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Free Plans: The Lightweight Traveler Bench

🕑 Added 2021-06-09 11:01:02 +0000 UTC

Comments

Dean Wight

I think there's an error in the traveler bench plans. On page 3 - Make the Square Mortise - the mortise spans 1.5 inches between 6 and 7.5 inches from the end of the bench. But on page 5 - Assemble the Top - the batten is shown at 6 inches from the end of the bench, with the mortise shown above it (that is, closer to the end of the bench). Am I missing something obvious? If so, apologies.

Rex Krueger

There is no palm on the Joiner's bench, so maybe you mean my other low bench? Either way, this one is easier to make out of leftover scraps and I didn't find I really needed the elevation feature. The back that goes flush prevents rotation and lets you get away with a weaker joint between the two pieces.

Jeff Blessing

Hi Rex. I'm curious why the palm is of a different design than the one for the joiners bench I noticed that this one seems to only sit flush on the benchtop and has some sort of back that goes flush with the end whereas the other one had an adjustable height and was only the one piece. It seems to me that one COULD just turn this particular palm around 180 and use the back as a planing stop.

Jeff Blessing

Ted didn't necessarily take plans from others, what it is is a collection of "plans" or project designs that are all free and public on the internet. He just put them all together. Many of the plans are REALLY old and useless, and there's nowhere near 16000 of them.

K. Hampf

I am currently building this and I think the mortise should be offset 6" but the batten edge 8" instead of 6". Then the later 10" centre line makes sense. But yes, it seems to be an error in the plans.

Xyem

I just measured mine and it is 1.75" thick. Also, the tenon isn't going through that thickness perpendicularly, so it will be "thicker" from the tenons perspective i.e. 3" at 15 degrees is 3.1" (yay trigonometry!) which does explain why my tenons come up so short: 3" tenon through a 3.6" deep mortice..

Rex Krueger

Several people have built it. We did a revision of the plans to fix a little error (I forget what). As far as I know, the current plans are spot-on and have been used be several people to build the bench. You can find them on Instagram and the forum. You're also misunderstanding the math. The top and battens add up to 3", not 4". A piece of 2x material is only 1.5" thick.

Xyem

Has anyone built this? I'm trying to do so and it isn't making much sense to me. Aside from the batten location being wrong on the drawings, I think the tenon length is wrong too.. 3" isn't long enough to go through 4" of wood (2" of batten and 2" of benchtop). The taper shown on the plans doesn't look like it would allow an additional 1-1.5" of insertion and on the video, the taper looks more like a wedge curve to allow for that than a straight taper. So should the taper be curved or the tenons be longer? Either way, I think a v2 of the plans to fix the batten position error and clear this up would be a good idea!

Xyem

Just bear in mind that the instructions have an error in them, as the square mortise and the batten have the same offset from the edge (6", 152mm). I think the batten is supposed to be 8" ~203mm from that edge?

Xyem

More importantly, the plans should be correct, but these ones have at least one error. It says 6" (152mm) from the front edge to the start of the square mortise.. and then also says 6" (152mm) from the front edge to the edge of the batten.

Dr RAUL ZAVALETA

I just ordered your book, I got my interest on the Lite traveler bench,I am looking forward to build one, I also need to learn about Chisels sorry I still find your recommendations page for tools not quite complete, well I check your other website. I find your videos very entertaining and motivating. Thank you I wish to continue supporting your work!!

Rex Krueger

Martin: You're selling yourself short! If you feel like you can build something like this, then you can surely deign it. Even paper and pencil will get the job done. It's all squares. As least give it a shot!

martin turner

Hi, Rex, I liked watching this project it's great. I have been looking for plans for my daughter she wants something made for her sewing room. Something like this, ( https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/55380270408202959/?fbclid=IwAR2XM10jwh34JPqUQbXYGtmWPWAfEFaHD6KIYcimEvrkEBRuttLLEq7lWFE )I am seeking a plan drawer with cutting list inreturn for dollars. whenever I search I get teds woodwork plans. Not being any good with wood other than following plans. I need the plan. I refuse to get Ted's plans as many accuse him of takeing plans of others if true I don't want to contribute to that. Can find me a plans man or draw a plan for this you're self which I can buy??? if you can reply to magiic12marty@gmail .com

Bohumír Zámečník

Awesome plans! Thank you! I think this will be the first new bench after we come again to Thailand with my wife. I love to see renders from Fusion 360. One tip to make the render even more realistic: it's possible to move the grain of the 3D wood to make any kind of wood sawing: plain, quarter, rift, whatever. Just use texture mapping controls. Seeing the pith and the rings around with the default alignment subconsciously makes the piece appear a little bit less sturdy. :laugh: :ocd: Example: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGu4qQujRn6/ And thank you for making the book. I'd love to buy a copy.

Rex Krueger

The widths for all the pieces are the same since it's all 2x6 lumber. Otherwise, we would include the widths for sure.

Rex Krueger

Robert has it! That's exactly right.

Rex Krueger

I think we can....let me see.

Rex Krueger

Really appreciate the detailed feedback!

Rex Krueger

Yup, 2x6 boards, but it's flexible.

Rex Krueger

Yup, from the top. You can see it better in the video.

Harold Stone, Jr.

Rex: Thank you so very much for sharing your plans. I truly appreciate the generosity. Take care my friend. Harold

Tim Rupp

not much of a fan of the "new" plans. if you are going to give dimesions they should be on each page...not have to go to page 4 or 5 for widths when the lengths are on page 2. just not good practice...pretty yes...functional not so much. (sorry but my training was in engineering geometric dimensioning and tolerancing)

Robert Dennett

You're going with the grain on the leg no matter how you orient it. The grain runs lengthwise in the leg and you're driving the wedge into endgrain.

Robert Dennett

I would say that probably neither lengths nor widths are super critical. You don't want it too wide and how wide that is depends on how tall you are, but likely not more than about 14" which is as I recall, how wide the original was. You want it long enough to do useful work, but not so long that it will flex much when you sit on it. Partially, that depends on where the legs are, and going from memory, they're 40" apart. The height should be sized to fit you, i.e. just below your kneecap.

John Hiemstra

Love the new plans. Nicely detailed.

Henry Amador

Quick question: I know the wedges go in perpendicular to the bench grain to avoid splitting the board, but does the grain direction matter for the leg tenon? Will going with the grain on the tenon cause it to split?

Ben Ericson

Second page at the bottom: "You can make the whole bench from (2) 2x6x8 boards"

veddermatic

Any plans to release the Fusion files directly? (awesome plans, btw!!)

Louis

Thank you for this bench and plans. It will help me complete the LRW I started from rough sawn local hardwood!

Roger Reinsch

Rex, I watched the video first and this captures all the steps. Very nice. I, an American living in Arizona, do all my woodworking in Metric - I hate fractions. I appreciate all the metric equivalents. I don't know where all your subscribers live, but any who live almost anywhere by America will have A4 (approximately 8.3"x11.7") as their go-to "letter" size. The free Adobe PDF viewer can shrink oversized pages to fit the paper so this should not be a problem for any one wanting to print all 18 pages of this plan. If the Modeling and Drafting software allows it, it would be nice to have a message and a link to the YouTube video on the front page. Really good work. These instructions are better than most you have to buy. Thanks.

Dick Wright

Well done guys, great detail, easy to follow...look forward to the Mission style bench.

Eric Smith

Love it!

Sean McGown

Those plans are fantastic. Great job on the new look.

Zachery Bir

Oh, I see. That's from the top.

Zachery Bir

On page 7, isn't the guide block facing the wrong way? It looks like the two legs would end up crossing themselves in the middle.

Tim Rupp

...so width is not important-just lengths? pretty plans but more questions than answers.

Alex McFarlane

I really love the new design of these plans, I had my eye on building the low roman bench as my first bench but the timing of this design is perfect, it will work much better for the space I have. Can't wait to get building!