| Blog series by PurpLev | updated 88 days ago | 14 parts | 9921 reads | 205 comments total |
Part 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’...
Part 2: Design B...B...Because I said so. -more criticism please
So after giving some food for though, and going back and forth between 2 designs – my original one: and the Roubo Bench (the one I was drooling over was Jameel’s bench from handcrafted vises), I decided to take the things that would work best for me today, based on materials that I have available today – while keeping an open door for future changes. here are the features I am going for: 1. wagon vise – tail vise abilities, without the sagging, and without...
Part 3: Back to Square1... Committed to new Design - legs are ready.
so After setting on the last design (see previous post in this series) I went out to disassemble the bowling alley laminated top – the purpose was to remove all the nails, so that I can drill the dog holes, and also laminate it in a double stack to give me a 4” top on the perimeter (5” in from the edges – for clamping purposes, and leg attachments). This idea turned to be disastrous. The nails are hardened steel, and twisted making the job of pulling them outridicul...
Part 4: Look at them Legs...
Picking up where I last left off (each leg glued, and hand planed to clean out the glue lines), It was now time to get some assembly done. First thing First – gotta trim all legs to same length/height since during glue up some boards decided to move about. I decided to use a reference point that I could use on all legs that would match them all up – since different legs had different boards that moved around – the only reference point that I could use (and the best one of...
Part 5: Rain Rain go Away - Rail Rail Done Today
July, and it was pouring rain here in Boston, MA. for the past week. go figure. (although today it cleared out which is really nice). but enough about the weather (as if this will stop us). After completing the basic construction for the leg ends last installment. It was now the time to connect those with rails. The rails are 45” long with 2 1/2” tenon sticking on each side (to a total length of 50” – do the math). They are made of 2 2×4 that were jointed/plane...
Part 6: 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 ou...
Part 7: 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...
Part 8: 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. ...
Part 9: 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. In reality this will change slig...
Part 10: 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): 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: I’m not a machinist, nor work with metal ...
Part 11: 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 th...
Part 12: 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...
Part 13: 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 ...
Part 14: 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 us...
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