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187K views 346 replies 59 participants last post by  chrisstef 
#1 ·
Design Requirements

After doing some reading here and spending some time in my shop I have come to the realization that I need a standalone workbench for my shop.

Right now I have 2 benches that I call "Table top benches" meaning they serve as counter space for equipment and a large soldering station. What I need is a bench that I can access all 4 sides on, has adequate clamping ability and is solid while being mobile at the same time.

I also need it to not only serve as a woodworking bench but also a metal working bench. Meaning I need a machinists vise on it but at the same time I don't want to sacrifice space on the top of the bench for the mounting of said vise.

My initial thoughts are to build a traditional solid top bench with an overhang on one end that can be un-screwed by 2 large machine screws with a center pivot point rod that will allow it to flip. That way I can have a metal working side and flipped it will be a wood working side.

I am going to do some sketching (not sketchup but pencil and paper) to work out the details on that. I have a pretty good idea of how to pull that off but we shall see.

As for the mobile part there are a number of options available for that I just need to decide on one.

The other requirement is that it shouldn't break the bank. My wife and I are expecting our first child (a son :D ) and I can't spend too much on my "Hobbies" right now so it will probably be built with construction grade lumber from our local big box store rather than from a mil but some pricing will ultimately decide that.

So, there you have it the bare bones of the bench. I would love any ideas or thoughts on this and or any critiques of the proposed design. I really want to have this thought through before any money is spent as I plan on this being around for a WHILE (hopefully be able to hand it down to my son).

More to come when I get some plans drawn up and priced out.
 
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#2 ·
I don't fully understand your plan for the flip section but I can help with an idea to make the basic structure very strong and rigid at a minimum financial outlay. This may not be the bench for you but some of the construction concepts might be of help.
 
#3 ·
Yep, it is difficult to explain. I'll have some sketches of what is in my head in the next post but basically I plan to have one end of the bench over hang the base more than the other side. This end will be separate from the rest of the top with a pipe dead center running longways of the top to allow that overhang to "flip". One side will be a wood top and blend with the other half (really less than 2/3) of the top for working with wood on and the other side will be covered in either a steel plate (my boss at work has a S ton of this at his house and is on board to help me with this) or stainless steel with a nice machinists vice secured on it.

I am still working out the fine details of the flipping mechanism but between me and him we have a preliminary plan that seems solid.

The cool thing is the plan still allows a wagon vise on that end which when flipped will let me clamp different appliances in there such as an anvil or bench sized brake etc while still functioning as a wagon vise on the wood side.

Basically I need 2 benches with room for 1 so this is going to have to pull double duty. Did that clarify anything?

Oh and thanks for the link! Your bench looks great and I might incorporate some of the design ideas into this one.
 
#4 ·
Styrofoam Modeling....

Work has kept me pretty busy this week and I haven't had time to do a proper sketch of the bench as I have it in my head but, I did have a few minutes tonight to toss together a small "scale" model of the basic shape and function of the flip top design I have in my head.

Basically it rides on a central pivot rod with dowels (probably steel or hardwood.. haven't decided yet) to keep the top aligned when secured together. I am still working on how to secure it. I am tossing around the idea of making the central pivot a screw with a wheel crank on the end of the bench. This would do 2 things..

1. Make the flip portion cinch up against the other half tightly

2. Would make the split portion of the bench into another vise type apparatus that can be used with bench dogs for horizontal clamping etc etc in the center of the bench.

Drawbacks of that are that the screw would have to be one hefty screw to hold the weight of the top alone while "flipping". I plan on making a trip to my local Fastenal and pricing out some 3/4 to 1" threaded rods for the vises and will see what they have there as far as a pivot screw devise they may have.

Other options are placing recessed latches on either side of the top to latch it shut with and making the central pivot out of plumbing pipe. This would be cheaper and probably easier but might interfere with side clamping if the latches aren't done just right.

That is all to be worked out once I can get some real planning and pricing done.

So here is how it functions in very crude form. They are in order from wood top to metal top. Note the dowel in the center acting as the pivot and the toothpicks are the alignment dowels (not aligning the model very well admittedly lol).

The black square is the wagon vise, the blue triangle is the machinists vise and the other blue square is a side vise. I may end up trying my hand at a leg vise instead but I need to do more reading ont he pros and cons of both types before I make that decision. I may do both.. on on each side of each other.. hmm…







I am also researching hardwoods for the laminated top. I live in the PNW.. you would think that would be an easy find around here but I have found only a couple suppliers within an hour of my house on Whidbey Is that I plan to have a look at and price out some lumber. Figuring BF is new to me so this could get interesting. That trip will have to wait till my tax return is here and I can get a buddy with a truck to help me out. I am not fitting too much lumber into my 4 door Toyota Corolla lol!

What would be the best economical hardwood for the top that will actually last a couple generations? Also any brainstorming ont he flip top portion would be great.
 
#5 ·
If you want a good local hardwood you might have a look around some small mills for some arbutus (I'm Canadian… you call it madrone). It is beautiful stuff and can be had in large clear pieces. I used it on my bench for the strength requiring pieces and it worked out very well. It's also a dream to work with. I got mine , clear, in 2" at a small mill for $4 / fbm.
 
#14 ·
It begins....Kinda

Ok, so after tossing around some overly complex ideas and trying to reinvent the wheel I have finally settled on building a Hybrid Roubo style workbench. The design is tested and it works very well for what it does so why mess with success.

I plan on 2 vices. One wagon end vise and a leg vise. I had to do a lot of reading on the leg vise vs. a side vise to see what all the rage was about. I had never heard of a leg vise until a month ago when I discovered this website lol. After reading the pros and cons it does seem that the leg vise is the way to go.

I have poured over hundreds of pictures, plans and videos of different versions of this bench and really like the way the Benchcrafted vises operate with a hand wheel rather than a lever. It looks (and from reviews) seems like it would be easier to adjust and just looks nice. Yes I tossed in the looks card. If I am going to build something that will be around for a long while I can at least spend time making sure it looks good as well as functions well. Just me though.

I, however, have no intention of paying $400 for a hand wheel a 13" section of rod and a flange. I went to my local Fastenal store after work today and picked up a 6' (yes I said 6 FEET!) peice of 1" #5 ACME threaded rod and 2 nuts to match. They only sell it in 6' lengths or else I might have gone with less but this gives me plenty for 2 vises plus some and it cost less than $100 for the whole kit and caboodle.

This would be one HUGE vise if I used the whole piece!







Add to that I also found a couple hand wheels online at Reid Industrial Supply. I ordered one 8" cast iron hand wheel and 1 5" wheel. The larger of the 2 is for the leg and the smaller one is the end vise.

The 8" wheel was around $23 and the 5" was only $17 so total so far for the leg vise and end vise hardware I am out $130. I might sell off some of the threaded rod that I don't use to recoup some costs or might hang onto it for later use (which there is always a later use right?).

Here are the wheels.. http://www.reidsupply.com/sku/BSW-8/



It is un drilled and I need to add a handle but that should be a matter of doing some drilling into cast iron. That shouldn't be too hard (I know metal! Still learning wood!). And devise a method of coupling the rod to the crank. I'm heading out to look at plumbing fittings and such to see what I can come up with.

I'm still working out what kind of wood I plan to use and where to get it at so no saw dust just yet but hopefully sometime this weekend or next I can get started cutting wood.

As always suggestions are very welcome. Thanks for reading!
 
#15 ·
Good looking with the cast iron wheels. I've had in mind to replace the lever-style handle on my tail vise with a wheel and didn't really have any idea where to look.

Is there some trick to drilling through cast iron? I've drilled through steel a few times, but mostly I think I got my with large amounts of 3-in-1 oil as lubricant and not much knowledge. Any pointers would be appreciated.

If I hadn't already made my moxon vise, I would probably offer to buy some of that threaded rod from you. Can't wait to see how the build goes.
 
#18 ·
More work on the vise plus a failed trip to the local mill...

This morning I went over to my bosses house so we could weld up the bolt bracket for the leg vise. He had some scrap plate metal on hand and a plasma cutter (want one lol). He made quick work of the job and within an hour I have a rough plate with a large bolt attached to it.

He left it up to me to clean it up and drill the mounting holes plus I owe him lunch tomorrow heh. He ALSO gave me a practically new angle grinder so I can cut up the 6' rod to length so that is a bonus. either I am about to get screwed over at work and he is softening the blow or he was just feeling generous either way I am a happy camper.

(sorry 'bout the blurry pic..)



The back side. He flush mounted it through the plate.



Like I said I just have to clean that up, drill 4 holes and shoot it with some gloss black enamel.

I also stopped by ACE hardware on Sat to look at their pipe fittings to try and piece together the hub and flange for the wheel portion of the vise.

I initially came up with this stack up..



But after fiddling with it I'm just not happy with how smooth it spins. So I have placed an order with Reid Supply for a flange mounted bearing with 2 set screws to use instead of that floor mount flange. My only concern about the bearing is how well it will handle the side pressure from clamping but I am willing to give it a try. It was cheap enough to test out.

I am still waiting on the hand wheels to arrive so untill then any type of mating hardware is all theoretical until I have the actual wheel in hand to see how it is shaped on the rod side. They do have a line drawing on their site with dimensions and it says that the hub is 1 7/8" in diameter. I measured the inside diameter of the reducer I am going to use to mate the rod to the hub with and if you measure in the grove of the threads it is Juuuuuuuuust a hair smaller than 1 7/8". This means that depending on how exactly the hub follows the line drawing I could very well just hammer this thing onto it and it would never go anywhere. I got a special hammer for that task :D Gotta love a BFH!



So that is one option. The other is to grid it out till it slips over and secure it with a set pin. Once the wheels arrive I will be able to finalize the puzzle.

One other addition to the vise hardware is a thrift store find of quite possibly the ugliest dress anyone has ever seen. I spotted it while the wife was browsing maternity wear and when I saw it hanging there it dawned on me that I need some suede for the vise jaws. This is all suede and only cost me $9! Plenty there for multiple projects.



In other news. I made a stop at my local lumber supplier here on the island. They have a nice variety of hardwoods and exotics but only carry 4/4 stock and I need 8/4 (at least would like 8/4). They had some zebra wood there that I might pick up for some accents on the bench but so far no wood for the top to be found anywhere. I still have a couple more options but they are either a Ferry ride away or an hour drive north. So considering that I will need to recruit someone with a truck to haul it to my house I need to know for sure what they have. Uncle Sam is supposedly releasing my money tomorrow so I can finally start seriously considering the wood choices on this.

I am really hoping to start making saw dust by next weekend but we shall see how the ride works out this week. Hopefully someone will be willing to go looking at wood with me (sounds worse that it was ment to sound…)

Thanks for reading and updates to come. Advice and suggestions are always welcome.
 
#19 ·
According to this PDF, you should be able to find ash, white oak, and bigleaf maple in your area. Any of them would make a great bench.

If you're looking for the…ahem…cheaper route, douglas fir should also be plentiful around you as well.
 
#22 ·
I've Got Wood!

I was on the phone with that lumber yard just down the street this morning just asking if they could get what I needed (they don't have much on hand) and they called up their mill and it turns out they can get me some 8/4 6" -8" x 9' - 10' Red Oak stock for 4.50/BF. That was a smidge higher than I was looking to pay but they will deliver it to my house for free which saves me a lot on gas so it was a deal.

I placed an order for 60bf of the Red Oak and they will have it in on Thursday so it looks like I'll be kicking up dust finally this weekend. I am going to go with Douglas Fir for the base since it is plentiful at my local orange store in various sizes and for cheap. I'm also planning to look at some of the exotic boards they had in the yard for some accents on the leg vise and end caps (why the heck not right?).

No progress pics of any kind just yet but it was an exciting day to finally get a supplier for the top!

Only thing left to do this week is make some room in the shop for the delivery and possibly make up a storage rack of some kind to keep it off the floor while I am building.

Now… I do have a question.. What kind of prep work on the wood will I need to do once I get it? I have only ever worked with big box wood before and never wood from a saw mill. I assume I'll need to square an edge and plane to an even thickness then rip? Or square, rip then plane? How green is it usually? If it is green how long does oak typically take to dry enough to work? I guess I need to get a moisture meter. Any in particular on the market that don't break the bank?

Sorry for the question spam I am just trying to prepare for Thursday.

Thanks for reading and keep those comments coming!
 
#23 ·
You may need more than 60 boardfeet. Just as a quick check, a 2'-0" x 4" x 8'-0" benchtop will is exactly 64 boardfeet in volume (4" x 24" x 96" / 144). You will lose thickness and width on those boards during milling. I probably would have gotten at least 70 boardfeet to be safe, assuming your benchtop is similar to the dimensions I just described.

Do some Googling for rough-sawn board milling and you should be able to answer your preparation questions. The green-ness of the boards depends on whether or not the boards are kilned/air-dried or not. If I recall correctly, oak is pretty wet when freshly cut.
 
#26 ·
What have I got myself into! Oak Delivered Today..

It was an exciting day here at the Airframer household…

While I was at work my wife waddled out to the garage to take delivery of 66/BF of 8/4 Red Oak. Now I just need to figure out how I am going to mill this stuff to size. I have a Skill Saw which should do it I just need to go grab some saw horses to build a rip jig on.

From what I can tell it is dry not green but I am not real sure how to tell for sure. I do think I'll see if I can find a moister meter just to be sure.

All the pieces are 2" thick and width varies from 6" to 8" and all are just over 10' long with 5 of those pieces in total. I should have more than enough for the 4" x 24" x 72" top and have some left over for whatever needs it. I am pretty stoked to finally have this piece of the puzzle figured out and here.

The OTHER thing that showed up today were the hand wheels from Reid Supply I had ordered last week. 1 8" and 1 5" . Now that I have those in hand I can finally finalize the plan on how to mate them with the threaded rod. The bearing flanges should be here tomorrow and that should finish up the vise hardware.

Looks like it will be a fun weekend and that I need to warn the neighbors I;ll be running the skill saw on Saturday lol. Or hell, they make enough noise on their own… might not warn them at all!

Here is some wood pron for you guys… any suggestions on how to dimension this stuff with minimal tools?















 
#37 ·
Picked up the last pieces of the puzzle today..

I visited my local orange store today and picked up the materials for the base. I am using 4×6 Douglas Fir for the legs and 4×4 DF for the stretchers. I had to have them rough cut them to size so they would fit in my car and I might still need to go back and get a bit more but this will get me going.

I also got a new toy. A 9" bandsaw to help with some of the ripping. I was trying to avoid using too many power tools on this but I don't think I am up to ripping by hand 8/4 red oak and I have been wanting a band saw for a while so this was the perfect reason to finally get one. It's just a Ryobi but all the reviews are positive so I'mma gonna give it a go.

I also made a quick stop at the lumber supplier that I got my oak from to have a look at their on hand selection of exotic woods. I eyed a VERY nice looking piece of Padouk that found it's way into my car. I'm going to use it here and there for accent wood. I is 3 b/f total 1" x 6 1/2" x 6' 3" ish in size and has a beautiful grain on it.

I also test drilled a center pilot hole in the hand wheels and cast iron is surprisingly easy to drill into so I am off to my closest HF to get a set of bits that go up to 1". This is going to greatly simplify the vise installation. As promised I will make a video of me drilling the 1" hole in the wheel so if you guys want to build a not-so-benchcrafted leg vise you can see how I'm going about it.

That's where I am at now. Looking to start planing and ripping either tonight or first thing tomorrow morning!

Here is today's haul and as you can see there is a workbench in there somewhere… now we just have to start finding it.







Feel free to comment hell even make fun of me here. I appreciate any feedback I can get!
 
#43 ·
Leg Vise Hardware Finished..

I spent the morning at the drill press working my way up 1/16" at a time from 1/4" up to 1" for the screw to feed through into the hand wheel. The larger the bit got the more difficult it became but if you go slow and don't try to force the press it goes pretty smoothly.

Make sure you have your pilot hole absolutely centered before you drill. Mine was oh so slightly off and it became very noticeable the larger the hole got and that took some doing to mill it closer to center. I'll pretty that up later but it functions VERY smoothly and I haven't even greased the bearing or nut yet.

Here is my Not-So-Benchcrafted Leg Vise setup… and the mess I made at the drill press.













Next up for today is to get the wood either ready for milling or milled. Depends on how much I have to do to get the band saw setup and wheels balanced.

Thanks for reading.
 
#47 ·
Finally Making Saw Dust!

After a bit of hemming and hawing over how to rip this wood to size and exactly what size to rip it to I have finally started to cut wood!

I measured them all out and I can either get a 16" top with a 3.5" thickness or a 24" top with a 2.5" thickness ao I have decided to go with the wider thinner top with a tool tray. I am still trying to decide on a tool try in the middle or a plane stop in the center with a tool tray on the outside. Anyone with experience with those please let me know the pros and cons of both options..

It has been a learning day for sure. This is the first time using a circular saw in about 20 years and also the first time ever ripping rough cut lumber to size. I have a system now and it's working pretty good. I was able to get about halfway through before I had to go and get some medicine for the wife who is either having some pregnancy issues or is just plain sick. Shoudl be finished up tomorrow and be able to start planing the faces and gluing them up. It's a 3 day weekend for me and my goal is to have the top glued before work on Tuesday.

And of course I had to document the first cut of the workbench :D

More to come!

 
#48 ·
Wow, that is alot of cutting with a circular saw. Nice job… I take it you don't Have a table saw yet. Way to make it happen and get'er done. Look fwd to seeing this bench being built!
Ps; Hope your wife is feeling better.
 
#52 ·
Finished cutting the top and started planning out the wagon vise..

FINALLY! Finished rough dimensioning of the wood for the top. In the process have become good friends with my Skill Saw.. even though it is only the cheap 12A model it is a beast and a work horse lol. I have also decided to cheat and count it as a "had tool" since I hold it in my hand and push it with my hand lol.. so this is still mostly hand tool built so far!

Rough dimensions of the top are 2 5/8" X 23 1/2" x 75" and that will reduce down a bit after I smooth the faces for glue up. I could have made it a bit bigger if I hadn't screwed up the first 4 cuts with the skill saw (yes.. there is a learning curve.. and no, you can't cut a straight line free hand. Don't even try lol). But over all I am VERY happy with that size. I have decided to make it a split top since I have more width than I had originally figured I would have. Which again begs the question.. tool tray in the middle or a sliding plane stop? Or both? I have to think on this.

Here are the pics of the dry run on the top and a pic of the HUGE mess I have made of the Garage that needs to get cleaned up before I do anything else. It's an accident waiting to happen.













I have also settled on the design for the wagon vise. It will be loosely based off of the Maguire Wagon vise with a bit of the Benchcraft vise tossed in. Stay tuned for more on that.

Here is the Maguire vise for those who have never seen it (I'm probably the only one).



I value any and all feedback from you guys so keep it coming! Thanks for reading.
 
#53 ·
Finished drilling the 1" hole for the threaded rod into the hand wheel last night. I am heading off to my bosses house again today to weld up the frame for the wagon vise. I'll post an update once that is finished.
 
#59 ·
Wagon Vise Hardware..Mostly Done..

Spent the day piecing together and cutting iron for the wagon vise hardware and skid. As I had mentioned in the previous post this is what I am getting my inspiration from…



I am using the same hand wheel as on the leg vise just a smaller diameter. I have also added a tapered copper fitting to the end of the screw that fits into a bearing that will be pressed into the wood under the table to add both stability to the screw and a bit more of a smooth crank.

I wasn't able to get any of the welding done today but should be able to get 'er done this week sometime. Here it is mocked up. If you notice the gap between the 2 angle brackets on the bottom. They have been drilled 1 size larger than the rods and sandwiched between them will be a poly cutting board bearing drill to the exact diameter of the rods. Should work just as good as a Teflon bearing with a bit of wax added.

Here is today's stopping point and a group shot of the 2 vises… you will also see how much of that 6' threaded rod is left…. Moxon anyone?











 
#64 ·
First real issue.. Suggestions needed

I finally got fed up with tripping over things and wading through a sea of saw dust last night. That was all it took to finally clean up the mess made by the ripping process and reset to start on the base.

After sweeping up and re-stacking



Still need to clean off the wall benches though!



As I was re-stacking the lumber I noticed some issues with the 4X6 fir posts I had bought for the legs. I went with those because

A) They were inexpensive and easily acquired at Home Depot.

B) They were a nice heavy size and should be easy to use with little dimensioning involved and no glue ups to do.

I guess I was careless at the store and failed to inspect the wood close enough after they cut them to a rough size for me (so they would fit in my car). Last night as I was moving them around I noticed a rather large cavity going up the center of one of the legs. It extends almost the full length and has started to blow out the top face of the leg. As far as I can tell this chunk of wood is worthless as a leg unless you guys know of some kind of wizardry to fix it.

After noticing that I had a closer look at the other legs and none of them are very clear at all. All of them have hairline cracks, sap runs and knots or all three at once.

Now I have to rethink my base. I guess I could use these to make a couple saw horses and hunt down some better wood.

Any Ideas?

Pics of the culprits..















I have decided to spend the night sharpening my planes while I think on this.

Also I have a couple other questions..

Is there a minimum thickness for the skirt? My top will be around 2 5/8" thick once planed flat. Everything I have read about the end cap and skirt they always seem to be closer to 4" thick. Is that just a looks thing or is there a structural need for that?

Why is there usually only an end cap on one end of the bench and not both?

When laminating the top do I need to make sure all the grain is the same direction? I would think opposing grain stackup would be more stable I just worry about the planing process.

I think that's about all I have for now.. I am sure there will be more questions soon lol.
 
#65 ·
I can't help you with the skirt questions as mine doesn't have one.

I would get some different lumber for your legs/base…That stuff looks kind of shoddy and unstable, sorry to hear about it. Use it like you said and make some saw horses or something.

Alternate the end grain like so ()()()(), not )))))). That way if it has a tendency to cup it will hopefully help to offset, although with that much lumber and glue I wouldn't foresee any problems. Although I cared less about end grain orientation and more so about which side of the board was showing on the top and how the adjacent pieces fit together dry.

Best wishes
 
#76 ·
Moxon In Work... The vise to help build the bench.

Just a quick update before I leave for work. I was trying to clean up one of the legs last night with a hand plane and realized this is not an easy task without a vise of some sort. That prompted me to start building the Moxon vise that is in the plans for the bench first. I can then use it to help build the rest of the bench.

I'll get more detailed into the process once it's finished but here is some teaser shots for you guys.





Stay tuned more to come!
 
#77 ·
Moxon 2... Adventures in wooden Handwheels

The last update was pretty brief and short of details so I hope to make up for it with this one.

I just finished up 1 of 2 wooden handwheels for my Moxon vise. I decided to go with wooden ones instead of cast iron for 1 simple reason…. they would be free lol. Well sorta I did already pay for the wood but it is mostly made from scraps and a chunk of the padauk I bought to add contrast to the bench with.

I cut the main wheel out on the band saw and used a hole saw set to cut out the smaller rings from oak and more padauk. That is where the simplicity ended. While those were gluing up I used a small left over piece of the acme rod to make a homemade 1" 5tpi ACME tap to tap the hole with.





This is the test threading into some crummy cedar scraps I had laying around. I figured if this stuff would hold a thread the padauk would be no issue at all. As you can see it holds nice and tight!



With that done I could get back to the wheel it's self. Gluing up..





I let that sit over night and today after work I chucked it into my drill press and drilled the spokes with a forstner bit and sanding drum. I then started to sand it smooth.

That part was fun and went pretty quick which then left the scary part.. tapping the hole. I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out and for all I knew it was going to end up destroying the wheel but this was the plan and I just had to see how it went.

As I started it began pulling the grain up and chipping it off a bit around the hole opening. At this point I almost gave up in frustration but I decided to press on and see how this would play out. I went slow only turning a quarter turn at a time then backing out the tap to clear the threads. It probably took about 15 mins to get the hole completely tapped and it spins really smoothly!

This only left dealing with the chipout issue. I then had a stroke of inspiration and chucked up my 1 7/8" forstner bit and simply shaved down past the chipout section. Boom! Problem solved.

I had originally planned to make the hub and wheel on solid threaded piece but after the problems I had tapping just the wheel I was in no mood to attempt it on the hub. I decided to just drill it out to the full 1" and use it as the free spinning washer portion of the vise assembly.

Back onto the drill press they went to get final sanding and a coat of bees wax and here it is all purtied up..







Now all I have to do is make another one JUST LIKE IT! I wish I had done both at the same time now lol…

Feedback is again.. always welcome! Thanks for reading.
 
#86 ·
Moxon 3.. Almost done.. I think..

So, have you ever wondered how to plane a large piece of wood for a work bench without a workbench? Yep, me too lol. This was another day full of learning. Lesson one was that the blade I had on my band saw was too wide to cut the hard wood and that was why I was having so much trouble with drift. Number two was that my Bucks Brothers 6 1/2" block plane is actually a decent little worker now that I have tuned it up. Lastly… it is hard as hell trying to face plane 36 X 5 3/4 X 2 oak without a way to secure it. I needed to take the thickness down to 1 3/4" or as close as I could get and flatten the faces so it will close up nice and tight.

What I ended up doing was attaching a wood clamp to each end fo the board and set it flat on the floor and shoved it up against the wall to act as a plane stop. That worked pretty good for the long horizontal strokes but when I switched to cross grain it wiggled too much to be useful. Luckily I have a very helpful wife who volunteered to stand on one of the clamps to hold it still lol. That was a sight.. a pregnant woman standing precariously atop a 12" wooden clamp. So between the 2 of us we go them planed flat and down to 1 7/8" thick. 1/8 " fatter than I had hoped but I'm calling it close enough.

I also got started on the second hand wheel. I cut out all the pieces and they are gluing up as we speak. I should be able to finish those up tomorrow and maybe this vise which will then allow me to get started on the rest of the bench finally!

Here are today's progress pics and a giant pile o' shavings made by one cheap but usable hand plane…









 
#87 ·
Do you have sawhorses? Clamp it to those then you can sit on the board or use the wall to brace the sides of the sawhorses. That works for the faces at least, but I can't think of a better way for the edges than what you did unless your sawhorses have a vertical face to clamp to. Your hand planed boards are looking great though so I'd say keep it up.
 
#95 ·
New Crank Handles...

After finishing up one of the hand cranks for the Moxon vise I realized that the poor excuse of a turning I did on my leg vise crank handle just wasn't going to cut it.

So after that revelation I scrounged up some scraps of Padauk and Oak and started piecing together a segmented stackup that would become my new crank handles for both the leg and wagon vises.









Once the glue was set on those I cut different sized plugs out with my hole saw set which works out nicely because it drills the pilot hole along with cutting the circle. This makes it easy to stack these up together.





Those 2 plus a section of a 1" oak dowel. I got excited to start shaping this and forgot to take any pics of the raw stackup but I did get some action shots and some after pics.







I sanded it with progressive grits from 80-1500 then a blue scothbrite pad. Those pics are after the initial coat of poly was applied. I have 2 on it now and waiting to add the third and final coat before waiting a day to do final wet saning and polishing. As usual updates to come.

Thanks for reading!
 
#99 ·
More Moxon... Finally doing some glue ups..

I finally got off my arse and started to finish up this Moxon vise. I really can't wait to have this guy functional. It will make building this bench a lot easier as far as hand planing goes.

So far both hand wheels are done and ready to go..





Then I got started gluing up the rest of it. This was kinda a test run for the bench top glueup and I'm glad I did this first. I first tried to dowel the clamp "leg" (no idea what it's real name is) you know.. the bit that sticks out of the back to use with some hold fasts. Well that didn't go so well. I don't have a dowel jig so most of the holes were just a hair off from each other and after about 5 mins of pounding it hadn't yet bottomed out so out came the flush cut saw and I ended up doing it the old fashioned way with no dowels. I'm going to have to fine tune the joint once the glue is dry but it will hold and do just fine.

I also glued a strip of Padouk to the top of the front jaw for no other reason but to purty it up a bit.







Once the Padouk was setup I decided to round off the top edge ala Schwarz style and again.. to purty it up a bit. No Idea why.. just seems like a good idea lol.

My first time using a spoke shave.. this guy is a lot of fun and went reasonably well and drama free.





That is where it sits right now. All that is left is to drill some holes and assemble it then finish and add some leather to the jaw. Stay tuned!
 
#105 ·
Finishing up The Moxon!

I banished myself to the shop today in an effort to finally finish up the Moxon vise build for the bench. Lets just say it was an unqualified success!

The day started out with drilling the pilot holes for the threaded rods. I finally put to use another flea market find. This old B&D drill works great and was only $15! The only downside to it is the 1/4" drive but fortunately I was still going to be able to fit this in my drill press.





Once the pilot holes were drilled to establish the 4 holes that needed to be enlarged I drilled the fixed jaw to 15/16" and threaded it using my homemade tap once again. Really glad I made this thing!





Then came a couple recessed set screw holes…



Tested it out and I came out with just barely 3" of clamping capacity!



Then came the suede.. another thrift store find. These came from an ugly all leather skirt they were selling for $9. I still have enough to do my 2 other vises plus a ton more stuff.





Wiped on some BLO and BOOM! Moxon is ready to go!













They spinnin'!



Now I can clean up and get started on the rest of the bench. Hopefully I can get this done before our baby arrives.. or at least before he finished high school lol.

Stay tuned for more and thanks for watching!
 
#110 ·
Clean up and Reset.. Laminating the top Part 1

Not much "Progress" over the last couple days unless you consider a good cleaning of the shop progress (which I kinda do). The place had become a safety hazard and I just wasn't able to focus on anything with all the clutter and dust about so it had to be delt with before moving forward with anything else.

I started out like this..





And after a full day of cleaning and re organizing some tools I got it to a working condition..





As a side note.. the wife and I visited our favorite thrift shop here in town that we regularly scout for deals on tools and household items. Earlier that day she had mentioned that we need to get me a shop vac.. I agreed but the $50 price tag has been pushing it lower on the priority list until I saw this guy in the corner of the thrift shop..



$7 and it was mine. I do need to get a hose and filter for it which may end up making it not such a good deal but we shall see.

Anyhoo back on track.. With the shop clean I finally am motivated (and have the space) to start laminating up the top of the bench. I am however once again torn between having a tool tray and not having one. My latest adventures have shown me that I DO need some temporary storage for my hand tools while working which is pushing me hard towards the tray. That would also allow me to add some thickness to the top since it won't be as deep as before.

Last chance for anyone to weigh in on this issue. I'll be gluing either tonight or early tomorrow. Here are some shots of the rehearsal. I wanted to see how much work needed to be done to get the boards to laminated tightly… not too much but some… time to resharpen some blades and give Paul Sellers method a go! Wish me luck!

 
#111 ·
If you are following Paul Sellers' method you won't need 'good luck' only sharp irons.

Best Regards with your Bench build.

Work Safely and have Fun. - Grandpa Len
 
#114 ·
Laminating The Top 2..

Sorry about the blog spam today but…..

It. Has. Started! FINALLY! I set up my saw horses and have jumped into planing the boards flat so I can get them glued up nice and tight. Broke out my $18 new model Stanley SB4, sharpened the blade for the first time and gave it a go. This is the first time I have used it since I bought it. I wasn;t sure what to expect as most the reviews for the newer cheap Stanley planes are less than steller but I gotta say.. this guy does the job!

I am about halfway through the 12 boards that will make up the top but I am having a blast and making lots of fluffy shavings.

The best part about all of this is that unlike when I use my power tools my wife could stand out there and we could have a conversation while I was working! I think my lean towards hand tools is the right direction for me.

Today's Money shots and a bonus short video of me working. I would love some critiques of my technique which evolved over the afternoon till I think I finally got it figured out. Also be nice…. I am just glad my bald head didn't glare out the camera!

Enjoy!





Carpet of shavings..



 
#123 ·
Leveling.. Well.. Evening The Top..

More progress on the top today. I finally found a full day off of work to spend a good amount of time in the shop today.

The day started out innocent enough. The plan for the day was to knock down and even out the thickness of all the boards making up the top so it will be easier to level once it is assembled.

As you can see I was less than accurate when ripping the Oak for the laminated pieces..







I started out just scrubbing away the squeeze out and the high boards. As I got closer to even with one of the outside edge boards it became evident that I had (despite what I thought was careful planning) laminated the last board with the grain running opposite all the others… Well poo..



I contemplated this for a bit and figured since it is on the outside and not the middle the only correct thing to do was cut it off and add a new one.

So out comes the circular saw and accessories for a quick run down the top..





And then my Atkins rip saw to finish up.. (I really need to get on with tuning this guy up..)



With that board removed I have a 9 1/2" slab to even out. I'll re add the missing board between the dog strip and the skirt later on if I think it is needed. I might end up liking this depth (which will come to around 14" when it is all said and done).

A few more hours of scrubbing and the top side of the bench is even and actually almost level! It still has a bit of a dip in the center but that will be taken care of once my No 6 arrives :).





Now.. the other side! which is in much worse shape as far as evenness of the boards..


I spent another hour or so scrubbing away at that side and allllmost have it evened out but I'll have to finish that up tomorrow. My arms are tired and the wife misses me so that is all the shop time I have for today.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more! Comments and critiques are always encouraged (your comments keep me motivated to keep going!)..
 
#124 ·
AF, the 6 will be there soon. I haven't been able to send the 6 yet but I will get it sent tomorrow. Sorry about that. I did do some extra flattening to the sole, sharpened the blade, and boxed it up ready to go. It should be ready to go right out of the box.

By the way remember since you are flattening your top with hand tools you dont have to flatten the whole bottom side. You just have to work the spots where the mortises will be, make those spots flat and parallel to the top.

Flattening both sides is only necessary if you are going to run it through a machine.
 
#134 ·
Rough Plan For The Base.. Opinions Needed..

Well, I bit the bullet and finally installed Sketchup. I am very far from proficient at it but I was able to mock together a rough draft of what I have planned for the base of this bench.

Here is the deal. I am active duty military so I know I WILL be moving at some point. With that in mind I have to be mindful of what I build and the fact that I will need to load it into a truck at some point.

My second project for my shop was to be a tool cabinet for my various hand tools and such. Right now they are scattered all over and tucked away wherever I can find room. This bothers me to no end. I absolutely hate not having a home for each tool. Perhaps it is the number of years spent in aviation maintenance and having proper tool control drilled into me or my natural AR nature but I have to have a central container for all these tools soon.

Now the quandary is that I can have 1 very heavy item that takes up a set amount of space in a moving truck or multiple slightly less heavy items taking up a lot of space in a moving truck. I would like to try for option number 1 if I can.

I have read and re read CS's book on workbench design and I know his thoughts on under bench storage but I have seen examples that work (see Smitty's bench) and I like the idea of using the space under the bench for more than a junk/saw dust collector.

Here is my initial thoughts on how to accomplish this most effectively. Keep in mind this is my first Sketchup attempt. The measurements are arbitrary since I am just doing a rough draft and the joints are rudimentary at best but this is just to get a visual of what is inside my head and see how they fit together.

I battled with the straight leg or splayed leg debate for a bit and went with the splayed. One because of the added stability and two it provides more storage space and the 20 degree tilt of the back legs makes for the perfect hand plane storage rack. I would like to make that rack hinge up to allow more storage behind it on the backside of the cabinet but that may now work out. I'm going to try and see if I can find a way to make it work.

So anyhoo.. here is what I am talking about. Let me know what you think, even if I am completely off my rocker (which is entirely possible).





I look forward to your thoughts. You guys haven't steered me wrong yet!
 
#135 ·
As a noob studying design for my work bench I would first off be concerned about vices being built into the bench. Will the angle interfere with any of those. Also the straight legs are often recommended to be flush to the bench front for clamping support. Weight also is a major concern. This bench looks pretty light. If it needs to be light then you might want to integrate a system where sand bags can be added when you reach your destination. It has also been recommended by many to wait even up to 3 years to build a bench and to just make a make shift bench until you learn through experience what you need for the kind of work you will be doing. Hope this helps.
 
#152 ·
Where we are at since last update...

OK, so I haven't had much progress going on since my last update other than finishing up the glueup of the top.







I still need to trim up the ends and get the skirt glued up but this is the end width of the top plus tool tray. Once I finished with that my wonderfully tuned and sharpened #6 arrived from Mauricio which showed me just how lacking and out of shape my current selection of tools were.

So I have set upon a side mission of getting the tools I have collected to build this bench with in good working order. If your tools don;t work then end result of your project will suffer the consequences (and so will your back and shoulders lol).

I am wrapping up my hand planes and have built up quite a nice selection of them.



Next up will be learning saw sharpening. I have about 5 saws, some rip and some crosscut as well as a dovetail saw and a backsaw that all need some bit of attention or another. These will be crucial in the upcoming steps of cutting tenons and trimming the top.

After that will be sharpening up my small selection of chisels and we will be off to the races once again.

So right now my benchtop is acting as..well… a bench top on sawhorses lol.

HOWEVER…. I did get a workbench related project finished today.

Some of you may remember my earlier attempts at bench press turning a crank handle for my hand wheels.

The first version was pretty rough and looked like poo on a stick. I then turned a second one which worked ok but just never quite looked right.

I had every intention of replicating the second handle for use on the smaller wheel but when I was done I realized I REALLY liked what came out of the "lathe" only problem was it looked nothing like the first one and made it look pretty bad as well.

So off it came and yet another handle was turned and this time I can officially call them a set and done!

Off with the Pics! For all you Sailors out there…. there is a clue as to what will come for the handwheels in the third pic… second clue is that it will be fancy ;-)







So what to do with the old handle? Well make an awl out of it of course!





Stay tuned for more. I really hope to have some progress made on this very soon. Thank you for reading.
 
#155 ·
Getting Ready To Cut Some Dovetails..

Ok, so I got a little distracted with getting my hand plane assortment ready for work. I still have a couple more to go and another on the way but as it sits now I have a fully functional selection of old Stanleys that should get me wherever I need to go with them.



Now as I sit here preparing to cut my first ever dovetails (seriously have never done this before) I need to get my saws in order. I have been putting off sharpening these for a while now and it is time I gave them some attention. What spurred this on was last night I picked out a cutoff from the oak pile to make a quick saw bench out of and when i started to cut it to length all of my cross cut saws just laughed at me and went no where with it. I think a butter knife is sharper.

So basically this will set me back a few more weeks probably but I need to build up a saw vise and get these sharpened up before they will be of any use to me.

I am also going to replace the gents handle on my 8" Crown with a new handle. I have a piece of cherry picked out for that.

So that is where the bench stands (or lays I should say) for now. Hopefully sometime before my soon to arrive son graduates high school this will get finished up!

My soon to be sawbench top ready to get flattened.



Somewhere in this pile are some legs I am sure of it…



The Crown about to get a facelift..



The offending saws.. right to left are.. Atkins Rip Saw, No-Name Cross Cut Saw, Disston Rip Saw and Tyzack and Sons Tenon Saw.

 
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