Thread: WIP- Recyled timber bench, mostly by handtools

Hey there Pamps
Just a thought for attaching your end cap. You could try barrel nuts as the fastner for your bolts. It'll save a bit of chiseling

Originally Posted by skippy

Hey there Pamps
Just a thought for attaching your end cap. You could try barrel nuts as the fastner for your bolts. It'll save a bit of chiseling

In the recycling-pay-nothing-for-materials theme I already had 4 bolts with nuts and washers to use and was going to try and find two more. I used barrel nuts on the stretchers so I surprisingly hadn't considered that. It certainly would be less effort I agree.

So far my total expenditure apart from shelling out on second hand tools and sharpening gear has been on electricity, some petrol for carting the timber, PVA glue and one 9.5mm x 1m piece of dowel. Not bad. Maybe I can afford a couple of bolts now.

Edit: I remembered I did actually buy the knock-down bolts and barrel nuts. So that's three purchases for materials.

You've done well...go on spoil yourself

Doing a great job pamplemuse - very inspiring Might start doing some timber scrounging myself for a future workbench.

How come I missed this???

Great work there Pampelmuse!!

Well I went to Bunnies during the week to buy the barrel nuts and furniture bolts and what do you know, they didn't have the ones I wanted! This was of course after spending a good 10min looking for them in the first place. So back to plan A - straight bolts and nuts with washers. I was able to cut the slots for the nuts very small as I found I luckily had an open ended spanner just the right size. It was quick to drill and chisel the slots, most of the time was taken to carefully mark out the locations. I must give a nod to The Laird (NCArcher) for the method here.
Attachment 175072
A quick tighten and the endcaps were home bar a little planing to bring them down to the surafce of the benchtop.
I then turned my attention to the end vice. The Dawn vice has some angle supports in the casting that necessitates double thickness of packing to clear the underside of the bench. I had already cut the packers to sit under the vice last weeknd but then realised that the bottom of the steel jaws would sit quite a bit below the endcap and the opposing wooden jaw. I thus spent a bit of time cutting, rebating and attaching two add-ons to the endcap and the jaw. The jaw was a short piece of 4x2 with a strip of door jam laminated on. Nice piece of timber whatever it is.
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After cutting the notch for the vice jaw, the opposing piece was just screwed into place.
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I then cleaned the thread and guide rods of the vice to remove some very sticky grease, screwed it down into position and then added the outer jaw. Seems to work just fine. I'll round the outer ends of the jaw...sometime.
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In truth the tops are not perfectly flat. They are a lot flatter than before I screwed them together but a few bumps have revealed themselves during construction. I removed the most obvious of these with the jointer but as you can see it left a large scar in the polyurethane finish on the benchtop. Doesn't bother me to much. I was thinking of adding a sacrificial sheet of thin MDF but I think I will leave the top bare and oil the exposed patches.
Moved the bench out of the way of the car into its new home and immediately had to temporarily store assorted stuff on it including the next two woodworking jobs on the to-do list. "sigh". The next tricky job getting the wooden screws for the face vice made. This will be a real learning experience as I am not a turner by any measure. I already have the timber for those though so I am at least ahead there. The last pic just shows the slot for the deadman in the bench undersurface. Fitting the deadman will be a walk in the park by comparison.
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Coming along nicely.

Would you please ship the 3 90 X 90's shown in the last photo laying on the floor of you shop to me. They would make nice legs for my upcoming bench .

I'd happily offload them if they'd fit in the post. I already offered them up for Skippy's workbench.

Are they still there ??? I have been waiting patiently by the letter box waiting for them to turn up. LOL

Looking really spiphphy Pamps!!!

You won't know yourself once it's done!

It's been a while since I did some more bench work but have made some improvements. Not having a lathe has really limited my progress on the wooden screws for the front vice but I am inching closer having prepared the router jig and had two merbau posts donated by a friend to make into the threads, which is probably a more suitable timber than what I already had available. I have already been using the bench for a couple of projects though including a baby change table for my upcoming fatherdom. I made the change table out of a western red cedar draughtsmans table which I saved from a skip at work (Yes more scavenging!). It was big enough to use for both the lower shelf on my bench and to use the offcuts to make the change table as well so was an excellent score.
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As you can see in the photo I also finally fitted the slding deadman after drilling the holes in it for the support peg. I used a 3/4 inch auger bit that I inherited from my grandfather and I decided to drill a line of dog holes for the end vice as well.
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Unfortunately I didn't have any dowel the right size to make dogs to fit tightly in the holes but I have plenty of hardwood to turn into dowell. I made up a quick and dirty router jig to turn some billets from a floor board offcut into rounds. I set it up with the bottom end of the straight router bit doing the cutting of the square section billet I was feeding in and it left an interesting raised spiral pattern in the dowell from the gap in the end of the bit. I guess if I wanted smoother dowells I would cut with the edge of the straight edge router bit next time but the textured surface does seem to make them more grippy both in the bench and the fingers.
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The dowells weren't a sufficiently snug fit to ensure they don't fall out of the holes which left me wondering about how to spring load the bench dogs. I had read many ideas about this but most involved materials like ball catches or narrow flat bits of spring steel which I didn't have. I was looking in my bucket of scrap metal bits (which due to my cycling obsession contains some old bike parts) for something springy to use and had a eureka moment. A simple spring can easily be made out of flexible stainless steel brake cable!
Luckily I had a very narrow Ward mortice chisel which was a suitable width to cut the slot for the cable (Now I know a use for this super-narrow bladed chisel!). The only other tools I needed to make the dogs were a pair of cable cutters, a small hand drill with a 2mm bit and a small dovetail saw to cut the recess at the top.
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The process was very quick:
1. Cut a longish slot in the side of the bench dog the approx depth of the cable.
2. Drill at a shallow angle into each end of the slot to a depth of 5mm or so.
3. Insert one end of the brake cable into one of the holes, estimate length and cut. Test for fit by bending and inserting the other end into its hole. The piece is usually too long so can be trimmed such that when compressed against the side of the dog hole it lays flat in the slot.
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The best thing is the bit of cable stays exactly in place without any assistance..... and so does the bench dog. I haven't had the chance to use them for planing yet but threw in a piece of scrap, wound in the vice and it gripped it like fury.

Looking good Pamps.
Nice work on the dogs.

Hey Pamps: Congrats on the upcoming Fatherhood!
Show us the change table.
After all, it's a work bench of a sort, too.
I sold the one I built after the kids were grown.
It really was a back-saver.
Surprised at the good price, too.

Don't forget the second diaper when you get the first one down.
Those little guys can whizz about a meter, straight up!

Coming along really well. Are you going to show us te router jig for turning the dowels?

I'm uncertain whether using merbau for the screws is a good idea. It is very splitty and you may have trouble with the thread shearing off during manufacture and use. Maybe... as they say YMMV. Looking good though.