Thread: Building A Work Table/Bench without a Worktable/Bench to build it on...

Just thinking ahead, I want a wooden handle, preferably made of white oak, however I don't have a lathe or any decent planes. Is there a way to make a handle without these tools?.

Begin with a square section. Scribe halves on each side and plot the chamfer. This should be 45 degrees. Saw or plane to the lines all around.

Then scribe halves on each side of the newly-cut chamfer, and saw or plane to the lines.

Keep going until you have a round handle.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

Just thinking ahead, I want a wooden handle, preferably made of white oak, however I don't have a lathe or any decent planes. Is there a way to make a handle without these tools?.

Have you got a sash clamp ?
Any planes ?
A spoke shave ?
A cabinet scraper?

Then you could shape a square into a round as Derek said.
You have to be able to hold it . It could be done just using a chisel if can hold it in something .

If you have nothing to hold it then use a square stick to get your vise working and get the dog holes in and make the round one later maybe ?

Do You have any vise atm? Sash clamp has to be held in a vise as well or screwed down.

If you don't have a sash clamp to hold a stick, and also a vise, then make a board with two posts fixed down that are at a distance apart of your stick to be shaped.
With two holes drilled for screws like the head and tail stock of a lathe. Then Clamp that to your work table.
Drill each end of your stick for long bugle screws. Screw the stick in place and tighten up. Start by taking off four corners with chisel or plane . Once you have an octagon that looks reasonable shave the high spots of them and scrape and sand to round. The drill holes in your stick will be the same holes you bugle screw the shaped ends onto.

Originally Posted by auscab

Have you got a sash clamp ?
Any planes ?
A spoke shave ?
A cabinet scraper?

Then you could shape a square into a round as Derek said.
You have to be able to hold it . It could be done just using a chisel if can hold it in something .

If you have nothing to hold it then use a square stick to get your vise working and get the dog holes in and make the round one later maybe ?

No sash clamp...
One plane with a chipped blade, shameful I know, next on shopping list. No cabinet scraper either.

I think I'll do some shopping....

Can you guys suggest a couple of planes to get started?, something from Carbatec or Timbecon would be great.

Originally Posted by auscab

Do You have any vise atm? Sash clamp has to be held in a vise as well or screwed down.

If you don't have a sash clamp to hold a stick, and also a vise, then make a board with two posts fixed down that are at a distance apart of your stick to be shaped.
With two holes drilled for screws like the head and tail stock of a lathe. Then Clamp that to your work table.
Drill each end of your stick for long bugle screws. Screw the stick in place and tighten up. Start by taking off four corners with chisel or plane . Once you have an octagon that looks reasonable shave the high spots of them and scrape and sand to round. The drill holes in your stick will be the same holes you bugle screw the shaped ends onto.

No vise yet.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

Can you guys suggest a couple of planes to get started?, something from Carbatec or Timbecon would be great.

I cant recommend any planes from those two sources . Id never buy planes from them . Id buy Plenty of other stuff but I'm a Vintage only when it comes to hand tools. They are cheaper and better usually. But may require cleaning up and sharpening.

This one seller on ebay is selling three good not to old Stanleys . A 6 a 4 and a 78 rebate. That would be a very good start and if you got the three the saving from new could easy be $300 or plenty more with a guess. Do some comparisons with new.

Vintage Stanley Bailey No.4 Plane | eBay

Vintage Stanley No 6 English Woodworking Plane | eBay

Vintage Stanley No. 78 Duplex Filletster & Rabbet Plane Stanley Rule &Level Era | eBay


Older Stanley is nicer . BRW handles . Finer castings . They are pretty much exactly the same as theses English Stanley's though.
If you go further back with Stanley in time the adjuster wheel gets smaller . And the thread reversed. Lovely planes . From roughly the 30s or 40s onwards the lay out is the same as English Stanley.

For the smother try and get a Stanley 4 1/2, I find them better due to weight and wider blade.

One for sale at the moment, needs some TLC

Stanley plane..............Bailey 4 1/2. | Hand Tools | Gumtree Australia Bendigo Surrounds - Heathcote | 1307850896

Thanks guys, looks like some invested research is in order. I do like the Stanley's.

I do have a Stanley laminate edge trimmer!

Originally Posted by Camelot

For the smother try and get a Stanley 4 1/2, I find them better due to weight and wider blade.

There not a bad plane but I would only use them on softwoods. Because of the width. Everything I make is hand planed and I mostly use Oak these days. It used to be a lot of Cherry and walnut sometimes. I still use Radiata pine as secondary timbers like drawer bottoms and cabinet backs. With the hardwoods though a 3 and 4 are what I go for for smoothing. Both with curved blades of differing radius's or flat and just rounded at corners. I only pull out a 4 for the softwood . More often for that though I use a 6 . Same width as the 4 1/2.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

Can you guys suggest a couple of planes to get started?, something from Carbatec or Timbecon would be great.

Go post that question in the Hand Tool - Unpowered section and your going to get an avalanche of response's.

Originally Posted by auscab

There not a bad plane but I would only use them on softwoods. Because of the width. Everything I make is hand planed and I mostly use Oak these days. It used to be a lot of Cherry and walnut sometimes. I still use Radiata pine as secondary timbers like drawer bottoms and cabinet backs. With the hardwoods though a 3 and 4 are what I go for for smoothing. Both with curved blades of differing radius's or flat and just rounded at corners. I only pull out a 4 for the softwood . More often for that though I use a 6 . Same width as the 4.

I guess it's what works best for you, I am quite tall and can get over the piece without much effort, for the smoothing operation I am only looking to flatten any high spots, so for me the wider blade finds these better than a narrow one, I do have a 4 and also a Norris Coffin Plane (which some people say were the best smothers ever made) but I get good results with the 4 1/2

Originally Posted by auscab

I cant recommend any planes from those two sources . Id never buy planes from them . Id buy Plenty of other stuff but I'm a Vintage only when it comes to hand tools. They are cheaper and better usually. But may require cleaning up and sharpening. ...

Totally agree with this view, even though I do have a couple of modern Lie Neilsen, Veritas and Luban planes.

My rule of thumb when pre-selecting Stanley planes is:

• If it was made pre-War then it is probably excellent,
• If it has a plastic handle then it is probably crap,
• If it is post-War and has a wooden handle then it might be good.

Stanley identification tables are readily available - - Handplane Central is a nice source.

Most will recommend that you get a #4 smoother first - I prefer to use a #5 jack plane as a smoother - but that just me. Next most useful is a small block plane or rabbet block plane.