Thread: Redefining the Aussie WorkBench

I don't own a table saw so thought I'd show you guys how handy an EZ Smartguide can be. In the pics I just am simply marking out my cut line lining up the guide and away I go.

I even got out my digital calipers to show how accurate she is. With a bit more care marking out than I usually take i reckon I'll soon be getting within .3

These kinda Rips are gravy on the smartguide and a decent cutting table..........Very Handy Indeed

I dressed up the stock with a quick run over with my trusty little Dewalt ROS and a card scraper.............Ready for glueup!!!

I've experimented with a number of techniques spreading glue but reckon a good old fashioned butter knife is hard to beat. Once prepped I rubbed the stock together and when there was a bit of a bond developing out came........

.............Lots n lots a Clamps!!!!

This is going to be the stock for the legs of my Bench approximately 100*100mm.

I'll let this cure for a couple of days then let it climatise to my shed for about 2 weeks before I do final dimensioning with my Handplanes.


Lots a Fun


REgards Lou

Gidday

Well today I continued Got the clamps outta last nights glueup and began dimensioning the Leg stock.

If there 1 tool I keep consistantly reaching for its my LN LA Block Plane. This little master is what I consider to be one of the best HAndplanes ever made.

I highly recommend to all this little pocket dynamo and can honestly say that so far it has always delivered the goods....................besides I just love using the dam thing!!!!!

After planing the stock down I went over it with My ROS you can see the difference after some hand scraping ................... anyone thats familar with Krenov will see his influence in the attempt at grain matching. (I hope )

Next step I took my stock to my 12 inch SCMS and tidied up the ends n cut her in half.

This ends up being round 100*100mm bout perfect for the legs of my Bench. Once the stock seasons to my shop I'll do any final dimensioning & add some pocket holes to reinforce the gluejoin.

REgards Lou

Gidday

Well the next stage of construction is developing the foot of my Workbench.

I've scratched up a few CAD drawings so that we can all get a bit of an idea of whats going on here.

Probably the hardest cut will be the angle of the top Bevel of the Foot of the Bench. The Angle as you can see in the Drawing is 12 degrees.

My question is what you guys think is the Best way of cutting the 12 Degree Bevel into the top of the foot of my Bench?

I've got a few ideas of my own but would really like to hear what others think on this one???

REgards Lou

Lou, great work to date, it's interesting to watch the progress.

If it were me, I'd cut the 12 degree angle with the bandsaw followed by a plane and scraper.

G'day NewLou,

Exactly like Groggy said, except I don't have a scraper.

G'day Lou,

To cut the 12degree angle, I'd use either an adjustable taper cutting jig like this or simply a fixed one on the table saw.

Cheers!

Probarly rough cut it with a hand saw and then put that LN'BP to work again...

fletty, you say:
My bench appears to fit into the 'small' category. It is 1660 long, 760 wide and 960 high. I am 1830 tall so I find that I can reach anything on the bench without straining which is important to me because the size of my shed means that I have to put the bench against a wall.

fletty, your last pic shows the Record end-vice. I have the same vice, but my workshop is small and my bench like yours. My bench has only one working edge (the front edge (2.5m) (depth 800cm). Two questions for you and other vice-maestros:

1. You picture shows the inner wooden jaw liner as set "out" from the line of the bench. I always believed, by reading other threads here, that the work-face of the inner jaw liner should be flush with the edge of the bench. Therefore, I need to cut the jawliner into the bench, to achieve that result. You haven't bothered. Why?

2. The popular right-handed wisdom seems to be to position the vice somewhere near the leftmost end of the bench. For me that will be smack up against the lefthand wall (no good!). Therefore I am tossing up between about 10%, 25% or 50% of the way across measuring from the left wall. What should I do?

Originally Posted by Knurl

1. You picture shows the inner wooden jaw liner as set "out" from the line of the bench. I always believed, by reading other threads here, that the work-face of the inner jaw liner should be flush with the edge of the bench. Therefore, I need to cut the jawliner into the bench, to achieve that result. You haven't bothered. Why?

The reason one flushes the inner vice face to the bench is that if you hold something in the vice that's wider than the vice width and then put sideways pressure towards the bencn, then that something is already hard up against the bench side. Probably he thought he wasn't likely to do this on his side vice.

You don't need to cut the jawline into the bench to do this. On my bench (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=28519) I just added a piece of timber to flush the bench side vice face with the rest of the bench. The reason I did it in 2 pieces is that I am more likely to have to damage and have to replace a piece the width of the vice face rather than the whole bench length. You can also see I did not flush the side of my end vice right up to the corner - there is a reason for this that I will show hopefully soon.

Originally Posted by Knurl

2. The popular right-handed wisdom seems to be to position the vice somewhere near the leftmost end of the bench. For me that will be smack up against the lefthand wall (no good!). Therefore I am tossing up between about 10%, 25% or 50% of the way across measuring from the left wall. What should I do?

I would go half way.

That's a wonderful bench Bob. Thanks for the advice. I guess you mounted the back vice-jaw itself to sit flush under the table-top of the bench and then dressed the skirt of the bench all round and then inserted the section that became your rear vice-jaw?

As I see in the pictures it seems that the top of the back metal jaw touches the underside of the bench and its face sits flush with the original edge or at least the back of the skirting board on to which it's mounted.

Did you dismantle your end vice in order to put the rods and screws through the skirting board?

Originally Posted by Knurl

2. The popular right-handed wisdom seems to be to position the vice somewhere near the leftmost end of the bench. For me that will be smack up against the lefthand wall (no good!). Therefore I am tossing up between about 10%, 25% or 50% of the way across measuring from the left wall. What should I do?

I agree, my front vise is at the left hand end and is often unusable, due to the proximity of the wall.

My solution is to get another vise and mount at the right end. I also drilled a series of 12 mm holes, stepping down in height exactly in the middle of the front bench face. These accept dowels, which support a piece of work, thats too long to be held securely in a single vise and not long enough to reach both vises.

I think that the common wisdom says left or right and as the vise should be close to the legs where the bench is most strong and rigid.

Can you show us pictures of your dowel setup?

I'm figuring that their role is to "balance" a heavy piece while you tighten the jaws.

That wouldn't work if I position my vice too close to a wall because a long piece will then need manual support despite the dowels.

I think the half-way position will be best (my bench is supported there) because planing and routering are not restricted.

Please tell us more about those dowels.