Bench Design - Please do a critique

[kinsella]

update photos

 

[marcros]

looking good.

is the top fixed down? you may need to counterbore your dog holes if you are using them, and plan to use holdfasts. it looks a nice thick slab.

 

[Jacob]

I'd take out the middle of the top to make a well. This is useful, and also makes for a more stable top. Then split the saved board to make two aprons. These also are useful and increase rigidity enormously.

 

[kinsella]

Its 70mm thick. Beech in the middle just for decoration and pine boards. Its fixed with 6 bolts from underneath with expansion room. i wanted it to be heavy enough to withstand any forces put to the work piece. Its on drop down wheels which work a treat to move around and then kick them and the whole thing drop to the ground.

Next steps.......
fit tail vice, dog holes, make dogs, then deadman. then last of all some drawers.

Next project, a jewellery box for the missus.

I did as earlier suggested and read the workbench design book and i was off the view that the wells didnt suit my methods of working. The book didnt suggest them either. So i've opted for no well, and i intend to make a tool shelf nearby the bench.

 

[kinsella]

marcros, just realised it was you who suggested book! it did the trick. It was worth the money. Will probably stick the book up later for sale.

 

[bugbear]

I did as earlier suggested and read the workbench design book and i was off the view that the wells didnt suit my methods of working. The book didnt suggest them either. So i've opted for no well, and i intend to make a tool shelf nearby the bench.

Scott Landis says (on the basis of interviews) that tool wells are a purely personal preference, with no right or wrong.

BugBear

 

[kinsella]

To be fair, as you can see from the drawing in post no 1, i had intended to include a well. As someone who puts down a tool and then spends the next few minutes trying to find it again, i thought the well might actully help. But having read the book, i thought i'll try it without. i can always retro cut one out.

 

[Benchwayze]

If you can get hold of a copy of 'The Workbench Book', check out Ian Kirby's contribution inside.

He favours the plain English style bench. No tail-vice, ordinary Q/R Vice (just one) and a rising bench-planing stop through the top.
I believe if you use a bit of imagination, you could work on all sides and edges of a board using just that basic bench.
You might need a few G cramps and use a bit of imagination with your vice, and maybe knock up a 'bench-slave', but these benches are the easiest to build for sure. Alan Holtham describes one such on the YouTube. His does have a tail vice, but apart from that it's similar to the Kirby Bench.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXEvRoW8lY8

HTH

 

[condeesteso]

Excellent bench indeed, Kinsella. If I was being picky I might question the low axis centre of the face vice screw - I would suspect some vertical racking, but see how it goes and let us all know.
The real triumph is the low cost of really good materials. +1 from me for no tool tray.
On that video (above) I have seen Polywax mantioned before, but anyone know really what it is, and how it behaves?? (Poly suggests polymerisation... could this be a polymerised wax, and if so, how??).

 

[Phil Pascoe]

From experience, I would suggest a well if the bench is in the middle of a room, and no well if it's against a wall. You can't easily reach shelves,racks, hooks etc. from the middle of a room - every time you wanted to drop something it would drive you nuts.

 

[Jacob]

Some advantages of a well;
1 Makes the bench very easy to construct. See the Paul Sellers videos for the (nearly) ideal bench design and construction techniques.
2 Easy to level one beam against the other as compared to levelling a one piece top
3 Holds tools, odds and ends, stops them getting trapped under the workpiece and leaving marks.
4 Makes handling of a workpiece easier - you can get your hands or clamps around it whilst it's sitting square on the beams

There are probably other advantages. The other essential is aprons, for rigidity and work holding.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Ultimately you do what suits you and your purposes best. The best thing I did with mine was not put aprons in it.

 

[kinsella]

I'm expecting vertical racking and i've tapered the vice to compensate, its currently working a treat. It holds the wood very sturdy. I think i probably tapered it too much and will probably run it through the thicknesser again. It's 70mm thinck so its not as if i don't have room for error. I've added two teak 20mm round rods as guides and to keep the screw in place as it rotates. In hindsight, i probably could have got away with one. I was originally going to use square, but thought cutting the mortice would be a pain, so i used round. I think i spent twice as long turning it on the lathe that it would have taken to hand cut the mortise.

 

[kinsella]

To recap for those interested, i work in construction so i come across material from time to time that needs to be stripped out. I salvage it and then prepare it. Its murder on tools as the amount of metal you come across is a pain.

The pine is bomb reinforcement from a 1902 listed building that was upgraded pre war and amazingly i discovered it did the job it was intended for as it took a direct hit. The beech strips and vice fronts are from 1960 lab benches that i knocked down, the oak handle is new American White Oak. The Teak is pre 1960 science top benches, the plane stop is from a building that we clad in timber, i think its called Andera of something similar.
So its currently made from :
Americal White Oak
Colorado Pine
Teak
Beech
A bit of a mix you could say.

 

[kinsella]

Latest progress

 

[Harbo]

Looks good

Rod

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I can't speak for the tail vice, but I can't see the advantage of a wooden front vice over a 52 1/2 or 53. Lovely bench nevertheless.

 

[Jacob]

I can't see the vices working - there's nothing to stop them racking except two thin sticks which I imagine would snap off under pressure. There's a good reason for the leg of a leg vice!

 

[kinsella]

When using only screws, they will always rack. But to counteract this you chanfer the vice to compensate so when you apply pressure it twist flat. It may sound odd, but it definately works, Every bit of wood i've put in is held firm, vertical and the tops of both vices are firmly against the piece. Its a tried and tested way.

The challenge was to build a cheap bench. The screws came from the from Axmister York versions as linked earlier in thread. It does exactly what i need it to do. i did look at the Veritas and metal versions which address racking, but i thought these were too expensive for what i wanted. I'm just a weekend DIY'er.

Its currently only cost me £40 (oh ya and nearly the top of my finger, 15years of woodwork in my shed and never had a single accident, the odd scrape and scratch. i just wanted a shotcut, and ended up cutting a lovely 'V' joint into my index finger on the router table, before any of you say it. "i'm a #4@ing *****" yes i know, lesson learnt).
Whats the saying. "Router in haste and repent in leisure" or something like that anyway.

Will be making a dowel making jig the weekend to make the dogs. I will then try it without drawers and make my mind up later if i want to add them to it.

 

[AndyT]

I really like the use of salvaged materials - it's sad to think of the tons of similar stuff buried or burnt!

Also, can I ask about the darker bit across the left hand end, with a wingnut? Is that a full-width planing stop? How is it fixed and is it effective in use?