Wedges to Hold the Workbench Top
2009.12.10
The top will remain in four sections. The front section is held in place with hidden dowels. To hold the other three sections tight together, I decided to use some wedges in the back.
I picked up these half-round metal brackets at the Rebuilding Center for a quarter. I attached them to the back legs, using my cordless drill to make pilot holes and start the screws, then finishing with a small brace drill.
Sawing and Shaping Wedges
The main wedges come from glued-up red oak, 1–1/2″ square. I used my large and small Wenzloff tenon saws to cut out the wedges (the large saw has ripping teeth, the small saw has crosscutting teeth). Then I made chamfers with a chisel and mallet to approximate the curve of the brackets.
Cross Wedges
You may have noticed there is a 1/2″ gap between the back of the top and the back of the legs. I sized the leg and stretcher assemblies for a 24-inch top, but after all the machine jointing and planing, the top is a little less than that. This space is now filled by cross wedges, pushing the sections of the top tight together, against the main wedges held in the half-round brackets. Yeah so I meant to do that…
2010.07.28
As noted later, the wedges did not work well at all. I tried sliding dovetails before finally attaching the top sections with long lag screws.
Top Dowels