Thread: The bench-bench that got a bit carried away...

Looks good Ian, Having the extra height I see as a big advantage for delicate precision work.

Awesome work Ian. I still aspire to something similar one day

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

Great looking "little" bench.

You'll have to build a second one and get Andy to help you do a AWR write up.


Legs?
what you've built will be very light when sitting on longish legs -- and bracing the legs to prevent racking will likely be a challenge.
my suggestion is to use very short legs so when it's sitting on your main bench the surface is at the "right" height for detailed work.

Brilliant job Ian!!!

I think the shot of the underside is the most informative shot as it shows the layout so clearly.

I am going to make a Moxon vive. Just wondering about your's not being wide enough. Do you think
700 between the screws is too much to ask?? I do have some very hard and heavy stair treads that
I can use for jaws so flexing should not be a problem.

Originally Posted by artme

.......I am going to make a Moxon vive. Just wondering about your's not being wide enough. Do you think
700 between the screws is too much to ask?? I do have some very hard and heavy stair treads that
I can use for jaws so flexing should not be a problem.

Artme, I think 700mm should cover pretty much anything you are likely to cut dovetails across. I don't see any major problems if your chunk of wood will take it without flexing. And old stair tread should do it, they are usually around 38mm thick & pretty solid. As it happens, I used scraps of Merbau stair tread material for my first effort: d_tail vise.jpg

It has about 450mm (can't remember exactly what it was) between the screws but the jaw is plenty strong enough & would have tolerated being wider, and it would've been if my scraps had been longer! . Merbau taps easily and makes a beautiful internal thread, too, I discovered.

Apart from the width being a bit skimpy on the first one I made, my main mistake was not giving it a big enough footprint, so it wasn't as stable as I'd have liked, when clamped between bench dogs. I solved that when I had one of my rare lightbulb moments and cut a pocket in each end for the dogs to snug into - after that it was quite solid. It went to a new home a few months ago, and has had a bit of use by its new owner - maybe he can comment on other potential improvements to the design...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by ian

Great looking "little" bench.

You'll have to build a second one and get Andy to help you do a AWR write up......

Ian, the number of projects I have set myself this year already exceeds my capacity to finish them by at least 200%!

Originally Posted by ian

.....what you've built will be very light when sitting on longish legs -- and bracing the legs to prevent racking will likely be a challenge.
my suggestion is to use very short legs so when it's sitting on your main bench the surface is at the "right" height for detailed work.

It doesn't need legs in its 'bench-bench' role, it's designed to sit on its aprons on my regular bench, which makes the surface 150mm higher, and what I reckoned would be just right for the purpose. Even without the bench dogs holding it, it has little desire to move!
Maybe it's not quite as light as you might think! Bluegum is solid stuff (density ~1), and in fact, it is heavier than I initially planned, thanks to my design becoming more ambitious as it evolved. It has ended up more than half the weight of the top of my current 'portable' bench (which is plenty heavy enough for occasional use), and more than ideal if it were to be used only as a bench bench. To satisfy my own curiosity, I'll try to get a weight today, if the bathroom scales will cooperate (& 'er indoors looks the other way long enough for me to sneak them down to the shed ).

However, you are quite right to be concerned about its stability on legs, and it's the reason I'm hesitating. Apart from the height, it's the smallish footprint (it will be about 900 x 500) that I'm worried about. The legs will have a foot piece that is at least as long as the width of the bench, so I hope that will give it enough back & forth stability. And be aware, this is not intended to be a bench for heavy planing of hardwood bench parts, just a handy thing I can still move by myself, so there are compromises to be made.

Wracking shouldn't be a problem, I hope. It will have wide stretchers with stub tenons pulled into the legs by 6" drawer-bolts. This system is easy & quick to assemble/disassemble and has worked very well on my main bench for 30 years of heavy use.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

..... I'll try to get a weight today, if the bathroom scales will cooperate (& 'er indoors looks the other way long enough for me to sneak them down to the shed )......

Ok, all sweet, I snuck the scales out, & the top is 45.4Kg. I would've liked it to be a bit less, but I suppose if it's going to be used on its own as an occasional bench, the more weight the merrier. I might have to invest in one of those wheel-about cranes when I become a bit more decrepit.

The undercarriage will probably come to at least half or more of the top weight, so all-up, it's not going to be a featherweight when posing as a bench! ...

Cheers,

Hi Ian

I've seen a photo of a similarly sized small bench that Leonard Lee (Lee Valley Tools) had in an alcove in his office. The mass of that bench was in the base -- which was constructed more like a cabinet than a traditional stretchered frame.

Originally Posted by IanW

Ian, the number of projects I have set myself this year already exceeds my capacity to finish them by at least 200%!

Nice bench .
I was trying to figure out which year 200% stood for, ....until the penny dropped.
Must be tired.

cool bench

I've wanted something similar so I could sit at it and do small work whilst hanging about waiting for my son to finish training
couldn't think of how to accomplish it without making it too big to fit in the boot of the car

Not wishing to take anything away from Ian's brilliant little bench, at about 800 x 200, the Milkman's bench is another alternative for transporting in a car



more info here The Milkman's Workbench Build - Part 1 — Gunpowder Woodworks

there's also a variant that uses wedges to hold the work rather screw vises

link Milkman's Workbench with Wedge Vises - by pinebox @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community

and

Link ‘Milkman’s Workbench’ Without Screws - Popular Woodworking Magazine

A bench bench!! This is a truly awesome original idea. I've seen a "moxon" with the tabletop thing happening behind it, which is a slick idea, but to have an entire mini bench on the opposite side is absolutely brilliant!

Perhaps you could come up with a semi-collapsible but still stable design for an undercarriage? Maybe something with legs that cross like scissors and have indexed slots which would allow them to position the bench at variable heights. This could accommodate planing at typical bench height and with a broader splay between the legs, and then pop up to "moxon" height for joinery work? It would take some finagling to get it stable, but I'm sure you could pull it off.

Originally Posted by IanW

It went to a new home a few months ago, and has had a bit of use by its new owner - maybe he can comment on other potential improvements to the design...

Guilty. I totally understand that for something like a sea chest/blanket box it would be useful to have it wider, but I absolutely love the thing. I use it as a height booster for any and all dovetailing, regardless of width, and I've also used it in a "wracked mode" for holding asymmetrical drawers for planing down the dovetails on the sides, and they didn't slip a bit. It fits perfectly in my end vise (which is, admittedly, a carbon copy of Ian's) and doesn't rattle at all. I could see myself making a wider one one day, but it would mostly be out of desire for a cool project moreso than necessity.

Thanks Ian

It was the milkman's bench I had in mind but I still needed something to rigidly support it while seated in my camp chair

I've had this one on my potential projects list for some time.

I like Phil Lowe's argument for a single vise bench that can be worked on from all sides and it seems to me that a small squarish benchtop bench would really only need one vise for similar reasons. I've been unsuccessful in arranging my current workshop area to conveniently have a free standing bench, so it has to unfortunately live against a wall and I appreciate the functionality of my tail vise (actually wagon style) there.

Ian's bench certainly offers both options with not much effort to change between functions. I'd be interested to know down the track which orientation of the bench eventually gets used the most.