Tag Archives: Stanley

Building the Paul Sellers Workbench – Progress (Several Days combined)

I ended my post on Day 5 noting that I’d started one of the aprons. Before I pick up on that, let me cover some early conclusions about my material choice. The simple statement is: ‘whitewood’ from the borg is a poor choice to use in the construction of this bench. In addition to being […]

Building the Paul Sellers Workbench – Update/Day 5

Since the plan of scrubbing after glue-up went well on the first (front) slab, I began the process on the second slab. The stock was slightly more challenging to get jointed than that for the front slab. The glue-up for this slab went poorly. I started out fine using James Thompson’s recommendation of dampening the […]

Building the Paul Sellers Workbench – Day 3 & 4

Progress has been slower that desired, but on par with expected. After glue-up on Day 2 it rained intermittently, permitting no work other than removing the clamps after 24 hours. I was pleasantly surprised that no tell-tale sounds of creaking glue joints occurred. Turning the scallops into a slab As was mentioned in my first […]

Building the Paul Sellers Workbench – Day 2

As the rain had stopped me before gluing up on Day 1, my goal was to get a lamination finished. Since my stock was still uneven, I went through each board with a straight-edge and jointed them with a No. 5. I hadn’t been very careful when I first smoothed the faces of the boards, […]

Building the Paul Sellers Workbench – Day 1

It is about time I built myself a proper bench; the MDF topped table with no vises is rather limiting. I realized this after falling into the folly myself:  building a workbench is one of the largest ‘mind-sinks’ of a starting galoot’s journey. Detailed research into materials, vises, styles, arrangement and types of joinery; on […]

Rays of Old Tool Heaven

As I was slipping into a old tools slump, I began to wonder: “Is Southern California OT hell?”. The 100°+ heat last week certainly didn’t help. While our local tool meet yielded interesting specimens and many tools finding new homes, the wild was drying up—much like the shrubbery. Today was set apart. At 6:20a the […]

Servicing a No. 921 Brace Ratchet

One of my recent flea market finds, a Stanley No. 921 10in-Y brace, needed some fettling. The ratchet checked out fine before I bought it. So did the jaws, I love the expression on people’s faces when you take two whole minutes to unscrew the chuck, check the jaws and put it back. When I […]