Andy,yes, having a 14in jointer/planer made making the top a lot easier! It was made in 2 halves that were glued up, then jointed and then thicknessed in a single pass. The Felder had no trouble, but it nearly killed me lugging the top sections up onto the machine!!!

I've been thinking about hand planes, and gotta get some, but no idea what to buy as yet. Got to start researching that, and then when I know what brands/models to get, I will be obtaining some.

The split bench makes clamping so much easier, as the center space was made deliberately to allow larger G and F clamps down through, to be able to clamp from the middle out. I 'borrowed' the flip up planing stop from some other forum pic I came across and it is a great idea.

Will post some WIP pics, as there's a few requests for them now.

Mr Brush - re fitting the Hovarter vises - I had to read the instructions through quite a few times, and then I made mock-up sections of the bench and fitted them to those first, to ensure that I understood it all correctly. Len Hovarters instructions are quite comprehensive but it takes a bit to get your head around how they work, and how to fit. I found it invaluable to make the mock-ups first as the bench was made around the vises, and I didn't want to get the bench half done, only to find the vises wouldn't fit properly. In the end it was quite straight forward. I have asked Len to produce a set of instructions with Metric measurements, as the ones I downloaded were all imperial, and I had to triple check all my measurements to ensure no issues. He said he would in the future (not sure if he has already or not). Mine were all done from the imperial instructions.

A slow and steady approach should see them go together fine, for anyone with a mechanical mind (which should be everyone here).

Woodwould - I bought locking casters as a just-in-case. As previously mentioned, the whole hinged caster thing was designed by me, and I wasn't 100% sure of the outcome. It all worked in theory, but then I wasn't sure what would happen after I jacked up the first side, as I lifted the 2nd, would the bench move around? Locking Casters were the solution to that. Fixed wheels were no good, as each end needed to have swivel casters (due to minimal space in the shed) and previous experience with anything with 4 x swivel casters was that they tend to drift around in exactly the directions you don't want. Locking casters were an insurance against that. As it turns out, I could have got away with all 4 casters being able to swivel, but only 1 end needed to be able to lock (the end you lift first).

TN

Very usable bench I like the wheels idea, practical design that works. The Hovarter wagon vise looks like a winner too!

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Fair enough.

I was considering a similar set-up when I made my bench, but in stead of having a removable lifting lever, I was going to screw a flat steel bar to the front of the hinged member that carries the wheels.

With the bench legs firmly on the ground, the lever would lie horizontally below the level of the front bottom rail. When the time came to move the bench, the lever would simply be moved into the vertical position and sprung behind a protruding bolt head screwed to the front of the leg, locking it in place while the bench was mobile.

I never did do it though and my bench remains the only non-movable thing in the shed.

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I know you believe you understand what you think I wrote, but I'm not sure you realize that what you just read is not what I meant.

Regards, Woodwould.

Solid effort TN, looks fantastic. I've been dreaming of Horvater vises since seeing your mockups.

Do the holdfasts work well, haven't used mine yet, and did you get a good result with that final one and the hairline crack?

Hey Steve, The horvarter vises are great. Haven't had a lot of time to use them in anger yet, as the bench is only just finished, and the face vice has a bit of a knack to using it, but I don't think any vise would ever be perfect in every way. Once you get used to it though it seems to work as expected.

The holdfasts are brilliant. It looks like I'm ending up with more than I need, so I might sell some here on the forums soon. Just got to work out exactly how many I need to keep.

The one with the hairline crack still works fine (they did send me a replacement for it anyway). So I really can't fault their customer service.
TN.

Good result!

Nice work nice bench

I like the solution to the casters, should hold up well

and the wip would be nice, we all like to see how things happen

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regards
Nick (I really don't need a Stubby!)
veni, vidi, tornavi

Thats a beautiful bench, my only concern is that you may have trouble delivering it to my shed in one piece

Hey Clint,

Nice try! I'll happily deliver it from one side of my shed to the other, but that's as far as it goes!!

TN

Nice job on the bench build.

TN - great bench. Really nice work. I like the contrasting timbers and the split top looks like it fits nice and neat, which is something that always worried me about split tops. Do you think the lateral movement of the top will cause the flip stop to bind in future?

The wheels are a brilliant invention. Really simple and practical. I'm fortunate to have enough space that I won't need to move my bench, but it is certainly an idea I might borrow in future should that change.

The vices look really good - I particularly like the quick release features, which is something that most of the competitors to Hovarter don't really offer. I am humming and hawing over a leg vice vs a twin screw, but probably leaning towards the twin screw at the moment. The benchcrafted leg vice is pretty neat though. I hadn't really looked at the Hovarter seriously as I don't have the capacity to turn the hubs myself, but the quick release might tempt me to think again.

And thanks for the video. It certainly shows things better than, say, a set of pics.

Finally, add my voice to those seeking a WIP.

Trav

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