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108K views 109 replies 21 participants last post by  helluvawreck 
#1 ·
Day 1

After debating with myself for the past 6 months or so, I finallly decided on a design and got the nod from my CFO to go buy the lumber (it helps that my local Menards had a sale on everything in the store, including lumber). I won't go into all the details and back story on the blog here, I'll reserve that for my full up woodworking blog over at:

vaughtwoodworks.wordpress.com

Feel free to visit that site for all the details, more photos, my thoughts, etc. I will endeavor to post pictures and keep an abbreviated work journal here (just to save myself hassle. I set up the Wordpress account last month and I just can't bring myself to update 2 blogs of the exact thing).

So, that said, this is my first workbench, heavily influenced by Chris Schwarz and his famous Workbench book (also from the ever popular Scott Landis book as well). Since this is my first big project, and I haven't really established myself as a woodworker to the finance department (which is critical for my continuance in this hobby!!!) I needed to accomplish a few things with this work:

  1. do it right, and make it look good
  2. do it inexpensively (not neccessarily cheap, per se)
  3. make it last
  4. make it suitable to typical homeowner DIY projects, not just woodworking
  5. establish my "street cred" so to speak with the CFO to pave the way for future work (and tools!)

With those goals in mind, I came up with the following design:

  • 36" high
  • 6' long (to fit the available space in my garage/workshop
  • 27" deep (again, to fit space)
  • laminated 2×4 top for weight, stability and $$$
  • 4×4 post legs for same reasons
  • all wood construction (drawboring with oak pegs)

I want to include a leg vise and I'm still working on the design for that one. I just now saw a project here on LJ that showed a DIY leg vise that looks like it will fit the bill (don't have a link because I clicked away too fast by accident, now I have to find it again to study in detail). I don't have $300 to spend on a vise so this will be homebrewed. I realize with the all wood construction I have set myself a HUGE challenge but I feel confident that if I take my time and have patience, I can do it

I'm also fascinated by the sliding deadman and want to try my hand at one of these and some homemade benchdogs. So, all in all this thing will be very much cobbled together from inexpensive wood (when I can slip in a board here or there at the BORG when shopping for other stuff for our reno projects :) ) and I can promise you she won't be the prettiest girl at the dance but she'll be mine and I hope to learn a whole lot from this experience.

If I'm lucky, you might get a few laughs out of it (for all you more experienced lumberjocks) or pick up a few lessons from my (inevitable) mistakes (for you fellow noobs).

So, Day 1 was all about hunting/gathering. I went to Menards and got the lumber (after an hour of sorting through their bins), glue and oak dowels and hauled it home. After careful sorting and stacking, here's the workbench so far:

Property Plant Wood Waste container Beam


You'll notice I have some of it (the stretchers and other scrap) stored above the garage door: the previous owner (we've lived here about a month) put that little storage jig there and I had no idea what to do with it until today! I lucked out in that the previous owner (who also built the place 17 years ago) loved wood: all the paneling, trim and doors are solid oak…we have lots of scraps and leftovers in the garage for me to play with now!

So, that's it for day one--if you want to read more see vaughtwoodworks for more pics and details. Gotta skip town for the next few days for my wife's class reunion and bring the kiddos to visit the grandparents, so the wood can rest and acclimate while I'm away. Next week I will work on jigs to prep the wood, and hopefully start getting things rolling! I can't even describe how excited I am, I have a whole list of projects I'm ready to work on once the bench is done…
 

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#55 ·
Day 28: Leg Vise chop final touches

To see the version with all the pictures (there's a lot!) click here.

I am forcing myself to finish this dadgum leg vise. I'm tired of seeing the parts sitting around and now that I've pretty much caught up with all the random tasks associated with the bench to get back to the next to last big project (last will be the sliding deadSven).

I spent a little time touching up the beveled edges and getting things where I think I'm at as far as I can push my skills and this pine. I also rounded to top a little…

Then it was on to doing the carving I had planned before actually mounting this thing (because obviously it'll be hard to carve when it's mounted…).

First step was to decide on a design. That was easy. I'll use my maker's mark I've used on all my artwork for years and years, a simple pattern based on my initials S. M. V. Take a look at the top right of this page and you'll see the symbol.

I resized the image in Photoshop, then printed it out.

Next, I flipped it over and covered the back of the design in graphite from a pencil…

Next I placed it on the chop and then traced the image (right side up) as hard as I could without breaking through the paper or the point of the pencil.

When you peel the paper off, if you've done it right, your design is now outlined on the wood. Because of the pencil I used and the wood's soft surface, the deign came out real faint, so I had to go over it again to darken it up.

I then started to carve. First I took my smallest flat chisel (1/4") and made stop cuts all the way around the design. Then I went back and made a stop cut in along the middle of each letter. Next, it was just a matter of cutting from either edge towards the middle, angled down. It created a nice V cut. Here it is as I started:In this shot you can see I added the date as well. Anyway, all there is to it is to keep at it and move you're way along the design, cutting and chiseling. The curves were very tricky, but I found if you use the corner of the chisel and go real slow, it's possible to get decent curves.

The number, about 1" tall were much harder than the letters, but I muddled through it. If nothing else, this is fine practice. I also used the real cheap set of carving chisels (supposedly professional grade…ha!) I picked up for $16 from Amazon about 2 years ago. I couldn't figure out if the crappy gouges were hurting or helping my effort so I scrapped 'em and went back to the straight chisel.

In the end, I didn't like how things were so rough looking so I got out the Dremel, put in a tiny diamond tip teardrop shaped tip and smoothed everything out.

For my first attempt at carving, I'm pretty happy.

Please click here for the pictures…
 
#56 ·
Day 29: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 1)

Here's the link to the post with pictures.

Today I finally had enough of thinking and worrying about how to mount the leg vise. After all, once I drill that big hole through the leg, there's no going back!

I got out the Black and Decker Woodwrecker and a 5/8" paddle bit, then punched a hole in the chop for the threaded rod. Then i carefully lined up the chop exactly where I wanted it…leveled it and clamped it in place. I marked the spot on the leg where the hole for the rod needed to be and got the chop out of the way.

I used a 3/4" paddle bit to hog out a hole in the wood to seat the massive threaded rod coupler I bought. This thing will be buried in the leg to support the rod/vise. Then I centered the 5/8" bit again and bored out the rest of the hole.

Test fitting the coupler let me in on the fact that the 3/4" hole was still about 1/8" too small all the way around for the coupler to fit. Now I had to use the 1/4" chisel to cut the round hole into a hexagonal shape to seat the coupler into the leg so it would not turn when the rod turns. This turned out to be easier than I thought and it turned out a lot better than I imagined!

After a few test fits with the mallet (had to use a carriage bolt and the mallet from the other side to pop the coupler out, the fit was that snug) I realized that the last part of the hole in the leg (the smaller diameter part in the rear of the leg) was not perfectly level like everything else. So when I put the rod in to test it, I found it was trying to screw it's way through the leg for the last inch or so. Well, that wouldn't do at all.

Out came the chisel again and I carved out the last bit of the hole the correct angle for the rod to work it's way through. After slipping on some nuts (it took three, each rotated in opposite directions to lock in place) and using some pliers, I was able to get the rod to go all the way through the leg. Once it punched through that initial time, I could use my hands very easily to turn the rod. This is promising!

I now understand the reasoning for those wood screws the massive threads--even though this threaded rod is coarse threaded, it still took a loooong time to get that rod all the way through the leg so I could test fit the chop. Whew. Good thing I'm not going to be backing this sucker out the full 24".

And here is the chop on it's first test fit. Everything looks good to me! Next step is to fabricate a handle/lever (I'm still trying to sort out the mechanics of this and how I'm going to do it) and garter.

Speaking of the garter, I found a piece fo scrap metal laying on a shelf and realized it was just barely too narrow for the rod to pass through. I busted out the file and the bench vise and worked on a for a while. Then I got the idea to use the hack saw, cut a notch below the hole and then slam it with a hammer. That bent one "arm" back and allowed for enough space the rod to sit inside. I used the file to make the thickness of the "arms" a little more pointed to fit in the threads on the rod, and I think the garter is now ready to install on the chop.

Here is the full length shot of the bench with the chop installed for the test fit. With any luck, I'll figure out how I'm going to attach the handle/lever I have yet to create and then I'll attach it permanently! It sure is strong though--glad I upped the screw from the 10" 3/8" carriage bolt to the 1/2" x 24" threaded rod! As an aside, the strip of wood laying on the bench is the 4 pieces of oak trim cutoff that I glued together months ago. I planed it down to it's fighting size today and it fit so smoothly into the slot that's already cut into the leg for it. Should be awesome for the support bit down there on the bottom of the chop (the slot for that hasn't been cut yet).

Click here for the pictures!
 
#57 ·
Day 30: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 2)

For the version with pictures, please click here.

I didn't have much spare time today but what I did have I used to take care of the next couple steps in the leg vise drama.

First I removed the threaded rod and hacked off about 6-8" worth from the end. The rod was just about 2" too long to allow the chop to fully close.

Then I figured out how to mount a handle. It occurred to me while I was trying to remove the rod from the bench from the test fit. If I could carve a hole in the leg to fit the coupler in as a support for the rod…why couldn't I carve holes in some wood to fit around the nuts that will go on the end of the rod--to create a handle?

It's kind of hard to describe, but what I came up with is something like this: after the chop is pushed onto the rod, I'll add a washer. Then there will be a piece fo wood with a nut embedded in it (not too much thicker than the nut itself). Then another nut will be embedded in a second piece of wood with a long handle attached. This second piece will be screwed down onto piece #1 locking them in place. Then a third piece of wood with a nut embedded will be screwed on last, locking all 3 together.

I figure if I shape the pieces of wood, I could make what seems like a decent looking handle. Then just before tightening all of them down, I could glue them all together using the wood surfaces to make a nice solid handle. I also immediately thought is something goes wrong or a handle breaks…well, I just have to remove the wood--hack and slash--and the nuts should pop out (I'm not gluing them). then just make new housing for the nuts. Worst case scenario, I replace all the nuts and threaded rod and start over--that total cost would be about $5.

But what wood to use? Just so happens I had a scrap length of 2"x 3/4" poplar laying about so I used that. I decided to make the wood housings 2.5" squares. Then it was relatively easy to place the nut in the center using the combo square and drill a 5/8" hole in the wood. After tracing the outline of the nut around the hole, I just did what I did for the leg and used the chisel to carve out a hexagon shape to fit the nut securely.

This time it was much easier. I mounted the poplar on a cutting block of scrap wood that had been glued together last year for an air rifle stock I had started to carve then realized that white-wood wouldn't be the best choice (it was a terrible glue-up too). I've been holding onto this sizable chunk of glued-up mess and now I have a use for it…sacrificial block to protect the bench!Above you can see all the holes had been drilled in the 5' board. I carved out the first piece pretty quickly. After a little persuasion by the rubber mallet, I had this:

Awesome. That piece then got cut off from the rest (I even laid out the kerf line for my cheapie Stanley miter box saw (the yellow plastic one). I also discovered the joys of waxing your saw. It was binding something fierce in the poplar on this first cut and I could not figure out why. Finally I decided to try and wax it (never done that before!) using some paraffin (Gulf) wax blocks I got a while ago for…I don't know why…

Anyway, the saw powered through the rest of the cuts like a hot knife through butter. I'm a believer now! I'm going to dedicate some time soon to waxing all my saws. Anyway, in pretty short order, I had all the nuts housed in the wood and all the wood pieces cut free.You can see the shape I'm planning on doing here as well. I used the combo square's 45* angle thing to make consistent angle marks on all the pieces, then laid out lines to trim down the longer middle piece which will be the actual handle.

Next, it was time for a test fit! I threaded the rod a little into the leg again just to get it supported, then started threading on my new wood encased nuts. Here is the result--exactly like I thought, it worked great!The rest is just a matter of making it look pretty. So I took everything apart and started to cut off those angles with the miter saw again. Once I figured out how that saw likes to be held, it literally chewed through that poplar in about 10 seconds per cut. Waaay faster than I've ever been able to get with that saw before. Very happy.

With all the pieces trimmed, I then took out my utility knife (I really need to get a dedicated carving knife…the thin blade on that utility knife just makes me nervous it's going to snap whenever it takes too big a bite and twangs) and started to round the edges and take the hardness off the handle. I was running out of time so I didn't get as far as smoothing the two smaller pieces but I think after a quick scrub with some 100 and 220 grit sandpaper, the handle is feeling pretty comfortable.

Above is a shot of all the parts of the leg vise. The handle, the two locking nuts, the threaded rod and washer, the garter (that funky "V" shaped metal thing I found) and at the very bottom, the side of the chop.

I'm not sure I'm done with the handle. I haven't really settled on a final shape. While I love the dowel-looking handles on traditional vises, that's beyond my skills (patience) at the moment. This thing has been sitting in pieces for so long, I am just ready to be done with it so I can move on to other stuff that is just piling up. We'll see. It feels pretty darn good right now in my hand and I gave it a couple practice twirls to simulate trying to loosen or tighten it quick and it really moves. I think I'm going to smooth out the two locking nuts first and do another test fit to see if I want to shape the handle more or just call it. It kind of looks a little rustic right now…like the rest of the bench (yeah…I still have to trim the excess of the top!).

And another thought occurred to me while I was carving this thing. If I tighten the nuts/wood pieces sufficiently, I may not need to glue anything. That would make removal/repair a LOT easier. We'll see how it goes unglued and just friction tightened first. If things keep coming loose (it's not that big a deal to just twist the wood in opposite directions to lock/unlock) then I'll just glue the wood together.

This leg vise feels like it's just creeping along…oh yeah. It is!

To see the pictures, please click here.
 
#58 ·
Day 31: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 3)

Please click here to see the version with pictures.

I made some good progress for the 20 minutes I had to work on the bench today.

I used the utility knife to chamber the edges of the two locking nut/wood discs I fabricated, then polished off the wood with 220 grit sandpaper for a nice smooth finish that didn't end up overly round.

I also got out the 3/8" paddle bit and started to hog out the slot for the support guide at the bottom of the leg vise. I ran out of time to get this part finished, but the hole is roughed out and I just started to chisel it smooth.

The main event, however, was a full up trial run of the vise. I put the chop on the threaded rod, then 2 washers (I haven't decided fi I want 2 or 1) then the first nut/wood block, then the handle, then the end nut/wood block. I set the end piece to cover the sharp end of the threaded rod in case me or the kids or anyone else happens to get to close to the bench, they won't (read that as I won't) gore themselves. Then it was a simple matter of rotating the handle in the opposite direction until it was snug and tight against the end piece. Then , repeat that process for the last nut and the whole thing got incredibly tight. I don't think I even need to glue it.

And the test? It worked like a dream. I spun the handle a little bit and it was so smooth. When the chop was engaged, I put Jim's lamp mounting plate in it for the first test and man did it get locked down.

The chop wanted to wobble side to side a bit as I tightened it up, but I anticipate that the guide at the bottom that is to be installed with solve that.

I have yet to figure out a way to get a garter on this thing. The first idea I had met with horrible failure. I mortised out a little space in the rear of the chop (the inside face) and placed that little metal piece I worked on yesterday in the slot. Everything fit nice, the threaded rod passed right through…but when I went to test it, the chop just tighten up against the handle (using the same principle as the handle itself) and then wouldn't budge. After some head scratching, I realized that this tack is the wrong course. That's when it hit me that the garter can't touch an actual thread or it acts like a nut. Duh. Ah well, the learning pains. Which means, I think I need to mortise a hole in the front of the chop, cut a thick slice off a thick dowel and hollow it for the threaded rod, then cut a groove in the dowel and mount a garter into that. I'm thinking this will ride with a washer on either end (one against the chop, one against the handle assembly).

But that can wait a while. It's not so bad at all to just tighten things down, then back the handle off and manually pull the chop back. I'm going to live with it for a while and see how I like it. If I don't, I'll rig up the garter.
At the moment, I don't want to mess up a good thing by tinkering too much!

Please click here see the version with pictures.
 
#59 ·
I would suggest you file out the thread where the garter comes in contact with the rod, in such a way that there no more thread at that spot. In other words making a circular groove with a width just greater than the garter tickness.

It will not weaken the rod as its strength depends of the core diameter.
You will have to get the garter a little bit closer to the core of the rod.
Probably a quarter of an hour job.

edit
I see you have in some way sharpened you garter so that it can slip between two threads; take that bevel out so that it will not engage in the thread.
 
#61 ·
Day 32: Mounting the Leg Vise (part 4)

For the image heavy version of this post, please click here.

At last, the day arrived when I could put it all together and complete the leg vise. Or so I thought. This post is actually a combination of a couple days work because I just couldn't bring myself to post nothing but failure after failure until it was done.

With some helpful tips from Sylvain over at the Lumberjocks site, I was able to (almost) complete the task of getting that garter (that I thought was an unmitigated failure) in gear so-to-speak. Thanks, man!

First, I filed off the bevel that I put on the garter itself. Then I marked on the threaded rod where the garter would sit in normal operation. Then I took everything apart and used the file to remove a thread so the garter won't act like a nut. It did not take long to file off a thread, but I made the mistake of following the thread, so the garter slot was slanted. Then I went back and tried to straighten the slot by partially filing the threads in front of and after the slot. That made a nice straight slot and left half-threads in front and behind. No big deal I thought.

Then I realized when I tried to test fit everything that no matter how I tried, the garter kept getting pushed up by the half threads and was threading itself like a nut. No good. I monkeyed around for over an hour on this, taking a little metal off the garter here, some more off the threads there. It kept getting tantalizingly close to working. I actually got the garter mounted a couple times and did a full on test fit only to have ti work for 2 or 3 turns of the handle, then the garter got on the thread and locked everything up.

In frustration, I decided to cut one of the big washers I got to fit the threaded rod in half and cut it in half to see if a rounded shape (the garter I have, being scrap, is more of a V shape) would fit the garter slot better. I had mixed results again. So I tried a smaller washer, cut it in half and realized I think I had a winner. But…how to mount it? The washer is so small compared to the rod that it may have to epoxied in place or something. May have to bust out the Dremel and try and get a pilot hole started for a screw or something…more to think on.
I had to take a break before I screwed something up so I got to work on the leg vise guide. While everything was apart, I finished the guide. I took the oak piece I glued together back in August (scrap pieces of trim) and sanded it nice and smooth, rounded the edges, then used the combination square to cut 45* angles in the end of it.

After consulting the Schwarz's book on the placement of the peg holes, I got those drilled.

But how to attach it to the chop? Chris Schwarz and lots of others suggest using side pegs. That would require drilling through the chop. In my case, I don't have a bit long enough (I didn't fully taper the chop like everyone else does…now I see why! Lessons learned for next time!). so, enter plan B. I had a scrap piece of an oak dowel laying around. That went into the bottom of the guide slot on the chop. then the guide was fit in. Last, I split a chunk of oak from another scrap trim piece and shaped it to fit just so…it became a nice wedge in the chop to keep the guide rock solid.

I did a test fit of the wedge for strength before I drilled the peg holes in the guide. I think it's pretty darn strong!

As for the peg that will hold the guide tight against the leg in normal use, I decided to use a piece of a maple branch I had to trim a while ago. Like the file handle I made from the birch branch, I love using wood I harvest on my own land. Here's the branch it came from:

Then I used the utility knife to trim off the bark (waaay thinner than the birch). I scraped the peg with the edge of the blade like a spokeshave to smooth and round it (that was fun!) and then polished it off with some 220 grit sandpaper.As you can see in the picture, I left the little stubs of some bigger twigs towards the end to make a "T" that will keep the peg from slipping out and give me something to grip when inserting and removing. It's probably way too long at the moment, but that can easily be trimmed.

So then I got around to drilling holes in the guide to match the diameter of the peg I made. Well, that didn't turn out so well. I got within 5 holes of being finished when the guide broke apart. So I had one slice of the guide that then had to be clamped in place while I finished the holes, then glued back together (I had no other suitable wood in the scrap bin that would work without another day or two of labor to get it in shape).

As I'm doing with the handle, I want to see how long it'll last mounted to the chop without glue. If normal use loosens things up (right now this sucker is not going anywhere) then I'll glue it as well. I guess in a way I'm preparing for if/when the glued oak guide splits apart. Since it already did while I was drilling holes, I thin it's a fair bet it'll happen in the future. In that case, I'll go get a solid oak plank and plane it to fit and be done with it. But…as a nod to my cheaper side, I'm going to see how long I can last without having to buy more wood.

For the image heavy version of this post, http://vaughtwoodworks.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/workbench-day-32-mounting-the-leg-vise-part-4/.
 
#62 ·
I am sory to hear that it didn't work as expected.

You might try this :
Wood Handwriting Font Rectangle Art


the nut may be epoxied or kept in place with a through pin if you want to be able to unmount it.
Note that the groove is wide enough such that when you tight the vise the handle will limit the travel of the rod in such a way that the thread will not touch the garter.
 

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#64 ·
Day 33: Leg Vise finished!

For the glory shots of the completed leg vise, please click here.

Today, I finally can scratch off this component of the bench at last!

I came out to shop more confused than ever on how to proceed after ending the session yesterday in frustration. So I turned on the radio and put everything together and watched carefully how the threaded rod affected the garter and tried to catch it.

It occurred to me I should try and either (a) make the half threads surrounding the garter grove more sharp instead of gradual sloped and (b) file the groove deeper into the core of the rod. The rod is so thick (actually 5/8" not the 1/2" I wrote the other day) I don't think the filing I did hurt the strength of the rod at all.

I took nearly an hour to slowly file bit by bit and test and re-test the garter, but each time it worked a little better. Finally, by the time I was ready to give up and move on, the last test worked. I filed a little more off (we're talking 3-4 strokes of the file) and it was as near to perfect as I feel I can get at this stage in the game. The groove was way deeper than I originally made yet still not so deep that I am worried for the integrity of the vise.

I attached the guide (freshly glued and sanded again) and at long last, it's done!

You can see in the picture above, this thing has an effective clamping width of something around 18" or so (!!!). Here it's only backed out about 6 or 7 inches. Then I closed it for another look.Man it feels good to step back and say I built that!!Once I get the ends of the top trimmed (the billets are still rough cut to length from when I built it) the next step will be a sliding deadman. And to clean up. Sheesh, what a slob.

Please click here for pictures.
 
#65 ·
Leg Vise Chop Redux

Okay, so if you follow this blog, you'll know that last year I built a leg vice and attached it to the workbench I built over the summer. The chop on this vice was simply two pieces of 3/4" pine, about 6" wide, glued together and shaped (with some crude tools I had at the time and zero knowledge of what I was doing). Then I carved my initials and the year of it's construction (2012) into it and made a nice little handle out of poplar.



Well, it works. That's about all I can say for it. I've had to repair it twice (fixing the garter and then redoing the oaken support bar at the bottom that kept sliding through the chop when sufficient force was applied). I've noticed it bowing more and more lately. I think the abuse I've heaped on it in the past year is taking it's toll. I can't complain though, the thing cost me about $6 in wood and glue.

But, it's always had a wobble and lately it's gotten worse--the chop will sway front to back now by 3/4".



I can still work with it, but it's irritating, because I know I can do better now that I have a year of woodworking under my belt. I see the bench and look at the crude mortises and rough-cut bridle joins and think, man, if I did this now, it'd look a LOT nicer. Maybe I'm just talking my self into building a better bench, maybe I'm just realizing the humbleness of my first attempt.

At any rate, I can fix the chop, cheaply and with little risk of screwing it up this time. I think. So, with that in mind, an idea formed in my head to use some scrap poplar and a chunk of 2×6 I had laying around and make a new chop.

I want to spruce it up a little this time, so I'm going to take the 2×6 and sandwich it between two layers of 3/4" poplar and carve the upper layer into a Game of Thrones inspired Targaryen dragon motif:



The last carving I did was for my mom's medal chest was basswood:



And it was so much fun, I just want to do it some more. I figured, why not dress up the bench a little? It's very utilitarian right now. I want to change that. If I'm going to be looking at something for hours on end, I at least want it to be pretty.

We'll see how the poplar carves (I've heard it's similar to basswood). For now, I have to have laminate the chop. Here it is during glue up:



Yes, that's a giant roll of shrink wrap on the bench. The movers left me 2 of these bad boys when they moved us in last summer and it is great for putting under a glue up. I'm going to mount it under the bench on the left so I can just unroll it and cover the bench whenever I need it. But that's another post.

About 5 hours later, I removed the clamps and compared the two chops. Oh yeah, version two is beefier, that's for sure. It's at least twice as thick and three times as heavy. I'd say V2 is pushing 10 pounds where V1 is maybe 5.

 
#68 ·
Slice and Dice the new Leg Vise Chop

Finally got a chance to sweat in the shop….I mean work in the shop today. Wisconsin may not be as hot as Texas (ever) but we sure get some humid days and being inside the garage, even with a box fan going full blast is good recipe for weight loss!

Today's first order of business was to start crafting a carving mallet so I could do the details on the leg chop. I don't have one and quite frankly, I just think they're cool. But…I'm going to take a non-traditional approach. I have no lathe and a very limited budget, so I had to do some brainstorming. Tapping the carving chisels with my big mallet is just not in the cards.

Click here to see the write up of the carving mallet project I've started.

Anyway, after I dried myself off from working on the new mallet, I dusted off the now glued up leg vise chop and honed some chisels. I tell you what, the freshly honed chisels really made short work of the top of the vise, slicing through the poplar with ease. Add a little persuasion from Kroktskaft and I was revealing some real pretty green grain in the upper layer of poplar and a glass like finish. It's like the wood is infused with emeralds or something. Really cool color.



The light green grain is kind of hard to see in the photo, but what isn't hard to see is the difference truly sharp chisels make. The first iteration of my chop was "carved" with the same chisels in 3/4" pine. The chisels were used straight from the package and "sharpened" the best way I knew how at the time. I was quite pleased with myself!



Ah, ignorance is bliss.

Since last year, however, I have figured out the scary sharp method and gotten a mirror polish on my edged tools. The photo below shows the difference. On the bench is the new chop, with sharply sliced bevels. Below it is the current chop, with a rough-hewn look to it. Granted, the chop has been in service for a year…but still. Daaaaaaaamn, what a difference.



Whew….didn't realize how rough the original chop looks until today! I don't want to meet this bad boy in a dark alley…unless I've got my scary sharp chisels, that is.

Just I got into a good rhythm, then heard the baby monitor start to squawk. So, that's it for today. But tomorrow holds promise--and it's supposed to be cooler.
 
#69 ·
Leg Vice Chop Shaping Complete

Got to spend some more time in the shop after I put the kids to bed. I continued shaping the chop and here is the result….one nicely beveled chop, using chisels and the Nice Ash block plane. A deadly combination--that poplar never stood a chance.



By the time I had all the bevels done (30minutes!) I realized I had time to go for flattening the sides, and I ended up with this:



I am very happy with the results. Got a little workout in and finished the chop's shaping. So I started in on roughing out the handle on my new carving mallet. 30 minutes later, using a utility knife and a 1" bench chisel I have something that resembles a handle, but is superbly fitted to my hand. It feels so good in fact I'm kind of freaked out that I pulled this off. And I still need to finish shaping it and sand it, etc…Now I'm fighting the urge to get started on the carving instead of finishing the mallet.



Kind of crude looking, but hey, I don't have a lathe and I just have to shake my head in wonder at how well I lucked out with fitting it. Just weird.

I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, eh?

Boy that cherry is delicious to work with. As much fun as I've ever had with sharp tools.

And just for giggles, you can see the cut off, drunkenly tilted over, from the shaft. Hah!
 
#72 ·
Starting to Carve the new Leg Vise

Got a little time in the shop left after repairing my jack plane iron--that's another post--time to start carving!

First I transfered the design using tracing paper (rub a pencil to cover the back in graphite, then retrace the design on the wood). Then I used a 1/2" bench chisel to make stop cuts around the larger portions of the banner. It will be draped over the bottom section of the dragons so it is the high ground, so to speak.



After the stop cuts were made, I went around all the curvy parts wih my carving chisels and made more stop cuts, then started to hollow out the background around the banner and undercut the main part to give it a 3D look.

Once I was satisfied it was deep enough, I started on the left side and knocked down the two layers of the curled banner. When I had three distinct layers I called it quits for the day. It was 100 degrees in the garage and I needed to change clothes!



Man, this poplar carves nice. Silky, like basswood only denser. I really like it!
 
#74 ·
Carving update

So I had some more time today in the shop and continued to work on the leg vise chop. There's not much to tell, the picture show the progress. It was slow, sweaty work, but this is the result of about 2 hours. Had to hone the chisels but other than that, everything is progressing as planned.

Finsihed the final shaping of the banner (just needs smoothing and sanding) and started in on the dragons! Woohoo!

Wood Art Rectangle Artifact Font


Really liking how the curled banner looks 3D! Thanks to Mary May and her latest article in Popular Woodworking on carving linen folds in wood!

Here's the main event:

Wood Artifact Rectangle Art Font


I took a bad picture it seems. Straight down does not do it justice. But it sure is fun trying to get all the little nooks and crannies around that dragon head. Looking forward to doing the celtic knotwork-like necks!
 

Attachments

#75 ·
Carving update

So I had some more time today in the shop and continued to work on the leg vise chop. There's not much to tell, the picture show the progress. It was slow, sweaty work, but this is the result of about 2 hours. Had to hone the chisels but other than that, everything is progressing as planned.

Finsihed the final shaping of the banner (just needs smoothing and sanding) and started in on the dragons! Woohoo!

Wood Art Rectangle Artifact Font


Really liking how the curled banner looks 3D! Thanks to Mary May and her latest article in Popular Woodworking on carving linen folds in wood!

Here's the main event:

Wood Artifact Rectangle Art Font


I took a bad picture it seems. Straight down does not do it justice. But it sure is fun trying to get all the little nooks and crannies around that dragon head. Looking forward to doing the celtic knotwork-like necks!
Looking good so far! Keep it up!
 

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#78 ·
Leg Vise Chop Carving Update III

Here's the latest update. I scrapped the flames as too difficult for my skills/tools.

Wood Creative arts Artifact Art Sculpture


Got all the dragons roughed in…now I can work on refining shapes and background consistency.
WOW! That turned out nice! I almost wouldn't smooth out the rough spots too much. I'm kinda digging the texture it gives to the carving.
 

Attachments

#83 ·
Leg Vise Chop Carving Finished

Well, after two sweaty hours out in the shop today in ridiculous humidity, I was able to wrap up the last of the carving and put on the final touches.

Here it is with the basic shaping and sanding complete.



Then I went back with two different sized nail sets and gently hammered in a scale patter on the dragon heads and necks:



And finally used my carving chisels and chip carving knife to cut the year numbers.



Now it's time to put a coat of clear shellac on the carving (those teeth are small enough that I want at least a minimum of protection…) and star work on mounting it to the bench!!

 
#94 ·
Leg Vise Chop: Seating the Garter

Good news bad news kind of day. Twice.

The first thing that hit me today was that the bare spot I had filed into the threads on the leg vise "screw" (really a 5/8" threaded rod from the Borg) for the first chop won't work on v2 because the chop is twice as thick.



Soooo…half an hour of filing and I had this:



Then I started making the garter. First I measured out a 2.5" square of 1/2" oak. Then took it to the drill press and punched a 1/2" hole with a Forstner bit and cut the garter in half.



Made a pretty good fit, I think…or as close as I can get with the equipment I have.



Once the garter was ready, I put the whole chop on the drill press and after lauhing a bit at how it drwafed the press table, I drilled a 5/8" hole for the screw. This was a little complicated, as my little Harbor Freight (I know, gasp) drill press and small bits dodnt have the travel neccessary to punch through the whole chop in one pass.



So I would drill as deep as possible, the scooted the chop up ontot the bit and shimmed it with scrap underneath to let the bit go deeper. I repeated this until the chuck hit the chop (lol) and had to flip the chop, mark the location of the hole on the back and drill in to meet the front hole….

At last I had the hole drilled and smooth. The threaded rod slipped through much nicer than when I drilled the first chop last year…that was using a cordless drill and a twist bit. It was a lot more dofficult and probably was the reason for the wobble that caused me to replace the chop.

Anyway, I tested the rod with the garter in place, the traced out where to cut my mortise:



Back to the drill press to hog out the waste (first time I've ever used it to do this….talk about fun!)



And 5 minutes later I had chiselsd out the most square, straight sided mortise of my life!!!



I was so happy with the mortise I had a hard time seating the garter and rod….I hated to cover it up! But, after countersinking for some screws, everything went together like butter (the wax I added to the garter and the rod may have helped).

It only took a few minutes to thread the rod into the bench's bushing (also oak) and my new chop was attached!!


(Sorry for the blurry, bad image…cell phone camera)

Then….I noticed the other bad news….when I originally built the bench I must had drilled the hole for the rod off a little. Because I did it by hand (not with a bit and brace, just with a power drill and no guides) and not with a press, my new chop is waaaaaay off.



You can clearly see the bottom has mad contact with the bench leg, but the top is….you guessed it…exactly as far apart as the infamous wobble in the old chop that caused me so much grief.

After wiping up the sawdust filled tears of frustration, I started thinking of remedies. Firs toptoo is to cut an angled piece to glje on the face of the chop to make it clampable. Not pretty because I'll have a lopsoded chop….but I don't think it'll bug me enough to not want to use it.

So I'm putting the old batsignal out intot the clouds….anyone got any ideas on how to proceed? I'm hoping I don't have to use the u option of removing the leg and replacing that and drilling a proper hole to match the chop….

 
#95 ·
Looking at that pic is the hole in the leg the issue or is the hole in the chop not straight? From this angle it looks like the hole in the chop is angled and the leg is straight?

*edit .. after looking at all the pics again I think it is the through the chop that is the issue. That being the case you could drill it over sized with a second surface mounted garter on the outboard side of it to square it up.
 
#101 ·
I'm watching but having trouble understanding. In my opinion the rod should have some flexibility to allow the screw to float vertically. Otherwise you can only vice square objects in the vice and your vice always needs to perfectly perpendicular to the bench.

Or do I completely mis-understand.
 
#103 ·
Leg Vise Chop Finished

Finally wrapped this project up, after some setbacks.

To correct the angled chop I had to see what was the problem: the hole drilled in the chop or the hole drilled for the coupler buried in the leg?

First I tested the hole in the leg:



Clearly, the threaded rod exiting the leg is off of perpendicular. Then, before I attacked the solution, I decided to check the chop:



Huh. It's off too! So, after some hand wringing, cussing, and a few beers, I took the case online and asked for help. I received a lot of good suggestions (thanks guys!!) from plugging and redrilling the chop hole to counter the downward pitch of the leg hole, to turning the bench around and drilling a new chop hole in the far left back leg (making that the new front right).

In the end, after some careful head scratching and lots of pondering, I decided to try and shift the angle of the chop hole. Since I was only talking a few degrees I decided not to fill it. That and I didn't have any 5/8" dowel stock laying around. Playing with the sliding bevel gauge, I hit on an angle I thought would fix things.

After a test piece on some scrap almost worked, I tweaked the tilt on the drill press table one past time and hit pay dirt:



That's what I was after!!! A nice flush fit. Now. Just have to add a corresponding angle to the garter (oh yeah…redo that bit as well). In a shorter amount of time that I thought, I had it:



At last. Done! Well, sort of. I still had to make a new parallel guide. Which wasn't too hard. I used a piece of 1/2" oak and planed it to the right thickness to match the slot in the leg, then drilled holes for the pin (er, screwdriver) then mortised out a new slot in the chop, drilled a hole in the side for a locking dowel and reassembled everything. Voila!



This was a worthwhile project that despite having done it a year ago, taught me a lot about woodworking. My mortises were spot on this time, better than I've ever done. In all, I'm really happy how this turned out!



Thanks to all my fellow Lumberjocks that offered suggestions and helped me crack this little nut!!
 
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