First few words about my old saw bench. It was just poorly designed, by me. It was about 4 ft long and the top consisted of 2 2x6 boards side by side with about 3/4" space between them. I thought this would be useful for doing ripping, in reality I never used it for that, it was just awkward to use it that way. Plus, it was too long and too wide. But all of these items I could have dealt with and just made the next one better, but this bench also had a fatal flaw, it was unstable. I didn't splay the legs, so it was prone to tipping. Oh well, I know better now. I wish I had a picture so you could see what not to do with your saw bench.
Now before I start with the build along portion I want to just go over the items I did a little different from Schwarz's plan. I didn't dress any of the 2 by material for this, I just used it as I got it from the store. I could have dressed these boards and this would have turned out a little nicer, but the truth is these are pretty utilitarian pieces and I would expect them to get chewed up eventually, so to me it wasn't worth the effort. So when I looked at Schwarz's plan I had to adjust the joint measurements for the widths of these boards. One other thing I did differently, is I used no glue. Sure I could have, it might have been sturdier, but I just nailed it together with 2 1/2" wire finish nails, and these seems pretty sturdy so far.
The first step is to cut all of the pieces to length. I used a 2x6 for the top so it ends up 5 1/2" instead of 5" wide. Here is everything cut and ready sitting on the exiting saw bench.
Next, I marked out the joints for the legs to the top. First, I cut the 10 degree shoulder at the bench hook.
Then I cut the the face of the joint also at a 10 degree angle. This is the same as cutting a tenon. I cut it half way from one side then flip the board over and finish the cut from the other side.
Next I nail all four of the legs on. I'm using 2 1/2" wire finish nails for this project.
Next I cut the joinery for the two short leg supports. These are basically cut the same way as the joints shown above. Then I nail those on. Then I cut the notches in the long stretcher to attach to the short leg supports. I toe nail these into the short supports.
Finally, I flip the bench over and plane the tops of the legs flush with the top using a fore plane. Here is the pair of saw benches.
All in all maybe 2 hours elapsed to build this one, the first one took a little longer. These benches will be nice addition to the shop.
