MikeG.
Established Member
Due to a weather-related hiatus in brick-laying, I found myself in the workshop without a plan and a few hours on my hands. So, I thought I would tackle the front edge of my bench. It's been a mess for many years:
Unfortunately, I don't hold stock of beech, so this could only be a patch up. I used a Yankee to get the slot headed screws out, and some of them put up a bit of a fight. What I found when the apron finally came off was just bizarre. Head shakingly stupid:
The vice hasn't been fixed in place very well. I've always known it wasn't square....I have to taper the wooden jaws I make. But oddly, it protrudes from the bench top by 6 or 8mm:
Instead of just housing out locally at the back of the apron, some clown had run a shallow rebate the whole length of the apron, then packed out at the ends where it meets the end members. Why do all that extra work?:
I cleaned up the end pieces which had caused the gap:
It's traditional to wipe the glue off your fingers onto the underside of the apron:
I cleaned up the face and bottom edge of the old apron. I did the face with a belt sander because there is no way I'd risk a plane on it with all the metalwork that has happened on this bench over the years.
I've only got 2 off cuts of beech, so I grabbed one, and cut a sliver:
....and housed out at the back:
I cut out a similar sized chunk from the apron, offered it up, adjusted, then screwed everything into place:
I deliberately left the apron 1/4 of an inch or so higher than it was originally:
I could then plane it down flush with the top, which I had also cleaned up with a belt sander:
For the first time in decades I have 2 square meeting edges in my vice:
I think that next time I'm in a timber yard I'll grab a chunkier board of beech and make a whole new apron. If I feel really bold, I might even get two, and replace the front part of the bench top.
Unfortunately, I don't hold stock of beech, so this could only be a patch up. I used a Yankee to get the slot headed screws out, and some of them put up a bit of a fight. What I found when the apron finally came off was just bizarre. Head shakingly stupid:
The vice hasn't been fixed in place very well. I've always known it wasn't square....I have to taper the wooden jaws I make. But oddly, it protrudes from the bench top by 6 or 8mm:
Instead of just housing out locally at the back of the apron, some clown had run a shallow rebate the whole length of the apron, then packed out at the ends where it meets the end members. Why do all that extra work?:
I cleaned up the end pieces which had caused the gap:
It's traditional to wipe the glue off your fingers onto the underside of the apron:
I cleaned up the face and bottom edge of the old apron. I did the face with a belt sander because there is no way I'd risk a plane on it with all the metalwork that has happened on this bench over the years.
I've only got 2 off cuts of beech, so I grabbed one, and cut a sliver:
....and housed out at the back:
I cut out a similar sized chunk from the apron, offered it up, adjusted, then screwed everything into place:
I deliberately left the apron 1/4 of an inch or so higher than it was originally:
I could then plane it down flush with the top, which I had also cleaned up with a belt sander:
For the first time in decades I have 2 square meeting edges in my vice:
I think that next time I'm in a timber yard I'll grab a chunkier board of beech and make a whole new apron. If I feel really bold, I might even get two, and replace the front part of the bench top.
