Teak Bench Set

[BobbyMike]

Another (small) delay

Had a small setback yesterday. A bolt which connected a gear to a shaft snapped while I was mortising yesterday. The gear was the one that connected to the mortisers handle. It effectively made my mortiser useless until I could get a new bolt. Fortunately the hardware store in town had one and my wife was already heading into town for a run to the bank, so I hitched a ride.

I got two bolts.

I was able to repair it this morning and finish up the last of the mortises. I'll be cutting the last tenons and fitting the last bench together in the next few days (while I'm also making four doors). The armrests are cut, but not installed and I still have to cut out the arches.

Has anybody else noticed a general depreciation of quality in bolts/screws lately?

[BobbyMike]

The Bench set is done and awaiting delivery. I'll have to wait until it's delivered to get pictures here. There isn't enough room in my shop to get far enough away for a decent shot.

All said and done the set took a little extra time to make. I "killed" a corded drill while drilling holes for pegs in the white oak. It was a Christmas gift from a few years ago (consumer grade B&D) so I wasn't really surprised. My Craftsman 18V cordless drill also developed a bit of a stutter (the 5 1/4" saw bit the dust recently too). Not surprised there either as I bought it as a "filler" set while I decided what I would get for a keeper. It may just be a problem with the chuck, which I can replace if it's a standard size. Been feeling the itch to get a new drill anyway. I may buy two. One of the new 10.2V Bosch drivers and a larger 18V drill driver (with or without a saw).

My father-in-law had an older Makita corded drill that he let me use. Only problem was that the chuck had gotten rusty (one of his workers had left it out). I picked up a chuck when I got my new drill and replaced it for him. Was nice to do something for him. He's retired and tends to make sure we have firewood handy for me to pick up, things like that. He's also one of those guys that doesn't really need anything (his sons bought him a huge flatscreen TV and a $1500 spotting scope last year), we usually give them pictures of the kids.

[BobbyMike]

Installed the Bench Set. Only had my old camera, so picture quality isn't great. My friend is going to take some professional shots for my portfolio and I'll add them later.

[Bruce]

Nice Location

Hey BobbyMike,
Real nice looking furniture, a little diferent from your initial conception as I recall. You do nice work BM!

[BobbyMike]

Hey BobbyMike,
Real nice looking furniture, a little diferent from your initial conception as I recall. You do nice work BM!

The clients decided that the benches looked best with half of the original arches removed. Which was fine by me. I wasn't looking forward to jointing them together.

[Bruce]

My Memory

Wasn't the original design similar to a Lyuten's(sp)?

[BobbyMike]

Wasn't the original design similar to a Lyuten's(sp)?

Forgive my ignorance, what's a Lyutens?

[BobbyMike]

Ahh, Do you mean Lutyens? (I googled "Famous garden benches)



It was originally going to be in Teak, but that was nixed because of the cost. Otherwise the design remained pretty similar to what it is now (except for the deleting of the extra arches).

[BobbyMike]

Finally, as promised "fancy" pictures of the benches



The patio was designed for the bench set.



Arches! Arches! Makes me think of Big Macs....



What kind of joint is this place?

[BobbyMike]

More artistic photographs!



Details, details....



The camera is said to add twenty pounds. How it managed to add them all to my behind is a mystery.

My good friend, Oleg Baburin, took the photos for me.

[Bruce]

Great Shots

Hey BobbyMike,
Did you use your M-37 as the delivery vehicle. Your mortise & tennon work is impressive!
Merry Christmas,

[BobbyMike]

Nope, but I did use it to accompany the trailer over.