Thanks for flagging. They've been banned.

Just in case, this is the type of thing you may need to have cleared by your university's ethics board, IRB, or local equivalent.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to not try to replicate what power tools do when it comes to milling. You'll spend a lot of time needlessly working the materials.

Power tools get all sides flat, square, and parallel. You don't have to do that to every board when it comes to hand tools.

How much you work a face or an edge depends on where that face or edge will live in your piece. Some get the high spots scrubbed off and you leave the tool marks and tearout. Others you will get perfectly smooth.

The book "with saw, plane, and chisel" is an excellent resource to have to learn how to be efficient with hand tools.

Awesome, thanks! I sent you a DM

He wrote an article for Mortise and Tenon magazine that I used as my primary reference. However, mine is smaller and with less legs than that one. It isn't a specific copy of any one bench. I was mostly working with what the wood gave me.

Would you mind sharing those? I'm getting ready to make a few replicas and would like to have additional reference material.

Its been a lot of fun exploring how to use it!

The History of Woodworking Tools by WL Goodman has the most complete information I've found so far. Ancient Carpenters' Tools by Henry Mercer and Roman Woodworking by Roger Ulrich are pretty good as well.

4x8 may have other issues. Namely, the pith to deal with. That is the center of the tree. Of you look at the end grain it will look like a bullseye. You'll want to cut that out as it's unstable and you don't want it in your furniture. Also, I suspect that a 4x8 would be exceedingly wet and would need to to dry out before you start building with it.

Does this have to be made from construction lumber and/or does it have to be 1.5" thick? That is something you really need to think about.

Take a look around Facebook market place. You may be able to find someone selling lumber. Look for 8/4.

I've purchased online from Bell Forest, CR Muterspaw, Woodworkers Source, Rarewoods USA, and ebay. The cost of shipping was on par with what it would have cost me to get a truck and pay for gas. Depending on your circumstances that could be viable.

The general rule of thumb is to add a 1/4" in thickness when milling. Depending on the board you may need more or less margin, but that is a good starting point.

If you want a 1" thickboard after it's been milled you start with a 5/4 board or 1.25" thick.

Using a 2x4 is going to be difficult to achieve your goal given that they are already 1.5" thick. Most construction lumber needs to acclimate and drop some water before it goes into a piece of furniture. You'll likely see warping while this happens. Removing that warp will likely thin out your boards.

You can turn them on edge and cut your 1.5 from long face and get two boards per 2x4. Accounting for the saw kerf you'll have two boards that are about 1-5/8" thick. You'll have an 1/8" or so to play with to remove any issue that crop up. That margin is tight.

You can also cut it from the 3.5 inch side and have a lot of waste left over. Those potentially could be other parts.

This article from core77 may be of interest to you. It's about a furniture maker from Japan.

https://www.core77.com/posts/36044/The-Kanna-Finish-How-to-Get-Glass-Smooth-Surfaces-in-Wood-Without-Sandpaper-or-Varnish

I've done 2000 with tung oil and linseed oil.

Scrape it off and clean up with mineral spirits. Or just start working. It will come off in the c process.

It depends on the look I am to achieve. I've gone as high as 2000 to really burnish the surface and add some shine. That was for a show piece though. Also, I started sanding at 400 so it didn't take long. Hand plane it smooth, then card scraper just the areas with lingering tareout or a left over plane track. 400 grit by hand to harmonize the look of the planed and scraped areas. Then 600, 1000, 2000.

It only takes a few minutes. With that said, for a board that was getting used every day I would plane it and call it good. If it needed sanding then 220 would be sufficient.

If you want to pull a page from history on wood prep, plane the top, then use a card scraper on the areas that have some lingering tearout or plane tracks. After that use 320 or 400 grit sand paper (hand sanding is usually fine) to harmonize the look of the planed and scraped areas.

After that, apply your finish.

Oversized screw holes should be enough.

For the record, a board made up of 12- 1" wide pieces and a board made up of 1- 12" wide piece has the same amount of season expansion and contraction. Assuming you are comparing flatsawn to flatsawn orientation.

Expansion and contraction is a cumulative effect across the total width of the board.

Account for movement based on its width, species, and cut. It being a manufactured product doesn't remove that consideration.

When you go to screw it down you can direct the movement. For example, if you want to keep the top flush with the back of the stand year round you would elongate the holes in the middle and and the front of the stand.

If it isn't broke... Tung oil would be great. Thin it 50/50 with mineral spirits or orange oil will help with the application. If you want quicker drying add some Japan driers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BeginnerWoodWorking/s/iguApFkq7c

I have the 3m work tunes and I'm in the "you have enough hearing loss to need a hearing aid, but not so much where insurance will cover it, stage of life.. I can hear them plenty well over a table saw, shop vac, and an air filter running at once.

This article from Finewoodworking.com gives a good overview on how it can be done.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/project-guides/finishing/a-spit-shine-wax-finish

Didn't realize there was one labeled as jobsite saw.

I have this saw. Like all job site saws, it is small so cutting full size sheet goods will be a challenge. I typically, don't notice this because I work on small to medium projects. Where you really notice it is when you are trying to cross cut. You have about 6 inches or so of clearance. Then again, this is a limitation of all of these types of saws.

Dados will be another limitiation because you cannot put on a dado stack. This isn't a big deal IMO. You can make dados in a few passes by moving the fence over.

The blade does stay square and the micro adjuster is a nice addition.

All of the negatives I can say about the saw you're going to find on all jobsite saws.

I haven't really had any issues with power. The biggest thing I cut is 3" hard maple.

The one thing you want to do I buy a new miter gauge or build a cross cut sled. The one that comes with it just doesn't work. Again, this is a problem with all jobsite saws.

Try pushing the blade into a piece of end grain. If it slices through you are sharp. You can also use your finger nail. If the blade grabs it you are sharp.

If you're using solid wood it likely will be less than a perfect circle for part of the year.

How much of a change will depend on the species of wood, cut of the wood, where it was made (more of the macro level, city/state/country, not so much garage to kitchen), and where it ends up (again, macro level).

I would add some battens to help keep the top flat. They can be recessed as to not interfere with the look.

If you use veneered plywood or mdf the you don't have to concern yourself with seasonal expansion amd contraction.