Thread: Pimp my bench

That is nice wood. You are off to a good start.

Beautiful timber! You'll have to come up with something equally smart for the legs and frame.

Thanks all. Hopefully I will have enough for the whole job, but if not, back to the demo yard.

I'm probably going to need lots of advice and help to get this thing going. Do you think I should build a router table before I start, or will I get through with a router in freehand mode?

Wongdai

Nice haul Wongdai, You'd rarely see timber like that in wrecking yards over here.

You sound a bit like myself when it comes to end vices and dogs etc, I'm not sure what it's all about either but they seem to be desired by the owners of exquisite high end planes, chisels and Japanese saws. In other words, our friends from the Darkside. My philosophy is if I don't know what the advantage of an end vise etc is then I probably don't need or deserve one.

Besides, if the kids can't crack Macadamia nuts in them, what's the fun in that?

Sleepy.

Hi Wongdai,

I have just gone through this myself.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=78427

Do yourself a favour and visit Keith Ruckers' website below. I based my build loosely on his design, and while there are some areas where he could be a bit clearer, I found it an invaluable resource.

http://pages.friendlycity.net/~krucker/Bench/index.htm

regards

Hi there

Yes, Sleeping Dog, you are probably right, however, I would hate not to include one only to find out later that I wished I had.

Thanks for those links Alastair. With the combination of your piccy thread and the ruckner site, that might be enough to get me by.

I might include a shelf on the bottom though to put things.

Wongdai

I was in much the same position as you a year ago. I've attached a picture of what I came up with. The base is a design by Graham Sands in the AWR but I got creative with the top.

I drilled a matrix of three-quarter holes for Veritas bench dogs and hold-downs. If you want to use traditional square dogs it would be best to make rectangular cut outs in the planks before you glue them together.

The Veritas hold-down clamps which also fit in three quarter holes are very useful though. I also adapted the Ikea lamp so that it also plugs into a dog hole, so I can move it around easily.

I mainly use the twin screw vise because the jaws stay square, most things fit between the screws. The conventional vise is only good for small bits, if I was building another bench I probably wouldn't fit one. I would probably fit a shoulder vise instead, but I didn't feel sufficiently confident.

I realised later that the jaw on the twin screw vise is about half the proper thickness.

The apron at the front is useful for larger pieces. The T square thing slides along on a track and you can rest one end of large object on it. It is not really necessary but it comes in useful to support something while I clamp it.

Make sure you make the bottom of the apron thick enough for a clamp, so you can clamp things to the bench. You can't have too many ways of clamping things.

The drawers in the base are very convenient, and the weight of all the tools adds stability to the bench. The drawers are on a subframe with its own runners so that the set pulls out as a unit until the face is flush with the bench and then the individual drawers pull out in the usual way. It was in AWR in 2007, I can't recall which issue.

It was a good first project. I learned a lot about woodworking and I've got a bench that works very well for me. Hope these thoughts are useful.

Glen, that's a very handsome and functional bench.

Thanks Glen,

That's really useful. I do like the idea of having drawers.

Tell me, are the brass looking things sticking out from teh T-square thing, the "dogs" that everyone refers to?

Also, I want to get started on this, but am afraid to start as my ideas are not clear. Is patience crucial at this stage, or should I just get into it?

I was going to start tonight by docking the top timber to length and commence drilling the dowel holes, but you caution as to cutting the dogs first made me wonder.

I might go to the library first and search for the issue with your plans in it.

Wongdai

Wongdai - The brass things are the shorter version of dogs that Veritas calls 'pups'. I got the dogs initially but my bench is only about 35mm thick and found them too cumbersome. The top was supposed to be rather thicker, but I was a slow learner on how to plane big bits of wood flat.

If you are using round dogs I'd cut the holes the very last thing after the bench is constructed and assembled so you can get an accurate grid and be sure there is clearance under the bench. I spent some time drawing it out roughly in chalk to make sure I had it right before accurate marking with pencil and drilling (with a good quality HSS forstner bit). Remember you need to be able to lean under the bench and push the dogs out, usually you can pull them out from on top but they can get pushed down too far or jam, so positioning is critical.

I had some plans for a bench that used square dogs and it said to cut rectangular notches in the planks so that they become square holes when you glue the planks together, but I'd recommend using round dogs unless you are a died in the wool traditionalist.

I'm a get stuck into it person by nature, also I find it hard to plan a job unless I know exactly what I'm doing, and one step often suggests the next. However we are never short of kindling to light the fire. I started with the base because I had Graham's quite detailed plans, and thought about the top while I was building that.

Woodwould - thanks for the kind remarks. I know your opinion is much respected on this forum.

Thanks Glen

That's really useful.

I have a clear picture in my mind of how I want it to be now, so all I have to do is work out how to put it together.

I'm wondering if I should wait to start until I get myself a bandsaw. What do you think?

Wongdai

Hi Wongdai

I'm wondering if I should wait to start until I get myself a bandsaw. What do you think?

I didn't get my bandsaw until after I finished the bench, but in hindsight it would have made life a lot easier and I'd have saved a bit of wood and work.

so this timber is Karri!
they knocked down an old house down the road and the timber joists for the flooring had free wood put on it, so i swooped. it is heavy and hard, so i thought it must have been Jarrah! it's cleaned up exactly the same as yours Wongdai.
is there much difference between Karri and Jarrah?
one piece fell on the floor and i jumped back out of the way, and it bounced back at me just to hit me on the foot OUCH!!!!! etc.
regards
the block

It's hard to tell by looking, but I guess it is more than likely jarrah, cos if it was karri the whiite ants would have had it!! They love karri but find jarrah indigestible.

Denn