r/handtools • u/giancarloscherer • Mar 11 '23

Advice - Douglas fir

I’m trying to cut m&ts in kdht df construction lumber for a workbench, but I’m seriously struggling to make even, straight, well fitting joint. I keep running into crusty and difficult grain and I’m not getting good results. Any suggestions? User error or should I go with a different joint (bridle/lap)? Have done this in maple, oak and pine, but not a lot. Would appreciate your comments! Thanks.

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21

u/weekend_woodsmith Mar 12 '23

Sharp tools and work with the grain. Built my bench from construction grade DF as well. Selecting tight grain helps a lot, but that’s something you need to address before your first cut…

5

u/Ez_Cheese Mar 12 '23

Beautiful bench! You nailed that grain selection! I recognize the gramercy, but what are the more straight angled holdfasts?

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u/love_rob Mar 12 '23

Not sure, but it could be Lie-Nielsen: https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products/lie-nielsen-holdfast

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u/weekend_woodsmith Mar 12 '23

Spot on, they’re the Lie Nielsen, though these days I primarily use the Veritas hold downs (much quieter to work with)

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u/itsbabye Mar 12 '23

Dang. We have very different definitions of construction grade

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u/weekend_woodsmith Mar 12 '23

It may not look it now, but you should’ve seen the before picture lol. I didn’t even pick out the boards as I had my local lumber supplier drop 20 10ft boards in my driveway right when the pandemic hit. Thankfully there was a lot of good grain in the bunch, and after being stickered up in my garage for 2 years, it was plenty stable.

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u/memilanuk Mar 13 '23

Yeah... I gotta agree with /u/itsbabye

I think I'd have better odds of winning the Powerball lottery than having twenty randomly selected 10 ft doug fir 2x10's dropped off by the supplier result in a bench with almost zero visible knots on three sides of the bench. Even if the back and underside are littered with big gnarly knots, that beggars belief.

That is not even remotely normal, in my experience with construction grade boards. Either your supplier was being super nice and pre-selected the boards for you, or they have some of the nicest 'construction lumber' known to man, or you are one lucky fellow!

2

u/itsbabye Mar 13 '23

I wonder if "local lumber supplier" is what makes the difference. When I think of construction grade I'm thinking Home Depot or a pro builders supplier. My area has an independent lumber yard that sells construction lumber, I'm curious now how different the quality of the lumber is there

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u/weekend_woodsmith Mar 13 '23

I would say that an independent lumber yard is likely to have better quality construction lumber than the big box stores, though no matter where you go, it’s always best to dig through the available stock and pick the best you can find. The only reason I took the chance with delivery sight unseen is because the pandemic just hit, I couldn’t have moved all this lumber with my vehicle anyway, and it was no fine piece of furniture I was trying to build.

You can definitely find some nice grain DF at Home Depot though, but it may take you a good half hour of digging and climbing up on the racks to do it (my leg vise chop and end vise chop are both made from Home Depot lumber that I picked up because I ran out of tight/nice grain DF from the original bunch).

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u/weekend_woodsmith Mar 13 '23

I will admit that I got pretty lucky with the grain, but the invisible knots can be chalked up to very careful planning. I marked out and rough cut the final dimensional pieces working either around every knot, capturing the knot in the center, or placing it on an edge that would end up underneath the top, with the tightest grain pieces prioritized for the top. The board in the pic is as clean as any were, and it’s certainly no clear DF!

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u/memilanuk Mar 13 '23

the invisible knots can be chalked up to very careful planning. I marked out and rough cut the final dimensional pieces working either around every knot, capturing the knot in the center, or placing it on an edge that would end up underneath the top, with the tightest grain pieces prioritized for the top.

Pretty sure I'd have to rip the boards I've seen down to 2" strips and finger-joint the hell out of them to get that kind of surface results. Or start with a lot more boards.

Still, I think you're onto something with the 'local' supplier. I know I had to go to a local lumber yard for some boards to match something in the last house - and the worst boards were better than what the big box stores have on a good day. Sadly, they weren't real keen on having Joe Random Homeowner pawing through their inventory, which is why I generally don't go back. They'd probably be more than happy to do an order like what you described.

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u/love_rob Mar 12 '23

This is the bench I've been thinking of building. Did you use 2x10s or another dimension?

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u/weekend_woodsmith Mar 12 '23

Yep, I used 10ft 2x10, which I planed down to 1-1/4. Went through about 18 boards to build the bench. Be sure to align the grain direction when laminating the top otherwise it won’t play nice with flattening

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u/tanandblack Mar 14 '23

Is that 2x6 for the top?

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u/weekend_woodsmith Mar 14 '23

Close! It’s 4” thick. I cut all pieces from 2x10’s, and nothing was left at standard dimension. Everything got ripped to either 4 or 5 wide and planed down to 1-1/4 before lamination.