Thread: WIP - Groggy's Workbench

Originally Posted by Beetle Shirt

...

One minor niggle though. Those things you're cutting aren't dovetails. No dove was ever that big, so I'm going to call them eagletails.

Doves on steroids


Groggy

You'll probably be getting me into serious trouble

I had a look at the site where you purchased your vise equipment - lovely and well engineered*
Am trying to think of a way of getting that past the chanceller.
I doubt I'll have any luck and I'll probably end up with the veritas or even the basic screw kit and make my own jaws etc

* had an idea for the wheels down the bottom for the rail(?) to run on - skate board wheels or razor wheels would, I think, work well. Just get some used ones from the local kids, hang around the ocal skating park.

The vise is one of the key features of the bench. If you look at my avatar you will see my current vise, a Record #52. Cranking that in and out is wearing my arm out, so the new vises will be most welcome. If you need to save $ on parts of the bench try not to make it the vise, you may find you regret it every time you use it.

A few months ago I went to the Bungendore Gallery and saw a similar vise on a bench by Michael Connor. I don't know where he got it or if he sells them but he may be worth an email to find out.

I've just noticed this thread will go through 50,000 views soon My you lot must be bored!

Working on the sockets at the moment, very slow going getting the waste out without damaging the edges.

Nope I checked the list of 10 things to do when you are bored and watching Groggy build his bench is not on it.

mind you.......sometimes I do catch myself waiting for the next bit.

Originally Posted by Groggy

I've just noticed this thread will go through 50,000 views soon My you lot must be bored!

I only look at it intermittently, just to find out why it isn't finished.

But I'm sure that you must be really bored working on it by now, and to think that the first time you use it the chisel will slip and a big gouge will be there.


Peter.

Originally Posted by Sturdee

I only look at it intermittently, just to find out why it isn't finished.

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

mind you.......sometimes I do catch myself waiting for the next bit.

Guess I deserve that

Groggy

You've sucked me in
I'm now trawling the net looking a vices or vises.

If it's not a rude question, How much did it cost to freight your fancy ones over here?

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

If it's not a rude question, How much did it cost to freight your fancy ones over here?

Freight (or fright) was a killer. For both vises it was about $240. If I recall correctly this was due to them being long and heavy. Short and heavy would have been a fair bit cheaper.

Took a few grunts and groans to get it on, plus about 20 goes at it - slide, remove, pare away a fraction, slide, remove, pare away a fraction more, etc.

The slight gap I am hoping will disappear once glued up and planed flush. I rounded the edges of the sockets slightly so the test fitting did not tear the edges up. There is about 1.0 to 1.5mm to plane down to flush so I'm expecting (hoping) the joint to close up (the saw near the gap is 0.38mm for comparison).

Originally Posted by Groggy

The slight gay I am hoping will disappear once glued up and planed flush. .

Why? Ah, a typo!

Edit by Groggy -

Based on the proportions of the joint I think any gaps you've left will be well inside the realms of perfection Groggy. I'm aiming quite a bit lower than this and looking to achieve solidness alone, what it looks like doesn't seem important to me. So from my perspective this is absolute awesomeness!

Dave,

I'm trying to improve my skills whilst working on the bench so some things appear a bit over-the-top I guess. I still won't hesitate to bash it with a hammer once it's finished.

I just noticed something in the photo that I haven't identified on the actual workpiece, despite handling it every day. In this pic you can see a slight crack on the shoulder, I'll glue it tonight. One of the benefits of the camera I guess.

Took some time out make some skew chisels. These are from the first forum chisel buy run by Thumbsucker (thanks again mate ). I found that I really wanted a skew when doing the dovetails so thought I'd make these. I bought these after the original buy as there were leftovers.

The skew angle is 18 degrees whilst the bevel angle is 25 degrees. While grinding one of the bevels the $%#^ rest decided to creep. Now I have two facets on one of the bevels that will take a few sharpenings to get rid of.

The other photos are my long term project. These were ruined by someone who decided to use a buff on the back. These are good quality steel Bergs with the maroon plastic handles. The shoulders have been rounded and the backs have waves in them. Most times that I have the sharpening gear out I do a few minutes on these. I don't expect them to be ready for months yet. If you look at the hourglass on the smallest chisel you can see how the center has high points.

Don't use buffers on chisels!

Bvgga about the rest slip - how has the test on the skew gone

I wnet in the buy as well and also got two to turn into skewed versions but haven't had a chance to do anything with them yet

I think you've got a bit of work to do on the Bergs