench without a bench (thus all the stuff across the tablesaw, router table, sawhorses, etc.).

If only I were just a simple cabinetmaker.  Maybe if I had been born 200 years ago.

Although he made a living of his craft, Krenov referred to his attitude towards his work as that of an amateur, feeling that the competitive attitude of a professional causes one to compromise one’s values as a craftsman. He avoided calling the conception and creation of a piece as “design,” preferring a more inclusive term “composing.” Composing, explained Krenov, is reacting to the wood, a continual re-evaluation and improvisation open to wherever the wood takes the composer.