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  1. #16
    Join Date
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    So it was YOU wot cleaned Paddo Hardware out, eh?!!

    No, No!!! I swear it wasn't me.....they only had one at like $5.50 and I took a leaf out of your book (cause I remembered that your tight as a ducks butt & and your a pensioner no you know! )hehehh!

    Thanks for the lead on dem ball catches I have to head out to the north side on Saturday anyway, so I will pick up a few!

    Cheers

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Thumbs up

    I am another who never gets bored with bench builds. There is always something to learn!!

    That is a good solid unit!!!

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
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    Default The last construction details (I promise!)

    It was a miserable, damp day here, so I was forced to spend it in the shed.

    I added one more feature to the bench, which I've found extremely useful on my own. This is a set of dog holes attached to the back board behind the tail vise area. Quite often, I need to hold a board across the bench. The dogs & tail vise can hold a board reasonably well, but it sometimes requires excessive force, sufficient to mark the piece being held. One or two holdfasts can make a world of difference, & the row of dog holes along the back comes in handy in these situations: duck holes.jpg

    I also drilled a couple of extra holes through the bench top, as you can see.
    [Note to Fuzzie: I wish you hadn't said I looked like I knew what I was doing! I carefully measured where the holes had to go, to avoid structures under the bench, then stupidly drilled on the wrong mark! A quick repair was required. I'll tell the rest of the world I had to do it to fill a nasty knot hole.. )
    Repair.jpg

    I also made some wooden holdfasts for the dog holes. I thank Berlin & Bushmiller for bringing the idea of wooden hold-downs to my attention; they are the ducks nutz, imo - cost nothing to make, and do a great job: Ducks.jpg

    I took the opportunity of making a couple more for myself, incorporating some 'improvements' that have been suggested by using the 'prototypes' - details have been posted in the original thread in the 'workbench' section.

    That is definitely the last word on this build......
    Cheers,
    IW

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Millmerran,QLD
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    Ian

    Excellent bench and description.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  6. #20
    FenceFurniture's Avatar
    FenceFurniture is offline The prize lies beneath - hidden in full view
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    Oct 2010
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    1017m up in Katoomba, NSW
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    10,651

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    Well, lucky ole Bro, I say!

    As Paul said, a very interesting and snappy build.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

    COLT DRILLS GROUP BUY
    Jan-Feb 2019 Click to send me an email

  7. #21
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    Nov 2007
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    Thumbs up

    Nice one old son!!! Too pretty to use!!

  8. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by artme View Post
    Nice one old son!!! Too pretty to use!!
    Nope, Artme - it's just a bench. 'Twould be a pity if it doesn't see lots of use, after the number of Spotted Gum splinters I got making it....

    Cheers,
    IW

  9. #23
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    Sep 2004
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    Brisbane
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    Chiseling that spotted gum must have been fun
    My age is still less than my number of posts

  10. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by chook View Post
    Chiseling that spotted gum must have been fun
    Yes, it certainly gave my Titan firmers a good workout, but they stood up better than I expected. Compared with some of my other chisels, the Titans seem to be softer. For example, you can mark them with a file (try that with an A2 Lie-Nielsen!), yet they take & hold a beautiful edge. I'd describe them as 'tough' rather than hard. However, I found quite a bit of variation in Titans when I was putting my 'set' together, a couple I came across were less than ideal. It's never a good sign when a tool forms a huge wire edge on the coarse stone, which is what these did. Sure enough, they would not take a truly keen edge and when driven into hard wood, the edge turned round to complain!

    Cheers,
    IW

  11. #25
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    Hey Ian,

    No idea how I just stumbled over this thread now, but what a fantastic read it indeed was.
    A wonderful bench from some truly iconic Aussie timbers, and what a lovely vise. I recognise it straight away as being similar in orientation to that of a particular chap in New Jersey. I noted that you set the rear guide bar for the tail vise into the end block of the tail vise with a dovetail to give it maximum strength in tension as a glued joint and mechanically, which I like and have always wondered why more folks do not do this.

    I'm curious, because I randomly stumbled across a Canadian woodworking video with a lady with short cropped hair by the name of Karen who mentioned a chap built her bench called Ian, and it is remarkedly similar to your benches. Was this bench the one that ended up in that double story barn workshop in Canada?

    You've got me fired up to carry on the chisel massacre typical of using Spotty and similarly brutal local timbers and re-energized my sharpening spirits. Thank you!



    Cheers,
    Siggy

  12. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Siggykc View Post
    ........I'm curious, because I randomly stumbled across a Canadian woodworking video with a lady with short cropped hair by the name of Karen who mentioned a chap built her bench called Ian, and it is remarkedly similar to your benches. Was this bench the one that ended up in that double story barn workshop in Canada?.....
    I guess it just goes to show what a small world it is, Siggy. Indeed, the Karen you've seen with that delightful log workshop is a good friend from way back, & I did indeed make most of her little bench. Here it is freshly minted & waiting for her to collect it & add her own front vise: Karens bench.jpg

    It's not a very big bench, it was built from scraps & salvaged bits of hard maple, with the main board on the top of Douglas fir ("Oregon"). It was made in 1986 or 7 & she tells me it's still going strong after 35 years. This is the tail vise from underneath & you can see some extra holes from whatever the wood had been before it became a tail vise: Tail vice.jpg

    I like to tell everyone that Karen was my best apprentice, not that I taught her all that much. We were both working for the Ontario ministry of agriculture & food at the time & she mentioned one day that she would really like to get into woodwork & of course I encouraged her to get stuck in & start. My main role was to mentor & encourage, she was a quick self-learner & I reckon she is streets ahead of me these days. She gets quite a bit of coverage in the woodworking press - even one of the British mags has done an article on her work (& her 'shop')...

    Cheers,
    Ian
    IW

  13. #27
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    Ian

    That's a wonderful story.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  14. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Siggykc View Post
    ..... and what a lovely vise. I recognise it straight away as being similar in orientation to that of a particular chap in New Jersey....
    I forgot to address this bit, Siggy. My own bench is a fairly close copy of Frank Klausz's, 'cept I used a different front vise (if that's the bloke from NJ you mean). I like the idea of the shoulder vise he favours, but my workshop at the time was a very tight space in the basement & I feared for certain parts of my anatomy from the thing. The first bench along these lines that appeared in FWW was by Tage Frid, one of the Grand Old Men of woodworking in post WW2 USA. I used some of his ideas as well, but didn't follow his plan closely as it was quite small - Frank's bench was quite a bit larger & heftier.

    While I was building my bench, which was to be the last & final bench I made (~1985) I became interested in wooden threads & figured out ways of making large bench screws by a somewhat Heath-Robinson set-up. But once you set up to make one bench screw it seems a pity not to make several, & having done one bench & got the idea of how a tail vise goes together I soon ended up helping others make one. So I'm not quite sure how many benches I've made made now. I note I called this one for my brother #8, & I've done a few more since, so somewhere between 11 or 12 of them all up. I think I've done with benches.....

    Cheers,
    IW

  15. #29
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    Indeed Ian you’re right! Klausz is the bloke. I recognised the orientation of your guide bars and the way the anchor points are coach bolted.
    He certainly knew what he was doing. But it is interesting, and I believe Frank said it a few times when people credit it to him, that he simply follows the same designs he grew up using. It is a fair bit heftier than Tage Frid’s bench, but I guess it was intended for different use with regards to duty cycle. Klausz had a production environment working like an animal, whilst Tage designed the bench as a project that he and his students could quickly knock out a few in as economical way as possible and the benches were used in a “lighter duty” manner than Klausz’. Having said that, I spent time at Frank Wiesner’s bench and it is much more like the Tage Frid design, albeit made from Fraser Island Satinay. He has used that since the late 1970s to this very day and it is rock solid - perhaps also due to our wonderful hardwoods being so bloody robust.

    I’ve knocked up my own take on the workbench, with a shoulder vise - again nothing new. I’ve just borrowed what I thought was best from various designs from across Europe. I may put some photos up when I’m complete as I’m still halfway through the tail vice which is the last puzzle piece.

  16. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Siggykc View Post
    I Having said that, I spent time at Frank Wiesner’s bench and it is much more like the Tage Frid design, albeit made from Fraser Island Satinay. He has used that since the late 1970s to this very day and it is rock solid - perhaps also due to our wonderful hardwoods being so bloody robust.

    I
    Frank Wiesner was another legend, a wooden thread specialist and almost local to where we are.

    Frank Wiesner, living treasure - FineWoodworking

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

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