Birth of a Sincox...

I want to take a minute to apologize for being a bit remiss in maintaining my woodworking blog over the past month or two.

Instead of woodworking, I'm been focusing on getting things ready around the house for a new addition to the family. We needed to do things like assemble cribs and strollers, finish some kitchen renovations, get a closet installed, and paint, paint, paint. Then two weeks ago I decided to go in and have sinus surgery done to clear up an infection issue I'd been dealing with for six months.

Fortunately, we were able to get most of it done, and recover from the surgery, because I decided to suggest Dana go to yoga class Tuesday evening.

Oops.

She came back and complained about some lower back pain. I attributed it to the class and asked if she felt a twinge at any point where she didn't get a pose right. She said no, that everything seemed to do well in class.

Four minutes later, she felt the pain again.

OOPS!

Timed it once more, just to make sure...

Yep. In retrospect, maybe yoga wasn't such a great idea, Ethan...

So off to the hospital we went, suitcases and bags and books in tow. A short seven hours later, my wife and I had a new addition to the family. So the Birth of a Roubo will have to take a seat for a little bit as the Birth of a Sincox takes precedence...

(Oh, and as a minor update on the Roubo... I checked the lumber in my garage-come-kiln the other day and it is light as a feather and straight as an arrow! So when I AM ready to get back to working on it, the lumber is good to go!)

The Birth of a Roubo...

This last Saturday a friend of ours was over doing some electrical work in the kitchen. My brothers and I had removed the old counter and tore down the tile backsplash the previous weekend. While the drywall was down, I wanted Mike to update the wiring to make sure all of the outlets were GFI and add some under-cabinet lighting.

Mike has one of those big trucks you love to drive around and every guy you pass stabs you with jealous daggers from his eyes. I like borrowing it when he is working on a project at our house.

This last weekend, I borrowed his truck to take a trip to Lowes. I needed to pick up some supplies for the work he was doing, but I also wanted to take advantage of the bed of his truck to haul a little bit of lumber home.

Two hours later, I returned, triumphant (and sore and tired...)! I had the lumber picked out for what I'm calling The Ten Board Roubo.

It starts with the hand-selecting of ten 12' long 2x12 southern yellow pine boards. Let me tell you, hand-selecting 12' long boards by yourself isn't exactly easy. If you ever start on a bench-building project in the future, I would suggest bringing a friend along to help move lumber during the selection process. Those suckers are heavy and unwieldy.

Once I got them home, I cross-cut them to somewhat smaller dimensions before I stickered them in the corner of the garage. The top is going to be 8' long, so I decided to cut them all into 8' and 4' sections.

It isn't much to look at so far, but it is a start... and it makes my garage smell good!

The mahogany board sitting on top of the stack is not part of the bench but another project I also started (er... picked up again?) this weekend. I'll have some progress on that project at a later date.

Total price for the bench lumber came out at about $150. I'd love to be able to spend the time and money on wooden screws for a face vice and pick up a shiny wagon vice for the end, but I have a baby due in less than 10 weeks, so both are at a bit of a premium right now. I'll settle with using the two record vices I picked up last year (a #52) and three years ago (a #52 1/2). As long as I recess the inner jaws and make some nice big chops for them, I'll be happy.