My first workbench build-W.I.P.-Updated

[whiskywill]

Hevea - rubber wood.

Correct. =D>

 

[rafezetter]

I hate to be the bearer of possibly bad tidings, but what is the load point limit allowed on the balcony? Only 3.5 ft deeps doesn't sound like something designed for high point loads and the weight of bench plus whatever is on it is much heavier than people realize.

Obviously it depends on what support it has underneath, but if it's just a plain cantilever it might be worth just checking, I've heard of what people thought were properly supported balconies dropping off the sides of buildings under too much load over long periods.

sorry to throw that in, but better mentioned than not.

One the subject of the vice - I assume there is a doorway to get to balcony - can the vice be placed opposite the entrance for extra walkway clearance? nice build otherwise.

 

[JJ1]

That's a very valid point and thanks for bringing it to my attention. I've already looked into that and thankfully there's not a problem there. The balcony is a very substantial affair and it's actually built into the main structure of the building and is fully supported by the two flats below it.

Thankfully the vice will be right in front of the door so I will have the option of opening it to allow a little more room. Hopefully I shouldn't be using the vice at it's maximum capacity too frequently but it should just be possible at a squeeze, literally

 

[JJ1]

Could someone advise me on the following please? I've just been reading up on the best way to attach breadboard ends and still allow movement of the table top and I've just suddenly thought. I've just laminated two 18mm sheets of MRMDF to the 36mm table top. Have I messed up by doing this? The reason I ask is, if the table top needs to be allowed to expand and contract width ways, surely I've just impeded that by gluing it to the MDF?

 

[AndyT]

Don't stress about it. If there is enough movement for the glue to fail, which I doubt, just hold the mdf with screws up from underneath, through slotted or oversized holes in the original table top.

 

[JJ1]

Thanks Andy. I wasn't so much thinking about the glue failing but was more concerned about any wood movement causing the top to bow as I assumed the MDF would be preventing any expansion or contraction. Please correct me if I'm completely wrong here as I've not worked with 'real' wood before and am only just beginning to learn about wood movement.

 

[tobytools]

Looking good, just wondering why you didn't cut down the bench then plane? Would of made things a bit easier for yourself, a 4.5 plane is for final finishing and smoothing not flattening, a 6,7 or 8 would be better suited for that job. Nice job btw on the plane.
And I'll chuck this into my comment too, how flat is your planes sole
Like the vice a lot too, today I picked up a 52.
Keep it up.

Cheers
TT

 

[JJ1]

Hi Toby,

Cutting down the bench first did cross my mind but I'm planning on using the cutoff piece for the edges so I thought, they need to be flat as well, so I might as well do the whole lot together. In hindsight, it would have been much easier to cut it down first and then plane it flat as you suggest. A lesson learnt there for next time

I did begin planeing with my Low Angle Jack plane initially (which is the longest plane I own, although I'm planning on getting a No. 7 or 8 when finances allow) but I was getting lots of bad tearout and the grain seemed to be running here, there and everywhere. I've only got the single 25 degree blade for my jack plane and assumed this was the reason for the tearout, in addition to my inexperience and no doubt, poor technique. I plan to get a 38 degree blade next. I thought I may get lesser tearout by switching to the 4 1/2, which did seem to be the case, although it probably made the job a lot harder. The hardest part was checking for level across the length. I didn't have an 1800mm spirit level to check it with so I ripped off a length of MDF to use instead. I wasn't sure how accurate this was though and wasn't sure whether it could be trusted. I thought I had got it flat to the best of my ability but now that it's been glued to the MDF I'm still seeing a slight bow. Width ways appears ok, just length ways, but it looks like just the outermost edges that need to come down a bit. I'll spend more time on re-flattening it soon and then give it a final once over when I've attached the edging.

I think the plane's sole is pretty much spot on. It seemed to be pretty flat when I bought it, despite the terrible condition it was in. I did give it a bit of time on several grades of wet and dry just to make sure. I can certainly get some nice thin shavings from it


I'll probably be on the lookout for a 52 myself if I decide to fit a tail vice further down the road 8)

 

[JJ1]

I needed to raise the workbench by approximately 10 cm so decided to make a couple of feet for the legs. I thought they may also add to the bench's stability.
I had an old oak gate-leg table which I had saved in case the wood came in handy. I decided to use the two existing feet from that.

The feet were actually too short, too narrow and not high enough. I decided to begin by grafting in a couple of bits of oak to increase the length. If anything else it was a good excuse to have a play with some recently acquired chisels and gain a little experience of actually using them.

The pieces were then clamped in place.

To increase the overall height of the feet, I glued on a couple of lengths of oak.

A further two lengths of oak were glued to each side to increase the width and are currently clamped up.


The next job was to laminate the hardwood bench top to two lengths of 18mm MRMDF.

Not being married has certain advantages, one of them being able to get away with using the living room as an assembly area. A limited number of clamps was an issue but was solved by anything and everything that was heavy.

The top was left weighted down for 48 hours, by which time I could no longer bear my living room being cluttered up. The weighty objects were returned to their rightful place and I set to work on flushing up the edges with a router.
The result seems to be ok, although a close-up reveals my leveling skills with a plane still need some further practice.

That's as far as I've got so far.
The plan was to grab the bench top, make the most of the fine weather, pop down a couple of flights of steps and continue working on it in the back garden. I was in for an unexpected surprise when I tried to lift it :shock: . Up and down steps with it was most definitely not an option anymore. I could only just carry it ten feet across the room and onto the balcony :roll:





To progress further, I'm stuck on the best way to attach the 36mm edging. Perhaps if I post a new reply regarding that side of things, someone can offer a little advice on how to proceed.

 

[JJ1]

I'm almost ready to begin cutting and attaching the edging to the bench top. I'm using the remainder of the original table top (36mm thick) but I don't fully understand the concept of allowing for wood movement and don't know whether I have to allow for this on all sides, or is it just on the ends of the tables.
Could anyone be kind enough to advise on the simplest way of attaching the edging please and let me know whether I do, or don't have to allow for wood movement in this instance.

Your help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[JJ1]

Could anyone help with above please.

 

[Zeddedhed]

JJ,
as I understand it (and I'm by no means an expert) the front and back edgings shouldn't present a problem in terms of wood movement - it's just the ends.
However on your bench I wouldn't think it's really going to be much of a problem.
If you're worried about it then you could fit the end pieces just with screws using oversized holes to allow for a bit of movement.
My own bench build is going to have end caps (I believe they're known as breadboard ends) like yours and in my thread someone brought up the issue of expansion and then another member said don't worry. I would keep the ends full width though.
Best I can offer I'm afraid.

 

[celston]

The MRMDF movement will be negligible. The original table top will move mostly across it's width, and very little along the length. Which presents an interesting problem for edging the composite assembly of the two types of material"

 

[Paul Chapman]

Had I been doing it, I would probably have lipped the MDF and then stuck it down onto the solid wood, thus avoiding lipping all three layers. However, it is what it is - I'd just fit the lippings and not worry too much about it. It will probably be OK.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[John15]

Hi JJ1,
Regarding movement: If my experience is anything to go by, with a 3' wide bench-top I built about a year ago using five 40mm thick glued-up beech boards, I have no signs of any movement (yet). The top is fixed securely to the sub-frame with screws.
My workshop is a timber shed, well insulated all round, a total wall thickness of 80mm so I imagine the relative humidity in there is fairly constant, and so I have no concerns about significant moisture changes.

Cheers,

John

 

[JJ1]

Thanks very much guys for the excellent advice. I think I'll screw the edging in place and keep my fingers crossed

 

[JJ1]

Could anyone advise on the following please;

The jaws on my Record No. 53 vice are 10.5" wide and the throat depth is 4".

I'm going to use hardwood for the wooden vice cheeks, 36mm thick for the rear one and approximately 42mm thick for the front one.

Will it be acceptable to make the wooden cheeks 18" wide and 5 1/2" high or would that be too much?

Your advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I can't see why not. I assume there is a reason for the thickness?

 

[Zeddedhed]

I can't see why not. I assume there is a reason for the thickness?

I'm also interested in why you're going so thick with the jaws, as I'm about to fit my Record 53 into my bench over the next few days.
I was planning on insetting the vice to allow for a 10mm thick rear jaw and then maybe 20mm or 25mm max on the front jaw. I don't want to lose too much capacity by having extra thick jaws.

As for the width and height that sounds OK to me, as long as the wooden jaws don't protrude over the bench top (obvious really)

Also phil.p suggested I make the wooden jaws/cheeks to not only cover the metal face of the vice jaws but also the top edge. Could save you quite a bit of saw sharpening methinks

 

[JJ1]

Hi,

I was going to use 36mm as the rear jaw because I'm going to be using the same wood as the bench top is made of and that just happens to be 36mm thick. Once I've recessed the metal jaw into the wood that will leave me with 20mm thickness.
For the front jaw, I plan to have three 3/4" (19mm) bench dog holes. So, 42mm will allow me plenty of space for the holes, even after the front metal jaw has been recessed by 12mm. In fact, after doing the calculations again, I might even make the front jaw between 50mm and 60mm thick, giving me even more space for the dog holes.
The wooden cheeks will be about 1 1/2" above the metal jaws just in case I get a bit carried away whilst sawing :shock:
My vice's jaw opening is a whopping 15 1/4" and I'm quite happy to sacrifice a little of that for more substantial wooden cheeks. The cheeks will be easily replaceable, so, if at a later date I decide I would rather have more opening capacity, it'll be easy enough to make some new, thinner ones. It'll be my first proper bench so it's very much trial and error at this stage until I get a better idea of how I'll be using it. At this moment in time I don't envisage undertaking large scale projects, just smaller woodworking projects, hence the reason I'm not too bothered about utilizing every bit of my vice's capacity.
Originally I plucked the 36mm and 42mm sizes from the Veritas website, because that was what they recommended for one of their vice's.

Good luck with your vice fitting. It'll be good to hear how you get on and perhaps see a photo of the finished bench too.