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those of you with a long memory may recall from an earlier post that Francis Young - writing in the early 1880s - talked about a couple of quick-release vices being available. We covered the E&Y 'lightening' instantaneous grip above and the second was the 'Standard' instantaneous grip The vice...

PS the vice shown is a one of these post1166725.html#p1166725 (made by Entwistle and Kenyon) - it does not work the same way as the Record, but I don't think there is anything about it that would mean you had to fit it flush with the top. Perhaps they are just easier to fit this way?

ah, of course - this also explains another mystery - I could not understand why Record went to the effort of putting a removable metal cover above the half nut on their quick-release vices. Bizarrely they patented this idea and the patent claims that tradesmen who make a sloppy mortice for the...

I know the bench is finished but I still have a couple of vaguely bench related topics to get off my chest. While I was researching woodworking vices (yes, I know) I came across this entry in the 1905 Melhuish catalogue (pic below). Of course it was heartening to see they had used half-lap...

finished! I am very pleased with the holdfasts - they are by Simon James and I got mine from Classic Hand Tools, delivered next day at the very reasonable price of £49 for the pair including delivery. After flattening the front apron is just over 40mm and the holdfast need only a light tap to...

finishes Tradition has it that you should either use a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil* and turpentine or not bother with a finish at all. I still like to do a bit of tool fiddling now and then - which often involves some grubby metalworking - so I decided to put a finish on mine to stop...

thanks all! As I mentioned earlier, my brilliant plan of drilling separate holes for the bars/screw/QR mechanism for the vice was not a success. The holes have to be positioned exactly right and, although I had the holes in the right place, it seems I had not drilled them completely square and...

a few miles from St Albans - of course I can't give specific details in case BM finds out and tries to force that Guinness on me!. I have now flattened the top and rear apron - it took about an hour and forty five minutes (for the rear I just took off the grungy surface but made no effort to...

it could do fine work too, surely? If it is flattish, and the adjuster works, what else could be wrong with it?

in this one I attempt to convey the spirit of the nail and its eternal struggle with the timber etc.

except that the movement of the wood against the traditional wedge eventually widens the slot so they do not hold no matter how hard you bang them in - at least that is what has happened with my (three) other wooden handled hammers...

I managed to even bore myself over on the Record vice thread, so here is one about hammers to liven things up! I have been using a Plumb hammer on my new workbench and it is the bees knees. It is even better than my erstwhile favourite hammer ( reserved for household DIY and made by another...

I think that using a screw, rather than the original thumb-push, on the lever cap is a better design too. With a budget of 75 quid for 4 planes then I expect some elbow grease is going to be needed to get them to work properly - looking forward to your review!

I am going to turn it 45 degrees so it goes under the far window - one of the reasons for making it was I put the last one (which is not portable!) against the rear wall where the light is poor, and when the sun shines the shadows pay havoc with my increasingly blurry eyesight. I am afraid all...

flattening I did the initial flattening of the top in about 40 minutes - I used my wooden planes, the jack to take off the high points and then the jointer to work across the grain. The result is not pretty but is reasonably flat, and I will clean it up on another day. The apron took just...

that reminds me, when I lived in London as a yoof I used to go to Speakers Corner on a regular basis, and without fail would see the same elderly chap in a french beret shuffling around - no soap box, but he had a sandwich board saying 'its going to get worse' Eventually my mate Neil plucked up...

top glued and nailed on. With a bit of judicious clamping there are no gaps where the top and the aprons joint (at least for now!). You need a decent hammer for this type of bench - I counted over 100 nails - mine's made by Plumb and I like it a lot. 'only' flattening, vice, bench stop and...

thanks BM, I appreciate the encouragement. Only a few more of my vapid warblings to go before the end (I hope!) Today's update consists entirely of making holes - hole 1 is for the bench stop, hole 2 (more of a trench really) is to accommodate the top of the rear jaws of the vice. My...

Here is some info on a couple of quick-release vices that predate Parkinson's design: * Entwisle & Kenyon's (Accrington) Instantaneous Grip Vice * Standard Instantaneous grip invented by Smiths Marks & Co, Keighley and sold by Thomas Syers and co. Both vices are described by Francis Young...

earlier today I flattened the undersides of the 3 boards that will make up the top. El Barto, I did time it and it took 45 minutes in total - much quicker than I expected. However, I suspect this is an advantage of the planked top design, since you only have to worry about getting the boards...