Thread: (Another) Workbench WIP

I wish I could build them as quick as you.

Paying close attention to your workbench. I think I will need to build one soon too.

Hi Alastair,

Yes, the Oregon frame is looking top notch all right. Good solid design. Did I mention I like Oregon too.

Cheers,
Pops

There's just something about benches that I love. Don't know what it is but I will look at every bench thread with enthusiasm.

I love the colour of Oregon too. Nice Alistair, very nice.

Originally Posted by boban

There's just something about benches that I love. Don't know what it is but I will look at every bench thread with enthusiasm.

I love the colour of Oregon too. Nice Alistair, very nice.

Thanks Boban.

We get to your bit next. I have used the timber I got from you at the beginning of the year for the top slab.

regards

And onwards........

While this was all happening, I made use of any time with spare clamps to start laminating op the top. As the timber was old, and originally rough sawn, this needed a bit of work. It was also as hard as nails, which will be good in the long run, but this meant that my usual method of jointing square by hand before machining took on the stature of a labour of Hercules!
Instead, I adapted this to the thicknesser. After rough thicknessing, I paired the timbers off, and then used small C-clamps to combine in pairs on edge, such that they would sit upright on the platen. These were then passed (carefully, clamps and all) through the thicknesser to yield a “jointed” pair of edges. This was repeated with an alternate edge to give two groups of 3. The 2 centre pairs were glued and clamped up, and then again jointed as 150mm wide pair, to give the centre joint.
Each then had the third lam glued on, to give 2 210mm subassemblies, previously jointed. (pic 1) The dog hole back was sized and added to the front half the same way, with both half slabs included in the clamp-up for alignment.. (pic 2) These “half” slabs were then machined flat through the thicknesser. It was then time to change the thicknesser blades I had notched on nails, before a final machining. This ended up with a surprisingly good finish. Final step was to glue up into the final rough slab. I had to draft the help of No. 1 son to handle the slabs through the thicknesser, and up onto the base, as my back was showing signs of strain by now. The final result was pretty good, (pic 3) but there was enough residual twist to leave a “dome” of about 3mm in the one end, so I will have to resort to a session of router planing before I am finished.

In the mean time, a visit to Carbatech secured the front vice, (pic 4) to allow me to plan doghole spacing and layout. I chose the large number, with offset guides, both to allow a wider vertical clamping capacity, and also as it allowed more clearance from the top rails of the base. (more about that later!). As luck would have it, the tail vice screw was out of stock, so will have to go back, but hopefully won’t hold me up.

That just about brings the build up to date for the last 3 weeks. "Progress" will slow down some now, as things revert to "real" time!

regards

Looking good Alistair.

That timber is certainly old Alistair. I think it's approaching the century if it hasn't already got there.

Good day all,

I said “reverting to real time”, but didn’t reckon that things would slow down to this extent! A number of weekend activities have intruded, including a landlord visit, and a woodturning demo I gave at our local Guild group. Also, cricket season has started, so I have to pay for the muscles I periodically borrow from no. 1 son, by ferrying him to matches, and watching. Add to this the fact that there was a fair bit of machining involved in the next bit, which is not neighbour-friendly on weeknights.

Most time has been taken up by the slab. While I thought that I was near finished with this, it has drawn out into a real “labour of Hercules”. This started by the discovery that I had miscalculated in converting from Imperial, and the upper stretchers were now too long to fit inside the dimensions of the top. Given that shortening the stretchers would likely be botched, the alternative was to widen the slab. However, adding another (twisted) timber was both more complex than I thought, (pic 1) and also meant that a router planing (of both sides) became mandatory.

This technique is often lightly referred to in bench builds, almost as a trivial inconvenience, easily disposed of. Not in my experience!

Locating suitable straight sections was the first hurdle, finally met by 2 sections of 25mm square ally tubing, bought at an exorbitant price from M10. Clamping these to the sides of the slab, and adjusting to constant clearance, and zero wind, did not seem too onerous, and after knocking up a planing sled from scrap timber and MDF, (pic 2) it was time to “have at it”.
I loaded up the 1” straight bit into my big router, set up the depth of cut, and ran 3 test passes to confirm the setup. So far so good!
That was when the problems started. Firstly the sled had too much lateral clearance, and had to be modified. (not too much problem) and the jig did not allow me to feed into the surface, (so I’ll plunge in). Not so easy. The vibration from the big router proved to be my final undoing. Presented in no particular order, the following happened:

The plunge stop setting drifted, so I had to go back and start again. Decided not to plunge in future, but treat as a fixed router.
The sled rode up on the gathering shavings, (go back and redo the last bit)
The sled fell off the rails, allowing the bit to gouge in deeper. (bugger)
The vibration sufficed to allow one end of one rail to shift (you guessed, down!), before I worked out how tight I had to screw up the clamps.

By the end of this, I was having to take off about 5mm, which was too much to do in one pass, so we ended up with 2 passes, followed by a final skim, all at some 20mm per pass. All in all a noisy, dirty, backbreaking labour which took all week, and most of a weekend. (pics 3 & 4) At the end, I had a flat, but somewhat thinner slab, which will still need planing and sanding to get a final finish. Also, one of the “accidents” will still need epoxy filling.

Right, enough doom and gloom. On to more productive things in the next post.

regards

Character building . Waiting to see under the shavings. Coming along nicely though.

Looking good Alastair, flattening that top with a router would be backbreaking - did you count how many passes end-to-end? About 100? Nice work, dust it off and there is a bench underneath now

Originally Posted by Groggy

Looking good Alastair, flattening that top with a router would be backbreaking - did you count how many passes end-to-end? About 100? Nice work, dust it off and there is a bench underneath now

Groggy,

Didn't count them, but at ~20mm per pass it was about that. Repeated 3 times!

regards

Hi All,

Completing the work up to this past weekend.

With that out of the way, it was time to start preparing the rest of the bench top. I purchased some 1” x 5” Tassie Oak and Vic Ash boards from Matthew’s, to build the doghole strip, endcaps, tool till and vice jaw. Here my luck started to change, as after cutting to size, and thicknessing, (pic 1) I found that all the timber was quarter-sawn, and one of the TO boards was nicely figured, so I will be able to indulge my charade of the “beautiful bench” as seems to grace most of the bench builds I’ve seen on the web, without being culpable of building a showpiece!

To get the dimensions I wanted for the DHS and endcaps, I laminated 3 boards, and squared up, to give final size of 100 x 65. (pic 2) after machining. These were then laid out with the slab upside-down, the vice positioned, and the doghole spacing laid out. (pic 3) At the same time, the big dovetail at the vice was laid out, as well as the double ‘tails (pins) on the endcaps to take the back apron.

I intended to cut these on the bandsaw, but the table on mine only tilts one way, so I made up an angled jig (pic 4) to clamp to the table for these cuts, reversing the jig for the second cuts. (pics 5 & 6) No. 1 son was again pressganged to help with the DHS, which was too long for me on my own. From there I reverted to mallet and chisel, to complete the cutting of the pins. (pic 7).

Back in a week or so, once there is more progress!

regards

Hi Alastair,

Nice job on those dovetails, they look great. More my size, don't need specs to see those fellas.

Cheers
Pops

Back into the fray!

Once cleaned up, the main dovetail joint was laid out in place, and the big tail on the endcap scribed from the pins. After marking out the shoulders, this was again cut on the bandsaw. Careful fitting, and adjustment of the tail with a shoulder plane got us pretty good fit, (I thought), and it was only when I turned the whole assembly over that I found that my layout had been faulty, and the gap now turned out to be on the visible side. Bugger. (pic 1)

Next step was to lay out the dogholes. With the whole assembly upside down on the base, and in the correct position with relation to the upper rails, the DHS/ endcap assembly was placed in position, and allowing for the rebate in the ends of the slab, and the position of the upper rail, the vice hardware was placed in position, and the critical last 3 doghole positions arranged around the vice parts. The remainder of the DHS was then divided up evenly for the rest. I went for more holes than usual, as I know that winding a vice screw can get old fast. (pic 2)

The jig for routing the holes was glued up out of scrap. The holes were angled to about 87 deg, and the MDF cut and shaped on bandsaw and sander. The separation between the sides was calculated from bit and template follower dimensions, and confirmed with a trial cut, before glueing. (pics 3 & 4) The jig was clamped to the DHS, and the holes routed out. (pics 5 & 6) A fair bit of 3D second guessing took place before I was happy that I had the right orientation! Some squaring up was needed with the chisel, but the final result looked pretty good. (pic 7)

Next was to set out and rout the recesses for the “breadboard ends” in the endcaps. (pic 8) Then the “tongues” on the slab were routed. The “top” rebate (bottom in this pic) was routed first, such as to align the top of the endcap with the top of the slab. Then the slab was turned upside down, and the “bottom” rebate nibbled away until the endcap was a snug fit. Final adjustment was done with a shoulder plane. (pic 9 & 10)

More to come