patrick mccarthy
Active member
Vince/SJS
Great flat work keep it coming.
Great flat work keep it coming.
What's on your WORK BENCH - February 2022
- Thread starter Steve Sanford
- Start date
First of Species for me.....
After Steve's critique:
![IMG_6539[1].JPG](https://duckboats.net/community/data/attachments/48/48446-a50a404172b1c4a75c09ea2f3606fc69.jpg "IMG_6539[1].JPG")
![IMG_6538[1].JPG](https://duckboats.net/community/data/attachments/48/48447-539b2b695b0e9145288084cfa9e45b4d.jpg "IMG_6538[1].JPG")
After Steve's critique:
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MLBob Furia
Well-known member
[size 4]Been a while since I had a call request.
Did this black-cherry call with an inlay this week. Bird in the picture with it is an old floating decorative. I'm guessing from the Mid-80's (??)
Did this black-cherry call with an inlay this week. Bird in the picture with it is an old floating decorative. I'm guessing from the Mid-80's (??)
Progress on the workbench restoration continues. I've been juggling too many projects lately (turning the area above the shop into living space, which is a HUGE project, and restoring Jeff's 1967 Powermatic 72 table saw) and this is slowing me down but I hope to finish the bench in the next week or so and get it off my to-do list and put it up for sale. Due to space limitations I'm going to sell it (I think). I bought it for the vise but when I got it home from the estate sale and looked over the bench and saw its wonderful construction I decided it had to be repaired and not discarded. Then I researched it and found EH Sheldon benches are thought to be excellent and are very desirable, so that motivated me more.
The pictures below show the bench after dyeing the wood to bring back the color that existed prior to taking it apart, rebuilding the missing/damaged parts and sanding the old finish off. The part that I feared was getting the new wood I had to use on the legs to match the rest of the 100 year old hard maple. I'm happy with the results. After dyeing the bench it has been getting a rub down with boiled linseed oil every couple of days. Tonight the base and doors got their first coat of shellac. The vises were cleaned up and wiped down with Penetrol. I did this rather than stripping off the lead based paint and making them look new. I like the wear they have. All I need is for the UPS guy to deliver me some more shellac flakes and I'll put the final coats on. The top will get a coat of wax after several more coats of boiled linseed oil. No shellac on the top but I will apply some Johnson's furniture wax buff. This is how century old workbenches were finished and is still a good recipe today, not to mention being food safe should the bench end up as a kitchen island.
The pictures...
The pictures below show the bench after dyeing the wood to bring back the color that existed prior to taking it apart, rebuilding the missing/damaged parts and sanding the old finish off. The part that I feared was getting the new wood I had to use on the legs to match the rest of the 100 year old hard maple. I'm happy with the results. After dyeing the bench it has been getting a rub down with boiled linseed oil every couple of days. Tonight the base and doors got their first coat of shellac. The vises were cleaned up and wiped down with Penetrol. I did this rather than stripping off the lead based paint and making them look new. I like the wear they have. All I need is for the UPS guy to deliver me some more shellac flakes and I'll put the final coats on. The top will get a coat of wax after several more coats of boiled linseed oil. No shellac on the top but I will apply some Johnson's furniture wax buff. This is how century old workbenches were finished and is still a good recipe today, not to mention being food safe should the bench end up as a kitchen island.
The pictures...
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, Dave~
I was astonished to see that these sweet Black Ducks are you "first of species". (Seems my shop often has nothing but Black Ducks on the bench.) Nice job as always. I like the black mottling you put over the base body color - adds depth on smooth decoys.
I do, however, have a suggestion - in the interest of depicting the biology. The tertials on a Black Duck are big and broad ( as on a Mallard) - but are brightest medially (toward the centerline of the body) and darken laterally (toward the gunnels). The pale greyish-tan fades gradually. I once heard a carver refer to it as the "smoke". This bird shows it nicely. It's very pale in the middle of the back but quite dark right next to the speculum.
Here is how I did it on my Wildfowler rig. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I believe it to be an important species identifier for the birds themselves. It shows up even in very low light with live birds on the water - when they are swimming amongst my stool just before shooting time.
All the best!
SJS
I was astonished to see that these sweet Black Ducks are you "first of species". (Seems my shop often has nothing but Black Ducks on the bench.) Nice job as always. I like the black mottling you put over the base body color - adds depth on smooth decoys.
I do, however, have a suggestion - in the interest of depicting the biology. The tertials on a Black Duck are big and broad ( as on a Mallard) - but are brightest medially (toward the centerline of the body) and darken laterally (toward the gunnels). The pale greyish-tan fades gradually. I once heard a carver refer to it as the "smoke". This bird shows it nicely. It's very pale in the middle of the back but quite dark right next to the speculum.
Here is how I did it on my Wildfowler rig. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I believe it to be an important species identifier for the birds themselves. It shows up even in very low light with live birds on the water - when they are swimming amongst my stool just before shooting time.
All the best!
SJS
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, All~
More production From the Bench of George Williams:
He tells me these Wigeon still need their keels.
SJS
More production From the Bench of George Williams:
He tells me these Wigeon still need their keels.
SJS
Thank you Steve for the mentoring. I will address these tonight! And post corrections for additional direction.
Tod
Thanks. That bench build seems like a long long time ago. Probably 12 years or more. It gets a lot of use.
I'd like to keep this bench after the restoration but not sure I want to crowd my workflow by cramming it somewhere. It might end up as a kitchen island in the living space I'm creating upstairs but I think it's too big. That place is essentially going to be a tiny home. This leads me to consider selling it. But I won't sell it cheap. Too much time in it and it is a very nice bench that would cost a lot of money to build today. With hard maple going for $10 a board foot and the labor involved to make tongue & groove and mortise & tenon joinery I'll cram it in a corner before I sell cheap. There will be a day when one of my kids will have a need.
Just for kicks I searched a little bit for what other EH Sheldon benches went for and found the below. It is WAAAAY overpriced, but I have seen them go for well over a grand and nowhere near as nice and complete as mine.
Eric
Rare Antique Industrial E. H. Sheldon Oak Desk Laboratory Chemistry Winery Table | eBay
Thanks. That bench build seems like a long long time ago. Probably 12 years or more. It gets a lot of use.
I'd like to keep this bench after the restoration but not sure I want to crowd my workflow by cramming it somewhere. It might end up as a kitchen island in the living space I'm creating upstairs but I think it's too big. That place is essentially going to be a tiny home. This leads me to consider selling it. But I won't sell it cheap. Too much time in it and it is a very nice bench that would cost a lot of money to build today. With hard maple going for $10 a board foot and the labor involved to make tongue & groove and mortise & tenon joinery I'll cram it in a corner before I sell cheap. There will be a day when one of my kids will have a need.
Just for kicks I searched a little bit for what other EH Sheldon benches went for and found the below. It is WAAAAY overpriced, but I have seen them go for well over a grand and nowhere near as nice and complete as mine.
Eric
Rare Antique Industrial E. H. Sheldon Oak Desk Laboratory Chemistry Winery Table | eBay
patrick mccarthy
Active member
Eric
Beautiful work!
Here's my 2 cents.
Please no hipsters eating they're morning Cheerios and having wine tastings on the bench.
Craftsmen sat at these benches and still should.
Keep it in the shop!!!
I bought one last year, the seller was a retired cabinet maker.
He called off the sale to the hipster for his loft, said he wanted a craftsman to have the bench.
Beautiful work!
Here's my 2 cents.
Please no hipsters eating they're morning Cheerios and having wine tastings on the bench.
Craftsmen sat at these benches and still should.
Keep it in the shop!!!
I bought one last year, the seller was a retired cabinet maker.
He called off the sale to the hipster for his loft, said he wanted a craftsman to have the bench.
Patrick
That is an amazing example of a joiner's work bench. I hear your sentiments on wanting the bench I'm working on to go to a craftsman. However, the upstairs addition at my shop is not cheap and I need funds to keep making progress. So my desire to see it in the hands of another woodworker is taking a back seat to paying bills. I don't know if the bench will even sell for what I think it is worth, but if a hipster wants to pay me the asking price while no woodworker will, well, I have bills to pay. But I do appreciate your point of view and even agree with it, to a point.
Eric
That is an amazing example of a joiner's work bench. I hear your sentiments on wanting the bench I'm working on to go to a craftsman. However, the upstairs addition at my shop is not cheap and I need funds to keep making progress. So my desire to see it in the hands of another woodworker is taking a back seat to paying bills. I don't know if the bench will even sell for what I think it is worth, but if a hipster wants to pay me the asking price while no woodworker will, well, I have bills to pay. But I do appreciate your point of view and even agree with it, to a point.
Eric
patrick mccarthy
Active member
Eric
I opened your attachment, wow that's one pricey bench.
Hard to say no to that many stones. Mine was about 6% of that.
I did acquire a swing seat from a neighbor. Sheldon co used a lot of them.
I opened your attachment, wow that's one pricey bench.
Hard to say no to that many stones. Mine was about 6% of that.
I did acquire a swing seat from a neighbor. Sheldon co used a lot of them.
Well it should be no surprise that I?m with Patrick on the bench being used by a craftsman instead of a Cheerios eater but certainly understand selling it to pay the bills.
Patrick that?s a nice bench. I built mine from the ground up but yours has some nice features like that extra large face Vice. Make lots of sawdust on that bench.
Patrick that?s a nice bench. I built mine from the ground up but yours has some nice features like that extra large face Vice. Make lots of sawdust on that bench.
Patrick
Those swing out seats are the coolest. I plan on welding up pair for use in the shop living space. I've been watching videos on youtube of folks making them. The welded ones are not quite as neat as your cast iron seat but they'll do.
Eric
Those swing out seats are the coolest. I plan on welding up pair for use in the shop living space. I've been watching videos on youtube of folks making them. The welded ones are not quite as neat as your cast iron seat but they'll do.
Eric
Benchcrafted makes a nice swing out workbench seat.
Brad Bortner said:
I recently discovered that fact and its a really nice reproduction. Benchcrafted
For anyone interested below are a few videos of DIY swing out bench seats.
Welding Table Swivel Stool | JIMBO'S GARAGE - YouTube
Swing Out Workbench Seat - YouTube
Shop Stool (old video edited) - YouTube
Another neat video on these seats.
Brief History of the Swing Out Seat Table - YouTube
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Matt Mahoney
Active member
Teal rig complete
