Thread: Equipping my shop with Hand Tools

I did some looking around, there is a similar-ish design published in American Woodworker. The I don't like the design as much as yours, it seems much more fragile. It does include an interesting design for a screw clamp head, which I might eventually try. I had a lot of wedges, but I wound up using most of them to prop up furniture in my shop, because the floor is so uneven. So uneven infact, that it seriously compromises the utility of my floating workbench idea, because the wheels don't touch the ground properly. The thing is constantly sliding around and wobbling, under any kind of pressure.

Regarding your sash-clamps, I had a few ideas I thought I might try. I want to avoid changing much about the beams, as I'd like them to be largely interchangeable, so my ideas are mostly regarding the heads.

I thought instead of using bolts to attach the heads to the beams, I'd try using dowels, so I can simply hammer them in and out of where I want them. If they are a little loose, the clamping pressure should fix them in place anyway.

I also thought I might try adding a few curves, such as at the bottoms of the heads, where they would contact with the table. By having a gentle arc there, I thought it might help prevent the clamp from standing on the corners of the heads, while still stabilising the clamp from sideways rocking. I also considered putting a curve at the back of the head, like your bevels, to reduce their weight. Not sure it's worth the effort though.

I'm only considering this much effort because I think I'll probably keep them, rather than use them temporarily for lack of clamps.

PS. Berlin, what sort of thing is that clamp used for? It looks more like a clothes peg than a clamp :P

Originally Posted by Mooncabbage

.......

PS. Berlin, what sort of thing is that clamp used for? It looks more like a clothes peg than a clamp :P

MC,
That would be one on my work bench...jewellery making.



and a similar one, the aluminium one , in use...

Time to clean the bench again. Hasn't been that tidy in a while.
Regards,
Peter

Originally Posted by Mooncabbage

.

PS. Berlin, what sort of thing is that clamp used for? It looks more like a clothes peg than a clamp :P

If you really want the washing to stay where it's put there's no point mucking around.

Maybe not what you need but it just shows the versatility of wedges, from panels all the way down.

Already on WWF ...

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f11/fo...=folding+wedge

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f11/fo...lue-up-137269/


Although ... I thought fox wedges were a (potentially) politically incorrect delicacy served in a basket ...

Paul

Paul

Some good links there. Thanks.

MC

Briefly reading through those links reminded me that as well as the wedges being the same the ratio of slope to height is quite significant. I don't think you will go far wrong if you work at 8:1.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Mooncabbage

PS. Do you think it's necessary to use that thickness of pine? I have quite a bit of Jarrah lying around, and I thought they might be more convenient to store if the beam was 12-18mm thick, and maybe 4-5cm high, with similarly scaled heads.

MC

You can certainly use different sizes to mine. The clamp is in tension so the depth is more important than the thickness of the material. I would not use less than 25mm thick even in hardwood. The tendency is for the beam to want to arch it's back. As the beam length is increased the depth of the timber needs to increase to resist this tendency. Out of interest there is a commercial clamp available from Carbatec using timber instead of pipe. It does the same job and does not need threaded pipe so in some respects may be a very viable alternative if you get to the stage of parting with money . It is made to suit 25mm timber.

Groz Heavy Duty Clamp Heads : CARBA-TEC

You mentioned in a later post using dowel instead of metal bolts. Probably no advantage there, but you could use steel rod instead of a bolt.

Regards
Paul

I'd say the main advantage of using lengths of dowel over steel bolts is, I already have dowels and it's easier to cut :P And re: wood dimensions, I was thinking a 40x19 would be about the right size. 25mm thick is probably a good size too.

SWMBO's mum has given me marching orders on those jarrah sleepers. I've got to list them for sale or throw them in the skip by Wednesday evening. She's still convinced it's super valuable Oregon, whatever the hell that's supposed to be. I'll need to go through and assess the cracking this afternoon or tomorrow, probably by cutting them all in half. So that should be fun :P

Yay, all my stuff has arrived! My planes arrived this morning (thank you Mr. Bleeder sir), got my carbon fibre cloth yesterday. So once it's not so stinking hot, I can get back to de-rusting things and sharpening things, and maybe finally make some tools as I've been planning to do.

Found some Karri locally on gumtree, about $9 per linear metre for 200x50mm boards. I'd have to go a little out of my way to get it, and I have no idea of it's quality, except it's "rough sawn". I was thinking about getting it to make a bench with somewhere down the track. It's not as cheap as treated pine sleepers, but it's cheaper than just about any thing else I've seen. What do you guys think? Is Karri suitable for a benchtop? Should I maybe get some anyway, for furniture and the like? Carbatec doesn't sell it, and Bunnings sure has hell doesn't. Until I googled it last night I'd never even heard of it, so apart from the fact it's supposed to be a super hard wood (harder than jarrah from what I can see), I know nothing about it. Any info you guys can share would be great.

Originally Posted by Mooncabbage

Found some Karri locally on gumtree, about $9 per linear metre for 200x50mm boards. I'd have to go a little out of my way to get it, and I have no idea of it's quality, except it's "rough sawn". I was thinking about getting it to make a bench with somewhere down the track. It's not as cheap as treated pine sleepers, but it's cheaper than just about any thing else I've seen. What do you guys think? Is Karri suitable for a benchtop? Should I maybe get some anyway, for furniture and the like? Carbatec doesn't sell it, and Bunnings sure has hell doesn't. Until I googled it last night I'd never even heard of it, so apart from the fact it's supposed to be a super hard wood (harder than jarrah from what I can see), I know nothing about it. Any info you guys can share would be great.

I reckon you would be much better off with Jarrah for everything.

Karri is a bit of a pig to work with which is one reason why Bunnings is not selling it.
Interestingly it's not that much harder than Jarrah: Karri has a 12% MC Janka hardness of 8.6 kN whereas Karri is 9.0 kN. For reference Spotted gum is 11 kN.

The thing I find with karri is it tears out more than Jarrah and leaves a lot of splinters on edges so Jarrah will usually make a much better finished surface than karri which is why Jarrah is more for furniture and Karri is best left to construction.

Originally Posted by Mooncabbage

....SWMBO's mum has given me marching orders on those jarrah sleepers. I've got to list them for sale or throw them in the skip by Wednesday evening. She's still convinced it's super valuable Oregon.....

If you have to put them in the bin then it would be best to put them up for sale. But I guess you might have already done something since this is Friday. So a little late in reply.


I think Jarrah is more common then Oregon in Perth so it might be more valuable. But alas I am only guessing.

My previous bench, which lasted 18 years, had a Karri top. It was reasonably stable but needed a little planing every year. The wood was free, coming from a roof we had constructed at the time. My only complaint with dark woods is that they make dark bench tops, and these require more light for ageing eyes.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

My only complaint with dark woods is that they make dark bench tops, and these require more light for ageing eyes.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Totally agree with that as someone who has a dark benchtop and eyes that are, well, less than perfect . Next bench has blonde top and dark undercarriage, if I ever get to make it. Of course Mooncabbage is not quite at the eyesight stage.

Regards
Paul

I'm actually a little short sighted, something to do with staring at fixed distances all the time. I was originally planning on a pine top, with jarrah legs. I thought it'd look nice, the light top would be easier to see on, and the pine would be easier to work. The sheer cost of that sort of volume of wood has me looking around for cost saving options though.

Since my little triton restoration project has been a spectacular failure, I've been considering my options. I have a small work space (3.85x2.85m for everything, including storage), so I don't have space for every machine under the sun, even if I had the budget. I'm becoming increasingly interested in the work that can be achieved with hand tools. It wasn't something covered in great detail in high school, but the more I read about it, the more I play and experiment, the more I think it's the way I want to go. I have more than enough hand held power tools to get by for now. The triton workbench takes a serious chunk out of your maximum depth of cut with a saw anyway, so I think I will simply get rid of it, and just use my circular saws for rough cuts.

Since I don't have to worry about floor space for the triton, or it's outfeed tables, it frees up considerable space for a nice big workbench. I was thinking 120-180cm by like, 60-80cm wide. I'd want it to be a useful, general purpose hand tool bench. I've been looking at roubo type workbenches, and they seem fairly versatile. I can't afford a proper tail vice, but I think traditionally they have some kind of large wooden stop you can tap up and down. I figure in combination with the dogs and some wedges, I should be capable of clamping long pieces much like a tail vice would, although perhaps not as conveniently. The leg vice is another issue, but I know you can improvise a vice with a few boards and some clamps. Or I could go get a cheapo from bunnies or carbatec, which should do me for now.

Keep in mind this isn't something I'm planning on starting this weekend or anything, it's just a project I have in the back of my head. For right now, I will concentrate on making my marking out tools and whatnot, and maybe make a few boxes. Something safe to store my chisels in would be nice, because the end caps keep getting lost. However because of the sheer volume of wood required, and my not unlimited budget, I will need to keep my eyes out and accumulate things. For this reason, I am interested to hear recommendations for types of wood, the sorts of sizes I should look out for, etc.

Oh, and the Jarrah still survives. I threw out like, a LOT of tools in the skip instead, just keeping the best one of everything. Finally have my workshop looking almost something like a workable space. Seems to have placated SWMBO's mum for now. I will have to properly assess the Jarrah once I have my wood rack though. Atleast one of the lower sleepers was painted more or less all round, so I'm hoping it's less cracked internally. I figure any wood that is too badly cracked to save, can be firewood, although any decent lengths I can rescue I will. Should hopefully have more useful boards than sawdust at the end of it all, but who knows :P

As always, looking forward to your sage advices.

?????
I'm a bit mystified about all this talk of bench colour. P'raps I'm missing something essential, but I cannot see what difference the bench colour makes, when it's the thing that is sitting on the bench that you are looking at, after all, not the bench. My 'portable' bench is dark (Spotted gum), & my big daily user is light-coloured (Sugar Maple), & I really don't notice any big difference in optical comfort when working at either. I also spent much of my working life going between black or near-black laboratory benches, or stainless-steel necropsy tables. A dark bench is much more preferable than stainless-steel in most instances, I can tell you. If the light is strong & and well-directed, surely you should be able to see what you are doing whatever colour the bench is, as long as it's not reflective??
Just my view, which may be in the minority....
Cheers,