A Bench I Made

nice work. good to see recycled material being put to good use. love the dog holes

-- tn hillbilly.." tryin to do the best i can with what i got "

Nice heavy looking bench and a great collection of planes!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

John,

That is one solid bench and using the cabinets for additional storage is an excellent idea.

Very nice work. I need one of these. Yours is certainly an inspiration. By the way I like your plane collection too.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Wow! I love it.

-- http://inhisgrip1.blogspot.com/

That’s just “plane” beautiful!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Great looking bench John.

Your plane collection is growing again!

Great looking bench, John! What are the dimensions of your bench? Looks pretty long. I am sure it will see much use.

I like your workshop site, too. I hope to get mine cleaned and organized so that it is as clean and organized as your “old” shop pictures….LOL I especially like the banner on the bottom of your work shop site!!

You might like this blog bt David, on electrostatic removal of rust from old planes. I think you will like it.

God Bless,
Hawg

-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards

I like the bench but I have to ask, which plane is your favorite?

-- www.responsetolight.com - A Woodworking & Renovation Blog & www.craftedbytim.com - I make. You buy.

Great looking bench.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

Good job – I really like the bench and storage compartments.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Nice!

-- I love woodworking. Except sanding, gluing, cutting long stock, finishing, detail work, sawdust, the cost and loss of time. :)

Hawgnutz,

The bench is 30” wide and almost a full 8’ long.

John

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"

Tim Dorcas,

My favorite plane is the LN 4 1/2 which is not pictured in the bench picture. I added a lot of planes to my arsenal after the bench was finished. Here’s a pic of what I had.

Joihn

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"

Question, seeing as I’m about to start building my bench; why would you add a sliding tail vise when you already have the twin screw? Isn’t the capacity of the tail vise about the same (or less)? I can see you’d want something there for some moving doghole action but just wondering why you’d go with the tail vise.

Good looking bench though and i envy your plane collection :)

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Damian,

I was copying a bench designed by Bob Key and that is the way he had his set up. I am currently wormking on another bench with an Emmert Clone vise and a Veritas Twin Screw Vise for the tail vise.

I sold most of those planes to buy more tools :) I still have a handful though.

Thanks!
John

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"

Thanks, I’m thinking a big 24” twinscrew for the front and an emmert on the end, like the Holtzapffel. Looks like a nice setup.

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Ah! “Sliding tail vise”! Now I can at least put a name to it. I’ve never seen one in real life. Is the opening really a couple feet left of the handle? I’m really ignorant about this – tell me what you use that vise for?

-- At war with my faults, at peace with my neighbors

Nice grouping of planes. I have a couple of restoration projects. I hope they come out looking as nice as yours.

Pete,

I purchased that vise from Lee Valley Tools.

Yes, the opening is approximately 18” from the handle on the vise. You can clamp your work piece upright or you can use bench dogs and clamp the work piece flat on the bench for planing.

John

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"

JWS, I’m unsure why I might want the opening 18” from the handle instead of right at the edge as with your front vise. What’s the rational? I mean, what can you do this way more easily?

-- At war with my faults, at peace with my neighbors

I guess the 18” or so is simply there because you have to mount the vise to the bench. There is a plate that mounts directly to the bench and then the other part of the vise (The Green part of the hardware in the picture above) is built into the box that becomes the slinding part of the vise. The only reason it is this way is because the plate for the vise (The Silver Plate in the Picture Above) has to be mounted to the bench. I hope that answers your question.

John

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"

Great job on the bench JWS. Looks likeall thosebeautiful planes now have a home in which to work!! I envy your managerie.

Pete:
The deep wide opening with no bottom obstruction allows you to clamp a board perpendicular for resaw, cutting tenons with a hand saw; a 4×4 table leg to carve or work tenons on the end, as well as it provides the dog hole pressure close to the front apron for planing narrow boards. It will open wide enough that you can put small or narrow drawers, jewelry boxes, etc in it after assembly to clean up the ends of dovetails with a block plane, etc. It provides not only a wide opening but one that has no bottom obstruction for pieces on end, as well as deep enough to firmly clamp a board perpendicular to you. Probably the most difficult vise to mount (and design if you have only the screw), but well worth the effort (IMHO) if you use hand tools a lot.

Go

-- Go http://ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=730

great job on this bench and I love your plane collection, sweet!

this is a nice looking bench. I like how you re-assigned the kitchen cabinets.
That’s a great collection of planes you have!

-- www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.darrylmasterson.etsy.com

Nice looking, bench.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Nice Workbench! I made one but it’s not that fancy. Would you mind if I added your workbench picture to my website at www.woodshopics.com? I’m trying to collect a gallery of workshop pictures and projects.

-- Dave, Golf...Woodworking...more Golf, www.woodshopics.com

Great bench and great reuse of the kitchen cabinets. I like the plane collection. I see in your recent post that you have some of the LN side rabbet planes. How do you like them? Do they get much use?

-- Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog