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27K views 143 replies 50 participants last post by  damianpenney 
#1 ·
Getting started

So after looking at all the options I decided to just go ahead and build a bench. I really liked the look of Chris Schwarz's Holtzapffel bench



So that's what I'm going to build, ordered the "24 Veritas Twin Screw vise from Lee Valley for the front and like Chris' the large quick release steel vise for the tail





Yesterday I went to PALS and picked up the lumber for the base which I'm going to build first. Building it all from maple, and it's going to be a beast, just the 12' x 5" 8/4 board I'll be using for the stretches weighed a ton :)

Now for my question (I'll post this as a forum topic too). Chris glued up the top using pieces that were 1 3/4 wide (so it was all 8/4 stock) to get the 24" width, but I saw that PALS had 12/4 stock, about 8" wide. Would I be better off using three of these huge chunks for the top, or will the smaller laminated strips be more stable (I'm guessing the latter)

Hopefully I'll get some shop time this afternoon to start building the base :) Will keep you posted with pics a plenty.
 
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#97 ·
Base almost done

So I've been making slow and steady progress on the bench, and bit by bit it's coming together. Today I finished off all the mortises for the base, so just need to chamfer the edges and draw bore the tenons and drill some holes and the base is done.

I invested in the Delta mortiser which did a great job and saved me a bunch of time doing the mortises.



But I found the fence adjustment wheel to be pretty much useless, a micro adjust would have been great though, perhaps I can hook a digital rule to it.

and here it is so far…



Slowly slowly catchy monkey :)
 
#108 ·
The top finally comes together!

So it's been a long time since my last post, had a bit of down time where I went on vacation and did odds and ends but I'd been making slow and steady progress on the top.

I can't believe how much trouble I had gluing a bunch of sticks together :) All my issues stemmed from the fact that I didn't have a good way of surfacing such long pieces. My 6" jointer just wasn't up to the task so I faffed around trying to do it other ways. I eventually used a huge 9 foot straight edge clamp thing that I use for cutting ply to run the strips through my table saw which got me one reference edge, then I glued a bunch up and used a router on a sled (the white piece of melamine in the background is the sled) to flatten the resulting slab.

Anyway, here's the top, it's still in two pieces here, just getting ready for the final glue up but you get the idea.



So I have to glue the two halves together, trim the ends and then complete the joinery for the base, but I now feel as though there is light at the end of the tunnel :)

I also have to trim my short stretchers a bit because the depth of the top is about 3/4" less than I'd originally planned.
 
#126 ·
Light at the end of the tunnel

So here is my progress so far, definitely getting closer :)





Just need to add the vises, do some final flattening of the top once I flip it et voila :)

And a quick pic of my new pride and joy :)

 
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