Thread: Another workbench WIP

Jeremy,

Nice work so far. Well done using the step into your workshop ! Looks like an interesting space, where is it ? Under your house ?

Sam

Originally Posted by Christos

Excellent work. Very nice to see this coming together.

Thanks, mate.

This weekend's task is fitting the sliding leg vice. The all I have planned to 'finish' the bench are:
1. tail vice
2. some more dogholes
3. final flattening and tidying up
4. slap on a couple of coats of oil/varnish

Originally Posted by Sam

Jeremy,

Nice work so far. Well done using the step into your workshop ! Looks like an interesting space, where is it ? Under your house ?

Sam

Sam

Thanks for your kind comments.

Yes the space, is under the house, next to the laundry.

Another weekend and some more progress on the bench build (not as much as I had hoped but significant nonetheless).

First off, I installed some ledges on the lower rails and then laid some tongue and groove floorboards (almost the last of my Studley flooring stock) to make a shelf.

Then I cut two triangular lengths of spotted gum using the bandsaw and glued them on to the top of the lower rails for the sliding leg vice to slide on. The next job was to prepare the backboard for the sliding leg vice by cutting a V-notch in the bottom and a tenon at the top. The V-notch was cut by hand using my tenon saw - I was able to guide the saw using one of those Nobex magnetic saw guides and the notch came out pretty close to perfect - a 90 degree angle located in the middle across the whole width of the piece.

I had previously routed a groove in the bottom of the work surface on each side for the tenon of the backboard to run in. When it came to fitting, however, the groove turned out to be too shallow to allow the tenon to go in far enough to raise the V notch above the triangular rail so that it could then be positioned on the rail. This meant flipping (actually, given the heft of this beast, the operation should not be called "flipping", it is a combination of heaving and hernia!) the bench upside down again and deepening one end of the groove to permit that operation. I decided not to deepen the whole groove both because I am lazy but also so as not to create a bigger weak spot - once the V-notch on the leg vice is sitting on the triangular rail, the tenon slides happily in the shallow groove. It just means that there is only one spot on the groove where the leg vice (or a sliding dead man, if I decided to make one of them is well) can be inserted. I have the same installation on the front and the back of the bench so that I can have either a second vice on the front side or a leg vice on the back, depending on what task I wish to perform. Here is a photo of the leg vice backboard installed.
Attachment 198850

I had intended to make the whole leg vice over the weekend. However, having heaved the beast onto its back, I thought I would take advantage of its vulnerable position to install my Record 52 1/2 quick release vice from my current bench to use it as an end/tail vice. That meant excavating a 60 mm deep, 15 mm wide and 200 mm long mortise in the bottom of the work surface at the right-hand end to accommodate the upright piece of the fixed L-bracket part of the vice. Just as well there was quite a lot of cricket on the radio to pass the time while that brute was being created! The vice was then screwed onto the bottom of the work surface using 10 mm by 75 mm coach screws. Here's a photo of that installation.
Attachment 198851

For the moment, all I need to do is to make the vice jaw for the sliding leg vice and add all the hardware to it, add the wooden jaw to the end vice and create some more dog holes. With luck and a following breeze, next weekend may see those jobs completed and the bench ready for finish. But I won't be holding my breath

One more weekend with a fair wind blowing. .

is this from your sailing days?

Despite some cross-winds, the weekend did see some more progress.

The sliding leg vice has now emerged. Here are some photos:
Attachment 199676
Attachment 199677

The brown stuff on the bench is the leather that I use to line the vice jaws - on the sliding leg vice, all I will use is leather on the sliding jaw - on the tail vice and the fixed leg vice, both sides are lined. Not only does it help protect pieces from being marked by the vice, it also seems to increase the holding power of the vice.

Highly recommended - I bought a whole hide on Fleabay for about $20 a few years ago.

The last few weekends have not seen much progress on the bench itself - I've been using it instead! One thing I need to do is to insert some more dogholes and then flatten it properly.

What I have been doing is converting my old bench into, in effect, a joinery bench.

The first step was easy. I needed to add about 150mm to the height. So I made some solid lumps to go under the legs and then raised the bench using a car jack. First up by 50mm at each end (inserting a 4 x 2 flat down under each end as I went), then another 50mm (rotating the 4 x 2s so they stood on their edges) and finally the last 50mm, when we insert the new lumps (made of very hard spotty that has been lying around).

The next step was to work on making a vice. I want to make a twin screw vice with about 650mm between the screws. This time I didn't have any old metal screws like I used for the leg vices, so I turned my mind to how I would make wooden screws. Since I don't own a wood lathe (and even if I did don't know how to use it), I decided to just make a piece of 1 1/2" dowel by taking a 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" square legth and planing it to an octogon, then a 16-gon and so on.n Un fortunately the wood was under 1 1/2" in thickness, so the sides came out a little flat, but it went nicely through the screw box. Voila, 2 20" long wooden threaded rods.

I then drilled (using brace and bit) and tapped a hole in a two 4" cubes of WRC I found in the scrap box which I have used as hubs for the screws and glued the threaded rods in and then drove a 3" screw in from the side to hold the threaded rod even if the glue goes. I then cross-drilled the hubs for the handles and planed the hubs round the same way. The handles are 3/4" dowels and I made some 1 1/4" knobs out of spotted gum dowel (made the same way as the rod that was threaded) which are held in place by being screwed onto the end of the handle dowel (Yes, I have a 3/4" thread box and tap as well as a 1/12" one!).
Attachment 202156

The next task is to put a 150mm front apron on the old bench and find a 750mm long piece of 150mm wide stock to use as the vice jaw.

Another great update.

The last step in the new bench saga was to do something with my old bench to make it more useful. The idea was to turn it into a joinery bench where I could cut joints closer to my eyes and without bending down over the new main bench. I saw that in Jim Tolpin's book on hand tool woodworking he has such a bench and it seems like a good idea.

The first step was to raise it to 960mm, by putting some chocks under the legs and fastening them with screws.

That got it up to the right height for me.

The next step was to install a twin screw vice. I don't call it a Moxon vice, because it is attached to the bench full time. I made a new apron and a vice chop out of spotted gum (the last of the Studley spotty from the last group wood buy he organised). I then made the screw and screw handle from spotty and the hub from WRC. The screw was made by making the dowel by hand using the Chuck Bender system (make the piece 4S, then take off the 4 corners, then the 8 corners, and so on) using hand planes. I then used a thread box.

The apron had threads cut into holes drilled at 1 3/8" dia and the corresponding holes in the chop are drilled 1 1/2" dia. The chop and the apron were then faced with leather.

Here are some photos
Attachment 206201

Attachment 206202

Attachment 206203
As you can see there is still plenty of mess in the shed, but in fact it is getting much better. Soon I'll be able to start making some furniture (as requested by SWMBO)

Is that the floor I can see? Didn't know you had one of those!

Great job on the bench Jeremy, nearly there mate

Amazing to see that floor. Makes it so much easier to walk around
I am looking forward to using it to make stuff!


Screwing up in new ways every day

Originally Posted by jmk89

The last step in the new bench saga was to do something with my old bench to make it more useful. ....

Like clean it you mean?

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Like clean it you mean?

That's heresy!


Screwing up in new ways every day

Originally Posted by jmk89

That's heresy!


Screwing up in new ways every day

When you finish yours, you can come & do mine.

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

When you finish yours, you can come & do mine.

Drop it in at my place and I'll see what I can do


Screwing up in new ways every day