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155K views 283 replies 74 participants last post by  dealmaster 
#1 ·
Conceptual Design 1 - feedback appreciated

So after we've got the bowling alleys. now it's time to put them to to use (not really 'now now' but … you know what I mean).

So, I really would like to make this one a keeper, and not have to redo this bench unless I really fancy it in the future with lots of extra time on my hands and nothing better to do with it (hence - not likely it'll happen), and in order to do that, I figured I'll make this one as close as I can to the 'ultimate' bench for me- having the things I need, and could use the most.

obviously the vises play a major part in this - after thinking it through, I decided to dump the idea of a tail vise for it's tendency to rack, and drop below the surface of the bench itself. and go with a wagon vise. I still need to figure out how to make the rails for it to ride as I'll most likely use the Lee-Valley Tail Vise screw for that one (budget) - sure I'd love to have one of them $350 benchcrafted vises... but I could find better uses for $350 right now. the other vise I wish to have is a shoulder vise which will let me clamp boards vertically without any guide rods in the way for endgrain work (joinery).

All of this is based on the fact that I have 1 large slab of 77"x24" which is the bowling alley and has nails and god knows what else in it - so drilling it for bench holes or the likes is out of the question. I will be skirting it with maple boards that I have at hand, and some breadboards to keep it aligned and secure on both edges. and dog holes will go into those.

Anyways - here is the preliminary design, any feedback, ideas, suggestions, and what not - are MOST WELCOME!

Outdoor bench Outdoor furniture Rectangle Gas Table
 

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#82 ·
There is more than 1 way to skin a cat - not so with bowling alley floors though - finally success

Yes. Finally some light at the end of the tunnel, reverse thinking, and this project seems a bit more doable, and even not much trouble at all.

Originally I tried to get the (2.5" hardened) nails out by using a cat's paw and a hammer to pull each nail out of the 2.5 laminated hard-rock maple strips. I figured once I get all the nails out of the top strip, it'll just free it from the lamination, and be nails free… one strip at a time, until I have them all cleared out. I guess I was wrong. as you can see in this illustration - each nail is driven through 2.5 strips, and as such, it has a lot of surface contact between the nail and the wood creating the most friction and resistance this nail could have:
Rectangle Parallel Metal Shade Glass


After a full day of hard labor, aching muscles, and some major bruises on the back of my right hand from missing some hammer blows. I had nothing much to show for it, as most of the nails either got broken off, or didn't even budge to my miserable attempts.

Now that I have the base put together (dry fit) and the rough floor slab on top of it, I tried a different approach. What I did this time was pry each strip apart from the "main" slab by hammering a large all metal (body) screwdriver between the last strip and the rest of the slab to create a gap - placing a wooden wedge , and moving on - ending up separating the entire strip from the main slab just enough that I can fit the cat's paw L shape end into it, and pry it even more apart until I can slip also the nail-pulling side of the hammer in there as well, and using both tools, pry the strip completely apart from the main slab each strip still with the nails in it - but none of them broken - this results in 2 things, both positive:

1. This is a very easy method to separate the strips apart (compared to the previous attempts at least). it proved to be somewhat fast, and methodical.
2. Now that the nails are only driven through 1 laminated strip (compared to 2.5) there is much less surface contact between nail and wood, and less friction and resistance once it come to pulling the nail out. What more -the tip of the nail is now accessible, and can be hammered out whereas before I had to DIG under the head of the nail and by doing that also messed up the maple strips.
Rectangle Parallel Symmetry


Wood Rectangle Natural material Composite material Gas


So after only a couple of hours I was able to release all of the strips that will contribute to the dog hole strip and to the buffer between the dog holes and the skirt. I also started cleaning and flattening the area under the top where it'll rest on the legs (so far only did the right side):
Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Flooring


as you can see, the underside of the top is covered with tar looking layer (I guess it was used in the bowling alley to protect against moisture or leaks through the floors). I used a scraper to clean as much of it as I could before moving to the planer. as you can see, there is a price to pay as it completely marred my #5 planer - this is one of those times that I'm really glad I don't have a $300 plane… as this would really have pissed me off:
Wood Rectangle Tints and shades Hardwood Font


luckily, cleaning the scraper is easy enough, and restoring the buck-bros plane would not take much time and effort. a much easier process than restoring a router bit - and the reason why I did not (yet) use my router to clean and flatten this area.

So now I have the main slab according to my plan, and the strips of maple for the dog hole strip and buffer strip - things are starting to look better and better, and this was much easier than I had experienced earlier and then I expected things to be. In fact - I'm tempted to take all the strips apart, and completely remove all nails out of the entire top - but since there really is no need for this - I'm going to hold off on this desire. I got better things to do, and really want to see this workbench finished ASAP.

Moral of this installment - to take apart a bowling alley, and remove the nail - pry the strips apart prior to taking the nail out… make a whole different experience. from "heck no way" to "gimme some more please". now I actually believe I can utilize the other 2 slabs of bowling alley I have for other projects. :eek:)

and on a side note -I just received today the hardware for the vises from Lee-Valley. always good products. always good prices, always good service:
Rectangle Font Gas Box Fashion accessory
 

Attachments

#83 ·
There is more than 1 way to skin a cat - not so with bowling alley floors though - finally success

Yes. Finally some light at the end of the tunnel, reverse thinking, and this project seems a bit more doable, and even not much trouble at all.

Originally I tried to get the (2.5" hardened) nails out by using a cat's paw and a hammer to pull each nail out of the 2.5 laminated hard-rock maple strips. I figured once I get all the nails out of the top strip, it'll just free it from the lamination, and be nails free… one strip at a time, until I have them all cleared out. I guess I was wrong. as you can see in this illustration - each nail is driven through 2.5 strips, and as such, it has a lot of surface contact between the nail and the wood creating the most friction and resistance this nail could have:
Rectangle Parallel Metal Shade Glass


After a full day of hard labor, aching muscles, and some major bruises on the back of my right hand from missing some hammer blows. I had nothing much to show for it, as most of the nails either got broken off, or didn't even budge to my miserable attempts.

Now that I have the base put together (dry fit) and the rough floor slab on top of it, I tried a different approach. What I did this time was pry each strip apart from the "main" slab by hammering a large all metal (body) screwdriver between the last strip and the rest of the slab to create a gap - placing a wooden wedge , and moving on - ending up separating the entire strip from the main slab just enough that I can fit the cat's paw L shape end into it, and pry it even more apart until I can slip also the nail-pulling side of the hammer in there as well, and using both tools, pry the strip completely apart from the main slab each strip still with the nails in it - but none of them broken - this results in 2 things, both positive:

1. This is a very easy method to separate the strips apart (compared to the previous attempts at least). it proved to be somewhat fast, and methodical.
2. Now that the nails are only driven through 1 laminated strip (compared to 2.5) there is much less surface contact between nail and wood, and less friction and resistance once it come to pulling the nail out. What more -the tip of the nail is now accessible, and can be hammered out whereas before I had to DIG under the head of the nail and by doing that also messed up the maple strips.
Rectangle Parallel Symmetry


Wood Rectangle Natural material Composite material Gas


So after only a couple of hours I was able to release all of the strips that will contribute to the dog hole strip and to the buffer between the dog holes and the skirt. I also started cleaning and flattening the area under the top where it'll rest on the legs (so far only did the right side):
Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Flooring


as you can see, the underside of the top is covered with tar looking layer (I guess it was used in the bowling alley to protect against moisture or leaks through the floors). I used a scraper to clean as much of it as I could before moving to the planer. as you can see, there is a price to pay as it completely marred my #5 planer - this is one of those times that I'm really glad I don't have a $300 plane… as this would really have pissed me off:
Wood Rectangle Tints and shades Hardwood Font


luckily, cleaning the scraper is easy enough, and restoring the buck-bros plane would not take much time and effort. a much easier process than restoring a router bit - and the reason why I did not (yet) use my router to clean and flatten this area.

So now I have the main slab according to my plan, and the strips of maple for the dog hole strip and buffer strip - things are starting to look better and better, and this was much easier than I had experienced earlier and then I expected things to be. In fact - I'm tempted to take all the strips apart, and completely remove all nails out of the entire top - but since there really is no need for this - I'm going to hold off on this desire. I got better things to do, and really want to see this workbench finished ASAP.

Moral of this installment - to take apart a bowling alley, and remove the nail - pry the strips apart prior to taking the nail out… make a whole different experience. from "heck no way" to "gimme some more please". now I actually believe I can utilize the other 2 slabs of bowling alley I have for other projects. :eek:)

and on a side note -I just received today the hardware for the vises from Lee-Valley. always good products. always good prices, always good service:
Rectangle Font Gas Box Fashion accessory
Tough battle hope it comes together for you
 

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#119 ·
Moving forward at 0mph

It's interesting how it feels like you're standing still when you're working on already dry-fit parts for additional features. After all - at the end of the day when you look at all the parts - they seem to look just the way they did in the morning. bummer.

but even though things don't seem that way somethings. Progress IS progress, and is one step closer to the finish line.

Today I implemented the hardware for the leg vise in the right leg (I'm a lefty). this involved drilling the 1-1/8" hole for the vise screw, drilling the 1-3/4" hole in the back of the leg to take the vise nut, and recessing (chiseling) the nut rectangular body into that leg:
Wood Window Wood stain Hardwood Tints and shades


This would have been made much easier if I had a 1 3/4" drill to counter-bore for the nut… alas, I do not have that size bits, and also all my bits are only 2.5" long, making this quite challenging, as I had to drill from both sides while keeping the holes aligned, and also sanding the holes to enlarge them to their final size and fit - all in all, it came out pretty good, just took a long while.

Also I drilled he rectangular hole for the parallel guide above the leg rail (yes, I know some have it below the rail… personal choice here).

Since I'm all done with boring and working on each of the legs parts individually, I was able to glue them up, and also already have 1st coat of BLO on those:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Lumber


Once I'm finished with the legs, I'll be able to set them up permanently (well, they do come apart for future disassembly, but at least I'll be able to set them up for the final time before putting the entire bench together). and move on to focusing entirely on the top.

Since I felt I did not make any new parts, I spend a couple more hours in the shop (don't have too much shoptime lately, so I take every minute I can get), and laminated 2 nails-free strips of maple. total length was 70" which includes 62" for the benchdog strip, another 5" for the sliding vise dog block, and an extra piece that I can use as a spacer once I glue the entire bench together:
Building Wood Interior design Floor Flooring


Brown Wood Rectangle Composite material Facade


This was my first time opening the cover on my drill press and changing speed! (to a slower speed) as drilling 3/4" holes in this 2.5" hard maple was quite a challenge for my DP (Delta 16.5" 3/4hp) - not that It couldn't handle it, but it just felt like slowing it down would be easier on the bit, on the wood, and on my DP. it seems to have been a wise choice, as the bit had an easier time getting through time time around.

you can also see the somewhat clean bottom of the large piece which will be the majority of the top ( still with nails inside) after I cleaned it (mostly) from the tar using a wire-brush wheel. I bought the wire-brush from sears, it was ~$12 (sears brand) and first time I used it ever. by the end of this top, there were no more wire strands left (at all) on the wheel, I ended up working with just the nut by the time I was finishing up- not ideal, and this was very messy (think tar dust) - but the bottom is pretty clean after 30 min of 'easy' work - clean enough that I can flatten the areas that will sit on the legs.

Another fruitful day. maybe another coat of BLO tonight, and off we go to work on the top (next time around).

Thanks for reading, and have a great week.
 

Attachments

#120 ·
Moving forward at 0mph

It's interesting how it feels like you're standing still when you're working on already dry-fit parts for additional features. After all - at the end of the day when you look at all the parts - they seem to look just the way they did in the morning. bummer.

but even though things don't seem that way somethings. Progress IS progress, and is one step closer to the finish line.

Today I implemented the hardware for the leg vise in the right leg (I'm a lefty). this involved drilling the 1-1/8" hole for the vise screw, drilling the 1-3/4" hole in the back of the leg to take the vise nut, and recessing (chiseling) the nut rectangular body into that leg:
Wood Window Wood stain Hardwood Tints and shades


This would have been made much easier if I had a 1 3/4" drill to counter-bore for the nut… alas, I do not have that size bits, and also all my bits are only 2.5" long, making this quite challenging, as I had to drill from both sides while keeping the holes aligned, and also sanding the holes to enlarge them to their final size and fit - all in all, it came out pretty good, just took a long while.

Also I drilled he rectangular hole for the parallel guide above the leg rail (yes, I know some have it below the rail… personal choice here).

Since I'm all done with boring and working on each of the legs parts individually, I was able to glue them up, and also already have 1st coat of BLO on those:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Lumber


Once I'm finished with the legs, I'll be able to set them up permanently (well, they do come apart for future disassembly, but at least I'll be able to set them up for the final time before putting the entire bench together). and move on to focusing entirely on the top.

Since I felt I did not make any new parts, I spend a couple more hours in the shop (don't have too much shoptime lately, so I take every minute I can get), and laminated 2 nails-free strips of maple. total length was 70" which includes 62" for the benchdog strip, another 5" for the sliding vise dog block, and an extra piece that I can use as a spacer once I glue the entire bench together:
Building Wood Interior design Floor Flooring


Brown Wood Rectangle Composite material Facade


This was my first time opening the cover on my drill press and changing speed! (to a slower speed) as drilling 3/4" holes in this 2.5" hard maple was quite a challenge for my DP (Delta 16.5" 3/4hp) - not that It couldn't handle it, but it just felt like slowing it down would be easier on the bit, on the wood, and on my DP. it seems to have been a wise choice, as the bit had an easier time getting through time time around.

you can also see the somewhat clean bottom of the large piece which will be the majority of the top ( still with nails inside) after I cleaned it (mostly) from the tar using a wire-brush wheel. I bought the wire-brush from sears, it was ~$12 (sears brand) and first time I used it ever. by the end of this top, there were no more wire strands left (at all) on the wheel, I ended up working with just the nut by the time I was finishing up- not ideal, and this was very messy (think tar dust) - but the bottom is pretty clean after 30 min of 'easy' work - clean enough that I can flatten the areas that will sit on the legs.

Another fruitful day. maybe another coat of BLO tonight, and off we go to work on the top (next time around).

Thanks for reading, and have a great week.
Glad to see some more progress is being made. Great blog.
 

Attachments

#128 ·
Recap - some mistakes, some saves, and a finished base.

After last week's ongoing progress, it felt a bit slow this week (which it is), but I did have some things I wanted to share, and also was able to finish the base with 3 coats of BLO which is what I'm going to keep on it for conditioning the wood, and protecting it from moisture.

Mistake #1: Drawboring to the wrong side (cringe)
2 legs on each side of the base are connected together using 2 short rails. The top one is using a sliding dovetail, while the lower one uses M&T. I decided that I'll have my try at drawboring the M&T as I've never done it before, plus - it'll add a nice accent to the legs (2 visible pins for each tenon).

the idea is that you bore the holes in the leg where the mortise is, place the tenon in, mark the hole location, and then drill the hole in the tenon at a slight offset from the one in the mortise towards the shoulder of the tenon. once you put a pin through both sets of holes - it pulls the joint together tightly. so far so good.

I bored the pin holes in the mortise, placed the tenon in, marked hole location, but alas - my mind was in a different space - I marked the offset AWAY from the shoulder , which in effect would cause the pin to push the tenon out instead of pull it tightly in….

luckily I did a dry fit test, and noticed (really lukcily that I noticed it at that point) that the holes seem funny…something didn't make sense to me.

Fix #1: at first I thought about abandoning the drawbore idea, and just glue the M&T, clamp it, and then plug the holes in the mortise for a faux-drawbore look… at which point I figured - if I can plug the mortise side - I can probably plug the tenon side. so I did. I used a 1/4" dowel, glued it into the wrong hole, and cut it flush with the cheeks of the tenon when it dried.. then marked the holes again - and drill the offset holes in the right location. worked like a charm!

Mistake #2 : Rail on the wrong side of the leg
while reviewing my last published blog installment, one of the pictures drew my attention. something didn't seem right, but I couldn't make it at first. looking more closely I found that in the picture it seemed like the short rail seems like it's installed on the inside of the legs as opposed to the outside. when I built the legs, I ran out of Hemlock FIR material, and decided to keep the side rails at 2Ă—4 as opposed to 4Ă—4 (laminated), and in the future add the extra 2Ă—4 from the outside to beef it up, and give it a more even look. I'm still not sure how it happened - but in fact I installed (Mortised) the short rails on the inside of the legs (facing the inside of the base) instead of the outside (which would make the "completed" rail flush with the outside of the base.

Fix #2: you guessed it - there is no real fix for this… I'll just have to live with this knowing that my rails are inside out. I think I'll be ok - maybe a session or 2 at the shrink, and I'll forget all about it.

Other than that - the base is all finished with 3 coats of BLO to protect if from moisture. I didn't really care to buff it up much as this is a workbench, and I am more concerned about it's stability and longevity than it's being a piece of fine woodworking (which it's NOT).

here is the finished base:
Furniture Rectangle Outdoor furniture Wood Natural material


now , I can stop worrying about the base, and focus solely on the top, followed by the vises.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
 

Attachments

#129 ·
Recap - some mistakes, some saves, and a finished base.

After last week's ongoing progress, it felt a bit slow this week (which it is), but I did have some things I wanted to share, and also was able to finish the base with 3 coats of BLO which is what I'm going to keep on it for conditioning the wood, and protecting it from moisture.

Mistake #1: Drawboring to the wrong side (cringe)
2 legs on each side of the base are connected together using 2 short rails. The top one is using a sliding dovetail, while the lower one uses M&T. I decided that I'll have my try at drawboring the M&T as I've never done it before, plus - it'll add a nice accent to the legs (2 visible pins for each tenon).

the idea is that you bore the holes in the leg where the mortise is, place the tenon in, mark the hole location, and then drill the hole in the tenon at a slight offset from the one in the mortise towards the shoulder of the tenon. once you put a pin through both sets of holes - it pulls the joint together tightly. so far so good.

I bored the pin holes in the mortise, placed the tenon in, marked hole location, but alas - my mind was in a different space - I marked the offset AWAY from the shoulder , which in effect would cause the pin to push the tenon out instead of pull it tightly in….

luckily I did a dry fit test, and noticed (really lukcily that I noticed it at that point) that the holes seem funny…something didn't make sense to me.

Fix #1: at first I thought about abandoning the drawbore idea, and just glue the M&T, clamp it, and then plug the holes in the mortise for a faux-drawbore look… at which point I figured - if I can plug the mortise side - I can probably plug the tenon side. so I did. I used a 1/4" dowel, glued it into the wrong hole, and cut it flush with the cheeks of the tenon when it dried.. then marked the holes again - and drill the offset holes in the right location. worked like a charm!

Mistake #2 : Rail on the wrong side of the leg
while reviewing my last published blog installment, one of the pictures drew my attention. something didn't seem right, but I couldn't make it at first. looking more closely I found that in the picture it seemed like the short rail seems like it's installed on the inside of the legs as opposed to the outside. when I built the legs, I ran out of Hemlock FIR material, and decided to keep the side rails at 2Ă—4 as opposed to 4Ă—4 (laminated), and in the future add the extra 2Ă—4 from the outside to beef it up, and give it a more even look. I'm still not sure how it happened - but in fact I installed (Mortised) the short rails on the inside of the legs (facing the inside of the base) instead of the outside (which would make the "completed" rail flush with the outside of the base.

Fix #2: you guessed it - there is no real fix for this… I'll just have to live with this knowing that my rails are inside out. I think I'll be ok - maybe a session or 2 at the shrink, and I'll forget all about it.

Other than that - the base is all finished with 3 coats of BLO to protect if from moisture. I didn't really care to buff it up much as this is a workbench, and I am more concerned about it's stability and longevity than it's being a piece of fine woodworking (which it's NOT).

here is the finished base:
Furniture Rectangle Outdoor furniture Wood Natural material


now , I can stop worrying about the base, and focus solely on the top, followed by the vises.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
Don't kid yourself… that "inside out" rail is going to be the thing you think about every time you look at the base… but that's OK. It's the way we are, and that's part of why we're woodworkers, right?

Second point, it is most definitely a piece of fine woodworking, or at the least a fine piece of woodworking!

Third, man that thing is starting to shape up, I'm impressed with your progress on this, and that base looks fantastic!
 

Attachments

#141 ·
The Top #1: Tip, Tap, Top

finally getting to work on the actual bowling alley part of the "bowling alley workbench", although I really found Damian's comment on a previous installment entertaining, and might refer to it from now as the "Alley Workbench"...lol.

The top as can be seen in the sketchup model is made of 6 different components: Main Slab (nails and all), Dog holes strip, buffer strip, 2 skirts (front and back) and a breadboard End Cap.
Wood Tool Font Rectangle Gas


In reality this will change slightly as I decided to drop the rear skirt, but might add another end cap.

Up to this point I had cleaned and had the main slab roughly ready, and the dog hole strip:
Building Wood Interior design Floor Flooring


I then hand planed the bottom of the main slab flat. I only planed the areas that will rest on the leg cross braces, as the rest really has no need to be flat.

I mortised 2 rectangular mortises to fit the tenons on the back legs. these mortises are slightly (1/8") wider than the tenons to allow for seasonal movement.

The main slab now fit on the leg cross braces and is flush with the back legs. at this point I hand planed the bottom of the dog hole strip where it would rest on the legs, glued and clamped it to the main slab while keeping both pieces resting on the legs (they are not yet flush and flat on the top - that will be done later, right now the bottom is my reference):
Wood Hardwood Wood stain Composite material Lumber


Plane Wood Hand tool Tool Hardwood


Next is the buffer which helps keep the dog holes from running above the legs, and also gives some support on the front side of the wagon vise (once installed). I cleaned up some more strips of the maple, and laminated them together for the buffer strip (none is long enough for the entire length, so they are staggered shorter pieces):
Electrical wiring Wood Gas Composite material Engineering


Once that dried, I motrised rectangular mortises in the buffer strip to fit the front leg tenons. my mortises are getting better and better which I really like:
Wood Rectangle Floor Brick Flooring


and this fits (still dry) together like this to give the main work surface of the top:
Wood Gas Hardwood Wood stain Tool


Next would be the end caps which will also allow me to install the wagon vise. followed by the front skirt.

the nice thing is that I am now already working on this semi functional bench, and it seems very stout and steady…. and starts to really shape up now.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
 

Attachments

#142 ·
The Top #1: Tip, Tap, Top

finally getting to work on the actual bowling alley part of the "bowling alley workbench", although I really found Damian's comment on a previous installment entertaining, and might refer to it from now as the "Alley Workbench"...lol.

The top as can be seen in the sketchup model is made of 6 different components: Main Slab (nails and all), Dog holes strip, buffer strip, 2 skirts (front and back) and a breadboard End Cap.
Wood Tool Font Rectangle Gas


In reality this will change slightly as I decided to drop the rear skirt, but might add another end cap.

Up to this point I had cleaned and had the main slab roughly ready, and the dog hole strip:
Building Wood Interior design Floor Flooring


I then hand planed the bottom of the main slab flat. I only planed the areas that will rest on the leg cross braces, as the rest really has no need to be flat.

I mortised 2 rectangular mortises to fit the tenons on the back legs. these mortises are slightly (1/8") wider than the tenons to allow for seasonal movement.

The main slab now fit on the leg cross braces and is flush with the back legs. at this point I hand planed the bottom of the dog hole strip where it would rest on the legs, glued and clamped it to the main slab while keeping both pieces resting on the legs (they are not yet flush and flat on the top - that will be done later, right now the bottom is my reference):
Wood Hardwood Wood stain Composite material Lumber


Plane Wood Hand tool Tool Hardwood


Next is the buffer which helps keep the dog holes from running above the legs, and also gives some support on the front side of the wagon vise (once installed). I cleaned up some more strips of the maple, and laminated them together for the buffer strip (none is long enough for the entire length, so they are staggered shorter pieces):
Electrical wiring Wood Gas Composite material Engineering


Once that dried, I motrised rectangular mortises in the buffer strip to fit the front leg tenons. my mortises are getting better and better which I really like:
Wood Rectangle Floor Brick Flooring


and this fits (still dry) together like this to give the main work surface of the top:
Wood Gas Hardwood Wood stain Tool


Next would be the end caps which will also allow me to install the wagon vise. followed by the front skirt.

the nice thing is that I am now already working on this semi functional bench, and it seems very stout and steady…. and starts to really shape up now.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
It's looking great. Nice job on the construction so far.
 

Attachments

#157 ·
The Top #2: Flat and Shine

I had some good progress on the top today. it actually started a couple of days ago when I went ahead, cleaned up the buffer strip, and main top, and glued them up together, I also milled the end cap part (which is on top of the clamps in the photo):
Wood Hardwood Plank Wood stain Lumber


I also ground down one of the corner of the Lee-Valley Tailvise Nut so that I'll be able to install the vise higher up and the nut will have less interference with the table top:
Wood Rectangle Household hardware Wood stain Hardwood


I'm not a machinist, nor work with metal much (although it would have been nice to be able to make my own hardware), but I think this came out pretty nice.

Today I was able to work on flattening the top, which will help with the next few steps of adding the end-cap, skirt, and vises as I'll have a better surface to reference to, and also have a top that I can work on.

Since the top is made of different parts, some that could not go through the planer, and others that I chose not to take through the planer - it means there is absolutely no alignment on the top surface. in order to flatten this with my largest hand plane (#5) I'll need a lot of energy, patience, luck, and good fortune. since I didn't want to plan that much ahead for the day I might run into all of those at the same time. I chose to take the majority of material with the Tage Frid router sled technique. I attached 2 rails to the sides of my bench. Tage I believe screwed those to the table/bench top, I chose to clamp them to the legs, since the legs are parallel and of the same height - which made for good reference points:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Table


I hand jointed both rails to make them straight so that the sled can ride on them and keep the router at a fixed height above the workbench top.

The way the technique works, is you stretch a string between each 2 crossing ends of the rails, and the strings cross each other in the middle. you use risers to lift one of the strings the height of 1 string so that they should be touching in the middle but not affecting each others (not pushing down/up on each other), once you have your rails positioned like that - it means they are parallel to each other, I picked the idea to clamp the rails to the bench from Moai, I like it better than dealing with screws and holes (Thanks Francisco!):
Brown Wood Floor Flooring Road surface


The router itself is riding on a sled that rides on the long rails. the sled is 3/4" birch ply with 2 jointed 1 1/4" maple strips (pieces from the bowling alley) as stiffeners to keep it flat. I drilled a 1 1/2" slot in the middle using overlapping holes with a hole saw (probably not the best way, but it gave me the result I needed) and waxed the ply so that the router can slide easily on it:
Wood Drilling Tool Machine tool Rotary tool


you can see in the photo, right under the sled, that my router electric cable is spliced and taped… on one of the runs (back and forth) the cable decided to crawl under the sled… and the rest was sparks and history… luckily I was able to splice it back up, and the motor didn't get fried, otherwise that would have been a VERY unfortunate end of things, with only half the bench half routed (1st pass)...

I used a Freud 1 1/4" flat bottom mortise bit, set the router to a low spot on the top, and started sliding it back and forth over and over again from one side of the top to the other, this created ALOT of chips:
Wood Tool Table Hardwood Gas


this is the amount of chips from 1 pass - I had to go through 3 passes, as I kept on finding a lower spot than I had used as reference in each pass. I probably took off ~1/4" off of the top. not too bad considering that it's nice and even:
Wood Rectangle Natural material Wood stain Flooring


OK, maybe not as even as one would like, but still - pretty close. since the router bit is supposed to be flat bottom - I'm not really sure why I got such a pronounced stripe effect… but a little work with my #4 smoother, and some scraping and this is the end result:
Wood Hardwood Lumber Gas Plank


not too shabby for a first time on such a large surface. to that I must say - scraping is quite rewarding as you see the machine marks, and planing marks disappear right before your eyes, but to scrap such a large surface… well, as rewarding as it may be, I kept on telling myself that I'm never building another bench again… lol (self motivation). in order to reduce/eliminate the burning heat in the thumbs while scraping, I held a leather glove between my thumbs and the scraper- never felt a thing. and those shavings are just not from this world.

This is the top after scraping it. Yes - the maple actually shines, with nothing on it - this is bare wood:
Plane Smoothing plane Block plane Jack plane Wood


I was hoping to get the endcap done today, but planing the top took the entire day, this was a long and labor intensive work. I did however was able to prepare the tenon for the endcap. using a straight edge guide, I routed a 3/4" deep, tenon on the edge of the benchtop:
Wood Machine tool Workbench Hardwood Gas


and later using the same straight edge (positioned elsewhere though) I cut off the excess with a circular saw.

I then marked the mortise on the end cap to match the tenon, removed most material with the drill press and forstner bit (leaving enough extra material to give me support for chisel work later on), and chiseled the square mortise. so far I was only able to make the short mortise for lack of time, but at least things are set to be picked up next time around:
Wood Table Flooring Wood stain Floor


In the last picture, you can see that I'm actually utilizing the workbench already which is fantastic- it works great! I also got some holfasts from Gramecy Tools= (Thanks Chrys!), these are by far the best I've ever seen, and I'll review them shortly - definitely worth it. you can also see my "mallet" - definitely one of my next projects…

quite a day, I'm tired, and you should be too after reading all of this…

Next, the End Cap, and Wagon Vise. followed by the Skirt, and last will be the leg vise… and that should wrap it up… but first… lets get to the next step.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
 

Attachments

#158 ·
The Top #2: Flat and Shine

I had some good progress on the top today. it actually started a couple of days ago when I went ahead, cleaned up the buffer strip, and main top, and glued them up together, I also milled the end cap part (which is on top of the clamps in the photo):
Wood Hardwood Plank Wood stain Lumber


I also ground down one of the corner of the Lee-Valley Tailvise Nut so that I'll be able to install the vise higher up and the nut will have less interference with the table top:
Wood Rectangle Household hardware Wood stain Hardwood


I'm not a machinist, nor work with metal much (although it would have been nice to be able to make my own hardware), but I think this came out pretty nice.

Today I was able to work on flattening the top, which will help with the next few steps of adding the end-cap, skirt, and vises as I'll have a better surface to reference to, and also have a top that I can work on.

Since the top is made of different parts, some that could not go through the planer, and others that I chose not to take through the planer - it means there is absolutely no alignment on the top surface. in order to flatten this with my largest hand plane (#5) I'll need a lot of energy, patience, luck, and good fortune. since I didn't want to plan that much ahead for the day I might run into all of those at the same time. I chose to take the majority of material with the Tage Frid router sled technique. I attached 2 rails to the sides of my bench. Tage I believe screwed those to the table/bench top, I chose to clamp them to the legs, since the legs are parallel and of the same height - which made for good reference points:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Table


I hand jointed both rails to make them straight so that the sled can ride on them and keep the router at a fixed height above the workbench top.

The way the technique works, is you stretch a string between each 2 crossing ends of the rails, and the strings cross each other in the middle. you use risers to lift one of the strings the height of 1 string so that they should be touching in the middle but not affecting each others (not pushing down/up on each other), once you have your rails positioned like that - it means they are parallel to each other, I picked the idea to clamp the rails to the bench from Moai, I like it better than dealing with screws and holes (Thanks Francisco!):
Brown Wood Floor Flooring Road surface


The router itself is riding on a sled that rides on the long rails. the sled is 3/4" birch ply with 2 jointed 1 1/4" maple strips (pieces from the bowling alley) as stiffeners to keep it flat. I drilled a 1 1/2" slot in the middle using overlapping holes with a hole saw (probably not the best way, but it gave me the result I needed) and waxed the ply so that the router can slide easily on it:
Wood Drilling Tool Machine tool Rotary tool


you can see in the photo, right under the sled, that my router electric cable is spliced and taped… on one of the runs (back and forth) the cable decided to crawl under the sled… and the rest was sparks and history… luckily I was able to splice it back up, and the motor didn't get fried, otherwise that would have been a VERY unfortunate end of things, with only half the bench half routed (1st pass)...

I used a Freud 1 1/4" flat bottom mortise bit, set the router to a low spot on the top, and started sliding it back and forth over and over again from one side of the top to the other, this created ALOT of chips:
Wood Tool Table Hardwood Gas


this is the amount of chips from 1 pass - I had to go through 3 passes, as I kept on finding a lower spot than I had used as reference in each pass. I probably took off ~1/4" off of the top. not too bad considering that it's nice and even:
Wood Rectangle Natural material Wood stain Flooring


OK, maybe not as even as one would like, but still - pretty close. since the router bit is supposed to be flat bottom - I'm not really sure why I got such a pronounced stripe effect… but a little work with my #4 smoother, and some scraping and this is the end result:
Wood Hardwood Lumber Gas Plank


not too shabby for a first time on such a large surface. to that I must say - scraping is quite rewarding as you see the machine marks, and planing marks disappear right before your eyes, but to scrap such a large surface… well, as rewarding as it may be, I kept on telling myself that I'm never building another bench again… lol (self motivation). in order to reduce/eliminate the burning heat in the thumbs while scraping, I held a leather glove between my thumbs and the scraper- never felt a thing. and those shavings are just not from this world.

This is the top after scraping it. Yes - the maple actually shines, with nothing on it - this is bare wood:
Plane Smoothing plane Block plane Jack plane Wood


I was hoping to get the endcap done today, but planing the top took the entire day, this was a long and labor intensive work. I did however was able to prepare the tenon for the endcap. using a straight edge guide, I routed a 3/4" deep, tenon on the edge of the benchtop:
Wood Machine tool Workbench Hardwood Gas


and later using the same straight edge (positioned elsewhere though) I cut off the excess with a circular saw.

I then marked the mortise on the end cap to match the tenon, removed most material with the drill press and forstner bit (leaving enough extra material to give me support for chisel work later on), and chiseled the square mortise. so far I was only able to make the short mortise for lack of time, but at least things are set to be picked up next time around:
Wood Table Flooring Wood stain Floor


In the last picture, you can see that I'm actually utilizing the workbench already which is fantastic- it works great! I also got some holfasts from Gramecy Tools= (Thanks Chrys!), these are by far the best I've ever seen, and I'll review them shortly - definitely worth it. you can also see my "mallet" - definitely one of my next projects…

quite a day, I'm tired, and you should be too after reading all of this…

Next, the End Cap, and Wagon Vise. followed by the Skirt, and last will be the leg vise… and that should wrap it up… but first… lets get to the next step.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
You are making some great progress. It looks to me like you've got the hardest part done and there is nothing like using it a little bit, you start to see what you'll have when it's finished. Keep going!
 

Attachments

#175 ·
A Cap for the Gentlemen, a Skirt for the Dames

I picked up today where I left off yesterday, and finished the longer mortise in the end cap. that was one hell of a mortise, I hope I don't have to make them at that magnitude too often (read - ever again). But it all fits perfectly and snug. The end cap currently protrudes (by design) 1/16" off the bench top, so that I can trim it flush later, otherwise you run into the (most likely) possibility that the end cap will be below the top of the bench. I also drilled and fit the Lee Valley Tail Vise Screw that I'm using for the wagon vise. I planned the top so that the screw end rests in an elongated hole in the left leg cross brace support, which keeps the screw parallel to the bench top, but allows it to shift left/right which will let me align it with the vice jaw for smooth action (hopefully):
Wood Wood stain Flooring Floor Office ruler


I also milled and glued up the 1 1/2" (laminated from 2 3/4 strips) strip of 5" wide maple for the skirt: jointing this by hand really made me wish I already had the leg vise to hold the piece on edge:
Wood Composite material Hardwood Lumber Building material


while fiddling with the setup of the #5 Buck Bros hand plane, the part that moves the blade back/forth broke off, I guess it's some sort of poorly machined aluminum… RIP… time to get a better one.

All in all, a busy day, glueups slows things down, I took the down-time and sharpened some chisels with my new scheppach wet sharpener to get some more experience with it, I can see where a more powerful machine would be nice, or a high speed grinder to speed things up - but I'm very pleased with it's performance for it's price. definitely less messy, and faster than scary sharp (I used to end up with black hands). a Nice trick that I picked up from Grizzly website is, I dropped a magnet in the water bath, and it picks up all the fallen metal dust - pretty weird when emptying the water bath, its like metal mush…

Thanks for reading,
Peace
 

Attachments

#176 ·
A Cap for the Gentlemen, a Skirt for the Dames

I picked up today where I left off yesterday, and finished the longer mortise in the end cap. that was one hell of a mortise, I hope I don't have to make them at that magnitude too often (read - ever again). But it all fits perfectly and snug. The end cap currently protrudes (by design) 1/16" off the bench top, so that I can trim it flush later, otherwise you run into the (most likely) possibility that the end cap will be below the top of the bench. I also drilled and fit the Lee Valley Tail Vise Screw that I'm using for the wagon vise. I planned the top so that the screw end rests in an elongated hole in the left leg cross brace support, which keeps the screw parallel to the bench top, but allows it to shift left/right which will let me align it with the vice jaw for smooth action (hopefully):
Wood Wood stain Flooring Floor Office ruler


I also milled and glued up the 1 1/2" (laminated from 2 3/4 strips) strip of 5" wide maple for the skirt: jointing this by hand really made me wish I already had the leg vise to hold the piece on edge:
Wood Composite material Hardwood Lumber Building material


while fiddling with the setup of the #5 Buck Bros hand plane, the part that moves the blade back/forth broke off, I guess it's some sort of poorly machined aluminum… RIP… time to get a better one.

All in all, a busy day, glueups slows things down, I took the down-time and sharpened some chisels with my new scheppach wet sharpener to get some more experience with it, I can see where a more powerful machine would be nice, or a high speed grinder to speed things up - but I'm very pleased with it's performance for it's price. definitely less messy, and faster than scary sharp (I used to end up with black hands). a Nice trick that I picked up from Grizzly website is, I dropped a magnet in the water bath, and it picks up all the fallen metal dust - pretty weird when emptying the water bath, its like metal mush…

Thanks for reading,
Peace
Thanks for keeping us informed of your progress.
 

Attachments

#186 ·
All is not lost... or is it? HELP!!!!!!!

I was working on fitting the skirt to the front of the bench, and it looks fantastic. in order to get to the final dimensions of 30" width of the top, I'm missing 1/8" extra material between the benchtop and the skirt to fill in the gap, while keeping the skirt flush with the legs fronts. so far so good.

while fitting the skirt to the legs, I noticed that the gap on the left side of the bench is larger than the right side… a quick reach to the tape measure confirmed that indeed the main-slab I was using (with nails in it) wasn't square - to be honest, I didn't even think about checking for it in the first place which I should have.

so now I have a top that is based on a non square part, which makes the entire top not square:
Automotive lighting Rectangle Automotive exterior Bumper Parallel


as you can see in the picture, there is a smaller gap between the top and the skirt on the right size (~1/8") then on the left size (~5/16).

my original thought was to create a narrow strip to fill this gap, and make that strip tapered - problem is , this is a really narrow strip, and the taper is so fine, that it's a 99.9% likely that I won't be able to get that taper right - wasting time and energy for nothing.

second thought, and this is the method I'm going to be using here, is to place a straight edge across the length of the front of the top, square it with the end, and route the front of the top clean - this will take the taper off, and leave me with an even ~5/16" (I'll probably enlarge it a bit to maybe 3/8" gap which will be easier for me to fill in (thicker strip). then I just need a square strip to fill in the gap, and I'm done with it.

the thing that somewhat concerns me is the fact that the dog hole strip is aligned and parallel with the skewed main slab - making the dog hole strip not parallel to the front of the bench. the angle is minimal, but for holding longer pieces - the dogs will have an offset of ~3/16" (? about…) which might not hold parts properly for planing…. AAARRRRRRGGGGGG…...

I really hope this will not be a pronounced problem, or this top will need to be burned…

Any ideas/suggestions/confirmation is MOST welcome… this is really bugging me.
 

Attachments

#187 ·
All is not lost... or is it? HELP!!!!!!!

I was working on fitting the skirt to the front of the bench, and it looks fantastic. in order to get to the final dimensions of 30" width of the top, I'm missing 1/8" extra material between the benchtop and the skirt to fill in the gap, while keeping the skirt flush with the legs fronts. so far so good.

while fitting the skirt to the legs, I noticed that the gap on the left side of the bench is larger than the right side… a quick reach to the tape measure confirmed that indeed the main-slab I was using (with nails in it) wasn't square - to be honest, I didn't even think about checking for it in the first place which I should have.

so now I have a top that is based on a non square part, which makes the entire top not square:
Automotive lighting Rectangle Automotive exterior Bumper Parallel


as you can see in the picture, there is a smaller gap between the top and the skirt on the right size (~1/8") then on the left size (~5/16).

my original thought was to create a narrow strip to fill this gap, and make that strip tapered - problem is , this is a really narrow strip, and the taper is so fine, that it's a 99.9% likely that I won't be able to get that taper right - wasting time and energy for nothing.

second thought, and this is the method I'm going to be using here, is to place a straight edge across the length of the front of the top, square it with the end, and route the front of the top clean - this will take the taper off, and leave me with an even ~5/16" (I'll probably enlarge it a bit to maybe 3/8" gap which will be easier for me to fill in (thicker strip). then I just need a square strip to fill in the gap, and I'm done with it.

the thing that somewhat concerns me is the fact that the dog hole strip is aligned and parallel with the skewed main slab - making the dog hole strip not parallel to the front of the bench. the angle is minimal, but for holding longer pieces - the dogs will have an offset of ~3/16" (? about…) which might not hold parts properly for planing…. AAARRRRRRGGGGGG…...

I really hope this will not be a pronounced problem, or this top will need to be burned…

Any ideas/suggestions/confirmation is MOST welcome… this is really bugging me.
I know this mightto sound like a bad idea besides just living with the small variation.

Let everything be determined by the dog hole strip. Think of it as the starting point. Plane/cut some off the dog hole strip side to make that side of the bench parallel with it. And, if you want to plane the other side to also make it parallel. The joint lines of your top won't be perfectly parallel with the edges but that might not show unless you were looking for it. Of course at that point your bench might not be perfectly square but the ends definitely wouldn't show it.
 

Attachments

#208 ·
The Top #3: Putting it Together with an Inverted Dovetail

Didn't have much shoptime lately, which made me try to squeeze every moment I got to try and make the most of it, which lead to rushing, which lead to screw up - but I'll write more about that in a following installment and leave this one a bit more on the positive side.

Last time I ran into the issue of having a not-square top part to work with. I fixed that by routing the edge at a 0.1 degree angle to straighten the front of the slab and make it parallel to the front 2 legs. I then jointed a strip of maple (2 short pieces) and glued it to the skirt, and took that through the planer to mill it to final size so that it'll match the main tabletop slab and sit flush with the front legs.

Next I drilled 2 holes in the endcap, counterbored them, and drilled maching holes in the benchtop to take bolts which will secure the endcap to the table and counteract the vise forces when in use. the front of the endcap is not bolted in but is dovetailed into the skirt.

I chose to use a 2 inverted dovetail mainly for design and look - although they have more angled faces that in effect can withstand better pressure - in this case- I don't think that extra strength is really needed, but I do like the look of it.

to make the tails, I used my bandsaw, and the dovetail jig I made for it based on The Bandsaw Book:
Window Wood Milling Gas Engineering


Wood Table Bottle Hardwood Flooring


I used the jig because the skirt is 80" long and was hard for me to clamp in a way to allow me to cut those tails by hand square and cleanly.

I then transferred the lines to the endcap, and handcut the sockets. and started chopping off the waste. what I found was an easy way to do so, was to chop the top half of the socket off - staying true to the edge of the small embedded tail. then use the side walls as reference and chop off the extra material from the 2 smaller sockets:
Brown Wood Brick Rectangle Flooring


Here is where I started pressing for time, and ran into several issues, one was that I originally had left the endcap oversized in length by an extra 2" so that I can trim it to length, but forgot to do it - so I had to chop 4" deep dovetail socket to accommodate for that (noticed it too late - again). also the endcap grain was running against me, so I had some tearouts in the middle of the socket - no big deal, but when I trimmed the endcap to length (roughly) those tearouts are now visible. I also have an issue with oversized dovetails (only did 2 so far) and find it hard to stay to the lines when the sockets are bigger than the size of the chisel… overlapping those cuts seems to be something I need to work more closely on.

excuses excuses excuses - bottom line, the DT although doing it's job, leaves quite a bit to be desired when it comes to visual. there are gaps, and the bottom of the socket is being pushed out by the tails…. I was really stressed in time and glued it too soon before taking the time to finesse it some more. I will fill it with some endgrain to minimize the visual, and plane it all to final length, so it will look a bit better. the good thing is, it showed me my weak spots, and what I need to focus on in the future when attempting similar joinery.

EDIT: Here is the Screwup, and the Fix

so this is what the bench looks like:
Wood Plank Wood stain Hardwood Lumber


Another part is (somewhat) behind me (only some light trimming), and next would be the vises to finish this off.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
 

Attachments

#209 ·
The Top #3: Putting it Together with an Inverted Dovetail

Didn't have much shoptime lately, which made me try to squeeze every moment I got to try and make the most of it, which lead to rushing, which lead to screw up - but I'll write more about that in a following installment and leave this one a bit more on the positive side.

Last time I ran into the issue of having a not-square top part to work with. I fixed that by routing the edge at a 0.1 degree angle to straighten the front of the slab and make it parallel to the front 2 legs. I then jointed a strip of maple (2 short pieces) and glued it to the skirt, and took that through the planer to mill it to final size so that it'll match the main tabletop slab and sit flush with the front legs.

Next I drilled 2 holes in the endcap, counterbored them, and drilled maching holes in the benchtop to take bolts which will secure the endcap to the table and counteract the vise forces when in use. the front of the endcap is not bolted in but is dovetailed into the skirt.

I chose to use a 2 inverted dovetail mainly for design and look - although they have more angled faces that in effect can withstand better pressure - in this case- I don't think that extra strength is really needed, but I do like the look of it.

to make the tails, I used my bandsaw, and the dovetail jig I made for it based on The Bandsaw Book:
Window Wood Milling Gas Engineering


Wood Table Bottle Hardwood Flooring


I used the jig because the skirt is 80" long and was hard for me to clamp in a way to allow me to cut those tails by hand square and cleanly.

I then transferred the lines to the endcap, and handcut the sockets. and started chopping off the waste. what I found was an easy way to do so, was to chop the top half of the socket off - staying true to the edge of the small embedded tail. then use the side walls as reference and chop off the extra material from the 2 smaller sockets:
Brown Wood Brick Rectangle Flooring


Here is where I started pressing for time, and ran into several issues, one was that I originally had left the endcap oversized in length by an extra 2" so that I can trim it to length, but forgot to do it - so I had to chop 4" deep dovetail socket to accommodate for that (noticed it too late - again). also the endcap grain was running against me, so I had some tearouts in the middle of the socket - no big deal, but when I trimmed the endcap to length (roughly) those tearouts are now visible. I also have an issue with oversized dovetails (only did 2 so far) and find it hard to stay to the lines when the sockets are bigger than the size of the chisel… overlapping those cuts seems to be something I need to work more closely on.

excuses excuses excuses - bottom line, the DT although doing it's job, leaves quite a bit to be desired when it comes to visual. there are gaps, and the bottom of the socket is being pushed out by the tails…. I was really stressed in time and glued it too soon before taking the time to finesse it some more. I will fill it with some endgrain to minimize the visual, and plane it all to final length, so it will look a bit better. the good thing is, it showed me my weak spots, and what I need to focus on in the future when attempting similar joinery.

EDIT: Here is the Screwup, and the Fix

so this is what the bench looks like:
Wood Plank Wood stain Hardwood Lumber


Another part is (somewhat) behind me (only some light trimming), and next would be the vises to finish this off.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.
It seems that you have bumped into problems with details! Isn't that always the case. I look these as opportunities to show your true wood worker skills!
 

Attachments

#223 ·
Chop Chop Laddie. (the leg vise)

This project is a fine example of the 80/20 concept. it takes 20% of the project time to complete 80% of it, and then, 80% of the project time to finish the last 20% of the project.

As it gets to the details, things take longer to think through, plan out, cut…mill…glue… and finesse. this time it's the leg vise Chop, and although not completely finished (still need to trim, round off, and apply BLO), it's construction is done.

I was originally planning to use one large 10/4 board for the chop, but I didn't have anything of that size that would work well. the only part I had was mahogany, and it's not as hard as the rock maple, and I didn't think it would work well for a vise jaw which gets abused, and needs to counteract pressure. I decided to use the bowling maple strip cutoffs, and laminate them to form the chop:
Wood Wood stain Flooring Hardwood Plank


The lamination wasn't as thick as I wanted, and I also wanted to give it an accent and something 'different' so I resawed the cutoff piece from the endcap (of the top) into 1/16" strips for the next step.

I cut a curve in the chop, which keeps the top of the chop as wide as possible (for clamping purposes) but narrows the bottom so that it'll be easier for me to drill for the drawbore pins. Also the bottom of the chop doesn't really need to be wider then the bench leg anyways. I then used the cutout curved parts as cauls and glued the 1/16" mahogany strips to the maple lamination:
Wood Musical instrument Gas Hardwood Electric blue


I did one side at a time but glued all laminations at the same time. for future reference, I should prepare the veneers better- they weren't uniformed and smooth enough, which caused some minor gaps. in this case, nothing to worry about -I just want to get this thing done, the errors can be easily fixed at a later time.

After glueing the veneers on the curve I repeated the process for the straight edges while making sure it's butted against the curved veneers. I also mortised the chop and drawbored the (milled) maple parallel guide:
Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Gas


this time I drilled the offset holes for the drawboring - in the RIGHT place… lol. (I actually had to make sure, so that I don't repeat the same error again).

After that, I placed the chop in the slot for the parallel guide, I took the hole-saw drill-bit I used to make the hole for the vise screw in the leg, and placed it in the hole in the leg so that the bit protrudes toward the chop, then I pushed the chop all the way flush with the leg, aligned it properly, and from the other side, tapped the drill bit so that it'll mark the chop where the hole should go. I took the chop out, drilled the hole for the vise screw where it was marked, and installed the hardware:
Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Plank


action is still not smooth (not the screw, but the parallel guide has friction against it's slot), I never used a leg vise before, so I'm not sure if that's just to be expected, or not. I'll try to plane the parallel guide in height so maybe it won't have as much resistance. other than that - when this thing closes it's like an Alligator jaws - it grips like there's no tomorrow.

next I'll round off the top and bottom, and plane the top flush with the table top, chamfer the front edges, and coat this with boiled linseed oil like the rest of this bench.

Edit: OK, I was able to round off the top and bottom of the chop, plane it flush with the top of the bench, chamfer (with a ) the edges, and put a couple of coats of BLO (1 more to go):
Wood Hardwood Natural material Wood stain Varnish


I also planed the parallel guide in height slightly, and rounded off it's edges so that there's less material in contact with the top and bottom of it's slot - it now slides in and out much much smoother, with a coat of paste wax it would be even better.

On the same note - talk about timing - I just found a pair of rollerblades that someone threw away - I'll see if I can incorporate the wheels like Jameel at Benchcraft did (although these are bigger wheels then skateboard wheels… so maybe I'll have to look for something smaller)
 

Attachments

#224 ·
Chop Chop Laddie. (the leg vise)

This project is a fine example of the 80/20 concept. it takes 20% of the project time to complete 80% of it, and then, 80% of the project time to finish the last 20% of the project.

As it gets to the details, things take longer to think through, plan out, cut…mill…glue… and finesse. this time it's the leg vise Chop, and although not completely finished (still need to trim, round off, and apply BLO), it's construction is done.

I was originally planning to use one large 10/4 board for the chop, but I didn't have anything of that size that would work well. the only part I had was mahogany, and it's not as hard as the rock maple, and I didn't think it would work well for a vise jaw which gets abused, and needs to counteract pressure. I decided to use the bowling maple strip cutoffs, and laminate them to form the chop:
Wood Wood stain Flooring Hardwood Plank


The lamination wasn't as thick as I wanted, and I also wanted to give it an accent and something 'different' so I resawed the cutoff piece from the endcap (of the top) into 1/16" strips for the next step.

I cut a curve in the chop, which keeps the top of the chop as wide as possible (for clamping purposes) but narrows the bottom so that it'll be easier for me to drill for the drawbore pins. Also the bottom of the chop doesn't really need to be wider then the bench leg anyways. I then used the cutout curved parts as cauls and glued the 1/16" mahogany strips to the maple lamination:
Wood Musical instrument Gas Hardwood Electric blue


I did one side at a time but glued all laminations at the same time. for future reference, I should prepare the veneers better- they weren't uniformed and smooth enough, which caused some minor gaps. in this case, nothing to worry about -I just want to get this thing done, the errors can be easily fixed at a later time.

After glueing the veneers on the curve I repeated the process for the straight edges while making sure it's butted against the curved veneers. I also mortised the chop and drawbored the (milled) maple parallel guide:
Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Gas


this time I drilled the offset holes for the drawboring - in the RIGHT place… lol. (I actually had to make sure, so that I don't repeat the same error again).

After that, I placed the chop in the slot for the parallel guide, I took the hole-saw drill-bit I used to make the hole for the vise screw in the leg, and placed it in the hole in the leg so that the bit protrudes toward the chop, then I pushed the chop all the way flush with the leg, aligned it properly, and from the other side, tapped the drill bit so that it'll mark the chop where the hole should go. I took the chop out, drilled the hole for the vise screw where it was marked, and installed the hardware:
Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Plank


action is still not smooth (not the screw, but the parallel guide has friction against it's slot), I never used a leg vise before, so I'm not sure if that's just to be expected, or not. I'll try to plane the parallel guide in height so maybe it won't have as much resistance. other than that - when this thing closes it's like an Alligator jaws - it grips like there's no tomorrow.

next I'll round off the top and bottom, and plane the top flush with the table top, chamfer the front edges, and coat this with boiled linseed oil like the rest of this bench.

Edit: OK, I was able to round off the top and bottom of the chop, plane it flush with the top of the bench, chamfer (with a ) the edges, and put a couple of coats of BLO (1 more to go):
Wood Hardwood Natural material Wood stain Varnish


I also planed the parallel guide in height slightly, and rounded off it's edges so that there's less material in contact with the top and bottom of it's slot - it now slides in and out much much smoother, with a coat of paste wax it would be even better.

On the same note - talk about timing - I just found a pair of rollerblades that someone threw away - I'll see if I can incorporate the wheels like Jameel at Benchcraft did (although these are bigger wheels then skateboard wheels… so maybe I'll have to look for something smaller)
Wow that is very nice looking leg vise!! I'll bet you will get a lot of use out of it.

Not owning one, but doing lots of reading and living vicariosly through others, my understanding is the parallel guide should glide very smoothly. My understanding is the leg vise have a habit of sagging slightly causing the guide to bind a bit. Here is a link on how Khalaf resolved the issue.
 

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#237 ·
Falling Off the Wagon... (vise that is)

Hard to believe, I know. It's been over a year since I announced the workbench complete, although there was always that missing part, that loose end that had to be tied off in order to officially declare it a complete project.

Not only was it a loose end (literally, the vise screw was hanging loose in it's slot), but it was a missing integral part of the bench that I kept on wishing I had setup and functional. The Wagon Vise to hold down boards for planing flat and similar work. I know I can use a planing stop - which I have for most, but I personally find it lacking, sometimes I want to address the board across the grain, or diagonal, and with a planing stop - it was a pain. I am so happy to have this vise functional, and with a 1/8 - 1/4 of a turn I can lock down a board so well, that I can lift the bench by pulling on it (if I had the strength to actually lift the bench that is). I can now plane cross grain, diagonals, and with the grain with ease as the board is not going anywhere.

I was really taken by Jameel's benchcraft wagon vise. I still think that it's a masterpiece, and one of the best vises on the market. however, as much as I like it - it's way beyond my budget. so my plan was to build a wagon vise from scratch trying to take from the benchcraft vise what I liked - mainly? the fact that the vise screw stays stationary while the dog block rides forward/backwards on it as opposed to other vises that use a press screw that moves forward/backwards with the dog block.

At first I tried to stay true to the benchcraft vise, and the vise it was modeled from (in the Workbench book) by designing the dog block to ride on metal rails that will keep it parallel to it's slot, and aligned with the screw. while researching it, I quickly lost interest of the metal work involved, and decided to do all wood vise. so next was a design that used wood rails on the sides of the screw that the dog block will ride between using V grooves. for lack of time, and for just wanting to get something that will work - I dropped that idea as well, and just ended up with an enlarged block of wood that will ride on the vise screw. What holds the screw parallel to the vise slot is the hole in the end cap that the screw slides in through, and another elongated hole in the bench leg assembly - these 2 holes keep the screw parallel to the top, and to the bench dog line.

The block of wood is constructed from the top's material (bowling alley) glued together to give me enough support to attach to the screw nut. the top is a cut off from the doghole strip so it matches perfectly into the slot in the top, and the bottom creates 2 wings to the left and right to help keep it from twisting while the screw turns - although I see very little to no need for that as of now:

Wood Wooden block Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood


The block has been hollowed out with a chisel and some determination (don't have anything to bore that large holes) to house the screw nut to give me the most travel distance, and for better support:

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Wooden block


I applied 2 coats of BLO on the block to seal it from humidity, and rubbed some paste wax on the surfaces that will come in contact with the bench top to reduce the wood-wood friction, and screwed in the screw nut (so much screwing…):

Wood Plant Wooden block Hardwood Wood stain


First time around, there was a great deal of friction and moving the vise was very hard. I took it out, and lightly planed down all the surfaces that came in contact with the bench as I do not need full contact, I just need it to be a close perfect fit to negate twisting. This time around, the fit was perfect, flush with the top, and movement is super smooth. once the benchdogs come in contact with the board, it only takes a 1/8 to 1/4 turn (light pressure) to secure the board to the top that it cannot be moved under any circumstances:

Wood Wood stain Flooring Table Rectangle


pure awesomeness!

heres a close up shot of the screw leading the dog block: the "gap" between the dog block and benchtop is actually a chamfer on the top of the dog block and not a real gap all the way through:

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Flooring Material property


And bottom line, this is what it's all about:

Wood Hardwood Soil Tool Comfort food


I'm psyched! (2nd time this week) Another project off the list. Finally am able to secure boards for work, Finally have the bench fully functional.

P.S. the workbench has been posted here as a project:



Well, and I guess this means the end of this blog as well. 1 down, more to go.
Thanks for reading this,
Peace!
 

Attachments

#238 ·
Falling Off the Wagon... (vise that is)

Hard to believe, I know. It's been over a year since I announced the workbench complete, although there was always that missing part, that loose end that had to be tied off in order to officially declare it a complete project.

Not only was it a loose end (literally, the vise screw was hanging loose in it's slot), but it was a missing integral part of the bench that I kept on wishing I had setup and functional. The Wagon Vise to hold down boards for planing flat and similar work. I know I can use a planing stop - which I have for most, but I personally find it lacking, sometimes I want to address the board across the grain, or diagonal, and with a planing stop - it was a pain. I am so happy to have this vise functional, and with a 1/8 - 1/4 of a turn I can lock down a board so well, that I can lift the bench by pulling on it (if I had the strength to actually lift the bench that is). I can now plane cross grain, diagonals, and with the grain with ease as the board is not going anywhere.

I was really taken by Jameel's benchcraft wagon vise. I still think that it's a masterpiece, and one of the best vises on the market. however, as much as I like it - it's way beyond my budget. so my plan was to build a wagon vise from scratch trying to take from the benchcraft vise what I liked - mainly? the fact that the vise screw stays stationary while the dog block rides forward/backwards on it as opposed to other vises that use a press screw that moves forward/backwards with the dog block.

At first I tried to stay true to the benchcraft vise, and the vise it was modeled from (in the Workbench book) by designing the dog block to ride on metal rails that will keep it parallel to it's slot, and aligned with the screw. while researching it, I quickly lost interest of the metal work involved, and decided to do all wood vise. so next was a design that used wood rails on the sides of the screw that the dog block will ride between using V grooves. for lack of time, and for just wanting to get something that will work - I dropped that idea as well, and just ended up with an enlarged block of wood that will ride on the vise screw. What holds the screw parallel to the vise slot is the hole in the end cap that the screw slides in through, and another elongated hole in the bench leg assembly - these 2 holes keep the screw parallel to the top, and to the bench dog line.

The block of wood is constructed from the top's material (bowling alley) glued together to give me enough support to attach to the screw nut. the top is a cut off from the doghole strip so it matches perfectly into the slot in the top, and the bottom creates 2 wings to the left and right to help keep it from twisting while the screw turns - although I see very little to no need for that as of now:

Wood Wooden block Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood


The block has been hollowed out with a chisel and some determination (don't have anything to bore that large holes) to house the screw nut to give me the most travel distance, and for better support:

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Wooden block


I applied 2 coats of BLO on the block to seal it from humidity, and rubbed some paste wax on the surfaces that will come in contact with the bench top to reduce the wood-wood friction, and screwed in the screw nut (so much screwing…):

Wood Plant Wooden block Hardwood Wood stain


First time around, there was a great deal of friction and moving the vise was very hard. I took it out, and lightly planed down all the surfaces that came in contact with the bench as I do not need full contact, I just need it to be a close perfect fit to negate twisting. This time around, the fit was perfect, flush with the top, and movement is super smooth. once the benchdogs come in contact with the board, it only takes a 1/8 to 1/4 turn (light pressure) to secure the board to the top that it cannot be moved under any circumstances:

Wood Wood stain Flooring Table Rectangle


pure awesomeness!

heres a close up shot of the screw leading the dog block: the "gap" between the dog block and benchtop is actually a chamfer on the top of the dog block and not a real gap all the way through:

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Flooring Material property


And bottom line, this is what it's all about:

Wood Hardwood Soil Tool Comfort food


I'm psyched! (2nd time this week) Another project off the list. Finally am able to secure boards for work, Finally have the bench fully functional.

P.S. the workbench has been posted here as a project:



Well, and I guess this means the end of this blog as well. 1 down, more to go.
Thanks for reading this,
Peace!
Very sweet vise Purplelev. This type of contraption is very new to me. I think this is one of the slickest things I have seen in a long while. Thanks for posting.

David
 

Attachments

#266 ·
The Wheel on the Wagon goes round and round

I wanted to do this for a long time and had the parts ordered and delivered a while ago, but one thing led to another and this was kept on the back burner and never saw the light of day. Ironically, it is now finished but still with no light of day as it is almost 11pm… All it gets is the light of the moon (which some may say is better).

I really liked benchcrafted wagon vise (even a free plug for them) But for what it is I think it's a bit overpriced (for a vise). Don't get me wrong, for their investments, materials, work done and considering this is not a mass produced and sold item, I don't think they are overcharging for it. But as a vise, I feel it is an overpriced item (confused yet? don't be!). If you have the $$$ and this expense won't affect you - go for it, I think it's of great quality and and you'll get a good product. I personally can't spend ~3 times what I spend on the entire workbench for just 1 vise and so I decided to build something of similar functionality (not on the same mechanical engineering quality - but something that will give me the same function at a doable cost).

The wagon vise was using a simple LV tail vise screw and a block of wood that travels across it and was completed a while ago (see previous post in this series) but what I really wanted to add was a wheel, as I find the long handles on vises to be less then user-friendly especially when you have to open and close them a considerable amount.

I ordered a 6" cast-iron wheel from Grizzly a while ago when I order a couple of other parts from them for ~$7 and using a pin punch I took off the LV vise T assembly:

Wood Finger Household hardware Gas Thumb


As you can see, small hole in wheel not exactly matching the large hole on the vise head and will need to be enlarged:

Audio equipment Automotive wheel system Gas Kitchen utensil Circle


I mounted the wheel on the lathe and enlarged the hole using a 3/8 drill bit to make enough clearance for a boring tool:

Gas Engineering Machine Machine tool Metal


I should really get a 1/2" or larger drill bit to make a larger clearance hole, but since 3/8" is my largest metal drill bit, I had to use a smaller boring tool to start with which is also shorter. that means that with the wheel mounted as is, I wasn't able to reach with the shorter boring tool throughout the hole, and had to mount the wheel the other way. After enlarging the hole enough, I moved onto a larger and stiffer boring tool to complete the hole:

Automotive tire Rim Gas Engineering Machine tool


And validated the hole sizing by comparing to the original part:

Automotive tire Gas Crankset Auto part Machine


Not it was time to drill the pin hole. I mounted the wheel in the mill, and since the hole is drilled in a round surface and the drill will have a tendency to slip sideways, I used a block of wood for the initial pilot hole to keep it straight:

Automotive tire Machine tool Gas Toolroom Engineering


I then stepped up the hole in size with different drill bits until I got the 1/4" at which point I slid the wheel out of the way and using a hand drill and a long (somewhat flexible) 1/4" drill bit followed the top hole and transferred it to the lower part of the wheel since the wheel itself made it impossible for me to drill this through with regular drill bits:

Automotive tire Crankset Bicycle part Milling Machine tool


Tire Automotive tire Wheel Steering wheel Machine tool


Once I had the holes aligned I continued and brought the hole to it's final size of 5/16" (I stopped at 1/4" since this is the only long drill I have from my days as an electrical contractor) and finished it off with a reamer to make the hole round and even to accept the pin:

Tire Wheel Automotive tire Water Rim


A quick check on the vise looks good:

Water Plumbing fixture Gas Plumbing Tints and shades


Drove the pin through, and ran it through a little test drive:

Wood Hardwood Workbench Tool Wood stain


works great! no more long handle to have to deal with, this truly makes a big difference and with the tail/wagon vise there is so little pressure required that is just makes so much sense to have it there.

Now just to turn a handle for the wheel… no hurry there as even without one it still works wonderfully.

Thanks for reading,
Peace!
 

Attachments

#267 ·
The Wheel on the Wagon goes round and round

I wanted to do this for a long time and had the parts ordered and delivered a while ago, but one thing led to another and this was kept on the back burner and never saw the light of day. Ironically, it is now finished but still with no light of day as it is almost 11pm… All it gets is the light of the moon (which some may say is better).

I really liked benchcrafted wagon vise (even a free plug for them) But for what it is I think it's a bit overpriced (for a vise). Don't get me wrong, for their investments, materials, work done and considering this is not a mass produced and sold item, I don't think they are overcharging for it. But as a vise, I feel it is an overpriced item (confused yet? don't be!). If you have the $$$ and this expense won't affect you - go for it, I think it's of great quality and and you'll get a good product. I personally can't spend ~3 times what I spend on the entire workbench for just 1 vise and so I decided to build something of similar functionality (not on the same mechanical engineering quality - but something that will give me the same function at a doable cost).

The wagon vise was using a simple LV tail vise screw and a block of wood that travels across it and was completed a while ago (see previous post in this series) but what I really wanted to add was a wheel, as I find the long handles on vises to be less then user-friendly especially when you have to open and close them a considerable amount.

I ordered a 6" cast-iron wheel from Grizzly a while ago when I order a couple of other parts from them for ~$7 and using a pin punch I took off the LV vise T assembly:

Wood Finger Household hardware Gas Thumb


As you can see, small hole in wheel not exactly matching the large hole on the vise head and will need to be enlarged:

Audio equipment Automotive wheel system Gas Kitchen utensil Circle


I mounted the wheel on the lathe and enlarged the hole using a 3/8 drill bit to make enough clearance for a boring tool:

Gas Engineering Machine Machine tool Metal


I should really get a 1/2" or larger drill bit to make a larger clearance hole, but since 3/8" is my largest metal drill bit, I had to use a smaller boring tool to start with which is also shorter. that means that with the wheel mounted as is, I wasn't able to reach with the shorter boring tool throughout the hole, and had to mount the wheel the other way. After enlarging the hole enough, I moved onto a larger and stiffer boring tool to complete the hole:

Automotive tire Rim Gas Engineering Machine tool


And validated the hole sizing by comparing to the original part:

Automotive tire Gas Crankset Auto part Machine


Not it was time to drill the pin hole. I mounted the wheel in the mill, and since the hole is drilled in a round surface and the drill will have a tendency to slip sideways, I used a block of wood for the initial pilot hole to keep it straight:

Automotive tire Machine tool Gas Toolroom Engineering


I then stepped up the hole in size with different drill bits until I got the 1/4" at which point I slid the wheel out of the way and using a hand drill and a long (somewhat flexible) 1/4" drill bit followed the top hole and transferred it to the lower part of the wheel since the wheel itself made it impossible for me to drill this through with regular drill bits:

Automotive tire Crankset Bicycle part Milling Machine tool


Tire Automotive tire Wheel Steering wheel Machine tool


Once I had the holes aligned I continued and brought the hole to it's final size of 5/16" (I stopped at 1/4" since this is the only long drill I have from my days as an electrical contractor) and finished it off with a reamer to make the hole round and even to accept the pin:

Tire Wheel Automotive tire Water Rim


A quick check on the vise looks good:

Water Plumbing fixture Gas Plumbing Tints and shades


Drove the pin through, and ran it through a little test drive:

Wood Hardwood Workbench Tool Wood stain


works great! no more long handle to have to deal with, this truly makes a big difference and with the tail/wagon vise there is so little pressure required that is just makes so much sense to have it there.

Now just to turn a handle for the wheel… no hurry there as even without one it still works wonderfully.

Thanks for reading,
Peace!
That is a nice upgrade, and what a nice metal machinery you have.
Best thoughts,
Mads
 

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