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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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#168 ·
Forward Progress finally... Top Glue Up done and Legs started..

So, it has been a few months since I have done any work on the bench. I think I needed a mental reset and to get through the rest of my wife's pregnancy distracted by small projects.

Now that that is over with and my shop is in a manageable condition again finally I can get back to work on this elephant of a project.

Having a newborn in the house has limited my available time in the shop but that seems to have focused my energy when I DO get in there to get something done while I can. So in short bursts of 5 - 30 mins depending on time of day and his temperament I have been able to finish gluing up the top of the bench and today I stopped by the local orange store and picked up some lumber for the legs finally.

The legs are made of 2 2X6 cedar planks laminated together. Why cedar? Why not. I needed some legs and the fir posts I had bough have pissed sap all over my shop floor over the last couple months and I shudder at the thought of running one of my Stanleys over that gunk so they are relegated to some other project down the road. The ceder is a nice stable wood, looks good and was reasonably priced so that is what I bought… whether or not I regret that later is to be decided. If you guys have any thoughts on that PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

As of writing this I am waiting on glue to dry on the legs and once that is done it will be time to clean them up and square them up then ready them for mortising and tenoning :)

Progress pics to catch everyone up.

Wood Table Floor Hardwood Plank


"Final" depth minus the front wall of the tool well..
Tape measure Office ruler Wood Ruler Measuring instrument


LEGS!
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plywood Flooring


Wood Wood stain Flooring Floor Plank


Wood Water Road surface Parallel Tints and shades


Wood Gas Machine Metal Hardwood


Wood Road surface Asphalt Font Gas
 

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#169 ·
Forward Progress finally... Top Glue Up done and Legs started..

So, it has been a few months since I have done any work on the bench. I think I needed a mental reset and to get through the rest of my wife's pregnancy distracted by small projects.

Now that that is over with and my shop is in a manageable condition again finally I can get back to work on this elephant of a project.

Having a newborn in the house has limited my available time in the shop but that seems to have focused my energy when I DO get in there to get something done while I can. So in short bursts of 5 - 30 mins depending on time of day and his temperament I have been able to finish gluing up the top of the bench and today I stopped by the local orange store and picked up some lumber for the legs finally.

The legs are made of 2 2X6 cedar planks laminated together. Why cedar? Why not. I needed some legs and the fir posts I had bough have pissed sap all over my shop floor over the last couple months and I shudder at the thought of running one of my Stanleys over that gunk so they are relegated to some other project down the road. The ceder is a nice stable wood, looks good and was reasonably priced so that is what I bought… whether or not I regret that later is to be decided. If you guys have any thoughts on that PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

As of writing this I am waiting on glue to dry on the legs and once that is done it will be time to clean them up and square them up then ready them for mortising and tenoning :)

Progress pics to catch everyone up.

Wood Table Floor Hardwood Plank


"Final" depth minus the front wall of the tool well..
Tape measure Office ruler Wood Ruler Measuring instrument


LEGS!
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plywood Flooring


Wood Wood stain Flooring Floor Plank


Wood Water Road surface Parallel Tints and shades


Wood Gas Machine Metal Hardwood


Wood Road surface Asphalt Font Gas
Very nice progress AF :) I don't see why cedar won't work for the legs either…
 

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#176 ·
Standing on it's own 4 legs...

Time for some catch up and an update. Most of you who follow the workbench thread on the forum have already seen most of this but I feel compelled to keep this blog alive and I really need to resist the urge to spam the forum with progress updates and keep them here lol (sorry about that guys!).

So we left off with the legs being glued up so naturally the next step was to square them up and make them more "leg" like. I had to get creative with the clamping to make this happen so I invented a *********************************** wagon vise lol.

Wood Engineering Machine Motor vehicle Gas


Flower Plant Wood Purple Font


Wood Tints and shades Art Electric blue Rectangle


Those who followed Mauricio's build will recognize this #6 :) Now on it's second bench build lol.

Wood Ingredient Natural foods Cuisine Vegetable


Which left me with 3 square legs and 1 whose glue up didn't make the cut and had to be replaced.

Furniture Table Wood Rectangle Wood stain


Then it was onto the mortising of the top and fitting the legs. I'll just let the rest of the pics speak for themselves here. This was my first "real" joinery and I had A LOT of fun and learned a lot chopping all these out. All said and done they all fit pretty good and will only need a little plugging on the sides along the top to clean them up.

Rectangle Wood Table Wood stain Flooring


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Office supplies Font


Wood Drill Tool Handheld power drill Flooring


Wood Workbench Building Engineering Toolroom


Wood Yellow Beam Wood stain Hardwood


Shelf Shelving Interior design Wood Curtain


Wood Gas Tints and shades Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Table Flooring Floor Wood stain


Wood Hand tool Tool Burin Metalworking hand tool


Brown Rectangle Wood Flooring Beige


Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Plank


Wood Metal Soil Machine Arthropod


Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Tints and shades


Wood Floor Tool Flooring Hardwood


Wood Floor Shelf Flooring Shelving


Table Stool Wood Plant Picnic table


Next up is the deadman mortise on the under side of the bench and stretchers.. stay tuned for more!
 

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#177 ·
Standing on it's own 4 legs...

Time for some catch up and an update. Most of you who follow the workbench thread on the forum have already seen most of this but I feel compelled to keep this blog alive and I really need to resist the urge to spam the forum with progress updates and keep them here lol (sorry about that guys!).

So we left off with the legs being glued up so naturally the next step was to square them up and make them more "leg" like. I had to get creative with the clamping to make this happen so I invented a *********************************** wagon vise lol.

Wood Engineering Machine Motor vehicle Gas


Flower Plant Wood Purple Font


Wood Tints and shades Art Electric blue Rectangle


Those who followed Mauricio's build will recognize this #6 :) Now on it's second bench build lol.

Wood Ingredient Natural foods Cuisine Vegetable


Which left me with 3 square legs and 1 whose glue up didn't make the cut and had to be replaced.

Furniture Table Wood Rectangle Wood stain


Then it was onto the mortising of the top and fitting the legs. I'll just let the rest of the pics speak for themselves here. This was my first "real" joinery and I had A LOT of fun and learned a lot chopping all these out. All said and done they all fit pretty good and will only need a little plugging on the sides along the top to clean them up.

Rectangle Wood Table Wood stain Flooring


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Office supplies Font


Wood Drill Tool Handheld power drill Flooring


Wood Workbench Building Engineering Toolroom


Wood Yellow Beam Wood stain Hardwood


Shelf Shelving Interior design Wood Curtain


Wood Gas Tints and shades Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Table Flooring Floor Wood stain


Wood Hand tool Tool Burin Metalworking hand tool


Brown Rectangle Wood Flooring Beige


Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Plank


Wood Metal Soil Machine Arthropod


Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Tints and shades


Wood Floor Tool Flooring Hardwood


Wood Floor Shelf Flooring Shelving


Table Stool Wood Plant Picnic table


Next up is the deadman mortise on the under side of the bench and stretchers.. stay tuned for more!
Very nice work. Those angled mortises turned out great
 

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#184 ·
Top Trimming and Prepping for the Deadman..

First things first I trimmed the tenons that I left long flush with the top. My HF flush cut saw took care of that pretty quickly.

Wood Ruler Tool Rectangle Wood stain


Then I wanted to square up one end of the bench.

Wood Tool Hardwood Wood stain Hand tool


Wood Hardwood Flooring Plank Tints and shades


Eventually I will cut a tenon in here for the end cap.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


The other end is waiting on the end caps and wagon vise hardware to determine where it will be cut.

Then I wanted to carve out the deadman groove before I forgot and ended up trying to cut it out upside down and backwards lol.

I also wanted to try out the Paul Sellers method of chopping a mortise here. It really IS as easy as he makes it look and I highly recommend anyone giving it a try. Once you get a rhythm going it goes pretty quick.

Here are some pics of the process and a quick video of the last 6 inches getting cut. It's a pretty boring video but you will see the process at least.

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Hand tool Table Wood Burin Tool


Wood Tool Pneumatic tool Flooring Gas


Wood Road surface Flooring Automotive tire Asphalt


Wood Outdoor bench Grass Floor Flooring


Table Wood Flooring Wood stain Floor


Road surface Wood Asphalt Flooring Floor




I would say the total time spent on the whole process was about 3 hours spread out across 2 days because of my work schedule.

Up next will be prepping and gluing up the stretchers and hopefully finishing the base. Then on to the vises. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
 

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#185 ·
Top Trimming and Prepping for the Deadman..

First things first I trimmed the tenons that I left long flush with the top. My HF flush cut saw took care of that pretty quickly.

Wood Ruler Tool Rectangle Wood stain


Then I wanted to square up one end of the bench.

Wood Tool Hardwood Wood stain Hand tool


Wood Hardwood Flooring Plank Tints and shades


Eventually I will cut a tenon in here for the end cap.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


The other end is waiting on the end caps and wagon vise hardware to determine where it will be cut.

Then I wanted to carve out the deadman groove before I forgot and ended up trying to cut it out upside down and backwards lol.

I also wanted to try out the Paul Sellers method of chopping a mortise here. It really IS as easy as he makes it look and I highly recommend anyone giving it a try. Once you get a rhythm going it goes pretty quick.

Here are some pics of the process and a quick video of the last 6 inches getting cut. It's a pretty boring video but you will see the process at least.

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Hand tool Table Wood Burin Tool


Wood Tool Pneumatic tool Flooring Gas


Wood Road surface Flooring Automotive tire Asphalt


Wood Outdoor bench Grass Floor Flooring


Table Wood Flooring Wood stain Floor


Road surface Wood Asphalt Flooring Floor




I would say the total time spent on the whole process was about 3 hours spread out across 2 days because of my work schedule.

Up next will be prepping and gluing up the stretchers and hopefully finishing the base. Then on to the vises. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
Excellent work. Way to toe the line!!
 

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#191 ·
End Caps and Tool Well Started.. Two Steps Forward and Whatnot..

Well, yesterday was almost a wash. The day started strong. I got everything setup to rip the bench side tool well wall to size. Then I decided to kill a few electrons and use the circular saw to get the job done quickly. Simple enough right? Well the saw decided to go walking about halfway through the cut for some reason and basically made that piece of cherry unusable. That almost has me sworn off of power tools for all but the hardest tasks. With power tools when things go south it happens in a hurry and there is almost no recovery time but when working with hand tools you get the chance to stop, adjust and carry on.

Anyway, enough of that rant. That left me with a couple choices. Redesign the endcaps and tool well to accomidate the cut error or go out to HD and drop some $$ on a new piece of wood. I reluctantly opted for the HD route.

I came home with a piece of 4/4 oak that fit the bill along with some "common" wood for the well bottom that has some really nice quilting all the way through it. According to the guy who I spoke to there the "common" species around here is spruce. whatever it is this is a nice looking piece of wood. I just have one knot along one edge to deal with and it is basically 100% clear as well :D

I tried to get a pic of the quilting in this guy. You can see a bit of it here…

Brown Tints and shades Beige Wood Pattern


Wood Road surface Floor Flooring Hardwood


I also got some maple for the parallel guide and possibly a plane swap build ;-)

Wood Parallel Tints and shades Rectangle Composite material


So after that I started cutting the wagon ends tenon so I can fit the endcap there and begin laying out the vise hardware.

Table Wood Tool Gas Hardwood


Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Plank


Then I glued up the back of the tool well. This is yet another error on my part. I had intended to gut the groove for the well bottom in this before glueup but that slipped my mind in my rush to get this clamped so now I will have to do that with it installed on the bench.

Wood Wood stain Plank Hardwood Lumber


Here's hoping today goes better than yesterday did…
 

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#192 ·
End Caps and Tool Well Started.. Two Steps Forward and Whatnot..

Well, yesterday was almost a wash. The day started strong. I got everything setup to rip the bench side tool well wall to size. Then I decided to kill a few electrons and use the circular saw to get the job done quickly. Simple enough right? Well the saw decided to go walking about halfway through the cut for some reason and basically made that piece of cherry unusable. That almost has me sworn off of power tools for all but the hardest tasks. With power tools when things go south it happens in a hurry and there is almost no recovery time but when working with hand tools you get the chance to stop, adjust and carry on.

Anyway, enough of that rant. That left me with a couple choices. Redesign the endcaps and tool well to accomidate the cut error or go out to HD and drop some $$ on a new piece of wood. I reluctantly opted for the HD route.

I came home with a piece of 4/4 oak that fit the bill along with some "common" wood for the well bottom that has some really nice quilting all the way through it. According to the guy who I spoke to there the "common" species around here is spruce. whatever it is this is a nice looking piece of wood. I just have one knot along one edge to deal with and it is basically 100% clear as well :D

I tried to get a pic of the quilting in this guy. You can see a bit of it here…

Brown Tints and shades Beige Wood Pattern


Wood Road surface Floor Flooring Hardwood


I also got some maple for the parallel guide and possibly a plane swap build ;-)

Wood Parallel Tints and shades Rectangle Composite material


So after that I started cutting the wagon ends tenon so I can fit the endcap there and begin laying out the vise hardware.

Table Wood Tool Gas Hardwood


Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Plank


Then I glued up the back of the tool well. This is yet another error on my part. I had intended to gut the groove for the well bottom in this before glueup but that slipped my mind in my rush to get this clamped so now I will have to do that with it installed on the bench.

Wood Wood stain Plank Hardwood Lumber


Here's hoping today goes better than yesterday did…
Its looking good.
 

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#196 ·
Finishing one endcap and cutting my first dovetails..

Yesterday started with the bench side of the Toolwell. I glued up the back wall the night before and yesterday morning it was time to remove the clamps and rip that to the correct thickness. I decided to do it this way so I could clamp the other side to this one as a cutting guide. It worked pretty well.



A quick pass with the No 4 and it is done.



Then I trimmed up the leading edge where the dovetails will be and started on the mortise in the endcap. I used the same process as the deadman groove. The more I do this the better and faster I seem to get at it.





I was feeling good about everything until I went to fit it to the end of the bench…. I had measured the piece wrong and it turned out to be upside down! Measure twice cut once folks. This could have been a disaster but it looks like this endcap will work on the other end with some tweaking so that is ok I suppose.





So that meant starting a new endcap. Measured 3 times this time 'round and chopped out another mortise. This resulted in a nice blister on my hammering hand and a nicely fit endcap on the correct end of the bench finally :D











At this point the transition from endcap to the bench bothered me. I decided to fix that with a gap filler between the endcap and the first leg.



I was going to stop here for the day but I got a bug up my arse and decided it was all or nothing and started on my first ever dovetail. I was pretty nervous about this but how hard could it be? It's just cutting a few lines right? Well yes it is but different. One problem is that the bench top doesn't fit into my Moxon vise so it had to stay horizontal throughout this process and also the tails are slightly larger than my DT saw. I had to cut holding the saw sideways on my knees and finish the cut with my flush cut saw which is the only other saw with the same kerf size. Made for an interesting couple hours (yes hours lol.)

The pins were a bit easier as they DID fit into my moxon vise unfortunately I have discovered that my fret saw is possibly the worst saw ever manufactured so removing the waste between was a lot of fun… I see a new fret saw in my near future.

Anyway.. I'll finish this up with the usual series of pics taken during the process. The end result is a slightly loose and kinda ugly joint but I'm actually pretty proud of it considering. I just have 3 more of these joints to do before the bench is done :D The good news is.. now that this is fitted I can FINALLY start on the wagon vise. I am really wanting to get a vise on here of some sort soon to help build the rest of the bench with. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.



















 

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#197 ·
Finishing one endcap and cutting my first dovetails..

Yesterday started with the bench side of the Toolwell. I glued up the back wall the night before and yesterday morning it was time to remove the clamps and rip that to the correct thickness. I decided to do it this way so I could clamp the other side to this one as a cutting guide. It worked pretty well.

Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood Wood stain


A quick pass with the No 4 and it is done.

Wood Floor Flooring Engineering Machine


Then I trimmed up the leading edge where the dovetails will be and started on the mortise in the endcap. I used the same process as the deadman groove. The more I do this the better and faster I seem to get at it.

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Flooring Composite material


Wood Office supplies Tints and shades Hardwood Font


I was feeling good about everything until I went to fit it to the end of the bench…. I had measured the piece wrong and it turned out to be upside down! Measure twice cut once folks. This could have been a disaster but it looks like this endcap will work on the other end with some tweaking so that is ok I suppose.

Wood Tradesman Hardwood Tool Engineering


Wood Flooring Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain


So that meant starting a new endcap. Measured 3 times this time 'round and chopped out another mortise. This resulted in a nice blister on my hammering hand and a nicely fit endcap on the correct end of the bench finally :D

Handheld power drill Wood Hand tool Flooring Hardwood


Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Office ruler Gas Stonemason's hammer Tool


Wood Tints and shades Beam Shade Hardwood


Saw Wood Tool Carpenter Hardwood


At this point the transition from endcap to the bench bothered me. I decided to fix that with a gap filler between the endcap and the first leg.

Wood Engineering Beam Machine Lumber


I was going to stop here for the day but I got a bug up my arse and decided it was all or nothing and started on my first ever dovetail. I was pretty nervous about this but how hard could it be? It's just cutting a few lines right? Well yes it is but different. One problem is that the bench top doesn't fit into my Moxon vise so it had to stay horizontal throughout this process and also the tails are slightly larger than my DT saw. I had to cut holding the saw sideways on my knees and finish the cut with my flush cut saw which is the only other saw with the same kerf size. Made for an interesting couple hours (yes hours lol.)

The pins were a bit easier as they DID fit into my moxon vise unfortunately I have discovered that my fret saw is possibly the worst saw ever manufactured so removing the waste between was a lot of fun… I see a new fret saw in my near future.

Anyway.. I'll finish this up with the usual series of pics taken during the process. The end result is a slightly loose and kinda ugly joint but I'm actually pretty proud of it considering. I just have 3 more of these joints to do before the bench is done :D The good news is.. now that this is fitted I can FINALLY start on the wagon vise. I am really wanting to get a vise on here of some sort soon to help build the rest of the bench with. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Hand tool Wood Saw Tool Metalworking hand tool


Wood Table Workbench Machine tool Machine


Wood Gas Wood stain Hardwood Plywood


Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Motor vehicle Hardwood Bumper Auto part


Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Tints and shades


Wood Wood stain Bench Hardwood Tints and shades


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Flooring


Wood Hardwood Automotive exterior Lumber Plank


Wood Hardwood Machine tool Workbench Lumber
Eric, gotta love that long horizontal rip. Well done. And those dividers still are impressive !!
 

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#202 ·
Wagon Vise Build is a Go Finally..

This has been a relatively slow week build wise. I had a series of 15 hour nights at work which kept me out of the shop for most of it.

I did, however, find a few minutes here and there to get some work done on the wagon vise for the bench. I need to knock this out so I can finish up the endcaps and get started on the leg vise and stretchers then finally assemble the darn thing.

I am fashioning this after the benchcrafted wagon vise which is a departure from my original plan of the Maguire vise but this one is simpler with fewer parts. Simpler means less chance of failure and that sits fine with me.

The first step was to determine where the threaded rod would go and then build everything around that. For this I simply printed out the build instructions for the BC vise and used their layout template to find the center of the rod. Then I drilled a 1" hole which I then used to mark the bench with.

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Rectangle


Then I found a cherry cutoff and made a couple cuts on the MS to get it into shape as a push block..

Wood Engineering Gas Vise Machine


Exercise machine Tool Engineering Machine Human leg


Wood Rectangle Table Flooring Wood stain


Then I cut a notch in the wagon block to slip over the push block to get the center of gravity under the wagon block and not behind it.

Hand tool Saw Wood Tool Hardwood


I also cut a notch in the top of the push block which I forgot to take pics of but you will see in a minute anyway..

After that I drilled and carved out a nut sized hole for the 1" Acme nut to sit in… pretty proud of myself here.. this is as close to a perfect fit as I will ever see come out of this shop lol..

Wood Household hardware Gas Camera lens Hand tool


This is where it kinda slid downhill a bit. After a dry assembly I realized that I hadn't taken the top thickness into account and my wagon block was WAY too short. So after what I thought were some careful measuring and number crunches I laminated a piece of cherry to the top so it will match the dog strip.. well Math makes me sad most the time and this was the case here.. I was still short so I decided (for Brandons sake ;) ) to make the wagon block a contrasting color from the dog strip. Thus explains the Padauk top layer on this. So here is my happy rainbow of a wagon block that now sits a bit proud of the top. That will allow me to plane it down perfectly flush once completely assembled.

Wood Hardwood Fastener Machine tool Workbench


Wood Hardwood Composite material Gas Wood stain


Now that the block was done I can now use it to layout the mortise in the rod side of the vise.

Wood Table Flooring Floor Wood stain


Then out came the bit and brace to hog out as much material as possible since getting a chisel far enough in this will be difficult to say the least and my routah plane isn't finished yet…

Plumbing valve Plumbing fitting Valve Wood Gas


Rectangle Wood Automotive tire Floor Flooring


Hand tool Wood Automotive tire Tool Gas


Wood Floor Flooring Automotive tire Font


Wood Saw Tool Gas Hand tool


Then a dry assembly and this is where it sits now.

Wood Building Gas Font Door


Wood Gas Hardwood Workbench Wood stain


I still need to fit a block in the end of the mortise for the support bearing to fit into but first I need to fabricate the rails and base so I can get the alignment just right.

Turning this pile of steel into said rails and base is this weekends project :D

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


More to come. Thanks for reading!
 

Attachments

#203 ·
Wagon Vise Build is a Go Finally..

This has been a relatively slow week build wise. I had a series of 15 hour nights at work which kept me out of the shop for most of it.

I did, however, find a few minutes here and there to get some work done on the wagon vise for the bench. I need to knock this out so I can finish up the endcaps and get started on the leg vise and stretchers then finally assemble the darn thing.

I am fashioning this after the benchcrafted wagon vise which is a departure from my original plan of the Maguire vise but this one is simpler with fewer parts. Simpler means less chance of failure and that sits fine with me.

The first step was to determine where the threaded rod would go and then build everything around that. For this I simply printed out the build instructions for the BC vise and used their layout template to find the center of the rod. Then I drilled a 1" hole which I then used to mark the bench with.

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Rectangle


Then I found a cherry cutoff and made a couple cuts on the MS to get it into shape as a push block..

Wood Engineering Gas Vise Machine


Exercise machine Tool Engineering Machine Human leg


Wood Rectangle Table Flooring Wood stain


Then I cut a notch in the wagon block to slip over the push block to get the center of gravity under the wagon block and not behind it.

Hand tool Saw Wood Tool Hardwood


I also cut a notch in the top of the push block which I forgot to take pics of but you will see in a minute anyway..

After that I drilled and carved out a nut sized hole for the 1" Acme nut to sit in… pretty proud of myself here.. this is as close to a perfect fit as I will ever see come out of this shop lol..

Wood Household hardware Gas Camera lens Hand tool


This is where it kinda slid downhill a bit. After a dry assembly I realized that I hadn't taken the top thickness into account and my wagon block was WAY too short. So after what I thought were some careful measuring and number crunches I laminated a piece of cherry to the top so it will match the dog strip.. well Math makes me sad most the time and this was the case here.. I was still short so I decided (for Brandons sake ;) ) to make the wagon block a contrasting color from the dog strip. Thus explains the Padauk top layer on this. So here is my happy rainbow of a wagon block that now sits a bit proud of the top. That will allow me to plane it down perfectly flush once completely assembled.

Wood Hardwood Fastener Machine tool Workbench


Wood Hardwood Composite material Gas Wood stain


Now that the block was done I can now use it to layout the mortise in the rod side of the vise.

Wood Table Flooring Floor Wood stain


Then out came the bit and brace to hog out as much material as possible since getting a chisel far enough in this will be difficult to say the least and my routah plane isn't finished yet…

Plumbing valve Plumbing fitting Valve Wood Gas


Rectangle Wood Automotive tire Floor Flooring


Hand tool Wood Automotive tire Tool Gas


Wood Floor Flooring Automotive tire Font


Wood Saw Tool Gas Hand tool


Then a dry assembly and this is where it sits now.

Wood Building Gas Font Door


Wood Gas Hardwood Workbench Wood stain


I still need to fit a block in the end of the mortise for the support bearing to fit into but first I need to fabricate the rails and base so I can get the alignment just right.

Turning this pile of steel into said rails and base is this weekends project :D

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


More to come. Thanks for reading!
You've got drive!

Your build is coming along superbly. I will stay tuned to your vice build. I'm determined to get buy with purchasing only the lee valley screw for my wagon vice. Perhaps I can gain inspiration (aka steal ideas) from your build.
 

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#213 ·
Wagon Vise Cont'd......

So, we left off with this pile of steel waiting to be turned into a wagon vise…

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


I started with one of the thin pieces. I measured and scored a line the full length to mark the depth of the channel for the 2 rails.

Wood Floor Flooring Wood stain Plank


Measured for the rail length..

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Plank


Then with this piece on top I stacked all 3 pieces and clamped them together and cut the first rail to length with a cut off wheel in my angle grinder. Gotta love the smell of burnt metal in the morning :D

Automotive tire Wood Gas Road surface Tints and shades


Wood Floor Fixture Gas Hardwood


Next without un-clamping them I drilled the holes for the steel rivets that will hold them all together.. (I broke a bit in one of the holes so I had to drill a neighboring one.. ignore the hole with the x on it lol..)

Automotive tire Wood Bumper Tire Bicycle tire


Hand tool Wood Tool Bumper Metalworking hand tool


Then I un-clamped the stack.. flipped the top piece with the score mark upside down and placed it into the middle of the stack and riveted them together. This creates the channel in the rail.

Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Automotive exterior


Wood Publication Table Hardwood Flooring


A quick test fit to see how she slides and it works like a charm :D

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Rectangle


Then I drilled for the mounting screws and countersunk them..

Hand tool Wood Office supplies Tool Hardwood


After that I could use the mounting holes to mount it to the side of a scrap 4Ă—4 and using the cutoff wheel trim off the excess from the middle layer on the back.

Wood Table Automotive tire Floor Wood stain


Hit that with the flap disc and we have 1 rail ready to go…

Wood Gas Metal Hardwood Office ruler


Hand tool Tool Wood Automotive exterior Bumper


Rinse and repeat for the other side and both rails are done..

Wood Hand tool Tool Wood stain Table


Next comes the sled. For this I am using the wider piece and a thinner piece that is the size of the wagon block.

Measured the length of the block and cut the guides to length..

Wood Gas Tints and shades Wood stain Flooring


The next step I forgot to get pics of mainly because it requires 3 hands to keep everything aligned before clamping. Basically I placed both guides on the bench, laid the steel plate on top and then the wagon block on top of that and squared everything up and adjusted the guides till they were just a smidge wider than the slot in the rails. Marked that up, clamped and then drilled for the rivets. This is where everything ended tonight because I forgot to go get some shorter rivets for this part of the build today.

Here is where we sit for tonight.

Wood Tableware Gas Engineering Serveware


Wood Gas Engineering Machine Metal


Wood Tool Gas Hardwood Flooring


I hope to get this all assembled and functional tomorrow (fingers crossed on that).

As always more to come..
 

Attachments

#214 ·
Wagon Vise Cont'd......

So, we left off with this pile of steel waiting to be turned into a wagon vise…

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


I started with one of the thin pieces. I measured and scored a line the full length to mark the depth of the channel for the 2 rails.

Wood Floor Flooring Wood stain Plank


Measured for the rail length..

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Plank


Then with this piece on top I stacked all 3 pieces and clamped them together and cut the first rail to length with a cut off wheel in my angle grinder. Gotta love the smell of burnt metal in the morning :D

Automotive tire Wood Gas Road surface Tints and shades


Wood Floor Fixture Gas Hardwood


Next without un-clamping them I drilled the holes for the steel rivets that will hold them all together.. (I broke a bit in one of the holes so I had to drill a neighboring one.. ignore the hole with the x on it lol..)

Automotive tire Wood Bumper Tire Bicycle tire


Hand tool Wood Tool Bumper Metalworking hand tool


Then I un-clamped the stack.. flipped the top piece with the score mark upside down and placed it into the middle of the stack and riveted them together. This creates the channel in the rail.

Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Automotive exterior


Wood Publication Table Hardwood Flooring


A quick test fit to see how she slides and it works like a charm :D

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Rectangle


Then I drilled for the mounting screws and countersunk them..

Hand tool Wood Office supplies Tool Hardwood


After that I could use the mounting holes to mount it to the side of a scrap 4Ă—4 and using the cutoff wheel trim off the excess from the middle layer on the back.

Wood Table Automotive tire Floor Wood stain


Hit that with the flap disc and we have 1 rail ready to go…

Wood Gas Metal Hardwood Office ruler


Hand tool Tool Wood Automotive exterior Bumper


Rinse and repeat for the other side and both rails are done..

Wood Hand tool Tool Wood stain Table


Next comes the sled. For this I am using the wider piece and a thinner piece that is the size of the wagon block.

Measured the length of the block and cut the guides to length..

Wood Gas Tints and shades Wood stain Flooring


The next step I forgot to get pics of mainly because it requires 3 hands to keep everything aligned before clamping. Basically I placed both guides on the bench, laid the steel plate on top and then the wagon block on top of that and squared everything up and adjusted the guides till they were just a smidge wider than the slot in the rails. Marked that up, clamped and then drilled for the rivets. This is where everything ended tonight because I forgot to go get some shorter rivets for this part of the build today.

Here is where we sit for tonight.

Wood Tableware Gas Engineering Serveware


Wood Gas Engineering Machine Metal


Wood Tool Gas Hardwood Flooring


I hope to get this all assembled and functional tomorrow (fingers crossed on that).

As always more to come..
Wow…impressive…
 

Attachments

#231 ·
Wagon Vise Cont'd...Again...

Well, I didn't get as far as I had hoped yesterday but progress was made…

I finally got the shorter rivets and attached the runners to the base plate. If I had been able to find 3/16" thick plating large enough to make this all one piece that probably would have been better but this will work.

Wood Automotive exterior Gas Bumper Hardwood


Then I drilled the dog hole, which was an experience in and of it's self. My drill press doesn't do straight holes so I was free handing this. I discovered that I don't have a 3/4" auger bit for my brace so I had to kill some electrons to do this. After many failed attempts to put a straight hole in some scrap wood to use as a guide I finally got it "mostly vertical". The hole leans a bit to one side but I think I can deal with that. I also used my dremel and cut an exit hole through the base plate for the dog.

Wood Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood Plywood


Then I positioned the block onto the base and a couple wacks with a mallet marked where the rivets were. That allowed me to recess those spots so it would sit flush with the bottom.

Wooden block Wood Hardwood Wood stain Sledgehammer


Outlined the block, measured and drilled for the mounting screw holes..

Wood Door handle Bullet Gas Metal


Then a trip to the oil stone to flatten and polish up the runners a bit..

Sleeve Wood Automotive exterior Gas Auto part


Wood Automotive exterior Gas Bumper Auto part


Attached the block and now it was time to sort out the shims and rails and get everything aligned.

Wood Rectangle Engineering Composite material Machine


Wood Hardwood Tool Lumber Table


Did a dry fit and marked the mounting holes for the flange bearing.. drilled, tapped and installed..

Wood Hand tool Gas Metalworking hand tool Household hardware


Table Automotive tire Wood Gas Auto part


I had to attach a block at the end of the channel for the stop bearing. This bit was tricky. The OD for the bearing is 1 1/2" and my biggest bit is 1". So I started with a 1 1/4" hole cutter and gut to the depth needed. That was followed by a 1" spade bit. That was then followed up by some free hand dremeling to get to the size needed.

Wood Automotive tire Flooring Hardwood Rectangle


Wood Tool Flooring Gas Kitchen utensil


Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool Gas Drill


Mixed some 5 min epoxy and with some shimming and creative clamping got the bearing seated in just the right spot to hold everything aligned straight..

Brown Wood Art Paper Font


Wood Household hardware Gas Nickel Auto part


Glued up some shims for the rails and now we wait on more shop time to get this finished up. Almost there I think..

Gas Tire Electric blue Automotive exterior Auto part


Wood Saw Workbench Machine tool Hardwood
 

Attachments

#232 ·
Wagon Vise Cont'd...Again...

Well, I didn't get as far as I had hoped yesterday but progress was made…

I finally got the shorter rivets and attached the runners to the base plate. If I had been able to find 3/16" thick plating large enough to make this all one piece that probably would have been better but this will work.

Wood Automotive exterior Gas Bumper Hardwood


Then I drilled the dog hole, which was an experience in and of it's self. My drill press doesn't do straight holes so I was free handing this. I discovered that I don't have a 3/4" auger bit for my brace so I had to kill some electrons to do this. After many failed attempts to put a straight hole in some scrap wood to use as a guide I finally got it "mostly vertical". The hole leans a bit to one side but I think I can deal with that. I also used my dremel and cut an exit hole through the base plate for the dog.

Wood Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood Plywood


Then I positioned the block onto the base and a couple wacks with a mallet marked where the rivets were. That allowed me to recess those spots so it would sit flush with the bottom.

Wooden block Wood Hardwood Wood stain Sledgehammer


Outlined the block, measured and drilled for the mounting screw holes..

Wood Door handle Bullet Gas Metal


Then a trip to the oil stone to flatten and polish up the runners a bit..

Sleeve Wood Automotive exterior Gas Auto part


Wood Automotive exterior Gas Bumper Auto part


Attached the block and now it was time to sort out the shims and rails and get everything aligned.

Wood Rectangle Engineering Composite material Machine


Wood Hardwood Tool Lumber Table


Did a dry fit and marked the mounting holes for the flange bearing.. drilled, tapped and installed..

Wood Hand tool Gas Metalworking hand tool Household hardware


Table Automotive tire Wood Gas Auto part


I had to attach a block at the end of the channel for the stop bearing. This bit was tricky. The OD for the bearing is 1 1/2" and my biggest bit is 1". So I started with a 1 1/4" hole cutter and gut to the depth needed. That was followed by a 1" spade bit. That was then followed up by some free hand dremeling to get to the size needed.

Wood Automotive tire Flooring Hardwood Rectangle


Wood Tool Flooring Gas Kitchen utensil


Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool Gas Drill


Mixed some 5 min epoxy and with some shimming and creative clamping got the bearing seated in just the right spot to hold everything aligned straight..

Brown Wood Art Paper Font


Wood Household hardware Gas Nickel Auto part


Glued up some shims for the rails and now we wait on more shop time to get this finished up. Almost there I think..

Gas Tire Electric blue Automotive exterior Auto part


Wood Saw Workbench Machine tool Hardwood
Eric, I'm still amazed at what your are doing. Keep it up.

Had to leave my bench build alone for a few weeks, hope to be back at t this week.
 

Attachments

#239 ·
Going Backwards Again.. But for a Good Cause..

Last night a fellow LJ asked a question that had me pondering all night at work. He asked why only one dog hole in such a big block. I really had not thought about that and it makes sense to have a shorter block with only one dog. You get a lot more travel and use out of the vise and what is the use of having a vise that is only partially mission capable?

So this morning I sat down and stared at the wagon block for a bit trying to work out what I was to do and that is when I noticed a few errors in construction besides the crooked dog hole in a large block.. the sides were sloped upwards and the top wasn't flat. That is why my initial attempt at a straight dog hole using a jig resulted in a piss poor hole. Then I went to remove the sled and found one of the attaching fasteners had snapped in half during assembly (something I hadn't noticed) it was forward of the dog hole so that kinda settled the short long block question. So now the entire block assembly was irritating me and I thought about what my Grandpa (who was a West Texas oil worker his entire life) told me once when I was 10 and trying to half ass my way through setting up a fishing pole… "No point in wasting the time if you aren't willing to slow down and do the damn thing right".. so I set up to do some over hauling of the block.

First thing first.. remove the laminate on top so I can add a new (square) one.

Calipers Wood Yellow Tool Table


After that was off I glued up another rainbow. Planed the top of the block flat this time and plugged the dog hole.

Purple Hand tool Wood Toy Shotgun


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Rectangle


While that was gluing I measured and cut down the sled assembly to it's new length..

Wood Door Rectangle Gas Tints and shades


Hand tool Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool Tints and shades


Drilled a new mounting hole and added a couple more rivets to the aft end just to strengthen it up a bit while I was at it. Then set up for a new dog hole. This time the hole came out MUCH straighter and it is something I can very much live with.

So now with all this stuff gluing up I figured I would go ahead and epoxy in the nut into the block so it can cure up overnight while I am at work.

Wood Hand tool Workbench Metalworking hand tool Engineering


So like I said in the title.. a few steps backwards but now I have the chance to get it right and have a finished product that doesn't bug me everytime I look at it lol.

After the glue dries and the new laminate is added I can cut down the block and finally do some final assembly on this. I hope to have a moving wagon vise vid in the very near future. Stay Tuned…
 

Attachments

#240 ·
Going Backwards Again.. But for a Good Cause..

Last night a fellow LJ asked a question that had me pondering all night at work. He asked why only one dog hole in such a big block. I really had not thought about that and it makes sense to have a shorter block with only one dog. You get a lot more travel and use out of the vise and what is the use of having a vise that is only partially mission capable?

So this morning I sat down and stared at the wagon block for a bit trying to work out what I was to do and that is when I noticed a few errors in construction besides the crooked dog hole in a large block.. the sides were sloped upwards and the top wasn't flat. That is why my initial attempt at a straight dog hole using a jig resulted in a piss poor hole. Then I went to remove the sled and found one of the attaching fasteners had snapped in half during assembly (something I hadn't noticed) it was forward of the dog hole so that kinda settled the short long block question. So now the entire block assembly was irritating me and I thought about what my Grandpa (who was a West Texas oil worker his entire life) told me once when I was 10 and trying to half ass my way through setting up a fishing pole… "No point in wasting the time if you aren't willing to slow down and do the damn thing right".. so I set up to do some over hauling of the block.

First thing first.. remove the laminate on top so I can add a new (square) one.

Calipers Wood Yellow Tool Table


After that was off I glued up another rainbow. Planed the top of the block flat this time and plugged the dog hole.

Purple Hand tool Wood Toy Shotgun


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Rectangle


While that was gluing I measured and cut down the sled assembly to it's new length..

Wood Door Rectangle Gas Tints and shades


Hand tool Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool Tints and shades


Drilled a new mounting hole and added a couple more rivets to the aft end just to strengthen it up a bit while I was at it. Then set up for a new dog hole. This time the hole came out MUCH straighter and it is something I can very much live with.

So now with all this stuff gluing up I figured I would go ahead and epoxy in the nut into the block so it can cure up overnight while I am at work.

Wood Hand tool Workbench Metalworking hand tool Engineering


So like I said in the title.. a few steps backwards but now I have the chance to get it right and have a finished product that doesn't bug me everytime I look at it lol.

After the glue dries and the new laminate is added I can cut down the block and finally do some final assembly on this. I hope to have a moving wagon vise vid in the very near future. Stay Tuned…
Bravo! (Your grandad was right…)
 

Attachments

#248 ·
Wagon Vise is Alive!

Well, after the setback I spent most of this morning and a few hours after work finishing this up.

After the initial assembly there were some sticky spots that got fixed with a chisel and then there was some major sticking towards the end of the run on the end cap side of things. That took about 3 hours to get figured out. The bearing flange needs to be shimmed on one side so I need to come up with a creative tapered washer of some sort. Am kinda leaning towards a leather compression washer but we will see what works best. Right now I just have a shim under one corner holding it in position.

I was so in the zone that I didn't take any pictures of the rebuild but it went mostly the same way as the initial build.

So… it's not perfect or even pretty but it works and I made it lol. I still want to polish the threads and lube it up real good but here is a Mos style video of the vise in motion.

The bench is upside down but you can clearly see the plate moving.



Next up is to cut the dado on the end caps and tool well walls and back to dovetailing them together.
 
#257 ·
Endcap Part Deux....

Now that the wagon vise is sorted out and functioning quite well I might add (am having too much fun with it right now tbh).. Last night after work (1am.. pretty sure my neighbors hate me right now) I decided to go ahead and make the 1" dog for the vise.

Fairly straight forward. Sanded the 1" dowel slightly to give it a smooth fit (using the vise to do it no less :D )

Wood Flooring Floor Rectangle Hardwood


Then cut to length, cut an angled notch at the top and then used my 1/4" chisel to cut a grove down the back. I then cut a scrap of pig skin and glued it into the groove fuzzy side up to give it some grip in the hole. I also added some to the face of the dog.

Turned out OK. I'll probably re-do it soon because I'd like it to be a bit longer but it works pretty good for now.

Wood Floor Flooring Plank Varnish


Wood Rectangle Table Flooring Plank


Brown Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain


Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Hardwood


This morning I turned my attention to the other endcap. Measured and laid out all my cuts.

Table Wood Flooring Floor Rectangle


Then hogged out the waste from the area just aft of the dovetail.

Wood Air gun Tool Shotgun Trigger


After that I cheated a bit and set my circular saw to the depth of the tenons shoulder and cut 2 lines. One is the length of the tenon and the other is the shoulder cut. I used the first cut as a saw guide to finish it off with the hand saw. If I had a stair saw I probably would have used it for the shoulder cut but alas I haven't gotten around to that build yet.

Wood Automotive exterior Vehicle door Motor vehicle Flooring


Flush cut the bottom of the tenon on the back wall and then it was just a matter of chopping off the waste between the cuts. This is pretty fun if you haven't ever done it.

Wood Table Floor Flooring Gas


(BTW I am really impressed with the NAREX chisels now that I have started using them. Good bang for the buck)

Table Tableware Wood Tool Office supplies


Then a test fit… That'll do pig…

Wood Rectangle Flooring Road surface Floor


Wood Rectangle Flooring Wood stain Plank


Wood Table Flooring Floor Rectangle


Next up are 3 more sets of dovetails and some channels around the bottom of the tool well and this can be assembled together finally.

It's almost looking like a proper bench now… almost..

Wood Gas Tool Engineering Flooring


Stay tuned…
 

Attachments

#258 ·
Endcap Part Deux....

Now that the wagon vise is sorted out and functioning quite well I might add (am having too much fun with it right now tbh).. Last night after work (1am.. pretty sure my neighbors hate me right now) I decided to go ahead and make the 1" dog for the vise.

Fairly straight forward. Sanded the 1" dowel slightly to give it a smooth fit (using the vise to do it no less :D )

Wood Flooring Floor Rectangle Hardwood


Then cut to length, cut an angled notch at the top and then used my 1/4" chisel to cut a grove down the back. I then cut a scrap of pig skin and glued it into the groove fuzzy side up to give it some grip in the hole. I also added some to the face of the dog.

Turned out OK. I'll probably re-do it soon because I'd like it to be a bit longer but it works pretty good for now.

Wood Floor Flooring Plank Varnish


Wood Rectangle Table Flooring Plank


Brown Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain


Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Hardwood


This morning I turned my attention to the other endcap. Measured and laid out all my cuts.

Table Wood Flooring Floor Rectangle


Then hogged out the waste from the area just aft of the dovetail.

Wood Air gun Tool Shotgun Trigger


After that I cheated a bit and set my circular saw to the depth of the tenons shoulder and cut 2 lines. One is the length of the tenon and the other is the shoulder cut. I used the first cut as a saw guide to finish it off with the hand saw. If I had a stair saw I probably would have used it for the shoulder cut but alas I haven't gotten around to that build yet.

Wood Automotive exterior Vehicle door Motor vehicle Flooring


Flush cut the bottom of the tenon on the back wall and then it was just a matter of chopping off the waste between the cuts. This is pretty fun if you haven't ever done it.

Wood Table Floor Flooring Gas


(BTW I am really impressed with the NAREX chisels now that I have started using them. Good bang for the buck)

Table Tableware Wood Tool Office supplies


Then a test fit… That'll do pig…

Wood Rectangle Flooring Road surface Floor


Wood Rectangle Flooring Wood stain Plank


Wood Table Flooring Floor Rectangle


Next up are 3 more sets of dovetails and some channels around the bottom of the tool well and this can be assembled together finally.

It's almost looking like a proper bench now… almost..

Wood Gas Tool Engineering Flooring


Stay tuned…
Eric, gutsy moves! Tenon fit looked pretty tight. Bottom of the tool well should push that slight bend out and I think plywood would be your best material choice. More stable, less chance of expanding too much.
 

Attachments

#264 ·
Back at it.. Fitting the Tool Well...

Well, now that I am done distracting myself with mallets, saw benches and cleaning it is time to get back at this. I have set an arbitrary deadline of September(ish) for completion of this bench so it is time to ramp things up a bit.

We left off with a partially fitted end cap in the last blog. A bit more progress has been made there. I have the Dovetails cut and "fitted (will require more plugs and shims.. perhaps by the 4th dovetail I will have this figured out?)

As before I added a filler piece..

Wood Engineering Machine Toolroom Tool


Love these things!

Wood Tool Tints and shades Flooring Hardwood


Put on some SRV and got to work..

Mobile phone Mobile device Portable communications device Communication Device Telephony


Wood Hardwood Flooring Wood stain Lumber


This time I positioned the top in a more saw friendly position. Helped a lot.. (which inspired the saw bench.. see how this goes?).

Wood Gas Table Metal Lumber


Wood Flooring Metal Soil Automotive wheel system


Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


Wood Gas Hardwood Plank Lumber


Then I wanted to add some support to the back wall of the tool well. I have been worried about the thickness of the wall since I added it. I seems to me it would flex too much during seasonal expansion of the top so I added some oak to the back side as a support..

I didn't spend too much time making it pretty.. it's on the bottom and covered anyway. I just needed it to funtion… I think it will do fine.

Wood Hardwood Engineering Machine tool Machine


Then this morning I started on the dados that will hold the tray bottom in. I opted to just chop out the ones on the end caps since stopped dados can get tricky with a plow plane and I would have had to chop most of it out anyway to get the plane to work properly. The new mallet just laughed at this and it took all of about 20 mins from layout to finished for both sides to be done.

Hand tool Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool Office ruler


Wood Hand tool Tool Flooring Hardwood


Wood Hand tool Flooring Floor Tool


Bottle Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood


Wood Hardwood Office supplies Wood stain Flooring


Wood Floor Hardwood Flooring Material property


Test fit and checking if it is consistent across the bottom.. pretty darn close enough..

Road surface Wood Floor Asphalt Automotive exterior


Wood Handle Door Dead bolt Hardwood


Wood Automotive tire Floor Fender Vehicle door


Now time to get this iron sharpened and get the other 2 walls done.. but that is for tomorrow.

Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Thanks for reading and stay tuned..
 

Attachments

#265 ·
Back at it.. Fitting the Tool Well...

Well, now that I am done distracting myself with mallets, saw benches and cleaning it is time to get back at this. I have set an arbitrary deadline of September(ish) for completion of this bench so it is time to ramp things up a bit.

We left off with a partially fitted end cap in the last blog. A bit more progress has been made there. I have the Dovetails cut and "fitted (will require more plugs and shims.. perhaps by the 4th dovetail I will have this figured out?)

As before I added a filler piece..

Wood Engineering Machine Toolroom Tool


Love these things!

Wood Tool Tints and shades Flooring Hardwood


Put on some SRV and got to work..

Mobile phone Mobile device Portable communications device Communication Device Telephony


Wood Hardwood Flooring Wood stain Lumber


This time I positioned the top in a more saw friendly position. Helped a lot.. (which inspired the saw bench.. see how this goes?).

Wood Gas Table Metal Lumber


Wood Flooring Metal Soil Automotive wheel system


Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


Wood Gas Hardwood Plank Lumber


Then I wanted to add some support to the back wall of the tool well. I have been worried about the thickness of the wall since I added it. I seems to me it would flex too much during seasonal expansion of the top so I added some oak to the back side as a support..

I didn't spend too much time making it pretty.. it's on the bottom and covered anyway. I just needed it to funtion… I think it will do fine.

Wood Hardwood Engineering Machine tool Machine


Then this morning I started on the dados that will hold the tray bottom in. I opted to just chop out the ones on the end caps since stopped dados can get tricky with a plow plane and I would have had to chop most of it out anyway to get the plane to work properly. The new mallet just laughed at this and it took all of about 20 mins from layout to finished for both sides to be done.

Hand tool Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool Office ruler


Wood Hand tool Tool Flooring Hardwood


Wood Hand tool Flooring Floor Tool


Bottle Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood


Wood Hardwood Office supplies Wood stain Flooring


Wood Floor Hardwood Flooring Material property


Test fit and checking if it is consistent across the bottom.. pretty darn close enough..

Road surface Wood Floor Asphalt Automotive exterior


Wood Handle Door Dead bolt Hardwood


Wood Automotive tire Floor Fender Vehicle door


Now time to get this iron sharpened and get the other 2 walls done.. but that is for tomorrow.

Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Thanks for reading and stay tuned..
Nice, when I did the dovetails for my endcaps and tool tray, I also used my saw bench, but I used a tenon saw lol
 

Attachments

#277 ·
Finishing up the Toolwell... All downhill from here.. I think..

We last ended with the second dovetail and the end caps mortised for the tool well ends. After a week of no progress in the shop I finally had some time this weekend to get something done.

To start I needed to cut the remaining dovetails so I would know where the dados should stop to not be seen on the out side of the bench.

I am sooooo glad this is over with. I would love to say I got better with each one but I really didn't. I did learn something new on each one but the mistakes kept coming and it will be fun cleaning these up but oh well… they are done and out of my hair now.

Office ruler Wood Hand tool Ruler Tool


Brown Wood Beige Floor Flooring


Wood Gas Hardwood Machine Engineering


Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood Tints and shades


Wood Hardwood Machine tool Plank Machine


Now to cut the well bottom to length..

Wood Flooring Engineering Tints and shades Machine tool


Then I got started on the front and back wall of the toolwell. I scored a couple very deep lines to outline the cut then went over the line with a chisel to further score it.

After that it was a matter of getting my plow plane (Thanks Ryan!) usable and cut the dado. The blade is a 1/2" blade and the well bottom is almost 3/4" so I had to cut the groove and then chop the rest with a chisel.

It came out pretty darn good really. Nice and tight (but not too tight for movement).

Wood Engineering Machine Metal Composite material


Wood Font Metal Machine Audio equipment


Wood Rectangle Engineering Machine Hardwood


Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Hardwood


Then the front wall was a totally different story. This piece of oak has the most difficult grain pattern I have ever worked with. It seemed to change direction about every 4 inches. After fighting through tearout and such I got it "cleaned up" and fitted. Not as pretty as I had hoped but it will do and I will probably be the only one to see the bad spots.

Wood Floor Motor vehicle Flooring Engineering


Wood Road surface Flooring Floor Asphalt


Then it was just a matter of putting it all together to make sure it all lines up and fits.

Wood Hardwood Automotive exterior Plank Wood stain


And whalla! The top is ready for final assembly! I had to have my wife help me lift it back onto the saw horses lol. I really need to weigh this thing.

Wood Floor Flooring Rectangle Hardwood


I also checked a couple of tools for fit.

My large Atkins rip saw just barely sits below the top edge..

Wood Floor Flooring Tints and shades Rectangle


And my no 7 is a bit too tall to sit upright but fits nicely on it's side.

Wood Window Flooring Floor Wood stain


Hand tool Wood Automotive exterior Table Flooring


Now to get this put together and start on my stretchers, leg vise and deadman. Almost there! Pretty excited about that :D

Stay tuned!
 

Attachments

#278 ·
Finishing up the Toolwell... All downhill from here.. I think..

We last ended with the second dovetail and the end caps mortised for the tool well ends. After a week of no progress in the shop I finally had some time this weekend to get something done.

To start I needed to cut the remaining dovetails so I would know where the dados should stop to not be seen on the out side of the bench.

I am sooooo glad this is over with. I would love to say I got better with each one but I really didn't. I did learn something new on each one but the mistakes kept coming and it will be fun cleaning these up but oh well… they are done and out of my hair now.

Office ruler Wood Hand tool Ruler Tool


Brown Wood Beige Floor Flooring


Wood Gas Hardwood Machine Engineering


Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood Tints and shades


Wood Hardwood Machine tool Plank Machine


Now to cut the well bottom to length..

Wood Flooring Engineering Tints and shades Machine tool


Then I got started on the front and back wall of the toolwell. I scored a couple very deep lines to outline the cut then went over the line with a chisel to further score it.

After that it was a matter of getting my plow plane (Thanks Ryan!) usable and cut the dado. The blade is a 1/2" blade and the well bottom is almost 3/4" so I had to cut the groove and then chop the rest with a chisel.

It came out pretty darn good really. Nice and tight (but not too tight for movement).

Wood Engineering Machine Metal Composite material


Wood Font Metal Machine Audio equipment


Wood Rectangle Engineering Machine Hardwood


Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Hardwood


Then the front wall was a totally different story. This piece of oak has the most difficult grain pattern I have ever worked with. It seemed to change direction about every 4 inches. After fighting through tearout and such I got it "cleaned up" and fitted. Not as pretty as I had hoped but it will do and I will probably be the only one to see the bad spots.

Wood Floor Motor vehicle Flooring Engineering


Wood Road surface Flooring Floor Asphalt


Then it was just a matter of putting it all together to make sure it all lines up and fits.

Wood Hardwood Automotive exterior Plank Wood stain


And whalla! The top is ready for final assembly! I had to have my wife help me lift it back onto the saw horses lol. I really need to weigh this thing.

Wood Floor Flooring Rectangle Hardwood


I also checked a couple of tools for fit.

My large Atkins rip saw just barely sits below the top edge..

Wood Floor Flooring Tints and shades Rectangle


And my no 7 is a bit too tall to sit upright but fits nicely on it's side.

Wood Window Flooring Floor Wood stain


Hand tool Wood Automotive exterior Table Flooring


Now to get this put together and start on my stretchers, leg vise and deadman. Almost there! Pretty excited about that :D

Stay tuned!
Moving right along Eric. I love that Ohio Tools Plow.
 

Attachments

#290 ·
Final Assembly of the Top...

I couldn't wait till tomorrow to put the top together. This did not go without it's fair share of oh sh#t moments one of which almost had me starting the whole thing over almost.. But I'm getting ahead of myself..

I had planned to use pegs instead of bolts. I am trying to keep the number of mechanical fasteners to a minimum on this so lets have a go at it..

Marked out the location of the peg holes and drilled just the end caps..

Wood Floor Flooring Gas Machine tool


Then fitted them and marked the hole locations on the tenons..

Wood Floor Flooring Tool Table


After they were marked I marked slightly inboard of that mark to suck the ends up nice and tight to the bench top. I drilled these out all but one hole slightly elongated to allow for expansion.. I might have f'd that away but we will see how it goes..

Wood Floor Gas Hardwood Composite material


After that I drilled for the pegged dovetails. I chose to peg these as well as glue them because of how loose they are from my stunning handy work..

This required some specialized equipment lol..

Data transfer cable Wood Tool Rectangle Gas


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Tints and shades


Wood Machine tool Gas Workbench Machine


Then cut and shaped some pegs and went to work gluing this up..

Table Rectangle Wood Flooring Tool


Which went fine until I was pounding the peg into the front left corner dovetail. I wasn't paying attention to the bottom of the dovetail until I heard a crack split noise ( we all know that noise ) .. apparently something had shifted quite a bit since I drilled the hole and the bottom hole did not line up with the rest and I had beat the peg straight into the bottom pin splitting it off of the endcap.

After unleashing a flurry of profanities I quickly cut the bottom of the peg flush with the bottom tail and glued up the split before it completely let go of the endcap.

This…. I did not get pictures of but it glued up relatively seamlessly and since it is not on the wagon vise end I am not too worried about it.

So after letting my heart get back into my chest I finished up the pegs and cut some shims for the dovetails..

Wood Rectangle Font Flooring Metal


Just needed a few LOL!

Wood Flooring Hardwood Tints and shades Wood stain


Wood Flooring Gas Bumper Hardwood


Table Wood Workbench Flooring Floor


After those dried I flush cut the dt's with the bench and couldn't resist trying it with the legs on.

Pretty exciting to get it to this point.

Table Wood Flooring Workbench Floor


Table Wood Stool Workbench Machine tool


But I still have a ways to go before I am allowed to use it for anything…

Handwriting Font Gas Tints and shades Darkness


Gotta keep the eyes on the prize and not get distracted lol..
 

Attachments

#291 ·
Final Assembly of the Top...

I couldn't wait till tomorrow to put the top together. This did not go without it's fair share of oh sh#t moments one of which almost had me starting the whole thing over almost.. But I'm getting ahead of myself..

I had planned to use pegs instead of bolts. I am trying to keep the number of mechanical fasteners to a minimum on this so lets have a go at it..

Marked out the location of the peg holes and drilled just the end caps..

Wood Floor Flooring Gas Machine tool


Then fitted them and marked the hole locations on the tenons..

Wood Floor Flooring Tool Table


After they were marked I marked slightly inboard of that mark to suck the ends up nice and tight to the bench top. I drilled these out all but one hole slightly elongated to allow for expansion.. I might have f'd that away but we will see how it goes..

Wood Floor Gas Hardwood Composite material


After that I drilled for the pegged dovetails. I chose to peg these as well as glue them because of how loose they are from my stunning handy work..

This required some specialized equipment lol..

Data transfer cable Wood Tool Rectangle Gas


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Gas Tints and shades


Wood Machine tool Gas Workbench Machine


Then cut and shaped some pegs and went to work gluing this up..

Table Rectangle Wood Flooring Tool


Which went fine until I was pounding the peg into the front left corner dovetail. I wasn't paying attention to the bottom of the dovetail until I heard a crack split noise ( we all know that noise ) .. apparently something had shifted quite a bit since I drilled the hole and the bottom hole did not line up with the rest and I had beat the peg straight into the bottom pin splitting it off of the endcap.

After unleashing a flurry of profanities I quickly cut the bottom of the peg flush with the bottom tail and glued up the split before it completely let go of the endcap.

This…. I did not get pictures of but it glued up relatively seamlessly and since it is not on the wagon vise end I am not too worried about it.

So after letting my heart get back into my chest I finished up the pegs and cut some shims for the dovetails..

Wood Rectangle Font Flooring Metal


Just needed a few LOL!

Wood Flooring Hardwood Tints and shades Wood stain


Wood Flooring Gas Bumper Hardwood


Table Wood Workbench Flooring Floor


After those dried I flush cut the dt's with the bench and couldn't resist trying it with the legs on.

Pretty exciting to get it to this point.

Table Wood Flooring Workbench Floor


Table Wood Stool Workbench Machine tool


But I still have a ways to go before I am allowed to use it for anything…

Handwriting Font Gas Tints and shades Darkness


Gotta keep the eyes on the prize and not get distracted lol..
GitRdun! Glad nothing completely devastating happened.
 

Attachments

#300 ·
Stretchers and Shelf

Now that I have a list I suppose I have no excuse not to at least attempt to finish this thing. So this week I got started on list item #1… The stretchers.

I had originally planned to build them out of the same ceder that the legs are made from but changed my mind in the name of weight and durability.

So I rummaged through my pile of oak cut offs left from the top and found a slab just the right length for the long stretchers. I figured I would figure out what to do about the short ones once I got to that point.

Wood Flooring Table Engineering Machine


So I cut that to length and ripped it in half with my circular saw (yes I have a few galoot deductions in thsi blog.. I'll do a few extra laps at PT next week as my penance) giving me 2 pieces roughly 2" x 3 1/2" .. basically an oak twobafore.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Tool Machine


Then I started cleaning them up and getting them 4 square. I started out like this using my saw bench to hold it steady..

Wood Motor vehicle Yellow Automotive exterior Bumper


At which point I looked to my left at a standing wood working bench with a functional wagon vise and smacked myself in the face lol…. WHAT WAS I DOING?

So I moved the wood to the bench and clamped a stop block on the bench and went to town. This was the first time using this as an actual bench and NOW I see what all the fuss is about! I can honestly say that if not for the fact that I needed these to be as big as they were I probably wouldn't have stopped planing them lol.

I would also like to add that the wagon vise performed beautifully!

Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Hardwood


Wood Floor Flooring Wood stain Hardwood


Once those were good to go fun time was over and it was time to flip the bench.. again. This is becoming less and less easy and fun with each flip ugh..

then I measured the stretchers to the legs while they were installed. I have read enough bench build blogs to note this method as the best way to make sure everything lines up.

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Beam


Wood Engineering Toolroom Machine Electrical wiring


Then I went about cutting and chopping the M/T joints one at a time each being fit individually. This took place over about 3 workdays. Spent a few hours before and after work getting these done and they each got better than the first (maybe I should just start on the last one next time lol)..

Wood Engineering Hardwood Machine Toolroom


Wood Engineering Workbench Toolroom Machine


Wood Window Table Workbench Engineering


Wood Window Engineering Hardwood Curtain


Wood Engineering Building Automotive design Machine


Table Wood Rectangle Stairs Wood stain


Wood Hardwood Engineering Shelving Audio equipment


Wood Engineering Toolroom Machine Workbench


Then came the short stretchers. As was noted in an earlier blog my back legs go through the top at an angle but the front legs go through straight. This was an oversight on my part which would make mating the base to the top almost impossible with a traditional stretcher configuration. Someone suggested some half lap dovetailed stretchers and I liked that idea. One it moves them out of the way of the leg vise's parallel guide and the front and back legs can be installed separately then connected by the short ones after installation.

This though.. presented it's own challenges. I am just about out of oak and I needed 2 more stretchers lol. I have always planned on using a couple oak stair treads from HD for the shelf on the base. They are flat, a full inch thick and actually cheaper than the oak lumber they sell. So me and the boy took another field trip to HD and picked those up. After measuring them I figured out that after trimming them to fit I would have enough left over for my stretchers.. boom.. bonus!

Wood Floor Hardwood Gas Flooring


Wood Line Flooring Floor Hardwood


Wood Flooring Workbench Gas Hardwood


Furniture Wood Table Flooring Floor


I still need to dowel and glue that up but that can wait..

First things first was to make sure the legs were equidistant from each other and measure out the short stretchers.

Wood Engineering Shelf Flooring Gas


Wood Shelving Electrical wiring Engineering Machine


Once that was done I laid out and cut the tails then clamped and transferred them to the legs for the pins..

Broke out the Moxon for this duty..

Wood Machine tool Workbench Hardwood Engineering


Wood Engineering Machine Toolroom Workbench


Cut the edges with my HF flush cut saw then again lost some galoot points by using my drill press and a forstner bit to clean out the waste in the pins.

After that was done I used the same saw to cut up to the two outside edges. This made for a very clean bit of dovetailing lol..

Stonemason's hammer Wood Office ruler Tool Hand tool


Test fit went good so I proceeded on the other side.. I did have one incident with a forstner bit gite on the front of the one of the front legs (of course.. ). But it just gives it some character and should clean up decently I think.

Wood Shelving Engineering Hardwood Machine


Wood Sleeve Beige Wood stain Flooring


Then I doubled up the side stretchers.. I really need some smaller F clamps..

Floor Flooring Machine Gas Metal


And here we are.. one item off the list.

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Rectangle Flooring


Wood Drawer Wood stain Table Plank


(The short ones haven't been glued yet in this pic..)

Wood Flooring Floor Automotive tire Rectangle


Handwriting Font Rectangle Gas Writing


Goal for this weekend is to get the leg vise fully installed, base installed and top flat. We shall see just how much of that actually happens.

Thanks for reading the rather long winded post … in an even more long winded blog!
 

Attachments

#301 ·
Stretchers and Shelf

Now that I have a list I suppose I have no excuse not to at least attempt to finish this thing. So this week I got started on list item #1… The stretchers.

I had originally planned to build them out of the same ceder that the legs are made from but changed my mind in the name of weight and durability.

So I rummaged through my pile of oak cut offs left from the top and found a slab just the right length for the long stretchers. I figured I would figure out what to do about the short ones once I got to that point.

Wood Flooring Table Engineering Machine


So I cut that to length and ripped it in half with my circular saw (yes I have a few galoot deductions in thsi blog.. I'll do a few extra laps at PT next week as my penance) giving me 2 pieces roughly 2" x 3 1/2" .. basically an oak twobafore.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Tool Machine


Then I started cleaning them up and getting them 4 square. I started out like this using my saw bench to hold it steady..

Wood Motor vehicle Yellow Automotive exterior Bumper


At which point I looked to my left at a standing wood working bench with a functional wagon vise and smacked myself in the face lol…. WHAT WAS I DOING?

So I moved the wood to the bench and clamped a stop block on the bench and went to town. This was the first time using this as an actual bench and NOW I see what all the fuss is about! I can honestly say that if not for the fact that I needed these to be as big as they were I probably wouldn't have stopped planing them lol.

I would also like to add that the wagon vise performed beautifully!

Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring Hardwood


Wood Floor Flooring Wood stain Hardwood


Once those were good to go fun time was over and it was time to flip the bench.. again. This is becoming less and less easy and fun with each flip ugh..

then I measured the stretchers to the legs while they were installed. I have read enough bench build blogs to note this method as the best way to make sure everything lines up.

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Beam


Wood Engineering Toolroom Machine Electrical wiring


Then I went about cutting and chopping the M/T joints one at a time each being fit individually. This took place over about 3 workdays. Spent a few hours before and after work getting these done and they each got better than the first (maybe I should just start on the last one next time lol)..

Wood Engineering Hardwood Machine Toolroom


Wood Engineering Workbench Toolroom Machine


Wood Window Table Workbench Engineering


Wood Window Engineering Hardwood Curtain


Wood Engineering Building Automotive design Machine


Table Wood Rectangle Stairs Wood stain


Wood Hardwood Engineering Shelving Audio equipment


Wood Engineering Toolroom Machine Workbench


Then came the short stretchers. As was noted in an earlier blog my back legs go through the top at an angle but the front legs go through straight. This was an oversight on my part which would make mating the base to the top almost impossible with a traditional stretcher configuration. Someone suggested some half lap dovetailed stretchers and I liked that idea. One it moves them out of the way of the leg vise's parallel guide and the front and back legs can be installed separately then connected by the short ones after installation.

This though.. presented it's own challenges. I am just about out of oak and I needed 2 more stretchers lol. I have always planned on using a couple oak stair treads from HD for the shelf on the base. They are flat, a full inch thick and actually cheaper than the oak lumber they sell. So me and the boy took another field trip to HD and picked those up. After measuring them I figured out that after trimming them to fit I would have enough left over for my stretchers.. boom.. bonus!

Wood Floor Hardwood Gas Flooring


Wood Line Flooring Floor Hardwood


Wood Flooring Workbench Gas Hardwood


Furniture Wood Table Flooring Floor


I still need to dowel and glue that up but that can wait..

First things first was to make sure the legs were equidistant from each other and measure out the short stretchers.

Wood Engineering Shelf Flooring Gas


Wood Shelving Electrical wiring Engineering Machine


Once that was done I laid out and cut the tails then clamped and transferred them to the legs for the pins..

Broke out the Moxon for this duty..

Wood Machine tool Workbench Hardwood Engineering


Wood Engineering Machine Toolroom Workbench


Cut the edges with my HF flush cut saw then again lost some galoot points by using my drill press and a forstner bit to clean out the waste in the pins.

After that was done I used the same saw to cut up to the two outside edges. This made for a very clean bit of dovetailing lol..

Stonemason's hammer Wood Office ruler Tool Hand tool


Test fit went good so I proceeded on the other side.. I did have one incident with a forstner bit gite on the front of the one of the front legs (of course.. ). But it just gives it some character and should clean up decently I think.

Wood Shelving Engineering Hardwood Machine


Wood Sleeve Beige Wood stain Flooring


Then I doubled up the side stretchers.. I really need some smaller F clamps..

Floor Flooring Machine Gas Metal


And here we are.. one item off the list.

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Rectangle Flooring


Wood Drawer Wood stain Table Plank


(The short ones haven't been glued yet in this pic..)

Wood Flooring Floor Automotive tire Rectangle


Handwriting Font Rectangle Gas Writing


Goal for this weekend is to get the leg vise fully installed, base installed and top flat. We shall see just how much of that actually happens.

Thanks for reading the rather long winded post … in an even more long winded blog!
Very nice. It's lookin' pretty good!
 

Attachments

#306 ·
Leg Vise #1.. Started the Chop...

Today was almost a wash. Had errands to run this morning and the boy had a Dr appointment this afternoon ANNNND I have to work tonight so not much in the way of free time in the shop but was able to get some progress made on the leg vise. And I am happy to report that no electrons were killed during todays progress :D I have some Galoot points to recover lol..

First things first I had to flip then rotate my top so I could get some measurements made and have access to the wagon vise. Flipping is fun and rotating it is even more fun lol.

Wood Table Carpenter Wood stain Workbench


Then I got all my vise hardware together. It has been a few months since I last got everything together so I was relieved to find everything in one piece still lol.

Automotive tire Wood Gas Machine Metal


Now, if you read the instructions for the BC glide vise which is more or less what this is designed after it says to measure for the parallel guide you install the nut at it's farthest point. Hold that on one side of the leg and measure from the front of the leg to the flange. Ok that makes sense.. then it says subtract the chop thickness.. wait what? Doesn't the PG go through the chop?.. moving on it then says to add the thickness of the leg.. now hold on a second.. why did I go through the song and dance of balancing this on the side of the leg if I am going to just add that back in? Then it says to add 2" for the upper guide wheel (which I won't have but added it anyway because of the chain vise hardware) then add back in your chop mortise..

So basically they made a very simple measurement very complex. Basically… measure from the nut to the flange and add 2".

So that is what I did lol..

Ruler Wood Tool Font Office ruler


Ruler Office ruler Wood Line Tool


It came out to just a hair short of 19 3/4" so I rounded up and added in my 2" which gets me 21 3/4" of parallel guide. Hopefully that turns out to be correct.

Got out my piece of maple and cut it to length.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


Then my attention turned to the chop it's self. I have had my last large piece of red oak sitting on hold for the leg vise since I started ripping them for the top. However now that I look at it again.. I might have held back a better looking piece lol.

Table Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood


I measured out for the screw hole and drew out the rough shape then ripped the side down with my increasingly dulling new Stanley disposable saw.

Wood Bumper Hand tool Gas Tool


Then came the curved shoulders. I pondered this cut for a bit and decided to notch it out and then carve out the waste. Worked like a charm!

Saw Wood Lighting Tool Hand tool


Wood Rectangle Tints and shades Publication Hardwood


Wood Table Floor Hardwood Flooring


Broke out the #4 and the #130 to clean up the cuts and whala.. one half finished. I'll smooth the curve out more when I do the final shaping/sanding.

Wood Goggles Bumper Tool Hardwood


Tire Bicycle tire Wheel Automotive tire Wood


Then simply repeat these steps on the other side..

Wood Tool Floor Flooring Table


Wood Floor Flooring Gas Hardwood


Then into the wagon vise it went to get flattened and smoothed out. And here is the rough product so far. I plan to laminate a 1" thick piece of cherry onto the front to thicken up the chop a bit. Right now it is a little under 2" and I would like to get it closer to 3" if I can.

I also measured it out for clearance of the base joinery and it looks to be close but I think I can persuade it to squeeze in there somehow.

That's all for now. I hope to get much more done tomorrow so stay tuned.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Wood stain Gas
 

Attachments

#307 ·
Leg Vise #1.. Started the Chop...

Today was almost a wash. Had errands to run this morning and the boy had a Dr appointment this afternoon ANNNND I have to work tonight so not much in the way of free time in the shop but was able to get some progress made on the leg vise. And I am happy to report that no electrons were killed during todays progress :D I have some Galoot points to recover lol..

First things first I had to flip then rotate my top so I could get some measurements made and have access to the wagon vise. Flipping is fun and rotating it is even more fun lol.

Wood Table Carpenter Wood stain Workbench


Then I got all my vise hardware together. It has been a few months since I last got everything together so I was relieved to find everything in one piece still lol.

Automotive tire Wood Gas Machine Metal


Now, if you read the instructions for the BC glide vise which is more or less what this is designed after it says to measure for the parallel guide you install the nut at it's farthest point. Hold that on one side of the leg and measure from the front of the leg to the flange. Ok that makes sense.. then it says subtract the chop thickness.. wait what? Doesn't the PG go through the chop?.. moving on it then says to add the thickness of the leg.. now hold on a second.. why did I go through the song and dance of balancing this on the side of the leg if I am going to just add that back in? Then it says to add 2" for the upper guide wheel (which I won't have but added it anyway because of the chain vise hardware) then add back in your chop mortise..

So basically they made a very simple measurement very complex. Basically… measure from the nut to the flange and add 2".

So that is what I did lol..

Ruler Wood Tool Font Office ruler


Ruler Office ruler Wood Line Tool


It came out to just a hair short of 19 3/4" so I rounded up and added in my 2" which gets me 21 3/4" of parallel guide. Hopefully that turns out to be correct.

Got out my piece of maple and cut it to length.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


Then my attention turned to the chop it's self. I have had my last large piece of red oak sitting on hold for the leg vise since I started ripping them for the top. However now that I look at it again.. I might have held back a better looking piece lol.

Table Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood


I measured out for the screw hole and drew out the rough shape then ripped the side down with my increasingly dulling new Stanley disposable saw.

Wood Bumper Hand tool Gas Tool


Then came the curved shoulders. I pondered this cut for a bit and decided to notch it out and then carve out the waste. Worked like a charm!

Saw Wood Lighting Tool Hand tool


Wood Rectangle Tints and shades Publication Hardwood


Wood Table Floor Hardwood Flooring


Broke out the #4 and the #130 to clean up the cuts and whala.. one half finished. I'll smooth the curve out more when I do the final shaping/sanding.

Wood Goggles Bumper Tool Hardwood


Tire Bicycle tire Wheel Automotive tire Wood


Then simply repeat these steps on the other side..

Wood Tool Floor Flooring Table


Wood Floor Flooring Gas Hardwood


Then into the wagon vise it went to get flattened and smoothed out. And here is the rough product so far. I plan to laminate a 1" thick piece of cherry onto the front to thicken up the chop a bit. Right now it is a little under 2" and I would like to get it closer to 3" if I can.

I also measured it out for clearance of the base joinery and it looks to be close but I think I can persuade it to squeeze in there somehow.

That's all for now. I hope to get much more done tomorrow so stay tuned.

Wood Flooring Hardwood Wood stain Gas
almost everything you do is by hand, yet you bought the magic leg vice. that just makes me smile. And ii think that's the first time I seen someone actually use a #130.. I can see the end now.
 

Attachments

#316 ·
Leg Vise #2.. Another Item Off The List...

Once the chop was shaped it was time to get started attaching the hardware to it and making some holes. I had hoped to have this completely finished by the end of last weekend but I missed that deadline by a day… close enough I think.

First up was the parallel guide.

I measured out the mortise and marked some holes to be drilled out. Then got my brace and bit out and hogged out the waste.

Wood Hardwood Natural material Wood stain Varnish


Wood Hand tool Metalworking hand tool Tool Gas


Getting better at drilling straight holes :D Nearly all of them landed right on the line on the backside!

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


Cleaned that up with a chisel and fit the guide to the chop.

Wood Floor Hardwood Flooring Engineering


Then clamped the chop to the leg and marked the mortise for the guide to go through the leg and repeated the process.

Wood Vise Yellow Tool Floor


Hand tool Crosscut saw Wood Tableware Tool


Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Wood Hand tool Pliers Tool Garden tool


Then measured out the screw location.. drilled that and attached the flange.

Wood Gas Auto part Bicycle part Tool


Wood Hardwood Wood stain Plywood Electrical wiring


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Bicycle part Musical instrument accessory


Wood Floor Flooring Bicycle part Gas


The prepped the guide for installation. Taped up to keep squeeze out off the wood and pegged into place..

Wood Gas Office ruler Flooring Composite material


Wood Tool Saw Flooring Gas


Once that was dry I peeled the tape and fit it to the leg and drilled the screw hole through it using the chop as a guide to align everything.

Bicycle Wood Tire Bicycle part Tool


Wood Gas Machine Engineering Flooring


Then I needed to drill the mounting holes into my nut flange and thread it onto the leg to mark for mounting.

Fluid Wood Milling Drilling Gas


Motor vehicle Cameras & optics Camera lens Goggles Yellow


Wood Gas Engineering Machine Metal


Building Wood House Floor Flooring


Motor vehicle Wood Wheel Automotive tire Gas


Then I made and installed a roller bracket.

Wood Gas Hardwood Flooring Wood stain


Wood Tire Bicycle part Tool Gas


From this point on I was very laxed in taking pictures. I found a rhythm and just went with it. I had really planned to get a bunch of pics of the chain installation but oh well. It's on there and that's what matters lol.

Before installation of the chain I needed to do some fitting to the lower roller bracket. This is not an issue with the kit it's self but of my layout error in putting the side stretcher the same level as the guide. I will also need to fit the shoulder to the bracket once it comes to final assembly.

Gas Bumper Machine Electric blue Space


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Tool


This is the point where the pictures stopped lol. But I just simply followed the instructions step by step for the Chain Vise installation and it all came together just as it should.

Wood Tool Gas Flooring Machine


Automotive tire Wood Bicycle tire Bicycle part Bicycle fork


Wood Gas Engineering Metal Machine


Nearly 9 1/2" capacity.. should be enough lol..

Office ruler Font Ruler Automotive tire Tire


I didn't have a can on hand to crush but it did flatten a plastic cup with no effort :D. Once the leg is attached to the bench I'll get a video made of it moving.

Annnnnd that is one more thing off the "To Do" list. I do still need to do the final shaping/sanding of the chop and cut it flush with the top but I want to get the legs on before I do that just to make sure everything is measured correctly.

Handwriting Font Rectangle Writing Signage


Final base assembly and the Deadman is next.. stay tuned. Almost done :D
 

Attachments

#317 ·
Leg Vise #2.. Another Item Off The List...

Once the chop was shaped it was time to get started attaching the hardware to it and making some holes. I had hoped to have this completely finished by the end of last weekend but I missed that deadline by a day… close enough I think.

First up was the parallel guide.

I measured out the mortise and marked some holes to be drilled out. Then got my brace and bit out and hogged out the waste.

Wood Hardwood Natural material Wood stain Varnish


Wood Hand tool Metalworking hand tool Tool Gas


Getting better at drilling straight holes :D Nearly all of them landed right on the line on the backside!

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


Cleaned that up with a chisel and fit the guide to the chop.

Wood Floor Hardwood Flooring Engineering


Then clamped the chop to the leg and marked the mortise for the guide to go through the leg and repeated the process.

Wood Vise Yellow Tool Floor


Hand tool Crosscut saw Wood Tableware Tool


Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Wood Hand tool Pliers Tool Garden tool


Then measured out the screw location.. drilled that and attached the flange.

Wood Gas Auto part Bicycle part Tool


Wood Hardwood Wood stain Plywood Electrical wiring


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Bicycle part Musical instrument accessory


Wood Floor Flooring Bicycle part Gas


The prepped the guide for installation. Taped up to keep squeeze out off the wood and pegged into place..

Wood Gas Office ruler Flooring Composite material


Wood Tool Saw Flooring Gas


Once that was dry I peeled the tape and fit it to the leg and drilled the screw hole through it using the chop as a guide to align everything.

Bicycle Wood Tire Bicycle part Tool


Wood Gas Machine Engineering Flooring


Then I needed to drill the mounting holes into my nut flange and thread it onto the leg to mark for mounting.

Fluid Wood Milling Drilling Gas


Motor vehicle Cameras & optics Camera lens Goggles Yellow


Wood Gas Engineering Machine Metal


Building Wood House Floor Flooring


Motor vehicle Wood Wheel Automotive tire Gas


Then I made and installed a roller bracket.

Wood Gas Hardwood Flooring Wood stain


Wood Tire Bicycle part Tool Gas


From this point on I was very laxed in taking pictures. I found a rhythm and just went with it. I had really planned to get a bunch of pics of the chain installation but oh well. It's on there and that's what matters lol.

Before installation of the chain I needed to do some fitting to the lower roller bracket. This is not an issue with the kit it's self but of my layout error in putting the side stretcher the same level as the guide. I will also need to fit the shoulder to the bracket once it comes to final assembly.

Gas Bumper Machine Electric blue Space


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Tool


This is the point where the pictures stopped lol. But I just simply followed the instructions step by step for the Chain Vise installation and it all came together just as it should.

Wood Tool Gas Flooring Machine


Automotive tire Wood Bicycle tire Bicycle part Bicycle fork


Wood Gas Engineering Metal Machine


Nearly 9 1/2" capacity.. should be enough lol..

Office ruler Font Ruler Automotive tire Tire


I didn't have a can on hand to crush but it did flatten a plastic cup with no effort :D. Once the leg is attached to the bench I'll get a video made of it moving.

Annnnnd that is one more thing off the "To Do" list. I do still need to do the final shaping/sanding of the chop and cut it flush with the top but I want to get the legs on before I do that just to make sure everything is measured correctly.

Handwriting Font Rectangle Writing Signage


Final base assembly and the Deadman is next.. stay tuned. Almost done :D
When do you sleep?!
 

Attachments

#324 ·
Attaching the Base #1..

I got started attaching the base to the top last night. Only got about halfway through it because it was late and I didn't want to rush through it and mess something up. But so far so good.

This is mostly a short picture post but you should have an idea of what is going on here..

Once more flip and rotate the top..

Wood Table Flooring Hardwood Tradesman


Then measure out the side stretcher by the leg vise for clearance of the chain bracket..

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Tool Plank


Wood Flooring Hardwood Wood stain Plank


Wood Wood stain Floor Plank Hardwood


Then got everything drilled and ready for drawboring… then got to it..

Wood Tints and shades Hardwood Lumber Rectangle


Wood Flooring Rectangle Floor Wood stain


Wood Automotive tire Road surface Flooring Floor


Wood Floor Flooring Bumper Hardwood


Wood Hand tool Hardwood Wood stain Tool


Wood Wood stain Floor Hardwood Plank


Wood Wood stain Shade Floor Plank


And here we have it. Two front legs and a stretcher permanently attached to the bench top :D

Wood Engineering Hardwood Machine Shelving


I'm hoping to have the back legs and side stretchers installed tonight and then this bench can finally stand on it's own 4 feet permanently. I really can't wait to put away those plastic saw horses!

Stay tuned..
 

Attachments

#325 ·
Attaching the Base #1..

I got started attaching the base to the top last night. Only got about halfway through it because it was late and I didn't want to rush through it and mess something up. But so far so good.

This is mostly a short picture post but you should have an idea of what is going on here..

Once more flip and rotate the top..



Then measure out the side stretcher by the leg vise for clearance of the chain bracket..







Then got everything drilled and ready for drawboring… then got to it..















And here we have it. Two front legs and a stretcher permanently attached to the bench top :D



I'm hoping to have the back legs and side stretchers installed tonight and then this bench can finally stand on it's own 4 feet permanently. I really can't wait to put away those plastic saw horses!

Stay tuned..
in the home stretch now!
 

Attachments

#334 ·
Finishing the Base and Flattening the top....

I FINALLY found enough free time between work shifts to get the back 2 legs and side stretchers attached. Since I glued up the toolwell before installing the back legs I wasn't going to be able to drawbore them into place so I decided to wedge them instead.

So a couple relief holes and a bit of saw work later they were ready to go but first I needed to do the long stretcher.

Again, drill and offset the tenon.. make some pegs and get all my ducks in order for this operation since it will be time critical once it is started lol..

Wood Office ruler Floor Rectangle Wood stain


Wood Rectangle Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Plank


Then I bashed some pegs and applied glue to the leg tenons and fit it all up..

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Wood Architecture Interior design Flooring Hardwood


Then I had to quickly flip the bench and remove the saw horses, add glue to the wedges and pound those into the two legs before the open time on the glue was up… that was fun..

Brown Table Rectangle Wood Flooring


Brown Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor


Then I made sure everything would line up and boom! There's a bench in my shop suddenly!

Table Wood Workbench Wood stain Hardwood


After that I glued in to side stretchers and let it sit overnight.

This morning I started on the permanent install of the leg vise. I needed a hole in the back leg to allow the screw to pass through so I threaded it in just till it touched the back leg and marked a line around to the other side.

Wood Hardwood Automotive exterior Wood stain Plywood


Building Wood Wood stain Hardwood Tints and shades


Drilled a 1 1/4" hole through there and re-installed the chain to the vise. The I needed to flush up the top of the vise with the bench top.

Saw Hand tool Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool


Then I couldn't resist a test run lol..

Wood Flooring Art Sculpture Machine


Still needs some leather on the shop but this thing holds like crazy! And the Chain Vise hardware does it's job superbly! It just opens and closes with no fussing with pins or wedges and such.

If any of you are interested in this system for your bench give Jim aka Boatman53 a message and he will get you set up.

Here she is with the vise installed..

Table Furniture Wood Desk Workbench


Then I decided to skip ahead a bit and flatten the top before the deadman. Seems it would be easier to use the bench to make that and to do so I need some dog holes.

I used a straight edge to check for low spots and found a nice hump down the center of the bench.

Road surface Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood


So with a little love from my #3, #5, #6 and finally the Craftsman #7 I was both tired and satisfied with calling it flat enough.

That was also fun… said no one ever lol..

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Table Floor


So there are 2 more things off the list which grew by 1 over night because I realized I didn't add the base assembly to the list for some reason. So it became # 2.5 lol.

Font Rectangle Gas Handwriting Metal


Now to get my brace setup and ready for some dog holes :D
 

Attachments

#335 ·
Finishing the Base and Flattening the top....

I FINALLY found enough free time between work shifts to get the back 2 legs and side stretchers attached. Since I glued up the toolwell before installing the back legs I wasn't going to be able to drawbore them into place so I decided to wedge them instead.

So a couple relief holes and a bit of saw work later they were ready to go but first I needed to do the long stretcher.

Again, drill and offset the tenon.. make some pegs and get all my ducks in order for this operation since it will be time critical once it is started lol..

Wood Office ruler Floor Rectangle Wood stain


Wood Rectangle Floor Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Plank


Then I bashed some pegs and applied glue to the leg tenons and fit it all up..

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Wood Architecture Interior design Flooring Hardwood


Then I had to quickly flip the bench and remove the saw horses, add glue to the wedges and pound those into the two legs before the open time on the glue was up… that was fun..

Brown Table Rectangle Wood Flooring


Brown Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor


Then I made sure everything would line up and boom! There's a bench in my shop suddenly!

Table Wood Workbench Wood stain Hardwood


After that I glued in to side stretchers and let it sit overnight.

This morning I started on the permanent install of the leg vise. I needed a hole in the back leg to allow the screw to pass through so I threaded it in just till it touched the back leg and marked a line around to the other side.

Wood Hardwood Automotive exterior Wood stain Plywood


Building Wood Wood stain Hardwood Tints and shades


Drilled a 1 1/4" hole through there and re-installed the chain to the vise. The I needed to flush up the top of the vise with the bench top.

Saw Hand tool Wood Tool Metalworking hand tool


Then I couldn't resist a test run lol..

Wood Flooring Art Sculpture Machine


Still needs some leather on the shop but this thing holds like crazy! And the Chain Vise hardware does it's job superbly! It just opens and closes with no fussing with pins or wedges and such.

If any of you are interested in this system for your bench give Jim aka Boatman53 a message and he will get you set up.

Here she is with the vise installed..

Table Furniture Wood Desk Workbench


Then I decided to skip ahead a bit and flatten the top before the deadman. Seems it would be easier to use the bench to make that and to do so I need some dog holes.

I used a straight edge to check for low spots and found a nice hump down the center of the bench.

Road surface Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood


So with a little love from my #3, #5, #6 and finally the Craftsman #7 I was both tired and satisfied with calling it flat enough.

That was also fun… said no one ever lol..

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Table Floor


So there are 2 more things off the list which grew by 1 over night because I realized I didn't add the base assembly to the list for some reason. So it became # 2.5 lol.

Font Rectangle Gas Handwriting Metal


Now to get my brace setup and ready for some dog holes :D
Looking fantastic. Chain vise is badass. Grain in top… Beautiful. Joinery… Manly. Galoot index readings are tweaking the meter.

Very nicely done, Eric.
 

Attachments

#342 ·
Dog Holes and The Sliding Deadman

Last night after flattening the bench I couldn't wait any longer to get some holes drilled in the top. I have been kinda dreading this part because it is one of those permanent type things in a major component of the bench.

Earlier I had mentioned that I didn't have a 3/4" auger bit for my brace…. well that turned out to not be true lol. The problem is that I can't math. Turns out I have a 12/16" bit and for those of you following along that simplifies into 3/4" DOH! Why not just label it 3/4"!!!

So I laid out the holes 3 1/2" on center and started drilling….

Table Wood Building Kitchen Shelf


And drilling…..

Wood Tradesman Flooring Engineering Shelf


And drill.. well you get the picture. 16 holes total. This went surprisingly quick and all the holes are "mostly straight" good enough to hold a dog in place or a holdfast.

Then I stood back to admire my handy work when I noticed a layout error.. well 2 to be exact. I had measured 3 1/2" between dog holes just fine except I started the measurements from the END of the wagon vise instead of the center of the dog on the wagon vise. That leaves a wide spot between the vise and the first dog of almost 5" . I might have to come up with a creative dog solution to bridge the gap there.. not sure at this point.

The other issue is my 3 holdfast holes none of which line up with a corresponding dog hole. This will make producing a plane stop difficult but not impossible. Oh well.. you live and learn.

Wood Road surface Flooring Wood stain Floor


Wood Flooring Floor Composite material Hardwood


Then this morning I started on the Sliding Deadman.

Rummaged through my lumber pile and pulled out a piece of 4/4 cherry that fit the bill. and cut it to fit into the space between the top and front stretcher.

Wood Tints and shades Wheel Sports equipment Recreation


Then squared it up and flattened the faces using my new holding ability! Soo much fun!

Wood Beige Flooring Hardwood Serveware


Table Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood


Then tried to figure out what to do about the rail. I remembered a pair of half round strips that were cut off of the boards I will be using for the shelf.

Wood Table Plank Wood stain Flooring


That should do nicely as long as I can figure out a way to make a matching cove on the deadman.

I stared at it for a bit and realized the cove would me roughly the shape as a half round file. Clamped it into my legvise (giggity) along with the cut off from it to act as a fence and I got the cove started with a half round rasp. Once a grove was started I cut a short piece or the rail and wrapped some 80 grit around it and shaped the cove to fit the rail in this manner. Worked out pretty good. Finished it up with successive grits of 150 and 220 and whalla a nice cove to ride upon the rail!

Wood Flooring Floor Automotive tire Hardwood


Then I fit a tenon to the top in line with the groove ont he bottom of the top. Attached it with glue and finish nails from the backside and to my very pleasant surprise it actually slides very effortlessly and aligns nicely with the top!

Wood Creative arts Hardwood Wood stain Plywood


Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Beige


Furniture Table Wood Outdoor bench Outdoor furniture


Wood Wood stain Tints and shades Hardwood Flooring


Then I prepped the stretcher for glueup of the rail and cut out a door for the deadman to be installed or removed from.

Wood Grass Rectangle Floor Wood stain


Purple Wood Electric blue Wing Art


Table Wood Wood stain Rectangle Plank


As for the hole layout on the deadman it's self I was flying blind on this. I decided to use the 2 holdfast holes in the leg as a starting point. I wanted at least one hole to line of with one of those so measuring it out gave me a starting point. The holes are spaced 2" apart with 2 rows of 1" holes for my Stanley #203 and a corresponding set of 3/4" holes for other bench accessories.

Wood Bottle Rectangle Wood stain Gas


I had to drill offset recesses for the #203 to mount into.

Plant Tire Wood Audio equipment Tree


Hit the sides of it with my round over plane and swiped my #3 across the front a couple times to smooth it out and remove the layout lines and BOOM a sliding deadman!

Which equals a complete usable workbench :D !!!!



Thank you for following along. There will probably be one more entry as I get the shelf installed and some finish on it but I'm going to go build some stuff on this now and worry about that later :D
 

Attachments

#343 ·
Dog Holes and The Sliding Deadman

Last night after flattening the bench I couldn't wait any longer to get some holes drilled in the top. I have been kinda dreading this part because it is one of those permanent type things in a major component of the bench.

Earlier I had mentioned that I didn't have a 3/4" auger bit for my brace…. well that turned out to not be true lol. The problem is that I can't math. Turns out I have a 12/16" bit and for those of you following along that simplifies into 3/4" DOH! Why not just label it 3/4"!!!

So I laid out the holes 3 1/2" on center and started drilling….

Table Wood Building Kitchen Shelf


And drilling…..

Wood Tradesman Flooring Engineering Shelf


And drill.. well you get the picture. 16 holes total. This went surprisingly quick and all the holes are "mostly straight" good enough to hold a dog in place or a holdfast.

Then I stood back to admire my handy work when I noticed a layout error.. well 2 to be exact. I had measured 3 1/2" between dog holes just fine except I started the measurements from the END of the wagon vise instead of the center of the dog on the wagon vise. That leaves a wide spot between the vise and the first dog of almost 5" . I might have to come up with a creative dog solution to bridge the gap there.. not sure at this point.

The other issue is my 3 holdfast holes none of which line up with a corresponding dog hole. This will make producing a plane stop difficult but not impossible. Oh well.. you live and learn.

Wood Road surface Flooring Wood stain Floor


Wood Flooring Floor Composite material Hardwood


Then this morning I started on the Sliding Deadman.

Rummaged through my lumber pile and pulled out a piece of 4/4 cherry that fit the bill. and cut it to fit into the space between the top and front stretcher.

Wood Tints and shades Wheel Sports equipment Recreation


Then squared it up and flattened the faces using my new holding ability! Soo much fun!

Wood Beige Flooring Hardwood Serveware


Table Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood


Then tried to figure out what to do about the rail. I remembered a pair of half round strips that were cut off of the boards I will be using for the shelf.

Wood Table Plank Wood stain Flooring


That should do nicely as long as I can figure out a way to make a matching cove on the deadman.

I stared at it for a bit and realized the cove would me roughly the shape as a half round file. Clamped it into my legvise (giggity) along with the cut off from it to act as a fence and I got the cove started with a half round rasp. Once a grove was started I cut a short piece or the rail and wrapped some 80 grit around it and shaped the cove to fit the rail in this manner. Worked out pretty good. Finished it up with successive grits of 150 and 220 and whalla a nice cove to ride upon the rail!

Wood Flooring Floor Automotive tire Hardwood


Then I fit a tenon to the top in line with the groove ont he bottom of the top. Attached it with glue and finish nails from the backside and to my very pleasant surprise it actually slides very effortlessly and aligns nicely with the top!

Wood Creative arts Hardwood Wood stain Plywood


Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Beige


Furniture Table Wood Outdoor bench Outdoor furniture


Wood Wood stain Tints and shades Hardwood Flooring


Then I prepped the stretcher for glueup of the rail and cut out a door for the deadman to be installed or removed from.

Wood Grass Rectangle Floor Wood stain


Purple Wood Electric blue Wing Art


Table Wood Wood stain Rectangle Plank


As for the hole layout on the deadman it's self I was flying blind on this. I decided to use the 2 holdfast holes in the leg as a starting point. I wanted at least one hole to line of with one of those so measuring it out gave me a starting point. The holes are spaced 2" apart with 2 rows of 1" holes for my Stanley #203 and a corresponding set of 3/4" holes for other bench accessories.

Wood Bottle Rectangle Wood stain Gas


I had to drill offset recesses for the #203 to mount into.

Plant Tire Wood Audio equipment Tree


Hit the sides of it with my round over plane and swiped my #3 across the front a couple times to smooth it out and remove the layout lines and BOOM a sliding deadman!

Which equals a complete usable workbench :D !!!!



Thank you for following along. There will probably be one more entry as I get the shelf installed and some finish on it but I'm going to go build some stuff on this now and worry about that later :D
Wow. What a great build. I joined in late. Guess I will need to go back and read the entire series. :)
 

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