Workbench build

[memzey]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!
I do have a morticer Phil, and that's a good idea, a good idea I read a few minutes too late as I've just drilled the dog holes out! Not to worry though, my plan for stuff like that is to use the gap between the tops for clamps to fit through and fix the item down. Here's the progress I've made today:
I started by fitting the wooden jaws to the vices. I did this by using threaded inserts in the wood for the bolts to bite into. For the end vice these were just the ones you screw in with an Alan key for M6 bolts. The face vice needed M8 so I used T nuts. I started by clenching the wooden jaw in place in the vice and marked the locations of the t nuts with a brad point bit tapped through the holes in the jaws. I then used those marks to centre a forstner bit to countersink the heads:

Once that was done, I drilled out the centre hole for the threads and the bolt and bolted them into place. Lovely.
One thing I wasn't very pleased with was the mess I'd made of the holes in the top for the bolts that mount the face vice. I used a large forstner bit freehand and it didn't go well on all of them so I decided to address this by chamfering their edges:

Although I appreciate the usefulness and versatility of electric routers I'm not a huge fan of them but it must be said I'm very pleased with how that turned out. With that mess fixed I turned my attention to the dog holes. I wanted these to be as close to perpendicular to the top as possible so I drilled myself a guide block at the drill press and measured out the spacing (4" on centre, 2 1/2" from the edge). I used the excellent auger bit that came with my holdfasts from WH:

With the dog holes drilled out here is where I am now:



I just need to drill some holes for the holdfasts, go over all the surfaces with a smoother, break the arrises, put in the shelf and apply a finish. Nearly there!

 

[MattRoberts]

Looking ace memzey! It's that gap wide enough to get some clamps through? Or are you using hold fasts only? Are you putting a face on the edge over the back face of the end vice?

 

[memzey]

Happy new year all!
Thanks for the feedback Matt! Yes the gap between the tops came out a little smaller than I planned (I managed to lose half an inch somewhere probably in the planning) so I can't fit a K body head through but I can get other clamps in. If this proves to be a problem it won't be too hard to remove the rear top and plane a bit off. I think I'll see how I get on first though.
As regards the end vice, I might line the jaws with leather but wasn't thinking about adding wood to the fixed jaw. Am I missing a trick by not doing so?

 

[Woodmonkey]

That's a useful looking bench, well done for making the whole of the front of the bench flush, it makes it so much more useable. I think it's also worth drilling some dog holes in the right hand leg so your holdfasts can be used to support long panels when working their edges.

 

[MattRoberts]

Happy new year all!
Thanks for the feedback Matt! Yes the gap between the tops came out a little smaller than I planned (I managed to lose half an inch somewhere probably in the planning) so I can't fit a K body head through but I can get other clamps in. If this proves to be a problem it won't be too hard to remove the rear top and plane a bit off. I think I'll see how I get on first though.
As regards the end vice, I might line the jaws with leather but wasn't thinking about adding wood to the fixed jaw. Am I missing a trick by not doing so?

No I don't think so - as long as it's flush with the edge I think you're good

 

[custard]

Smashing job Memzey, that lower stretcher might get in the way of your feet but every bench is just a proving experiment for the next bench!

You'll really value that slot down the centre for cramping purposes, it transforms a bench into a veneer press, a versatile jig platform, and an ultra long shooting board as detailed here,

making-a-wooden-straight-edge-t102376.html

Go careful with that tail vice or the vice will get racked past repair before you know it, the trick is to always use the correct size packing piece on the right hand side of the jaw opening. Veritas make a shop bought version, but it's easy enough to make your own,

http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.a ... at=1,41659

Good luck with your 2017 projects!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

That's a useful looking bench, well done for making the whole of the front of the bench flush, it makes it so much more useable. I think it's also worth drilling some dog holes in the right hand leg so your holdfasts can be used to support long panels when working their edges.

This is another option -

(sorry about the orientation )

 

[Phil Pascoe]

As custard says that gap in the middle is so, so useful. I made the infill piece on mine flush one side and raised on the other - about 1/4" for 1/4 of the length, and about 3/4" for the remaining 3/4s, so if there is any danger of the item being worked jumping I reverse it end to end so I can use the higher end.

 

[El Barto]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!
I do have a morticer Phil, and that's a good idea, a good idea I read a few minutes too late as I've just drilled the dog holes out! Not to worry though, my plan for stuff like that is to use the gap between the tops for clamps to fit through and fix the item down. Here's the progress I've made today:
I started by fitting the wooden jaws to the vices. I did this by using threaded inserts in the wood for the bolts to bite into. For the end vice these were just the ones you screw in with an Alan key for M6 bolts. The face vice needed M8 so I used T nuts. I started by clenching the wooden jaw in place in the vice and marked the locations of the t nuts with a brad point bit tapped through the holes in the jaws. I then used those marks to centre a forstner bit to countersink the heads:

Once that was done, I drilled out the centre hole for the threads and the bolt and bolted them into place. Lovely.
One thing I wasn't very pleased with was the mess I'd made of the holes in the top for the bolts that mount the face vice. I used a large forstner bit freehand and it didn't go well on all of them so I decided to address this by chamfering their edges:

Although I appreciate the usefulness and versatility of electric routers I'm not a huge fan of them but it must be said I'm very pleased with how that turned out. With that mess fixed I turned my attention to the dog holes. I wanted these to be as close to perpendicular to the top as possible so I drilled myself a guide block at the drill press and measured out the spacing (4" on centre, 2 1/2" from the edge). I used the excellent auger bit that came with my holdfasts from WH:

With the dog holes drilled out here is where I am now:



I just need to drill some holes for the holdfasts, go over all the surfaces with a smoother, break the arrises, put in the shelf and apply a finish. Nearly there!

Excellent idea on the guide block, much more simple than some of the jigs I've seen to achieve the same end. I'll be stealing that idea...

Bench is looking great also =D>

(It struck me that that lil applause smilie looks very sarcastic...)

 

[n0legs]

That looks the business =D>
Good solid bench, you've got to be happy with that

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you have a small bearing guided rounding over cutter for the router, you could run it around the dog holes - it stops any breaking out (and looks finished).

 

[memzey]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I am pleased with how the bench is coming along however (as always) it is taking much longer to make than I had anticipated, or rather, had hoped for. Such is the way when I set out to make something although I have found that doing a few little things like making bench dogs is much quicker than it would have been now that I do have a bench.

Custard; thank you for feedback. Any praise from such a skilled maker as yourself is praise indeed so I must have done something right! The bottoms of the stretchers are all 3" from the ground which means I can get my size 12s under them up to the bridge of my foot. I didn't do this by accident as Chris Schwartz's book points out the benefit of this type of arrangement so I will live with it for a while and see if it works for me. Like you, I think if this bench proves problematic at least I will have learnt what not to do and will have a bench on which to build my next one! I'm not quite there yet though as I like what this bench has shown me so far. Point taken on wracking the end vice by the way. I plan on cutting up some 2" x 6" strips of 1/4" ply and threading them together with a bolt and nut to act as an adjustable spacer although, for holding stock down to the bench top, I don't anticipate using all that much clamping pressure anyway.

Elbarto; I'm sure the idea isn't mine and I'm happy to have brought it to your attention. I think the other, more complex ways of guiding a bit square to a surface, are necessary when you don't have a means of drilling a plumb guide. I do, in the form of my bench pillar drill, I just lack the means to get my bench top to the drill.

Phil: I do have a round over bit for my router but had planned on using the chamfering bit on the holdfast holes. Is there an advantage to one or the other profile? Also I hadn't considered profiling the dog holes just the holes for the holdfasts. Should I reconsider this? On to some progress!

I managed to get an hour and a half in shop this evening and enjoyed some peaceful hand tool work. The first thing I needed to address was bringing all of the front surfaces into the same plane. On marking out the mortices I must have misaligned the pieces as I had a small step where the legs were proud of the top's edge:

I didn't want this to complicate cramping stuff to the bench or use of the vice so I planed the legs flush with my No. 5 and then smoothed all the visible surfaces with my No. 4 1/2. As you can also see from the picture above, this wood is pretty fragile and bruises easily. There isn't much I can do about that now but I did decide to put a chamfer around all the edges. I did this with a rank set No. 19:




I'm pleased with how they turned out and hope they do add some robustness. A slight digression but here are the planes I used today:


They are all around 100 years old and have their original thin irons. I tend to stay out of the new v old tool debates (mainly because I've never owned a new premium plane or saw) but I can say that these tools work very well for me. The 5 can remove stock rapidly, the 4 1/2 takes see through shavings and the 19, we'll, it's a block plane what can I say?
Enough gratuitous old tool **** for now, back to the progress; as someone mentioned on the previous page I needed some holdfast holes in the leg nearest the end vice so I bored those using the same technique as before


I then took a scouring pad and some WD40 to the face vice as it had paint and glue splattered over it:

I didn't really do this with much gusto though as I know I'll muck it up before long. Here's how the bench looks now:

If you're still reading this then thanks for sticking with it! If all goes to plan I might actually get it finished tomorrow but that is a big if!!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Nice. I meant holdfast holes actually. A chamfer or a round over? No difference whatsoever, they both serve the same purpose.

 

[AndyT]

That looks a really solid, practical bench, Memzey.
Have you decided on a finish yet?

 

[memzey]

Thanks for clarifying Phil, that's what I thought as well but wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something.
Andy - yes I have a finish in mind which is equal parts BLO, solvent based varnish and white spirit. I don't want to pretty it up as such but the wood I have used does seem a bit soft so would benefit from a finish that gives it some protection without making it too slippery. The only hardwood on this bench is the beech jaw I used on the face vice. I'd have loved to have made the whole bench from beech but this was what I had available to me. I'll see how it holds up in the face of my cack handedness!

 

[memzey]

Managed to get another couple of hours in the shop today. Progress report as follows:
First I made about half a dozen bench dogs using 18mm oak dowel and coat hanger wire. I employed the Paul Sellers method for making them:

I cut up enough dowel to fit a dog into each hole but ran out of hanger wire! Will rummage around the back of the wardrobe for some more when I get the chance. Once they were done I drilled a couple of holdfast holes, one near each leg and chamfered the edges using the electric router:




On to the finish- I mixed up a batch of my home brew:


And applied a coat:



That's how the bench looks now after I ragged off the excess. I wasn't after a decorative effect but I must say it has given the wood a nice lustre. I may give it another coat tomorrow after work if I get the time.

 

[LancsRick]

Lovely looking bench. What's the overall length? You mention it bruises easily, is it just redwood you're using?

 

[memzey]

Hi Rick,
The bench is 6'3" long overall. A bit random I know but I was lead by the length of the stock available to me. The wood was salvaged from my roof as I've just had a loft conversion. My house was built in the 1950's so it's been bone dry and seasoned for over 60 years! I don't know what genus the wood is but I suspect it's from Canada:

Anyone know what would have been used back then for roofing? FWIW it seems like regular CLS but with perhaps fewer knots and growth rings that might be a bit tighter together. Either way it's certainly not beech or maple!

 

[AndyT]

Well that explains the decorative nail holes.
What a great, sensible use to put the timber to!
.

 

[memzey]

Thanks Andy. As soon as I saw the timbers coming down I thought I could use that for a bench. It seemed a shame to send it to landfill and salvage yards charge good money for the same. For what it's worth I think it's a mixture of spruce and pine as one or two boards really fill the workshop with that amazing pine fragrance when being worked but the majority do not. Hope I get a chance to put in a shelf and apply another coat or two of finish soon.