Building a workbench Part 2

Yesterday and today I got most of the workbench finished. The last time I wrote about the workbench I had the frame almost made (I had run out of threaded bar) and I had nothing at all done with the top. Also, I had no vise. Finding a normal woodworking vise wasn't all that easy. There is a lot of far eastern cheap stuff on the market, where the vise doesn't close properly or where you can't really expect it to last more that a few years at the most. I finally find what I was looking for on a website for carpenters. The vise is cast iron and built in the Czech Republic, using an english design.

On the same website that I found the vise on, I also found some bench dogs. These come from Canada, from a company called Veritas. They are really good. The issue was that they are 3/4, so I had to find a way of boring 3/4 inch holes. All of the bits in Germany seem to be metric. 20mm is too big - the dogs would fall through. I ended up getting a 19mm bit from Famag. They are about three times more expensive than their nearest competitor but after drilling one hole it is obvious why. They bore perfect holes, carry the dust and shavings easily upwards and don't get hot. Plus they are easy to sharpen. Anyway, I bored six holes near the vise, so it should be easy to plane on top of the table (using the dogs as stops) or to hold timber steady. I also bored horizontal holes in the frame to store the dogs when they are not in use.

Bench dogs in action

Bench dogs when not in action

Building a workbench

Laying out the parts

It's hard to get anything done without a workbench. You can have as many machines as you want, but if you end up trying to piece things together on the floor, you'll get nothing done. Plus, anything you try to get done will get dirty and scratched and you end up sanding and waxing more often that you plan. Before I go making bookshelves for Sandra's gallery office, I absolutely have to have a workbench. Which is why I decided to get working on one. I got the timber from Stuckenberger. It is all building quality timber - nothing fancy. The leg posts are 95x95mm and the stretchers are 50x100mm. The top of the table is a three layer carpenter's panel, which should be sturdy enough for anything I'd be doing. It's over an inch thick.

Stuckenberger cut the timber to length and squared it on his table saw. To get going, I had to cut grooves along inside of the long stretchers and in the bottom of the short ones. The idea is that threaded bars run along inside the stretchers, through the leg posts and pull the whole construction together. It should also be easy to pull it tighter if, over time, it loosens up. One thing I learned when doing this is that a router is not the right tool for cutting long neat grooves. The table saw wins that hands down. It's easy to set the fence so as to cut the left and right side of the grooves, then slightly shift the fence so the blade cuts the rest of the groove.

Dowels centre and position the stretchers on the leg posts. I used a drill press to cut decent holes in the timber, big enough to let the threaded bars through and on the outside wide enough to be able to screw a nut onto the bar and pull it tight. Once I had all the holes drilled (took longer than planned) it was relatively easy to get the frame set up. One stupid thing I did was to forget that I needed threaded bars for the bottom stretchers too, so I had to call it a day. I'll see about getting more bar tomorrow and get the frame finished. Then I have to sand and wax the top. I'm still not sure how I'm going to fix the top to the frame. Plus, I have to source a proper vise as well.

Crosscut Sled

After all the effort that went into putting in a floor, it was finally time to benefit from the work. At some stage in September, I bought a table saw. It is a Bosch PTS10 and it came with a relatively lightweight frame to put it on. The green coloured Bosch line are for DIY enthusiasts etc, not really for professional use (the equivalent Bosch GTS10 - the blue line - is almost three times as expensive). While the saw is very solid and has a relatively powerful 1500W motor, you can see where they cut costs. The top of the saw - the flat surface that the timber is actually cut on - can't be adjusted. At least, I can't see how it can be adjusted. I measured to check how parallel the blade is to the fence that came with the saw and it is acceptable. The saw has an attachment for a vacuum cleaner. I need to figure out how I can set up a master/slave combination where the vacuum cleaner comes on automatically when I turn on the saw (and turns off when the saw goes off).

Setting up the fence at exactly 90° to the blade

After looking at videos on Youtube (e.g. the WoodWhisperer), it seems that for accurate joinery, almost all of the time cross cut sleds were used. The beauty of a cross cut sled is that you can assemble a jig that will cut 100% perfect square lines irrespective of the table saw setup. The blade could be well off 90° to the table saw fence, but when you assemble the cross cut sled, you can set it up square. For my saw I needed a coated sheet of plywood about 80cm x 70cm (it hangs over the left side of the saw by about 15cm - this is deliberate). I also needed two runners. These fit into the slots on the table (the slots that the angle fence usually runs in) and keep the sled running in one plane. Finally, on each side of the sled I needed fences. Only one fence (the one nearest to the operator) is critical - it absolutely has to be dead on, as the timber you cut registers against it and it must be at 90° to the blade. I was thinking of going to the building supplier for the materials but it turned out Stuckenberger had everything and he even cut the timber with his table saw (completely different league).

After clamping the fences, I pre-bored the screw holes and countersunk them as well - otherwise the screw heads would catch on the table. It worked out fairly well. To cut the slot that the saw blade actually travels in, you have to first drop the blade below the table, then turn the saw on and raise the blade up slowly. Given the length of the fences (particularly the important one between the operator and the blade), it should theoretically be possible to get very square cuts. Once the second fence was installed, I tested it with a two metre long piece of timber. Usually, you'd have no chance of crosscutting a piece like that. It would be impossible to hold the piece square to the blade - and if it moved (which it very likely would) you could get a savage back kick from the saw. With the crosscut sled, I clamped the timber against the fence and cut it with no problem whatsoever. You might not be able to see from the photo, but the cut is absolutely, perfectly square. That beats having to set up a circular saw with a guide.

Here's the sled set up to cut a long piece of timber across the grain

Partyraum Part 5

Now the floor is starting to look a bit better. The self levelling compound did its job and the surface is now smooth. It isn't completely level across the whole area, but it is acceptable and if I put tiles in at some stage, it should be easy to do. There are a couple of places where I think the compound might not last all that long (probably the areas where I filled with cement powder) but it should be easy enough to sand off and redo - if I have to. Once the compound was poured, it was spread with the same kind of trowel you use for laying tiles (the one with the teeth). You can walk on it after two hours - though mine was thick in places and I left it a couple of days before walking on it.

Once it was dry, I had to decide on how to treat it so that oil and grease and other kinds of dirt wouldn't stain it permanently. Still thinking that I might eventually tile it, I decided that a floor paint is probably the best way of doing it. If I do decide to tile it, I can just sand it, treat it with Tiefengrund (Polybond) and then the tile adhesive will hold. If I were to use some other kind of finish, like the acryl stuff, I'd have to do considerably more sanding if I were to tile it later. Anyway, Sven told me there was a shop in Landshut that was closing and he managed to procure two buckets of heating room paint for €1 a litre. Heating room paint is impenetrable for heating oil and is a requirement if you have a room with oil tanks. It just means, if the oil leaks, it won't get into the ground water. You actually have to paint three times for a heating room. As we'll have pellets, it doesn't matter. I used it because it was cheap. The colour was described as 'brick red' but I think it is more terracotta than anything else. I painted it twice and now it looks like the picture. It is a durable, non-slip finish. Dust etc still 'sticks' to it though - i.e. if there is fine, damp dust, like on the underside of a show, it will mark and you won't be able to get rid of it fully with a normal brush - you'd have to wash the floor. If I had applied the acryl finish, dust would have no chance and a brush would clean everything. However, tiling would be an issue.

Now that I have a floor, I set up my table saw. Next project is to make a workbench with a clamp on it. It is way too cumbersome to do anything without one. In the picture above you can see the timber I'm going to use to finish the edge of the gallery - i.e. the top of the wall. The carpenters had to take off the 'cornice' I had on it (only a skirting board upside down) to get the stairs in. I got the timber from Stuckenberger. I'll probably have to use the router to get a bit of a nice bead on the underside of it - but that's also a job I'd rather do when I have a workbench.

Partyraum Part 4

Almost a month ago we put in the concrete. It was ordered a week previously with express instructions to (a) use a chemical delay agent to stop the concrete setting too fast and (b) to ensure that the driver of the lorry had a 6m long slide for the concrete. The reason for (a) was that because of availability of help, we could only start at (planned) 14:00 and 33% of the help (Sven) had to leave for night shift at around 20:00. The reason for (b) was that it was intended that the concrete be poured pretty much in the middle of the room, so we'd be able to spread it easily.

As you might anticipate neither (a) nor (b) worked out. First, the lorry was an hour and half late - meaning we started pouring at around 16:00. Second, the slide was only 4m instead of 6m meaning we had to quickly construct a makeshift extension (which worked but made a bit of a mess in front of the door). Third, it became obvious pretty soon that the chemical agent (if there even was chemical agent in it) wasn't working and the concrete was setting too fast.

Under the circumstances we managed to get it some way even. Due to having to work full out until midnight, I didn't notice until much later that I had a nasty cement burn on my right leg (ended up with six trips to the doctor over the following four weeks and it still isn't right yet and will probably leave a nasty scar). I also didn't really have time to float the floor before the concrete set. The next day I floated as much as possible, wetting the floor as much as possible and using cement to fill in the worst of the holes. It worked out ok-ish. The main thing was that I wasn't too far off on the levels. Checking with the laser it looks as though the maximum deviation from the level I need is about 2cm. Those deviations are quite local though (meaning there are small steps rather than long hills). What was immediately obvious was that a surface will have to go in. There is a self levelling compound that can be poured like soup on to the floor. As a viscous liquid it levels itself like water and the finish is perfect. It is relatively expensive though, at €20 a 25kg bag. I'll need 10-15 bags, but it will be worth it for the finish.

Before the self levelling compound goes in, two things have to happen. (1) we have to run a concrete sander over the floor to remove small steps/ridges and to take the worst of the problems away and (2) the raw surface has to be treated with an epoxy compound so that the new surface sticks (kind of like polybond). The other Sven is going to give me a hand and he knows what he is doing, so come Saturday evening there should be an acceptable finish on the floor that I just have to paint with floor paint.

Partyraum Part 3

Here's the next installment of operation Partyraum (which, according to Eileen, will no longer be called Partyraum when I'm finished). Quite a lot of work has gone on since Partyraum Part 2, mostly on Saturdays and evenings. At the end of Partyraum Part 2 I had removed the upper layers and was getting ready to level. I decided to dig down much further to remove all organic material. When I started I was at 120cm on the laser. This means that when a measuring stick (2m long) is held vertically to the ground, the laser hits it at 120cm. I dug down until the laser hit it at 150cm. All of the clay was wheelbarrowed out and piled high. Compressed (i.e. in the ground) that is about 17 cubic metres. Uncompressed (i.e. dug up and wheelbarrowed out), probably about 20 cubic metres. Luckily enough, two of the neighbours needed fill, so I didn't have to get Hilger to pick up the clay in containers. So much for getting material out - now I had to get it back in.

The plan for the floor was to fill in up to 122cm with 'Frostschutzkies', which is basically gravel from the floor of a river or lake. When compressed it is the best protection against frost coming up from below (which would only really happen during a prolonged really cold winter). After the Frostschutzkies, a thin layer of sand and cement to level and clean, then 8cm of XPS insulation (extruded polystyrene, which is pressure resistant and waterproof), then a 0.2mm plastic sheet, then 12cm of concrete (with rebar mesh at 6cm).

Hilger brought the Frostschutzkies - altogether 31 tonnes, which I also had to wheelbarrow in. Sven helped me with the second load. The Frostschutzkies had to be compressed with a 'Whacker' (which I think is a misnomer for 'Wacker', which is the company that made them first) every couple of centimetres. A heavier whacker would probably do it all in one go, but I would never have got it in the door. As it was, I could pull the 80kg whacker down OSB boards.

As of right now, all of the above is finished, the rebar is in, the pipes are laid (so I can pull electric cables through once the concrete is set). The concrete is coming tomorrow. 6.5 cubic metres are ordered, which should be enough - should actually be a bit too much, so I dug the foundation for the rest of the granite kerbs so I have somewhere to put any excess concrete.

Partyraum Part 2

Since the last post on Operation Partyraum, I did a lot of donkey work with spade, shovel and wheelbarrow. Not to mention sledge and crowbar. The reason for this donkey work is that, underneath the mouldy OSB boards and the plastic sheet, there was a huge volume of sand/gravel, clay - and concrete.

It was difficult to figure out what kind of a system the existing floor was laid out in. Sandra told me that she remembers where the cows stood, what direction they were facing and where the calves were. This corresponded (more or less) to the concrete that was still there and to a concrete trough that went down deep into the ground (you can see it in the picture on the left). Like for the rest of the concrete, I used an angle grinder with a diamond blade to cut the concrete at the wall, so I could belt away at it with a sledge, without worrying about cracks.

I ordered a 7 cubic metre container from Hilger. Their policy is to give three days for free and then charge something like €4 a day after that. Obviously, you have to pay for the actual debris itself as well (even though you probably end up buying it back off them later as gravel).

The container arrived early on Monday (27th July) and I spent most of Monday evening filling it up as much I could. It was actually about three quarters full on Monday evening. Tuesday, I was too busy to get anything substantial done, so I had to finish it on Wednesday evening.

By the time they came and picked it up today (Thursday), it was full to the point of overflowing. I got all the concrete floor into it, lots of broken bricks (which were under the thin concrete on the right hand side) and a huge volume of the kind of sand/gravel mix that you find under concrete or bricks. There is also an old sink from Harting 10 that I broke up to get rid of. This all counts as 'Bauschütt' so I could probably have gotten rid of it bit by bit (for free) in Hohenpolding. Down there, they only allow you to drop off 100l a go though and they are only open on Thursdays and Saturdays. Seven cubic metres at 200l a week would take way too long.

Once I had the debris out of the way, it was time to decide where the finished concrete floor should actually go. The obvious way to go about this was to take the level of the bottom of the door (which cannot be changed) and project that level around the room. What is normally done is to go up a metre from whatever finished floor level you want and project that height around the walls. This is called a 'Meterriss'.

You can do this the hard way, with a normal level, or builder's line. Or you can do this the easy way with a laser. All you do is set up the tripod (the laser itself is self-levelling) and slowly turn the handle to raise the laser line up to exactly hit the metre mark (above the bottom of the door). That is exactly one metre above finished floor level. The laser projects 360° around the room. I used a bit of laminate floorboard about 15cm long into which I had cut a slot with a circular saw. With a can of spray paint, I sprayed short lines 'onto' the laser line all around the room. In about five minutes, it was done.

The next job was to get rid of the ridiculous, pointless step that was in the room. I don't know how many people stumbled over this in the past - and it means you can't really arrange things in the room as you might like. I had already gotten rid of the concrete from this step and a layer of bricks as well.

The 1m line that I drew around the room showed that I needed to go substantially deeper and getting rid of the step was the way to go. It was all compacted subsoil with broken roof tiles and bricks, so it was easy enough to shift with a spade and a shovel.

I now have one step less but one huge heap of clay, which I have to get rid of. If nobody takes it, Hilger will take it in a container. It can stay there now for a few weeks though. I've enough done.

Operation Partyraum

You may or may not know that the so-called 'Partyraum' has a serious problem. The problem is damp and mould. In 2009 a sheet of plastic was put down on top of (on one side) old concrete where there used to be cows and (on the other side) directly on the clay. OSB sheets were put on top of the plastic, using lats to level them. The lats were supported underneath by old timber beams (i.e. underneath the plastic, in a sand/gravel mix). Obviously, this is a recipe for disaster. Disaster happened over 2013/2014/2015 but was only really discovered in 2015. Between the OSB and the plastic underneath there was immense fungal spread. Going in to the room you would be hit with a wall of dank mould smell.  In the photo above you can see the dry rot that completely ate away the timber.

I decided to prioritise this as it seemed like it could be a health hazard as well as being generally a 'mouldy' situation. To get going, Yvonne cleared it out, leaving only the OSB boards. I demolished the bar and got rid of the OSB boards, the plastic sheets and the mould. I decided that the best outcome would be to have a completely level concrete floor, professionally done following all the rules of the trade. This meant removing not only the existing concrete, but also all organic layers - right down to the subsoil. This wasn't all that easy at all. There were cables and water pipes criss-crossing in the sand/gravel waiting to cause emergencies. I used an angle grinder with a diamond blade to cut a deep slice into the concrete all around the room. This way I could belt away with a sledge, without worrying that tiles would be falling off the walls upstairs.

The current status is that there are huge heaps of concrete, bricks, sand, gravel and general dirt piled up in the room. A container will be arriving on Monday, which I intend to fill as soon as possible. I have a feeling that seven cubic metres will not be enough. If it isn't, the rest of the debris will have to wait until the end of August. I will also have to fix up the electricity (all those cables will need to go into proper casings and should be arranged properly) and the water (the pipes will need to be sunk deeper).