# Finished the Research and Making a WorkBench!



## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*The plan*

I cant Plane a Dang thing on my "assembly" table to slippy and no place to clamp anything.

So I got MAD (as I usually do) and Used this as an excuse to build a Workbench!

I did allot of reading and research and I bought this wonderful book - Its By Christopher Schwarz and called "Workbenches from Design & Theory to Construction and use"

I Picked the "Last" one in the Construction and use part but Modified it a bit for what I wanted it to be when it grew up.

Its gonna be 7' long, the top will be 4" thick and 24" wide. The Legs are 5" square with huge Tenons
that will be Pinned into the Top flush with the sides. It will have a Side Screw "Leg" Vice and a Crochet 
on the Left Side and sliding "Deadman" that will allow me to handle Jointing up to 8' or so stuff.
The Design in the book used a "tail" vice that he added as an after thought.. I went out of the gate with a Twin Screw double for the end. Ill install a plane stop on the other side and Also allot of holes for hold fasts and such.

So without further ado Here we go..


Quick note on Glue and SYP - Its got SAP allot of it… The book recommended a Acetone wipe down before you put the glue on I am following this advice and ya can check with me in 4-5 years and see how its holding up! ***

This is the Cut List I used (Its Wrong but perfect if you can find perfect wood.. I am going to have to buy two more
2×12x8's bacasue after I fixed the faces of the ones I had to glue them up they are not 1.5" anymore.










So We cut all that wood up and sized it (oh oh.. the Wood it SYP Standard Construction grade) You could buy 2×4's but None are straight, the Bigger the better! Mine were mostly 2×12 or x10 because you get flatter boards that way… (You also get "CLEAR-er Wood" Less Knots the better. By cutting them in half and then to width you also wind up with a lot of 1/4 Sawn wood and that is good to! You Cut what your are going to glue up that day. Once this stuff is cut and sized if you let it rest your screwed and that is why I have to buy more wood.. Total cost was 156.89 and I had a $25 off so the wood with tax about 132 or so… (except the two extra sticks I am going to have to buy). Some of the waste is cutting and then realizing I only have like 24 clamps and only about 16 that are big enough to glue up stuff.. I was able to glue up two legs at a clip but it took most of the clamps to glue up the table pieces… I am making 4 6-ish" wide slabs. Then Ill Glue them up to make two 12"s… so I can use my lunchbox Planer to thickness them… Ill glue the whole mess up and use a big old Jointer plane to clean them up the rest of the way.. (I don't have a huge Planer…) and the 17.5 Jointer is a LN LA sweetheart! (I love excuses to buy new tools also!.

This is what I bought (per my cut list…)










Next Installment the Legs!


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *The plan*
> 
> I cant Plane a Dang thing on my "assembly" table to slippy and no place to clamp anything.
> 
> ...


Looking forward to seeing the pictures!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

RichClark said:


> *The plan*
> 
> I cant Plane a Dang thing on my "assembly" table to slippy and no place to clamp anything.
> 
> ...


I agree with Lew about the pictures. You made a good choice with respect to the bench design and wood choice, in my opinion.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *The plan*
> 
> I cant Plane a Dang thing on my "assembly" table to slippy and no place to clamp anything.
> 
> ...


I previewed it and pictures where there… Sigh… Ill fix it..


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *The plan*
> 
> I cant Plane a Dang thing on my "assembly" table to slippy and no place to clamp anything.
> 
> ...


good start


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*WE Got Legs..... *

OK If you look at the cut list from the first post those 2×12x12' are sliced up into a bunch of 33" long chunks and ripped in half and then again into 5 1/4" (for slop) The Tenon is achieved by tacking a block of Plywood (mine is 2 1/2") wide at the Ends of two of the inner boards in the stack your going to glue up.

I then Set up a stop in my miter Guage and choped 2 1/2 Off the outboard pieces and glued and clamped them…

This is the setup before glue.. with the blocks of Plywood tacked in with 16 guage brads -










Then you clamp like crazy! This was taken after a hour or so… I removed the end clamps and popped off the Plywood so that it would not become part of the project.










I then Cleaned out the Top and bottom with a shoulder plane and block plane as needed and used my smoother to put a Chamfer along the bottom edge (this is help you move the beast if you need to with out chipping the edges out)


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *WE Got Legs..... *
> 
> OK If you look at the cut list from the first post those 2×12x12' are sliced up into a bunch of 33" long chunks and ripped in half and then again into 5 1/4" (for slop) The Tenon is achieved by tacking a block of Plywood (mine is 2 1/2") wide at the Ends of two of the inner boards in the stack your going to glue up.
> 
> ...


interesting aproach


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *WE Got Legs..... *
> 
> OK If you look at the cut list from the first post those 2×12x12' are sliced up into a bunch of 33" long chunks and ripped in half and then again into 5 1/4" (for slop) The Tenon is achieved by tacking a block of Plywood (mine is 2 1/2") wide at the Ends of two of the inner boards in the stack your going to glue up.
> 
> ...


Yea and if ya notice the "table" I am using to clamp and hold the leg while I work it is the wing of my table saw… sigh Thus! WorkBench!


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## Splinterman (Mar 13, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *WE Got Legs..... *
> 
> OK If you look at the cut list from the first post those 2×12x12' are sliced up into a bunch of 33" long chunks and ripped in half and then again into 5 1/4" (for slop) The Tenon is achieved by tacking a block of Plywood (mine is 2 1/2") wide at the Ends of two of the inner boards in the stack your going to glue up.
> 
> ...


One must start somewhere and at least you have started.


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## DerekL (Aug 18, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *WE Got Legs..... *
> 
> OK If you look at the cut list from the first post those 2×12x12' are sliced up into a bunch of 33" long chunks and ripped in half and then again into 5 1/4" (for slop) The Tenon is achieved by tacking a block of Plywood (mine is 2 1/2") wide at the Ends of two of the inner boards in the stack your going to glue up.
> 
> ...


My table saw ends up being my assembly table/workbench all the time - as my 'real' bench ends up covered in crap!


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *WE Got Legs..... *
> 
> OK If you look at the cut list from the first post those 2×12x12' are sliced up into a bunch of 33" long chunks and ripped in half and then again into 5 1/4" (for slop) The Tenon is achieved by tacking a block of Plywood (mine is 2 1/2") wide at the Ends of two of the inner boards in the stack your going to glue up.
> 
> ...


I kinda liked the "Washer" cart in the First picture background.. Anyway I have progressed and will post about the table and chopping the Mortises (with help). Posting as as soon as I get done seeing if there were questions while I was away.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*CLICK.... HUMMM ..... THUNK!*

Interesting thing happened today ( took off work today, and Friday (oh its Friday!) and Was ripping more SYP for the table top and Fired up the TS and Literally it was CLICK…. HUMMM…. THUNK!

Seems the "set allen screw" for the Motor pulley was not super perfectly tight!

So the Click was turning the TS on… and It hummed for a few seconds and the blade came up to speed..
and then I Was positioning the Board I was going to RIP and It JUMPED and Thunked!...

The whole table leaped (and it weighs a ton….)

Was Scared out of my pants… (after I changed them)

Opened the Side access and noticed the belt jumped off.. (its was about 30 Degrees off from the Arbor Pully!

Sooo we got out a left over piece of scrap and Wedged up the Motor and backed out out the allen screw then using a scrap of plywood I THUMPED it back in place…

Pretty cool note on this tho.. I used my Magnetic Little Tilt o meter and zeroed it out on the upper pulley and tapped the bottom on untill it was very close.. Then I put the belt on and tapped it using the arbor pulley as a reference and the BELT as the surface I was measuring… till it the belt zeroed out..

Cranked out the allen nut and put some Lock tight on it.. can cranked it down hard.

Tilt-o-meters are way cool and the Saw is running sweet again..

Rich


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *CLICK.... HUMMM ..... THUNK!*
> 
> Interesting thing happened today ( took off work today, and Friday (oh its Friday!) and Was ripping more SYP for the table top and Fired up the TS and Literally it was CLICK…. HUMMM…. THUNK!
> 
> ...


lucky that is all that happened


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## Splinterman (Mar 13, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *CLICK.... HUMMM ..... THUNK!*
> 
> Interesting thing happened today ( took off work today, and Friday (oh its Friday!) and Was ripping more SYP for the table top and Fired up the TS and Literally it was CLICK…. HUMMM…. THUNK!
> 
> ...


I agree with Rustic.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *CLICK.... HUMMM ..... THUNK!*
> 
> Interesting thing happened today ( took off work today, and Friday (oh its Friday!) and Was ripping more SYP for the table top and Fired up the TS and Literally it was CLICK…. HUMMM…. THUNK!
> 
> ...


sounds scary


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*The Top...*

Sorry I'm late.. but alot has been going on.

Jumping back in Today were making the TOP…

Only cut what you can glue up (trust me on this, Movement will kill you (and me I had to add 2 more sticks after I tossed several I just cut last weekend that did the Watusi on me and I decided it was cheaper to just spend another 16 bucks and get a pair of 10' start over pieces)

So, The Glue really needs to dry for at least 4 hours. On a good weekend I can really only make a pair due to the Honeydo's I have to get done.

Looking at the fist post (cut list) your pretty much Cross Cutting the longer boards to size ( on the ones that are pure waste on either end, I tried to center the good wood out of the knots as best I could). So cutting accordingly you rip them down the middle then reset your fence for a bit of Watusi, and cut them again to 4 1/4. Then I cleaned up the faces with a pass thru my jointer and then my planer. I glued up that pile and it looked Something like this…










Once the pile is dried we Cleaned it up again on the Jointer and the Planer and then by hand using a #7 LN Jointer. I say we! As it was a tag team event, with my son pitching in.. Was like 93 degrees and 87% humidity and it was brutal. We took some bench chisels and cleaned up the glue.










Oh notice how we have the ends set? Hopefully getting the best figure on the top/bottom. Your going to plane this or get it sanded someplace flat, so you want to align the grain as best ya can… unless you have a huge planer!










Once its cleaned up run it through your jointer then use the planer to square up the 3 faces. (a note about careful measuring is good here… I was more concerned of squareness of the pieces and disregarded the fact that it might be thicker then my planer on edge.. the result was… alot of work! My Table top planer can do 12.5 wide.. but 6.23 tall is an issue. I was wrapped around the axle that my JOINTER could do 8"... forgot that is useless.. anyway.. keep them to 6" and it will work. (Lucky me College was out and I pay for it and food!)










In the end you get something like this…










Ill post the Joint cutting next…


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *The Top...*
> 
> Sorry I'm late.. but alot has been going on.
> 
> ...


that looks soooo good….

good tip about cut only what you can glue up - been there, done that - lots of work went to waste. try to group 'small' sub-projects together than run all lumber through each step and let it sit before you get to the next one.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *The Top...*
> 
> Sorry I'm late.. but alot has been going on.
> 
> ...


Was right ya are.. right up to "SIT" Now ON SYP I cut once size and glue or its gonna go Watusi.. trust me.. I have alot of Perfectly sized twisted so horribly I thought I would explain to my Son why I was so upset (after buying "as good as I oculd and taking into account warping" wood).. I taught him how to use the Jointer yeats ago and told him to joint the 2/4.5 resawed from a 2×12 so its pretty close to 1/4 sawn. and in the end he proudly showed me a piece of 4×1.2ish..

anyway.. cut and glue if ya can stay up all night or have over 400 clamps go for it.. but I only have like 32 or so…

Rich


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Topping the "top"*

We need to set up things first… (this is just CLAMPED, to heavy to chop them as the top)










The center is marked and the big triangle will help me put it back the right way.. The legs need to be positioned so that they are FLUSH or a bit proud (the way I went, to make them flush, by hand later) and you need a starting point then need to pick out the pretty legs for the front and such.. Once I noodled it all out. At the pointy end I wrote BACK and Left and Right with arrows. I placed a LEG at each side kinda mentally standing on my head. and I wrote BACK/R or FRONT\/L and I placed them on the top and drew triangles on them also showing the SIDES that will face INSIDE the "bottom" so I can lay out the Stretchers Later.
(REMEMBER your working on the BOTTOM of the bench)

First I cleaned up the edges of the table "close" so that I can get a great glue up..










Doing that I struck a square line from the Point to the open end of the triangle and then Measured out the width between the Stretchers.. (mine are 56" and I took into account to subtract the Tenon's 1.5" each side) and struck mine at 26.5" from the center line. These need to be perfect so the were marked with my square. I repeated this and marked the Inside edge of each leg.. I scored each with a sharp knife. Then using each individual leg as a guide to the width of the Mortise I marked the outside edge. I went over it with a square and a pencil so I could see what I was doing.. (In this picture I decided to switch out the leg I picked first and you will notice the lines moved… I stood each leg Tenon down on its place and used a straight edge to acheive a 1/32" or so proudness on the face. You can not be so anal on this if you want on the back.. but the face of the bench being flat and true is a goal if you want to not get frustrated jointing up long stuff later.. And Well I am anal!..










Then You CHOP!










And Repeat 4 times…. The legs are so heavy, getting them setup and such was a 2 hour ordeal for the first one. By the last it was like 45 minutes and I was getting so good that Fitting them it was super painful on the last two… I chopped each one out then I cleaned out the sides with a 3/4" chisel and dropped the leg in and the first was bench quality.. some slop was evident.. but after that! We had to put them on the Jointer and flip them upside down with one of us sitting on the table piece and one trying to wiggle the leg back out..

The first fit was like this… or better










And that leg was "cleaned" up a bit more and the few K's of gap was gone…..

In the end you are looking for legs lined up where they go and the top NEARLY ready to glue up…










I use a Forrest Dado King to cut deep/or any dado's and the "deadman" needs an accurate one.. I don't have a router guide and trying to clamp and route out the deadman's top channel was going to be a pain so I decided to Dado it on my TS.. and Ill show you how that went next.

Take care Rich


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *Topping the "top"*
> 
> We need to set up things first… (this is just CLAMPED, to heavy to chop them as the top)
> 
> ...


Your looking at the bottom..(btw) and I expect maintenance every few years. The total cost is less then $350 USD including the hardware for it so far. It is expected to wrack, that will actually tighten the joints as it moves, its part of the design. This is going to sit in a Garage in Bradenton Florida.. The humidity is from 50-90%, and I live just of the water. I have a #7 and #6 and a #4 to clean it up and will flatten it as needed. I go into this with open eyes and the knowledge of success by others making it.. It will be a huge improvement to my current set up.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Dead Men may have a tale to tell*

The dead man for this bench (its an Aide to hold the bottom of your stock to help when your working on it) fits in the front of the table. Ill cover making the rail for it next time but if your going to add it later it will be painful.

You need it to float between the lower stretcher and the top.. to do that you mill it with a tongue on the inside and a "track" on the bottom.. the top looks like and "L" and the bottom like a inverted "V". this lets you replace it with JIGS and such you might like or just for wear and tear.

Anyway the Dead man is 1 1/4" thick so I needed to dado out a channel 5/8'ths near the edge of the table front edge.

What I did was put blue tape on my TS that showed the start and end of the DADO blade. Then I struck a line and moved it over the top of the front of the leg just near the mortise. Looked like this.










Then we slid the slab to the other end and repeated it..










This is a very deep Dado it needs to be 1.5" deep so we made three passes on it.

Here is what we did.

With the bladed lowered (stacked Dado King set to 5/8" ) you slide your front end till it aligns with the "Front tape on the Saw and the Slab" Then you Turn the saw blade up to .5" of the cut and lower it down. Repeat .5" at a time till its done then I choped out the ends till they were flush with the legs… the Dead Man is shaped like a cute gal! You pull the sides in a bit so that you won't have it get stuck next to a leg…

Next post will be dry fitting all the legs in the top so that accurate stretchers can be milled.

Rich


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*He is back from the great outdoors... Think things that go boom in the night*

I feel bad and hope no one was actually paying attention to this following along anyway…. I work in an environment where ya get poofed away at times.. I am back and I DID keep photo's of everything SO I will go thru the painfull steps of getting my photo's updated and ya be amazed an awed (or ya not admit it) if the end product! It looking sweed and I am building most of the rest of it on it.. It is a grunt, lift, drop to move it. Ya still need to "clamp crap to it" but.. the tail vide is being used… Today I made the deadman, the Facevice, chopped out the lower piece of it…. gluied that up and drilled a peg for the that. Pegged and glued it up.. I had a friend lend me a Brace and a pile of bits… I think I am gona be so sore Ill not be able to seduce my love for a few weeks. Braces and old school bits are so cool. but when ya not use them daily they use stuff ya never use… I am so SORE. tomorrow Ill finish up the side vice and then spen the pain to position the and finish the blog.. I am sorry Its so taking to so long.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

RichClark said:


> *He is back from the great outdoors... Think things that go boom in the night*
> 
> I feel bad and hope no one was actually paying attention to this following along anyway…. I work in an environment where ya get poofed away at times.. I am back and I DID keep photo's of everything SO I will go thru the painfull steps of getting my photo's updated and ya be amazed an awed (or ya not admit it) if the end product! It looking sweed and I am building most of the rest of it on it.. It is a grunt, lift, drop to move it. Ya still need to "clamp crap to it" but.. the tail vide is being used… Today I made the deadman, the Facevice, chopped out the lower piece of it…. gluied that up and drilled a peg for the that. Pegged and glued it up.. I had a friend lend me a Brace and a pile of bits… I think I am gona be so sore Ill not be able to seduce my love for a few weeks. Braces and old school bits are so cool. but when ya not use them daily they use stuff ya never use… I am so SORE. tomorrow Ill finish up the side vice and then spen the pain to position the and finish the blog.. I am sorry Its so taking to so long.


Rich, good craftsmanship can't be rushed and sometimes life's other priorities have a way of "inteferring" with our plans but it sounds like you are back on track with the bench construction. I am looking forward to seeing pictures of your progress when you get a chance to post them.

A bench is on my short list (if I can convince my wife that *HER* list can be put on hold) so it will be interesting to see how yours is coming.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *He is back from the great outdoors... Think things that go boom in the night*
> 
> I feel bad and hope no one was actually paying attention to this following along anyway…. I work in an environment where ya get poofed away at times.. I am back and I DID keep photo's of everything SO I will go thru the painfull steps of getting my photo's updated and ya be amazed an awed (or ya not admit it) if the end product! It looking sweed and I am building most of the rest of it on it.. It is a grunt, lift, drop to move it. Ya still need to "clamp crap to it" but.. the tail vide is being used… Today I made the deadman, the Facevice, chopped out the lower piece of it…. gluied that up and drilled a peg for the that. Pegged and glued it up.. I had a friend lend me a Brace and a pile of bits… I think I am gona be so sore Ill not be able to seduce my love for a few weeks. Braces and old school bits are so cool. but when ya not use them daily they use stuff ya never use… I am so SORE. tomorrow Ill finish up the side vice and then spen the pain to position the and finish the blog.. I am sorry Its so taking to so long.


You will See that I used the bench as a Tool, I need to get to her list!... It;s like hunny "We need pretty crown moulding!". .my answer… Well Fine but the complex joinery will require me to get a compound Miter saw.. Gotta learn how to play the fool at times.. My Wife is an Architect so I cant get away with silliness, she will look the other way if I am having fun chopping out mortises and junk as long as the job is pretty when its done..

So Off to Me.com to upload and go thru the PITA of getting a publishable photo. Hopefully well get this done in a few days.. Ill try to get the next post up tonight…


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Fit the legs and make the streachers*

When I was being proactive on this I had just finished the top, chopped the leg mortises and cut the deadman riser groove.

This is a pictorial of fitting the rails… The rails are all cut from the same stock and the only special piece is the front Rail.. you cut the others all to 3" and the Front rail is Proud by 1/2 an inch. you set up your Saw to 45 and Rip the Front outside rail putting a Point ^ on it. This is where the deadman will ride.

I like to clamp stuff and then cut and fit the the final product so that I can get a good fit. You really want all the outside's to be right on the edge of the legs.. So Here we are fitting.










OK, You repeat that for each one and then ( you can just Glue them UP OUTSIDE the TABLE TOP! Its easier to use a mallet to tap them in the leg holes but you glue them up in there your never going back).. Its up to you.. Should Look Like this (my test fitting).. Then you Drill The Holes for the Pins.. You want to "draw the" Rail into the Leg. So you drill two holes through each mortise. Then you put in your Rail and use a Pointed drill bit of the same size to mark the center of the hole. You want to take them all apart and Drill about 1/8" to the outside of the marked hole on the rail. You then you make a buncha dowels ( to the Borg I went and got some Oak ones). You use your knife or anything to give them a reduced edge to get them to slide easily (I used a big pencil sharpener) and then you cut one edge a bit more (about an eighth.). This edge faces the RAIL and will help get the Dowel through the tight fit. It looks as if you have a very small opening but the pine is so soft you tap them down and it eventually it Draws the Joint so tight you don't need to glue it.

You do this (and ya let it dry a bit If you glued it) then you flip it over and put it on the top… Looks kinda like a work bench now!










OK the final look is the legs pined and the top on top… Like this…










As were on a roll, Next is Making the Dead Man and once its in place you will all go.. Holy Crap.. a bit just seeing what it does…

Rich


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## woodworm (Jul 27, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *Fit the legs and make the streachers*
> 
> When I was being proactive on this I had just finished the top, chopped the leg mortises and cut the deadman riser groove.
> 
> ...


The pics do not show up, Rich.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *Fit the legs and make the streachers*
> 
> When I was being proactive on this I had just finished the top, chopped the leg mortises and cut the deadman riser groove.
> 
> ...


as usual… now the figuring out why I can see them in preview.. I hate this part of blogging..


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *Fit the legs and make the streachers*
> 
> When I was being proactive on this I had just finished the top, chopped the leg mortises and cut the deadman riser groove.
> 
> ...


Hopefully good to go now


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Dead Ladies story..*

The dead man Fits between the Top and the bottom stretcher and is used to hold longer lumber so that you can work the edges comfortably. You'll see this makes sense once you see it finished and in place…

SO Lets make it… If you remember, I offset the Cut for the big dado cut on the top 5/8 from the edge and 5/8 for the width… First you make two pieces…. A back and a front that are 21" and 22" tall ( For my table Height, you need to measure these carefully). You should Fit them so that the Taller one can easily be lifted from the back of the table to its front with out hitting the ^ front rail that is sticking up in the way…. It will never lift out as easily from the front unless its sloppy and you want it tight so that the outside face is FLUSH with the bench side face.

What I did was get them close and cut the "^" using a Tenon Jig to cut the needed 45 degree on each side.

They are not glued up doing this unless your perfect fit is done.. I am into allot of clamps and being careful… I bought One Stick of expensive Ash to make all my appliances.. I want them to last so I carefully cut and fitted these…










OK that done we glue it up for real and then make it pretty. You need to cut a shape of some sort into the sides of the deadman so that if you get it against a leg you can get it out.. I just shaped my "Dead Lady" with a shapely figure. I then used my Oscillating Round Sander to make it pretty… Which looks like this. Used a Band Saw and a I measured 3" for top and bottom and stuck a line across her form, then used a thin bow-able scrap to make an arch 1.5" in from the middle of it. to scribe an arc. Looked like this after the cuts and fitting again after the glue up.










Now the fun! ( I am trying to be more old school and if you see above the top has been drilled.. More on that later) Anyway you want to scribe to LINES 3.5 or so from the outside edges top to bottom. and then make one about 3" from the top and on the other line add 1/2 or (what ever floats your boat). I did that and then measured 2" from each one.. on both sides and struck the intersections. What you wind up with is allot of drilling!










And then you wind up with a dead man!... You can use a hold down like the one that veritas sells of just a peg to hold your vertical work for working the edges for jointing stuff… at a comfortable "your work bench height ".

And here she IS!










Now to the mystery of the holes appearing on the bench top!..


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Sheesh... Trying to share is not happening *

When I preview a publishing I am trying to get done its fine… but I have "direct access to the acount" and that seems to over ride life as users.. I do open a new iterance of a web browser to see how it looks. .but "YAPPPLE" has changed again (if Your a PC user its like fighting a really unsharp anything and I am tearing out my hair) I am trying to get thie photo's to just be there and did what I didi last time and redit how I did it time afore. but now photo's disapeared and scuh and I am thinking Maybe look into a more lumberjocks kinder gentler blogging source… for me doing it this way is SO painful.. Illl fix it tomorrow I'be been trying this night for nearly 5 hours. (so dont say I dont care)

I think I got it fixed, Let me know. (What I referring about above is that I use a iPhone and Me.com… The Apple Pain refereed to the pain of getting photo's reduced to fix web better, getting them up to me.com and then sharing them so others can see them.

I was sharing my gallery but that dont work so I had to move them to my shared files section and then individually share them. Anyway I got it under control I think.

So Lets work on the Vice next…


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

RichClark said:


> *Sheesh... Trying to share is not happening *
> 
> When I preview a publishing I am trying to get done its fine… but I have "direct access to the acount" and that seems to over ride life as users.. I do open a new iterance of a web browser to see how it looks. .but "YAPPPLE" has changed again (if Your a PC user its like fighting a really unsharp anything and I am tearing out my hair) I am trying to get thie photo's to just be there and did what I didi last time and redit how I did it time afore. but now photo's disapeared and scuh and I am thinking Maybe look into a more lumberjocks kinder gentler blogging source… for me doing it this way is SO painful.. Illl fix it tomorrow I'be been trying this night for nearly 5 hours. (so dont say I dont care)
> 
> ...


I am running on Apple and I find that Lumberjocks is the easiest forum to post on. This may be relative to the fact that it is the first one I learned to post on.

If you are attempting to post photos in the blog, you need to host them somewhere else such as Flickr, Picasa, or something similar. Then you type your text, add the embed code for the photo, and when you hit "post" the photo will show up in the text.

You can check your work with the "preview" button.

I am NOT a computer saavy person.


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## Unskilled (Nov 13, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *Sheesh... Trying to share is not happening *
> 
> When I preview a publishing I am trying to get done its fine… but I have "direct access to the acount" and that seems to over ride life as users.. I do open a new iterance of a web browser to see how it looks. .but "YAPPPLE" has changed again (if Your a PC user its like fighting a really unsharp anything and I am tearing out my hair) I am trying to get thie photo's to just be there and did what I didi last time and redit how I did it time afore. but now photo's disapeared and scuh and I am thinking Maybe look into a more lumberjocks kinder gentler blogging source… for me doing it this way is SO painful.. Illl fix it tomorrow I'be been trying this night for nearly 5 hours. (so dont say I dont care)
> 
> ...


You could also try imgur.com, they're pretty good.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Tale of the Tail Vice... *

The Tail vice is a Veritas Twin Screw Vice…

You have to make the Faces for the vice as it is hung on the end of the bench by the rear Jaw/Face.

I started with some 3/4" Red Oak and cross cut it to the bench width 24" and make 2 sets of Jaws that are 3×3/4.

Here is what you get from the Kit… (all hardware is included and various bits to correctly size your chain.).










Once the Jaws are dry you cut them/ clean them up… Veritas has a algorythm to help you get the height right.
You add your table top thickness (4" for me) Plus 1 1/2 for the screw, plus 2" for the bottom clearance. I Made mine 8" x 24…

You measure 4+ 1 1/2 and strike a line across the Face and then you measure 1 1/2" from the inside of each leg inside face and that distance is where you center the Drill for the Screw holes. (their directions explain all this).
When your drilling these Screw holes Clamp the faces together and then drill them. This will help account for any skew in your effort.

Ok now you again follow the instructions and drill two holes that will accept the Pins inside the Face of the Vice. These Pins keep your work from sitting on the Screws (which are all greasy). You fit the Pins Snug in the face of the rear Jaw and you measure and drill Mating ones (oversize) in the Front Jaw (on the Inside). In the ends you want the Pins to dissapear into the Vice jaws when they are closed.

I then drilled 4 holes and countersunk them to accept some 3/8" X 5" Lag bolts.

You mount the Back Jaw just proud of the bench top so that you can later come back and clean it up flush.

Here is what the effort looked like.










You then insert the Rear Screw Backing plates and drill and fit them (I did this before the Jaw was fastened to the Bench)










(They recommend you Chamfer the Front Jaw so that it is slightly thicker on the top of the inside of the face.
I took a 1/4" piece of plywood and ran it threw my Jointer with the plywood tacked to the outside of the bottom of the face)

That done you can, Fasten the Face Plates/Handle assembly's to the Front Jaw and crank it tight. Get it where you want it and then using the provided screws mount the face plates to the jaw.

The Chain is test fitted and placed on the handle screws. The Vice width is only hindered by the chain you can make it as wide as you wish. (they offer longer cover plates if you want to go really wide).

I had to cut my chain down, The manual said to use a file and such and such.. I held the ends to get it close and took the excess off by running the link in question gently on my bench grinder to carefully grind off the peened pins in the link. Then I used a junk chisel to wedge off the outside face of the link.. The kit comes with a half link and the necessary clips and such to connect the chain to itself.

So under the covers it looks like this.










The last thing to do is to screw on the end caps and cut the cover to fit. (We had a measure twice cut once issue as my son and I seem to argue more then work together). Needless to say I had to order the bench dogs I wanted anyway so I had them toss in a NEW cover… sigh).. Ill add the completed picture as soon as the new cover arrives.

Forgot to tell you how the top holes were made… We'll do that next.

On to the SIDE Leg Vice… coming soon.

(on a side note the pictures are deformed because I lost my old PC to a lightning bolt and the SW I had to resize them had to be replaced.. I think I have to work on it more next time as the pictures are stretched funny. Anyway you get the jest of what I am up to…)

Rich


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Vice is installed and now were going to drill the Vice/Table Holes for the Dogs*

Back again!

The Front Vice is installed and the table is looking more and more like one… OH and I am using the vice already to help hold stuff!

Today I drilled all the holes for the bench appliances (dogs, stays, hold downs etc…) I plan on only using 3/4" fixtures so decided that

a) They had to be square to the top

b) Had to be spaced so that they would all work together.

To that end I first measured out the distance my Vice would open to and then came up with spacing to accommodate the entire bench top so that it would hold anything I wanted to screw down on it.

The Vice opens to 12" (more actually) but 12" is fine as Id hate for the thing to unscrew and land on my foot!










Next thing we need to do is make out the hole positions.
I first marked the center of the Vice outside jaw in each side and then walked that mark down both sides of the bench. The spacing I used was 12", 12", 16" 16" 16"....... till I ran out of bench then I measured 4" from the Far end and marked that off…

Next we have to make the holes. Trying to meet "b" above I decided to use my plunge router and make a JIG that would allow me to start all the holes as square as I can… then I finished them up with the Brace and a 3/4" bit.

The jig fits the profile of the router base and its marked as to where the hole center is. I cut it out of a scrap and used my bandsaw to get it right.










Now I simply positioned the Jig and clamped it place and slowly bored out all the holes… 
(this got them to about 1 1/2 deep).

I then took my brace and drilled out the holes all the way through the top… I used a scrap clamped across the underside of the table to reduce blow out.










And there you have it!

Next is the leg vice.. I have it made and need to work on the leg to fit it… 
Back next week…

Rich


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *Vice is installed and now were going to drill the Vice/Table Holes for the Dogs*
> 
> Back again!
> 
> ...


Interesting blog, thanks,


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## something_vague (Feb 25, 2010)

RichClark said:


> *Vice is installed and now were going to drill the Vice/Table Holes for the Dogs*
> 
> Back again!
> 
> ...


What bit did you use for your dog holes in your router. I've checked some spiral up cut 3/4" bits but damn they're expensive for a one time use. What was your choice. And more on the jig would be helpful too.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *Vice is installed and now were going to drill the Vice/Table Holes for the Dogs*
> 
> Back again!
> 
> ...


I used a 3/4 Mortice bit.. *yea not right application of it… I just went really SLOW…. I am not gonna say that is "how to do it.. But I think I found a better way.. (after I did it)... you start the holes with enough room to run a bead flush cut bit from the bottom and let it track on the top cut.

Far as the "Jig.. Its like this.. take your router bottom plate and trace around it about 5/8 of the plate size.. Meanining something that when you clamp it "holds" your router a bit. Then you clamp up a test piece and just start it it.. Sight to the center or measure it out of the hole made and mark that center on your Jig.. that is the arrow on mine…

You then align the (arrow on mine) and the hole is cake… Then I used my brace to drill it out.. Hopes this helps..

Ill tell ya this too. best thing to do is to just "do" you need to make a 3/4 hole.. make it.. IF its crocked You adapt the device in it or make a new one.. dont be afraid to move on.

Richie


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## something_vague (Feb 25, 2010)

RichClark said:


> *Vice is installed and now were going to drill the Vice/Table Holes for the Dogs*
> 
> Back again!
> 
> ...


Well I finally just did it. I used a shooting board style jig that had a fence underneath to register off the edge of my bench. I just had to line up one axis this way as opposed to two axis. I drilled a 3/4" hole in the board and used a cordless hand drill with a 3/4" auger bit. It's amazing how many 3/4" bits are actually larger than 3/4"s. You really have to measure each bit as some must be designed to dill a larger hole than is listed on the package. I finally found a decent one and used a square on both axis' to sight down. I finally have some damn dog holes instead of clamping down the boards that I handplane. What a difference! Thanks for the advise to just do it…Nike.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

RichClark said:


> *Vice is installed and now were going to drill the Vice/Table Holes for the Dogs*
> 
> Back again!
> 
> ...


SWEET..

Nick I swear There are times its cheaper to just try and go by another board and chock it up to "well that was not it" I Have stared at stuff till I go crazy, A long day in the shop and I lay in bed tired but my head is racing with Ideas to try that I didn't…

Glad you took the jump!

Fun Part is now when ya need to make a "special hole" like add another on the fly youll just grap the stuff and do it.. in 5 minutes. no big deal.. Once you break thru your ahead of the game casue that old issue is a done deal.

Rich


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Leg Vice - setup and installed*

The Leg vice starts out 1 1/2×8 x34" Near table top height.

The top tapers to the bottom in mine and the others I saw so that the bottom flexes first when its used.

Mine Is 1/4 inside the leg width and 8"inches at the top.. You want the top face to drop its dimension down to the screw and then taper so that it looks like a coffin kinda… Here is a picture of it done and laying on the leg its to be mounted on..










I Already chopped and fitted the bottom of the Leg vice and glued it up, by the time I took this.. Its Ash also and its 2×1" and I chopped out the mortise for it and pined it with walnut. The next picture I carefully layed the Leg with is um.. woodie.. down next to the leg and made the top just a bit proud (its end grain lets not kill ourselves..) then I traced the bottom of the brace's top and bottom along the leg. Then I used my square to transfer them up to the top/outside face. Used the woodie itself to trace it's width.Then I drilled it out…. but! First I clamped a anti chip out to it… (the lower is gonna be close to the 2nd hole so I took off its laddie's slipper..










Drilling it …










Done!










Ok So that fits, I droped it into the hole and then carefully aligned the Top a bit proud again and then clamped it down tight. I measured the center down and struck a line and then at the screw Height I wanted (about 9") struck another across it. I then drilled the clamped piece thru into the leg to start it..










Removed the Leg Vice and then drilled down as far as I could into the Leg its self… Then I took a long 1/8 Bit and drilled down thru the upper hole (Norm would be proud of me.. ) I put on my googoo goggles and drilled up from the bottom going slowly.. till the hole was done. (I sized it an 1/16th over just to be safe.. .Its a fricking workbench!) anyway after the exertion.. I dropped the screw in and checked it out.

<img src="http://files.me.com/richclark/yij69g

Took the Leg vice face to my table saw (It has a channel that the fence runs in (fits perfect) and placed a dead wood under it and drilled out 1">

Ran out of blog room Ill post the rest next…..


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Leg vice part (Duet) (part II)*

Continuing the last blog post.

Took the Leg vice face to my table saw (It has a channel that the fence runs in (fits perfect) and placed a dead wood under it and drilled out 1" Spaced holes… (that way cool old cold steel pin, is yep! An old 3/4" Allen wrench!)
The holes are for "expanding the jaw" for larger work..

This is it in place with a test fit of the "pin" you can use wood dowels also… or anything I suppose…










OK that works and the screw goes in. So (this is painful but ya need to do it) Set up the face and drop it into the leg hole to align it flush with the holes… Then you put it together yea all they way.. . and mark the holes for the bottom and top (for the top I liked it flowing N/S .vs E/W) Drill starter holes in the *ASH at least* , then undo them and loosly mount the inside leg plate. RESEMBLE and then tighten everything down.

So you reassemble and you have ! A SIDE vice!










Next time were gonna learn Crocheting..

Rich


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

RichClark said:


> *Leg vice part (Duet) (part II)*
> 
> Continuing the last blog post.
> 
> ...


Looks good!


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*Forgot to add the Crochete! *

The crochet is kinda a bench hook you place on the Side of the Table near its end by the leg vice. Its shaped like a comma with a flat leading edge. It works by essentially jamming a piece of wood into it and clamping it with the leg vise. I am using it alot, to plane the edges for the project I am doing. I forgot that I didn't post how its made and works here… I have the photo's and totally spaced the fact that I didn't finish this blog ( I was like.. table is done get to work on something!) Anyway Ill post the making of it tomorrow promise.


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## RichClark (Jan 3, 2009)

*The Chrochete*

Ok sorry this took so long…

The Crochet is really what it sounds like if you ever looked or have your self knitted… a Crochet hook is a comma fused to a needle, Another use Ive see for it is to reverse it and use it to disgorge hooks for fishing. Using the down force of the "comma" to free the fishing hook, then as the hook is released, the comma holds it hidden so it can be guided out without hurting the fish.

Anyway on my table, its a comma that is fastened to the front side of the bench near the Leg Vise.

You start out gluing up stock to make it with (more ash) for me.. (that makes it a 3 ply of ash that is 12/4 thick total) you want to be careful to LINE up the the grain as carefully as you can, so that it runs not only same way but if you are fortunate to have some figure in it to align that also. Glue up the stack and let it dry till its workable.

So here is the Post GLUE up with me wiping it with some DNA to show you the grain.










I took some measurements and came up with a template that I cut out and using it I aligned it so that I had the best grain pattern. To keep this from hurting your project piece and also from self destructing as you jam your piece into it. You need to align it so that the long grain is flowing along the inside edge of the crochet. I had that bit of figure in the pieces I saved for this and glued them up and then carefully placed the template on it and traced it out. (you'll notice I to advantage of that bit of figure and placed the curve on it).










Then I cut it out on my Bandsaw










I used my Oscillating drum sander to clean it up and then I mounted it using the waste as a brace to drill the holes for the bolts (I used 5/8" x 4.5" with a washer that was 3/4") You need to drill out the depth of the bolt head plus the washer with a 3/4 Fostner bit or a blade or what ever ya want that works, as long as the washer has room.










You then re-clamp (use something underneath it for tear out and drill the bolt through holes










Then you hold it to the bench, Use something to tap marking holes and drill starter holes into the bench side, Make sure your leg vice is as cloose to it as you can be with out interfering with it. Then you crank the bolts home. Here it what it looks like installed and me goofing off with some 8/4×10" x5' Mahogany.










And here is what the dead man is really for… the entire bench being exercised… (next project you'll see 8' Pine being held in this for glue up.)










I then rubbed some BLO in it and then A really thin 2# cut of shellac… Bench is done!

R


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