April 2006
With all these long pieces of timber to shape I knew I would need to install some
woodworking vices on the bench, so when
Axminster
had these quick release vices on special offer it was an opportunity to good to miss.
Although I had to remove quite a lot of the bench structure to fit them, there are
no apparent ill effects.
Here are the front and rear lateral beams for the rear seat panel awaiting machining to accept
the longitudinal beams prior to bonding the assembly in place. I've lowered the height of the rear
seat 2" from my original design after scaling some seat height and seat back proportions
from various photographs I'd taken and to allow for a 3" thick seat cushion.
My ¼" rad roundover router cutter is an almost perfect match for my glue fillets.
It's quick and saves sanding.
Next step was to router the mortices for the longitudinal seat beams. the picture shows
a plywood template which guides the router bush and produces the 18 x 50 slots. The router
is a really fast tool but basically it's all noise and dust. How I would love to have the
time to do these details by hand.
Whilst I had the router handy I took the opportunity to remove the deck camber from the
inner transom bulkhead. This is because the lateral deck section will sit over this, so it
needs to be at the same height as the transom. Then this deck section will be rebated
to accept the main deck planking.