From what I've read on google, it does sound like that. But just in case, here's a pic. Ta

Well, the good news is I've made a "little" progress. The bad news is that this bench still not finished, I haven't started the kids beds, or the pile of other things I've got planned. I've still to clean & "de-surface-rust" my bandsaw & pedestal drill, and it goes on & on...sound familiar?!!

Anyway enough whining...back to the bench. I'm not sure what was going on with the wood grain when I previously said that I was having heaps of problems planing it. I got my new #5, sharpened both it and the #7 and had another go. I didn't make any changes to the setup of the 7, and I sharpened it like normal...but it worked! No tear out or yucky bits

It's now flat across the grain, just have to resharpen and attempt lengthwise now.

I think you put the bench dog in the wrong spot

Looking good John, getting close to the end now

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I just came across the new HNT Gordon Tail Vice. Any thoughts about it? It seems like not a bad product or price - or am I just plainly missing something?

Here is the link: tailvice

Thanks guys

John -I guess it comes from my background, but I wish we could get our terminology sorted! To my little mind, this is a "traveling dog" system, not a tail vise. I suppose you could argue that anything that has some semblance of jaws that are able to grip an object under pressure is a vise/vice/vyce (choose your spelling depending on country of residence), but if that is so, why don't we dispense with the terms 'clamp' and 'pliers', etc??

OK, rant over, now to be serious. Looks like a very neat idea, easy to install, and should do the job.

Criticism #1 - having only a single height travelling jaw is a bit of a limitation - I constantly lift/lower the dogs on my bench to suit the job in hand - anything from a few mm exposure to 50mm or more, on occasion. The only way to get equivalent convenience would be to have a set of dogs of different heights. Not a big deal, it looks easy enough to do with a bit of brass rod and a few hardwood scraps, but something to consider if you need to grip things at different heights.

Criticism #2 - I think that knurled knob would drive me nuts. I would guess it was built thus to keep it out of the way. If it had a larger diameter boss for a tommy-bar, or a wheel, these would stand up too far above the bench surface, & would foul longer planes when attacking thin boards. However, you do need to move that jaw a lot & often. Murphy's law decrees that you always have to move the vise the maximum possible distance between one object & the next (), & that little knob will make for slow-going. A tommy-bar or a larger-diameter wheel would make longer movements much more convenient. For a little extra cost, a removable boss & tommy bar or wheel would be nice. You would probably only need to remove it occasionally, unless you work with a lot of thin stock.

If you have no surface clamping system on your bench currently, & frequently need to hold boards flat for planing or othert operations, something like this could be a very handy addition, and make life a lot easier for you.

My 2c.
Cheers,

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IW

Hi John

While I have every confidence in Terry Gordon's ability to deliver a superior product, this "travelling dog" system, as Ian terms it, has limitations ... I identify the same limitations that Ian referred to (above).

The ability to recess dogs is one of the reasons I went for a square dog (although it is possible to do with a round dog, just not so easily). Here are my dogs recessed ..



... and lifted for use ...



I would add that a small knob turning a 6 tpi thread would be slow and potentially frustrating. For comparison, my 2" wood screw has 3 tpi.

The HNT Gordon design is clever, and clearly intended for thinner bench tops (say about 2" thick). I suspect bench tops of this thickness dominate in Oz, unlike the recent move to more massive tops in the USA over the past few years.

There are a number of other similar tail vises on the market, most of them produced by Lee Valley:

The Veritas inset vise (also appears optimised for a thinner bench top)...



The Veritas surface vise (is a variation of the bench pup) ...



More upmarket ..

The Veritas Qick-release Sliding Vise ...



All this in addition to the Benchcrafted tail vise, which is optimised for a 4" thick benchtop.

Richard Macguire (in the UK) has his own version ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

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John
it looks like your bench is ready to use
untill you decide on and fit an end vice, one or two of these A nice birds mouth planing stop « and a clap or three will get you started

or

this setup Bench setup for hand planing without a tail vise which just requires some 3/4" dog holes

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regards from Sydney

ian

the second chap must be lefthanded

re the birdsmouth

what would be wrong with having it with a bigger overhang and clamped in the front vice? That way you don't have to worry about dogholes

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

he is

let me think on this, but using the dog holes should give more resistance than with a vice alone, with the benefit -- at least for John -- that his bench is almost fully usable without vices

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regards from Sydney

ian

Thanks for the advice guys. Come to think of it, the book 'the new age traditional woodworker', which has been my sadistic inspiration for hand tool construction outlines a jig almost the same as the birds mouth listed, except it has a lip in the front that allows it to clamp in vice. I'll see if I can find a pic & post it.

I know that I seem terribly indecisive about my vices, but I've never used any of the vices currently used by us WW fans. So I'm trying to make my bench as 'John friendly' as possible, while lacking the hands on experience with twin screw tail, wagon, & leg vices.

Actually just thinking about it, when I was planing the base, I was using my old bench with a piece of ply screwed to the top as a planing stop. I don't remember having any issues, so I think I might use these ideas until I've had more experience.

Of course this doesn't mean that I'm going to stop asking continual questions about vices!

Thanks for the thoughts on the Gordon vice, but I think I'll leave it & wait. I'm thinking that I'll probably end up with a veritas style twin screw end vice.

Well I didn't find the book, but I did find some pics on the Author's Website Blog.

I found this interesting, and I think that I'll just do this until I decide what system suits me.

https://picasaweb.google.com/jim.tol...eat=directlink

If you click on the link, you should get a picasaweb link that contains 9 pics.

A small learning curve today. Before attacking a piece of wood on your newly acquired bandsaw's maiden voyage, make sure you have all the measurements!

I decided to work on the chop for the leg vice today. I've had a piece of wood put aside especially for this purpose...sure it's not endangered 10000 year old swamp oak, but I like it, and it smells nice! However, after cutting a couple of angles, it occurred to me that I didn't allow for the brass garter plates (sitting on top in pic)!

Any ideas? I had thought of rebating the garter plates 20mm or so, but I didn't like that idea. The next thought that I had was to bandsaw the whole piece 20mm thinner. This would leave me with a 35mm chop. Is this thick enough? I had thought of laminating some jarrah to the face side, so I could add 20mm or so of jarrah?

The other option would be to cut a new piece from 50mm x 250mm bluegum that used to be the seats of the outdoor setting.

I'd be tempted to cut a circle and insert it as a patch. Should look good and keep the desired strength.

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Hi John

It is easy enough to to rebate the garter. Trace it out, remove most of the waste with a router, clean up with a sharp knife and chisels.

Regards from Perth

Derek

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I honestly never thought of that! What sort of cutter do I need to cut a 120mm plug?