Longtime Toolies: How To Build A Simple But Beautiful Bench While Watching My Cheap-Ass Miter Saw Break

Well, this project was for sure a little different than ones in the past. My wife asked me to make a bench, I found one on Pinterest, and whipped it together in like 90 minutes. I'm getting the hang of this thing. Sure, theres things I need to work on. For instance, I need to remember all the things I learned. I forgot about using a sawhorse with a clamp in order to make a fence of sorts. Because of that, all the cuts weren't exactly the same for the long pieces. 

You think, "what difference can 1/8th of an inch really make?" Well, for the looks of a bench on your front porch... a lot. However, using my nail gun appropriately was awesome. Having my first project where there's no visible screws is awesome. Having a miter saw from Harbor Freight that has loose screws and shit is not awesome. I tightened these fuckers several times and it damn near ruined some wood for me. With the cost of cedar 2x4x12 at 13 bucks each, that's a massive fuck up that ends up costing you money. 

Last weekend I built? made? I dunno... my first cutting board. The wood I used was various hardwoods and the same thing happened there. Each piece of the wood I used that was 1x6x6 was about 30 bucks. A few times the miter saw did the same exact thing you'll see in this video. That shit is INFURIATING. 

This weekend, I'm gonna really try to set my shop up in a way that makes sense. In reality, I've outgrown the shop already but there's nothing I can do. It's time for everything to have a space and a place. But, I keep buying shit so that makes it tough. The space for my miter saw might be the god damn trash. 

Follow along at @LongtimeToolies damn near everywhere social media shit happens. 

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PS. I cant recommend Pinterest enough. It's now my favorite social media platform.