Bench in a weekend

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I decided to take a short break from the chair build - it had been quite intense for a while and it was time to chill out for a couple of weeks.

The background to this bench is that each year I get invited to demonstrate something at the Perth LN Tool Event - joint making, dovetailing, tool building, whatever. And each year it is held I wind up with a bench that suits a power tool user! One small face vice that is inaccessible, and a large flat bench without dogs. I can use clamps only, and this is not really convenient when planing mouldings, rebates, grooves, sliding dovetails, and so on. I have a Moxon vise, but what I really need is a bench. So I decided to build a small bench that I could fit in the car (I have a two-seater so it has to be small).

This is what I came up with with scraps on hand: 28" long, 15" wide, and 2 1/2" thick. Materials were Pine sandwiching a LVL core, and Jarrah for the central dog holes, wagon vise and screw.

I agree with Chris Schwarz, who recently blogged on cutting full blind dovetails, and wrote that the through dovetail is the most difficult of all to get right. Particularly when the tail is 1 5/8" long.

What I love about the brass Veritas dogs is that they are spring-loaded. They compress into the dog hole, and then pop up at a touch of the finger ..

The dogs can be re-sited for traversing ...

... and they may also be used with the Veritas Surface Clamp, which is the only hold down with a leg short enough for this bench ..

The end of the bench has an adjustable planing stop.

The black dots (above) are where I shall drill holes to clamp the bench down on the "table" top.

The screw for the wagon vise was intended to be made with a kit, but it did not work (blunt blade which did not work after I sharpened it), so I turned the threads on a power router and finished with a file ..

Here are the parts ..

.. and together ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[DannyEssex]

Great workmanship. I really like that

 

[Spindle]

Hi Derek

Any chance you could give me some pointers re threading with a router?

Regards Mick

 

[jimi43]

Nice Derek...very very nice!!

Jimi

 

[Argus]

.

Very nice, Derek.

If you don't mind me saying that little bench puts me in mind of a small 'Danish' style table-top bench that Hans Brunner had for sale a year or two back. I think that it raised a little interest at the time.

I don't do any 'outside work' away from my main workshop but I thought that it would be a nice thing to put together one day - you beat me to it!.

All best

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Thanks Argus - I would love to see Hans' bench. Do you have a link or picture?

I did look at the Milkman's bench design, posted by Chris Schwarz on his blog, but discarded this as I wanted to clamp a board at the edge of the bench, and also have more planing surface. Anyway, I did not need to clamp boards for dovetailing as I have a Moxon vise.

I have not weighed this little bench top. It feels pretty solid and quite heavy. There is enough clamping, using the wagon vise together with the planning stop, to hold down a 24" board length. With the side dog holes, there is sufficient support to use a jack plane diagonally to flatten a panel. Importantly, it is possible to hold boards close to the edge to rebate or add a bead.

Hi Mick

I have made a few 1 1/2" screws before with a kit (tap and cutter) for moxon vises. These turned out pretty well. However, when it came to using the cutter this time, it just tore up the grain. I sharpened it, but this made no difference - the cutters must be replaced exactly. They do not tolerate any misalignment. The problem may also lie with the wood I used (I tried a few different types, but they are all pretty dry and brittle). As a result I decided to research screw cutting with a router (since I had heard about that), and turned up the videos as posted below. With a little trial and error, I was successful on the second attempt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C4p8aT7CDs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZmnGLpqAGI

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[MickCheese]

Derek

Whenever I see something that 'you just knocked up', I am astonished.

When I 'just knock something up', it really looks knocked up. When you do it we have a masterpiece.

I really like your bench and will look at the links you provided as I too am interested in screw cutting in wood.

Well done, looks great.

Mick

 

[Argus]

Thanks Argus - I would love to see Hans' bench. Do you have a link or picture?

I did look at the Milkman's bench design, posted by Chris Schwarz on his blog, but discarded this as I wanted to clamp a board at the edge of the bench, and also have more planing surface. Anyway, I did not need to clamp boards for dovetailing as I have a Moxon vise.

Derek, You must be up early in the morning??????

If you are familiar with the so-called ‘Milkman’s Bench’ that Chris Schwarz wrote about, it was based on the one in Hans Brunner’s sale and is an almost exact copy. There was quite a bit written about it on his blog at the time and another example made and written about by someone else (sorry, forgotten who…. Has to be a bit of Googling, I'm afraid). If I remember that it was thought that the original owner of Brunner's bench was a Danish milkman……

Here’s the link to Brunner’s results page from June 2012.
http://www.hansbrunnertools.com/Junesalereduced.pdf

Pull it down to lot 62, where, it is shown upside down. (Spin it 180 degrees in your imagination and the top then resembles Shwarz's).

I wrote to him at the time and although I had no hope of bidding from here, he kindly included some better photos of the whole thing on the sales page at the time. Maybe he still has them. As I recall, it went for $325 (Aus).

All best from Wales

 

[rspsteve]

Now that's proper woodwork..lol
Thanks for showing us.
Steve

 

[Grahamshed]

Wow, that looks gorgeous. I would be scared to use it

 

[xy mosian]

You always come up with something interesting Derek, thank you.
I do like the way you have managed the 'female' thread. I have not come across that before, is it your own? Then of course I remember Hero's thread cutting solution, and every quick release half nut I have ever seen. Of course like every good idea it is so simple, once someone else sets it out, and in full view!
Thanks again.
xy