Thread: WIP - Bunnings materials...

Interesting project. Will be watching.

Have you considered removing the threaded rods now that it is all glued up?

Originally Posted by mylesau

Have you considered removing the threaded rods now that it is all glued up?

Hi,
after doing the first half, I did take the rods out, and it seemed solid. BUT the only thing I am worried about is that all of these lengths have those "rough header" grooves still on them. I don't have access to a thicknesser and I didn't want to go through the pain of planing all the grooves off, and as such the advice I have had is that there isn't any guarantee that they would stay glued together. rwbuild mentioned this issue at https://www.woodworkforums.com/f213/b...0/#post1622513
I am prepared to leave them in. in terms of bench top maintenance, there is still alot of wood between the top and the rods.

Greg.

Looks interesting. Will watch this with interest.

A bit late now I know, but if you were planning through mortises for the legs, you could have cut them before the glue up.

Hope the rest of the build goes well.

Trav

Should be an interesting build.
I am using the same source of timber for my build - but planed all of the faces to maximise the contact.

It will be an interesting build.

Looking good Greg!!!

Just a word of advice on your DAWN quick release vise.

Clean it well and make sure the quick release mechanism works perfectly.
You will see there is a tongue of metal on the underside of the vise that
engages the buttress thread. Make sure it works properly other wise you will
have trouble - DAMHIK!

Also don't be tempted to make the juw faces wider than the steel jaws or you
will exacerbate any tendency for the vice to rack as it is tightened.

well... I have had an eventful 5/6 days.

first good news.
Vice: I had been looking at options etc for a tail vice, and have decided to get a front vice from carbatec
I ordered it early last week with the intent that it would arrive at work thurs/fri lastweek in time for my birthday last saturday(11-May). it would be a birthday present for myself. The intent was to put the new face vice on the front left, and then use the dawn on the end as a sort of tail vice, but also for my son to be able to work on the bench at the same time as myself.

well... want went wrong?
Thursday early morning started vomiting and continued all day, ended up going to emergency that evening, turned out I had to get my appendix out. that got done on friday evening, and it turned out I had a blood infection so had to stay in hospital till yesterday.
Thats not the worst of it......
both SWMBO and son had both been sick in the previous two weeks, so she has gone through and done a house clean, and i have been told to do the garage.plus... SWMBO has decided that I need to get my act into gear and get healthy and lose weight (I need to lose about 20kg), so I have to find something to do exercise wise. so I will have even less WW time that what I did have before.

so... currently I don't have much strength around the tummy so no heavy lifting.
one thing I was looking to do is that I had a spare plane blade, and was wanting to get it nice and curved like a scrub plane. does anyone have any methods of doing this without a form of grinder? some sort of jig that can be made ? I was hoping to use this for cleaning up the top of the bench....

Originally Posted by artme

Looking good Greg!!!

Also don't be tempted to make the juw faces wider than the steel jaws or you
will exacerbate any tendency for the vice to rack as it is tightened.

Hi Artme,
thanks for that advice. with putting it on the end, I was thinking of just making the jaws about 2cm wider. just to hide those leading edges.

greg.

Rotten luck with the family health issues Greg!! Hope all is well soon!

Originally Posted by Greg_stewy

........ SWMBO has decided that I need to get my act into gear and get healthy and lose weight (I need to lose about 20kg), so I have to find something to do exercise wise. so I will have even less WW time that what I did have before......

One piece of advise (weather welcome or not) if SWMBO tells you to do something, do it. Now 20kg is a lot to loose but it will happen.

Originally Posted by Christos

One piece of advise ... if SWMBO tells you to do something, do it.

Let's not get carried away here ... we'd none of us have any tools left ... and be spending our time in flower-arranging classes.

Christos: yes I do need to obey swmbo. I am 6'2", big build and 110kg. ideal weight is 85 but if we get to 90 I am more than happy.
McGee, don't worry I won't get carried away with "doing as I am told".

okay.. getting back to the bench.

the night before I had my appendix episode, I was able to trim off the excess bit of thread on the back and and glue on the last piece of timber of the back side. Nuts are all recessed. it has come out allright.
WIP_02_01.jpg

I also started flattening the top. I tried three different planes...
The veritas LA Jack worked okay, but I ended up finding the handle was not quite at the best angle.
The Record N06 had a nice amount of weight and comfy, but found it was a little to long for going across grain.
The Bailey no4 1/2C ended up being the most comfortable. The good thing though was I had bought a thicker blade from lee valley for the No6, and it ended up being the correct size for the bailey. It is so much nicer than the thin original blade.WIP_02_02.jpg

I finally was able to get to the office on monday and pick up my birthday present to myself.
WIP_02_04.jpgWIP_02_03.jpg
I am happy with it, and I think it will end up going very nicely. one thing though... the collets appear a little rough on the outwards facing face. I was wondering if this roughness would end up marring the timber that is in the vise.
I was thinking of putting the belt sander to the collets to flatten them out.
Has anyone else come across an issue of a rough collet? did you clean it up? after cleaning up, did you paint it with something?

Progress is going to be slow on the bench. I still have abdominal pains at time, and you do use your core muscles whilst planning. I don't think I will be totally pain free for about another 2 weeks., but I am going to try and do the little fiddly bits a pieces.

Thanks
Greg.

Originally Posted by Greg_stewy

I was wondering if this roughness would end up marring the timber that is in the vise.
I was thinking of putting the belt sander to the collets to flatten them out.

Your vice will be two timber jaws, won't it?
I guess just some sandpaper or a file might clean them up.
Paul