Lining up truss rod groove with hole in leg
I am building Garrett Hack’s workbench from the plans I bought from Taunton. The long stretchers call for an 11/16″ deep groove running their length to accommodate a threaded rod. The rod goes through the bench leg on each end and a washer and nut allows the base to be put in compression for structural rigidity. My question is how do I line up the hole in the leg and the groove in the stretcher both vertically and horizontally? They have to be aligned or else the rod won’t go through, so if the hole is in the wrong place, I will have ruined the legs. I thought of drilling the holes in the legs first and marking the location of the groove from that, but if the two end marks do not line up parallel to the edge of the stretcher, I won’t be able to use that edge as a reference for cutting the groove. Anyway, the hole in the leg would be covered up by the end of the stretcher when it is test-fitted and I wouldn’t be able to see the hole. How about an indexing pin in the ends of the stretcher, such as a small pin sharpened to a point that would leave a mark on the leg?
Replies
Old woodworking sayings
Remember the old saying, "Measure twice, cut once"? It whould actually be: "Measure, mark, re-measure, re-measure, think about it, re-measure once again." ;-)
I'm not familiar with the New-Fangled Bench plans, but I'm guessing the threaded rod is simply surrounded by a dado along the length of the stretcher, as opposed to being totally enclosed by two glued-up boards having matching dados. As such, you'd have a small amount of vertical tolerance (the difference between the diameter of the threaded rod and the width of the dado), and considerably more horizontal tolerance.
I remember thinking about that when I was drawing it. If I was building that bench I would take a piece of the rod and sharpen the end of it. Cut the groove in the stretcher and dry assemble the legs and stretcher. Lay the piece of sharpened rod in the groove and drive it into the bottom of the mortise to leave a mark. Drill from the inside. The hole for the rod should be slightly larger than the rod so it'll go through and I wouldn't expect any alignment problems.
BTW, Ralph, this isn't the New Fangled Bench but rather Garrett Hack's "new" bench from the 2009 Tools and Shops issue.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled