Another Rite Leg Bench

Bruno of NH · April 22, 2018, 12:42:42 PM

That's a lot of slabs for the day

customsawyer · April 22, 2018, 04:45:41 PM

If you do the back rest and all the other stuff, I would highly recommend a cup holder. ;)

thecfarm · April 22, 2018, 04:48:30 PM

Ayup,beat me to it,cup holder!!
Good for you on sales.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · April 22, 2018, 07:21:17 PM

Quote from: customsawyer on April 22, 2018, 04:45:41 PM
If you do the back rest and all the other stuff, I would highly recommend a cup holder. ;)

Why......you never set one down. :D

customsawyer · April 23, 2018, 09:34:12 AM

That suggestion was for other customers.

samandothers · April 23, 2018, 09:57:08 AM

The power of suggestion. Your customers saw what was possible and the great finish and it was off to the races!

WDH · November 29, 2018, 09:50:18 AM

Spalted and naturally stained maple.

Wudman · November 29, 2018, 10:48:34 AM

Nice. I have a few spalted maples to saw. The right of way maintenance crew dropped them 3 or 4 years ago. I just picked them up a short while back. They are field edge trees and have some spiral grain so I am wondering how they will behave when slabbed. Might end up with a decorative sliding board for the grandkids. Had some pretty good color when I bucked them.

Wudman

samandothers · November 29, 2018, 10:59:12 AM

Well, that bench is just 'naturally' purdy!

stanwelch · November 30, 2018, 06:44:45 PM

Walnut for my Grand nephew

Magicman · November 30, 2018, 06:53:27 PM

I am detecting some "Bench Whisperers".

WDH · November 30, 2018, 08:11:27 PM

Stan,

Love the shape of that top. Looks like a nice maple butterfly, too. Really adds class.

stanwelch · November 30, 2018, 09:21:28 PM

Thanks, Danny. Your bench builds inspired me to try one. Got the legs from Tammi two years ago at the Pig Roast. I slabbed the walnut in April 2016 and air dried in the saw barn until a couple weeks ago. Thanks to the conversation on this forum I flattened the slab on the sawmill. MUCH easier and less mess than a router. I had rotator cuff surgery yesterday so will be one handed for a few months. No more projects until spring.

samandothers · November 30, 2018, 10:14:43 PM

Stanwelch, Bummer on the shoulder!

WDH · December 01, 2018, 07:40:23 AM

Stan,

Shoulder surgery is fun. Hope it went well and you recovery well.

customsawyer · December 02, 2018, 07:16:23 AM

Nice benches gents.

petefrom bearswamp · December 02, 2018, 08:14:41 AM

Bought 2 sets of legs from Kevin at Booneville in August.
Havent attempted anything yet but after looking at what you folks have done I am afraid my efforts will be feeble.

WDH · January 02, 2020, 08:59:26 PM

Well, I ran out of benches except for the one I keep in one of my lumber rooms for me to sit on. This curly red maple slab caught my eye, and after looking at it for about 4 months every day and refusing to sell it, I cut 3' off one end of the 8' slab and made this bench using the Danielle style Rite Leg Bench Leg in wrinkle black. It has several coats of pure tung oil, and rubbed out some with 0000 steel wool. Another coat or two with some more rub-out and should be good to go. The tung oil really pops the curl in the red maple. The bottom shelf is a curly ambrosia maple board. This one has a particularly nice natural edge.

Robert,

Did you keep that maple bench that you sit your whooped out butt on or are you still sitting your whooped out butt on it?

customsawyer · January 06, 2020, 03:16:01 AM

Nice bench. I like a good piece of curly maple.

Weekend_Sawyer · January 06, 2020, 06:51:39 AM

That is one nice looking bench!

Did you add a stain or use a torch to darken it?
Inquiring minds...
Jon

WDH · January 06, 2020, 08:21:27 AM

No Sir. I used dark tung oil. You can get pure tung oil in regular or in dark. The wood was not stained or burned.

YellowHammer · January 06, 2020, 10:08:48 AM

Quote from: WDH on January 02, 2020, 08:59:26 PMRobert,

Did you keep that maple bench that you sit your whooped out butt on or are you still sitting your whooped out butt on it?

That is a remarkable bench of yours Danny. Beautiful figure. I like the legs, too. I need to order some more to sell.

Yes, its still here in the showroom. It's helped sell more live edge slabs than anything else. I do set my rear end on it regularly. This weekend we may have had 300 people come through and I ate my lunch on it. People seem to realize that a tired guy eating a cold piece of pizza on a bench is not to be disturbed. :D :D

kantuckid · January 06, 2020, 01:44:50 PM

That's one beautiful piece of wood!
Thought I'd share some thoughts on natural edged slabs since they're all the rage now days.
For starters I never consider buying the legs made of steel. Tightwad figures into that decision but mostly I like all wood anyway for esthetics of choice.
Long time ago when I made my LR coffee table and end table from walnut live edged slabs I began building peg leg style. By that I mean a variously shaped wood leg using a turned round, wedged tenon. I like the look of the wedged end in the top and keeping the piece all wood. No doubt wood is the easier way and great for those who are not into so far into wood working as others, meaning buy a slab, sand it a bit and screw things together. The hardest aspect is drilling the largish angled holes, the rest isn't very far gone.
To place a date on my slab interest and projects, I first got onto the slab idea when I read the article in one of Fine Woodworking' early issues about George Nakishima's business in PA centered on nice slabs built into tables, benches, stools, etc.. To suggest that natural edge slabs are a recent phenom is to ignore his influences.
As for tung oil as a finish-Walmart as they're given to do so often, stopped carrying pure Watco branded tung oil last winter. I bought every marked down can I ran into as we snowbirded around FL last winter. I normally like Watco Danish followed by wax or Watco Poly Wipe for a full service table top. The danish oil does the exact same thing as the tung in popping out the grain and colors. Once set by Watco Danish walnut stays dark longer than I've been around.
I recently tried Watco Satin wax, a wipe on wax that really works great. given the high cost of hard waxes as I used in the past it's my new buddy for a final buff on wood projects, it's really easy to use too!
I made a bunch of walnut live edged shelves for a son in TN last year. His contractor is used to doing them and said for me to angle the back edges slightly so that once weighted with plates, pans or knicknacks the shelf stays at level-I think we used 5 degrees back angle on the straight back side.