Best workbench any ever made?

[Steve Maskery]

John
Are you sure it needs dovetails ways? My bench is made from that design (I'm very pleased with it) and I built the tail vice. It does require some milling of steel plate, but I don't recall any dovetailing.

I'll have to check.
S

 

[Chris Knight]

Just a groove IIRC - not dovetailed.

 

[Wanlock Dod]

Hi John (and others)

I'm also a fan of the wagon vice, I put one on my bench a while ago and it was an extremely straight forward thing to do. I simply cut housings in the pieces of the bench on either side, and also in the same position on the wagon, they were about 12 mm wide and 6 mm deep or so. I glued pieces of plywood into the housings on the wagon and slid the wagon in before fixing the endcaps. A suitable screw for it is pretty cheap. Let me know if you'd like to see some pics and I'll try to sort it out.

There was no precision engineering involved, and no dovetails for the vice. The main reason that I chose this design was becasue I thought it was probably the least complex to construct and least expensive. Believe me, making a vice along these lines really is dead easy, even I've done it.

The main potential issue that I've identified so far is that the vice dog cannot project as far as the end of the bench, so the maximum length of the vice is perhaps a bit shorter than for other tail vice designs.

The bench in the video looks like a really nice one, but I agree that the second leg vice has to be an issue for storage.

Cheers,

Dod

 

[Benchwayze]

Ref. the dovetailed ways..

I was probably wrong! Maybe that was an enhancement I thought about for Fortune's vice. I've had the book since it was published! I just consider dovetailed ways to be the better job, but of course they have to be milled spot on.

I'm working on this wagon vice though. It looks to be a winner. I don't think I would want to splash out on the hardware for the 'German mechanism', but there must be a way to make an ordinary vice screw work the same. I don't have space in my shop for a bench over 6 feet long. A vice handle that doesn't need space to move in and out, might give me another foot. If you get my gist.

John
8)

 

[Paul Chapman]

there must be a way to make an ordinary vice screw work the same. I don't have space in my shop for a bench over 6 feet long. A vice handle that doesn't need space to move in and out, might give me another foot. If you get my gist.

In the original version of the Scott Landis Workbench Book, there's an enclosed tail vice built by a bloke called David Powell (p.130 and 131), that's very similar to the one in Chris' post. It uses an ordinary Record-type vice screw and the handle doesn't move in and out.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Paul,

Then without checking the book, I would guess there is a fixed dog at the end of the bench, near the handle. The movable part of the vice would be the 'rear' jaw. That way a right hand thread would close the vice, towards the worker, when it was rotated clockwise; or am I mixed up again. That's the solution I am going to try at least.

Regards
John 8)

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi John,

I've just scanned through (very quickly and not in any great detail) the blog describing the bench Chris posted about, and I see that the original tail vice was, in fact, based on David Powell's design, but with some modifications. He obviously decided to change it, but not sure why. Might be worth your while reading through the blog - it's well illustrated with excellent photographs of the original and subsequent end vice designs.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Paul,

I just checked 'The Workbench Book', and see that Powell's vice is probably a 'left twist' to close. But it is an improvement as far as the handle moving in and out is concerned. As I said, I need to save every possible inch of space, but an extra 12 inches on my bench would be nice!

I will find a solution I am sure..
Many Thanks.
John

 

[Paul Chapman]

I just checked 'The Workbench Book', and see that Powell's vice is probably a 'left twist' to close.

Yes, you're right - you would need to turn the vice handle the opposite way to open and close it. Just read the blog and that's why he changed it - he had a left-hand thread vice screw custom made so that it works the 'right' way - but it cost him quite a bit :shock:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Benchwayze]

Exactly Paul.. which is why I will probably have the vice closing towards me! :lol:

All the best

John

 

[Aled Dafis]

I just watched the video, and yes, it probably is the best workbench I've seen, but I bet he's kicking himself for not offsetting the handles on the leg vices so that they wouldn't interfer with each other when both vices are close together.

I've only recently started reading this guy's blog (followed a link from Ron Bresse' site), but he seems to really know what he's doing, his work is very impressive indeed, and his tools are tuned so well they sing!

Cheers

Aled

 

[Noel]

Tom,

Thanks, I hadn't seen the plane. I wonder what the knurled knob in the blade is for?

Think the knob is a safety aid to stop the iron from sliding down through the mouth and landing on your foot when removing it for sharpening etc.

 

[Chris Knight]

Noel, that sounds likely - a good idea indeed.

 

[devonwoody]

I watched the video and it certainly looks a very pretty bench and vice but I would be concerned making an investment of that sort to do hand planing using the method shown on the video.

He was planing acrosss the board with only a dog either end of the board? I would expect to get some movement of board using that set up?
Agree the sound effects were very nice Whoosh, whoosh. etc.

 

[Doug B]

It does look a nice bench, & i`m late looking at this video, but why would you hand plane the edge of a 7' board when it looks like you have 2 surface planers (jointers) in the back ground.

 

[wizer]

Not that i'd ever do it. But in some respects it's much easier to move the tool over the 7ft than move the timber over 7ft.

 

[Doug B]

You must be young & fit Tom! I much prefer to flick the switch & let the machine do the job.
Perhaps that says more about me than i want to admit.

 

[wizer]

Young, not fit I couldn't man-handle that board.