Thread: YAWBT - My new workbench

I'd love to see the parf system. My dog holes on the bench and vice are fractionally out of parallel, which leads to racking in the vice. Not big enough to do anything about, but enough to irritate me each time I use it.

And I agree that bigger is better. Though in your workshop, will you have the space? Bigger is only good if you can use it.

Think about vice position too. The layout of my workshop meant that I needed to put the vice on the LHS of the bench, but as I'm left handed, it's hard to support the off cut if I'm sawing something. IMHO the vice should be on the LHS for right handlers, and vice versa.

Let me know if you need a hand. All that hardwood sounds heavy!
Trav


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Y'know, WP, the most important thing about a bench is that it suits YOU & your needs. One reason I've been slow to join this thread is that I'm conscious that much of what you do is entirely different from what I do, & any opinions I have are going to be biased by what I make & how I go about it. I reckon you should build your bench with your current & maybe immediate future needs firmly in mind & not get too hung up on possible future needs. Be bold & incorporate those things that you think will certainly be helpful, but leave the "might want, someday, maybe " stuff for the next bench. And contrary to what seems to be popular belief, a bench can be modified down the track, so don't stress about the things you are uncertain about.

I'd built a couple of pretty ordinary benches, mostly from recycled material, & modified an old laboratory bench in the years leading up to my first 'real' bench built specifically for woodworking. It was a revelation in what a truly solid workstation does for hand-tool work! Instead of a tail vise I made a travelling dog system (these days known as a "wagon vise") using a screw sold for making wooden bar clamps. Having planks held firmly & flat while I went at them with a plane was another great revelation, and encouraged me to aim a bit higher & build a 'real' tail vise on Mark II, which followed a couple of years later.

Mark II was built more than 30 years ago, now, and has done yeomen service for me ever since. It has had a couple of modifications, one being to change the spacing of the dog holes in the tail vise (this thread has lost most of its pics in the great server purge, unfortunately). The other modification was to add a piece on the back of the tool tray so I could drill a row of holes for some wooden holdfasts (post #81). [BTW, this whole thread is worth a read if you've got time, lots of good ideas & suggestions from members, some of whom don't seem to be active now]. Fortunately, the backing piece for the tool tray is very solidly dovetailed into the skirt pieces, so all I needed to do was screw a 50 x 50mm length to it - a very easy add-on. My main use of the holdfasts is when I need to hold a long board crosswise for rebating or cutting sliding dovetails across the end. Squeezing the board between dogs tightly enough to hold the board securely risks marking it, but the combination of a light grip & a holdfast or two keeping the other end down works beautifully. I have also added a couple of holes in the benchtop for holdfasts, & some at the front vice for holding short, wide pieces like Windsor chair seats. As Fence Furniture advises, go easy on the holes in the bench top - they really are honey-traps for every small bit that can fit down them. I once searched for a week for an essential little bit that had found its way into one of these extra holes & made a lovely little nest for itself out of shavings!

Since adding those extras, I haven't found any holding job my bench can't handle very satisfactorily. So moral is, you probably won't think of everything this time round, but if you've got a good basic chassis, you will almost certainly be able to find a work-around or add to the versatility of your bench down the track.....

Cheers,

Trav, you would love the Parf system.

it is beautifully presented. While it isn't a tool that's used all that often, it's one that has fantastic utility for its job.

While im making up a big down-draft cutting board that can be lifted on and off my main workbench (or used in the sun on warmer days) it is also entirely suited to doing bench tops and those haul-able tort ion box work surfaces (can't remember what they are called).

maybe used twice a year then, but worth every cent.

i did order two lots of each Parf dog and veritas dog set too. Perfect for bench setups like yours.

100% agreed on vice placement. Living in a right handed world feels like a form of discrimination! Given the smartest of our society are left handed, I feel that it is we who should dictate the designs, not the unwashed masses

yes, the hardwood is heavy!!!

What's happened to the bench build woodPixel? I know you're constantly busy, any progress?

Nothing unfortunately. I've been bogged down with client work, doing an install for the RSPCA and "life".

The timber is sitting here, ready for use. Tough as hell Oak, 50x200's that are 2400 long... so heavy it takes two of us to move them.

Its going to be just a modified Roubo with the big wooden screws from IanW. The top will be a single flat slab, with the new hole system from Axminster and holdfasts... Ill have to revise the earlier post and see what I actually wanted to do!!!

Hi,
Sorry where did you get your vice screws from? Sorry for dunce question.

A member of the forum, IanW, who also has shown how to make them in the Aust Wood Review a couple of issues ago.

i was talking on another thread about making them and he incredibly and generously donated to me the very two used in that article. Astounding and true!

Ive been doing a freebie love-job for the local RSPCA which has taken a LOT of time recently (5 new huge cat displays!), but that is finished now and I'm soon back on track with all my other work

progress soon, I hope. (Plus an update on how I'm using the Axminster Parf MFT maker)

Greetings bench makers I am planning to make one but I need your wisdom- how do you work out the perfect height so you can blaze away without needing to go tothe chiropractor next day
Thanks
crocwood

crocwood, there is no such thing as a "perfect height" calculator. Perfect height is what is perfect for you.

The issue is that we do various tasks at a bench, and each of them has a preferred height. For example, if you were using wooden hand planes, you want to be low. Metal planes are lower, but a higher bench may make it easier to push them forward. Sawing requires a much higher bench, and one way around this is to use an accessory, a moxon dovetailing vise. Benches for predominantly power tool work are higher than benches for predominantly hand planing.

I build my latest bench several years ago for hand tools. This was using the "pinky method" (the bench top should be in line with your pinky finger) suggested by Christopher Schwartz, then editor of Pop Wood magazine. It all made sense at the time. Mine ended at 30". Over time I added 2" blocks below the legs, which is where the bench is today. You can see this here ...



The appearance of the Moxon vise (again, re-introduced by Chris Schwarz) several years ago, also influence bench design. Being a vise dedicated for dovetails, it freed the face vise to become one dedicated to holding long boards for edge work. The best vise here, in my opinion, is a leg vise - quick and easy to use. The Moxon vise is a wonderful aid in cutting dovetails. The combination of these two vises, along with my other preferred choice for an end vise - a wagon vise - just seamlessly works for me. Several years down the track I am still happy.

My Roubo bench build is at the lower end of this index page in blow-by-blow form: Shop Made Tools

The Moxon vise is here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...etailVise.html
and here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...rtheMoxon.html

As Ian notes, there are threads to this forum where many contributed excellent ideas. These are worth searching out.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek, your posts are always incredible. The website is even better.

The height for a bench probably depends primarily on whether you do mostly hand-tool or power tool work, as Derek says, but there are lots of other factors to consider if you want to end up with a 'perfect compromise'. Biological variation makes us all a little different in our bodies, so even if you are the same height as someone else, you might prefer a different height for planing. Some folks go to the bother of making adjustable-height benches, but I doubt many alter the height once they find a good working height that serves ok for most tasks. One way of 'adjusting' bench height is to sit down. I keep a stool handy under the end of my bench, and frequently sit down when setting-out or doing any task that requires my ageing eyes to get a bit closer to the work.

Having the top at the level of my pinky would be too low for me. The 'rule of thumb' I was given when I was a teenager was to hold your arms straight down at your side, and lift your hands 'til the palms are parallel with the floor. The distance from floor to the underside of your palms is supposed to be the right height for the bench. This doesn't work for me, I had to adjust up or down a bit to find the sweet spot (it's been so long since I built my bench, I can't remember which way I had to go, but I think it was up a bit).

If you don't have a preexisting bench that you've had for long enough to work out what you like, I think the best advice is to build the undercarriage of your new bench so you can add or subtract height. With trestle ends as on mine, it's quite easy to stick blocks of various heights under the four 'feet', use the bench for a month or two, try another height if you're not happy, then screw or glue the blocks on when you've found the best height. Done well, it can look decorative rather than an add-on.

Cheers,

A duck board helps overcome height variance requirements. There are so many variables when it comes to best bench height.

Well, my new "bench" has been two years in the making.

So! Hows it going? Spiffing - swimmingly - great....

Not

A move had me dispose of so much stuff I'm now getting a very serious and most severe case of "coulda woulda shoulda".... bugger poo. In fact, double bugger poo.

Since there was no room, at the time, for the big oak top, it was given away. DBP. Now there IS room, or room in one of the TWO storage sheds... DBP.

Good news though! My work bench is now proceeding, but modified plans! Huzzah!

I scrounged around gumtree and nailed an unbelievably solid mahogany tall boy. 1000 high (with feet), 450 deep and 900 wide. It has seriously thick sides (19mm) and super thick top, plus solid drawers with dovetails Its seriously heavy and seems to be built to survive a direct bomb blast. Paid $175. I was ripped!

This will become my new Gentlemans Workbench. Remove the knobs. Chop off the feet and give it some stumps. Trim (plane) off the bottom and top frilly bits. On the top will be a 76mm top made with some left over oak kitchen tops (they were tossing them out at a building site near me, 38mm thick each). Glue them together and make a "removable" top.

The drawers are full depth and full height which I like, but the undersides are worn and need runners beefed up, plus the sides have seen a lot of drawer-use-action.

To this I'll add a moxon vice and a front vice, using the massive wooden screws.

This is being kept on my balcony, out of the weather, so I may soon be back into chopping wood!

It suits my height quite well.

Yay!!!

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No cries of "heresy".... "sacrilege"...

Excellent!

I suppose a lot of "brown furniture" meets its end in some way similar. It interesting, for as ugly as most of it is, it must be an excellent source of timber! Ive seen quite a bit on Gumtree going for free. Most is absolutely awful and truely cheap, mostly crap, but just a few a diamonds in the rough... time to pillage and smash!

mmmm.... heavy top, a real vice... time to do the #30dayDovetailChallenge