# Building my Workbench



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*

Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!

This won't be a quick build given my limited shop time so don't expect daily updates and a wrap-up in a week. But, we'll get there so come along for the ride if you like.

I've wanted a new bench for a couple of years. I built one in my garage before I really started woodworking for general use. Don't get me wrong, it's served it's purpose and I'm glad I built it before I really understood what I needed/wanted in a bench because it was a cheap and quick build. 4×4 legs with 2×4 stretchers and a sheet of 3/4" plywood topped with leftover 3/4" oak flooring. I added dog holes and an end vise last year which was a big help. But the front corner sags so bad I have to shim the end of anything going "to the dogs". The bench is stout and heavy enough but the top has flex and is far from flat. It's too wide, too tall and is useless for clamping anything on edge.

So I started planning a new bench over a year ago. My design has undergone several incarnations until the current one which has been mostly unchanged for the past few months. I want it to be solid and usable first and foremost. Chris Schwarz' books have been a real help as have all the threads and project posts on this site that I've spent hours pouring over.

But, other projects and life have gotten in the way… until now. I told my wife that after I finish the 2 projects currently underway, I'm not taking anymore on until I build a bench. We'll see how well that goes ;-) But the stars have aligned… not only have I dedicated the immediate future to the build but I've acquired my material. I had all but given up on finding some good bench material at a good price and had resigned myself to using SYP ripped down and laminated. Don't misunderstand, the material is a proven good material for a bench, just not what I was envisioning. And then I found these (which are shown stickered up in my garage/shop waiting to be bent to my will):










I found an ad on Craigslist for some 8/4 Walnut that was a great price so I went to look at it. When I got there, this guy had more lumber than most lumber yards. There were 2 barns full of stickered lumber. A garage full, piles covered with tarps everywhere. All wood he had felled and had milled over 3 decades. So, I passed on the 8/4 Walnut 'cause it wasn't dry but I mentioned I would be starting a bench soon and asked if he had any hard maple. All his maple was 4/4 so I skipped that too. So when I was about to leave empty handed, he asked if I'd be interested in some oak for my bench. I said "sure", if it's dry, the right size and the right price. So he walked me over to a pile and pulled the tarp back to reveal 80-100 BEAUTIFUL (in my eyes at least) oak 8X4s 12' long that he had milled over a decade ago to build a sauna, which he'd given up on by now. "How much" I says. "How's $25 a piece?" he says. Well that's $.70 per bf. So, they're in my garage. 5 should be plenty for the bench but he's got plenty more if I need 'em . I also ended up with a 3X10 slab of Walnut that's been drying for 4 years that he gave me for dirt cheap 'cause it's about 1/2 sapwood. I plan to use it for my vice chops and maybe border the oak with it, we'll see.

So I have the time. I have the material. I have my design. Time to relocate my donkey! (I stole that quote from LJ Brian Noel ;-P)

Next time, I'll give a little detail on my design and how I arrived at it.

Thanks for stopping by!


----------



## ToddJB (Jul 26, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*
> 
> Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!
> 
> ...


This is exciting, Kenny. And it sounds like you found a honey hole for future wood buying too!


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*
> 
> Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!
> 
> ...


"which are shown stickered up in my garage/shop waiting to be bent to my will):"

Good luck on bending those things but they sure will be an awesome bench. Heavy too!


----------



## gargey (Apr 11, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*
> 
> Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!
> 
> ...


I have no complaints about the hardwood dealers in Houston, but I have yet to find any odd-ball scores like that around here. Maybe you have to be further removed from major demand centers.


----------



## htl (Mar 24, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*
> 
> Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!
> 
> ...


Man you're all set so get er done. LOL


----------



## AgentTwitch (Oct 29, 2008)

HokieKen said:


> *Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*
> 
> Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!
> 
> ...


Wow, nice score! Looking forward to the blog


----------



## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*
> 
> Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!
> 
> ...


You lucky Dog. Great score.


----------



## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

HokieKen said:


> *Quit thinking and relocate your donkey!*
> 
> Okay, I've been determined to do a blog series on some project but they've all gotten away without being documented. But, I'm gonna document this build because I've been planning it for so long that it deserves some posterity!
> 
> ...


I can tell you one thing…..You made out like a bandit on scoring that wood….If all turns out ok, you'll have one heck of a bench….A shop has to have a good solid, level bench to to get accurate layouts, cuts, and glue ups…


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*My (almost) Final Design... maybe... sorta*

Well I'm back. In this entry, I'll be showing you my design and going over why I made some of the decisions that I did and why I'm still kinda floundering on a couple more. So, on with it!

Here's a view of my 3D model. As you can see it's very similar to a split top Roubo.










I tried to decide for months whether or not to put a tool tray in and whether or not to make it a split top. I ultimately decided that I definitely need a tool tray. There is always a tote full of tools on my bench that is consistently in my way. I started really paying attention to, and evaluating, my work habits and a tool tray is absolutely something I want.

More on that in a moment…

Now how about a split top? Nope. Never really liked the gaping chasm between the 2 pieces. My bench is used for assembly as well as everything else (including wrapping gifts at Christmas) so, I want a solid, continuous piece for the top. So where does the tool tray go?

As you can see in the model, there are actually 2 "holes". I intend to use one for a chisel/saw type holder and the other as a tool well. Both will be removable and can be flipped over to be flush with the bench top in the event that becomes necessary (although I doubt it will). Between the 2 "holes" and on each end will be oak pieces glued to the rest of the top. So it's still continuous all the way across. I'm also going to fix it so the chisel-type holder can be pulled up slightly to act as a planing stop.

Here are the measurements:









Everything will be made from the Oak beams I showed in the first entry of this blog except I'm considering bordering the top with some 4/4 Walnut just to make it purrdy ;-P I expect to finish out the beams at 3.5 X 7.5, maybe a little more but I drew it up at those dimensions. I like having the 7.5" wide legs but decided to laminate another inch onto the front to make them 4.5" deep. It gives better proportions and allows me to cut the mortises for the long stretchers with a dado stack before lamination. In fact, with this design, the only mortises I'll have to chop will be the ones for the short stretchers. And believe me, that's more than enough for my tastes.

Speaking of joinery, the stretchers will all be joined to the legs with drawbored M&T, blind on the shorts and through on the longs. I keep waffling on the joinery for the top though. I like the look of the through mortise and dovetail but I'm also not sure I want the exposed endgrain on the top. I'm also considering just a large blind mortise for each leg. Still am not positive one way or the other but I'm leaning toward the tenon/dovetail as shown.

There will be a shelf on the bottom that will house a small bank of drawers. I know Chris Schwarz just cried a little but I simply need them. I have stuff on a shelf under my bench now that simply has no place to go in my small shop. I'll set them back about 6" from the front and leave 8-12" clearance from the bottom of the top. That way they won't interfere with clamping of any sort.

There will be a simple end vise on the right side that will span the full width and dog holes as shown. You can see the cutouts for leg vise hardware on the front left leg. I put the cutouts in the model so I wouldn't put my stretchers in the way. I don't think I need a sliding deadman but can add one later if I change my mind.

So that's where I'm at. Whaddya think?

Next time, I should be underway on getting those big-assed beams cut to rough length and surfaced!


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *My (almost) Final Design... maybe... sorta*
> 
> Well I'm back. In this entry, I'll be showing you my design and going over why I made some of the decisions that I did and why I'm still kinda floundering on a couple more. So, on with it!
> 
> ...


I love my under bench drawers, just sayin'. Let the Anarchist cry if he must.


----------



## ToddJB (Jul 26, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *My (almost) Final Design... maybe... sorta*
> 
> Well I'm back. In this entry, I'll be showing you my design and going over why I made some of the decisions that I did and why I'm still kinda floundering on a couple more. So, on with it!
> 
> ...


Looking good to me, Kenny


----------



## tmsbmx (Jul 3, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *My (almost) Final Design... maybe... sorta*
> 
> Well I'm back. In this entry, I'll be showing you my design and going over why I made some of the decisions that I did and why I'm still kinda floundering on a couple more. So, on with it!
> 
> ...


Sweet design I like your take on a tool well definitely a great way to go


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*I'm getting to the beginning...*

I was actually at the beginning last weekend. I was all excited to get out to the shop and start cutting these beasts down to rough lengths and go to work with the scrub plane. And then…

Well, I've been kinda amassing a bunch of crap over the last few years. I have wet grinders, antique table saws, old hand saws, bench vises, scroll saws, 'bout 1/2 dozen electric motors and a ton of miscellaneous crap that I've just kinda been piling up in whatever empty floor space I could see that wasn't in my way. It got a bit out of hand.

When I went to start cutting my timbers down, I realized WTF am I going to work on these 12' behemoths? So I had to do a little self-flagellation and make myself purge and reorganize my shop before allowing myself to start the new bench :-((

Anyway, just wanted to update that I haven't started yet. Hopefully within 2 weeks I can make the shop respectable and get to it!

In the meantime, I'm gonna solicit some advise:

My original plan for milling my beams was to cut to rough lengths, scrub one face "flat enough" and take a couple of light passes through the planer to "joint" the opposite face (beams are too wide for my 6" jointer). Then plane to thickness and joint one edge square on the jointer. Then I intended to stand the beams on the jointed edge and run them through the planer to get finished width. Well, my planer can only do 6" vertically and these guys are 8" wide. I can hand plane them but I don't want to. I have trouble getting stuff flat, square and parallel all at the same time (pick 1, 2 if you're lucky). Also, hand planing 60' of white oak is a lot of work and I'm lazy.

So how do I get these guys to final width? I'm leaning towards doing it in 2 passes on the table saw and then hitting it with a jointer plane to clean it up. I could do it on the bandsaw but I think it would bring my little 10" benchtop BS to its knees in a pool of tears. Hoping you guys have a magic bullet for me on this one.


----------



## DLK (Nov 26, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *I'm getting to the beginning...*
> 
> I was actually at the beginning last weekend. I was all excited to get out to the shop and start cutting these beasts down to rough lengths and go to work with the scrub plane. And then…
> 
> ...



Ask if you can use the planar at the high school wood shop.
Build a quick and dirty router planar. Set the beam to be flattened across two sawhorses or on the floor, maybe shim to make level. Use two jointed 2 by 8 rails clamped to the side of the beam. Get a router with 1/2 collet and a bottom cleaning bit. (On sale from MLCS). (I got a router and router controller from HF.) Build a track using two angle irons to slide the router back and forth between. The track rides on the rails. A couple of passes it will be flat in no time and you will be covered in sawdust. Flip to do the backside. Later after the legs are on you may want to smooth and flatten the top with hand planes, but it may not be necessary. Build something nice for you girlfriend out of the no-longer need rails.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *I'm getting to the beginning...*
> 
> I was actually at the beginning last weekend. I was all excited to get out to the shop and start cutting these beasts down to rough lengths and go to work with the scrub plane. And then…
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips Don. #1 is something I'm considering. Just hoping not to have to load and unload these things again! #2 I'd thought about and I have a bottom cleaning bit that would do the job. I think 2 cuts on the TS then finishing it with a plane would probably be more efficient and give better results though. I definitely plan to do final flattening with a jointer plane when I get it all together. I like planing for flatness, I can do that, it's just planing to final dimension and keeping everything square that I've never really gotten the hang of.

I better not build anything for my girlfriend. It pisses my wife off. ;-P


----------



## Jarrett (Apr 25, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *I'm getting to the beginning...*
> 
> I was actually at the beginning last weekend. I was all excited to get out to the shop and start cutting these beasts down to rough lengths and go to work with the scrub plane. And then…
> 
> ...


The hand plane would do the job soundly, but know that you have a friend a short distance away with a planer that can accept the mass. My shop is yours. I have a trailer if need be. Just know that it's a working shop (aka a mess). I also have a makita hand planer to help before the final scrubbing process takes place if you prefer not to break your back and haul.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *I'm getting to the beginning...*
> 
> I was actually at the beginning last weekend. I was all excited to get out to the shop and start cutting these beasts down to rough lengths and go to work with the scrub plane. And then…
> 
> ...





> The hand plane would do the job soundly, but know that you have a friend a short distance away with a planer that can accept the mass. My shop is yours. I have a trailer if need be. Just know that it s a working shop (aka a mess). I also have a makita hand planer to help before the final scrubbing process takes place if you prefer not to break your back and haul.
> 
> - Jarrett


Thanks Jarrett! I may take you up on the planer. I have a powered hand planer as well but actually prefer to use the #3 plane I have set up for scrubbing. Luckily, these beams are pretty straight and flat so the initial dressing shouldn't be too bad. I think I'll try the table saw/hand plane method to mill the leg pieces to width first. If they don't do well, it's no big deal. If I don't think that's gonna be a good method for the glue-line joints on the top pieces though, I'll give you a shout and see about running them through your planer. I appreciate the offer!


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Breaking Wind*

You guys thought I'd forgotten about the blog didn't you? Well never fear, here is yet another exciting and timely entry! ;-)

Due to some family issues the last month, I've had very limited shop time. I finally got a chance to get started this weekend. So, I cut the first beam to rough length and went to work flattening it. I scrubbed one face until it looked flat enough and ran it through the planer taking light passes to flatten the opposite face. I was feeling good about my progress, until I put a straight edge on the freshly-planed surface :-( Even with a 48" straight edge on the 82" timber, I could detect a bow. Well, the back side was obviously not completely flat, I didn't think it would need to be! I mean these timbers are 4" thick, I thought light passes would prevent the planer from bending them too much. Think again!

Now, I have a jig I made to joint wide faces in the planer. It works a trick but, it's only 60" long. I could make a longer one but, that means buying a full sheet of ply and I don't really want to. So it was time to learn to flatten, REALLY flatten long timbers using hand planes. I have spent a fair amount of time learning to use my planes and think I've gotten pretty proficient, on small stuff. Turns out, these big, long, well-seasoned, hard-assed white oak beams are a whole different animal.

I flipped the timber back to the other side and stretched a chalk line over the length to identify the high spots and scrubbed them down cross-grain. Then, using a 24" straight edge, I went down the beam a section at a time and worked diagonal to the grain with a jack plane. I had to sharpen my iron twice. Time for a Hock iron to go on my Christmas list to fit the #5. Finally I had it pretty close to flat (if a bit rough) down the full length. So then, I used the straight edge across the width and worked the jack with the grain to flatten the cup. Okay, it took me 2 hours so far but, I'm feeling pretty good again that I've got this tiger by the tail. I ran the jointer plane down the beam until I got full width shavings for the most part across the whole timber. Whew!

I pulled my chalk line again. Thumbs up! Laid the straight edge across the width and went down the length. Check! Woo-hoo, back to the planer. Let's slay some electrons! 2-1/2 hours of hand planing oak wore my butt out. So I laid the timber across my tablesaw while I checked my planer setting and turned on the DC. I went to pick it up and when I laid hands on it, it wobbled :-( Must just be a chip under it… Nope. But it's flat damnit! It's flat along the length and across the width! It CAN NOT BE ROCKING!!! So, I did the only rational, level-headed thing any grown man would do. I threw something, cursed, curled up in a fetal position in the floor and cried.

Well after an hour or so of that, it turned out that no matter how many tears I shed or how vulgar my language, the beam still rocked on the table saw. Well, stretching my chalk line across the diagonals showed a twist that I hadn't detected previously. Normally, my jointer or my jointing jig for the planer will take care of a little twist so I've never really dealt with it intimately.

I wrapped up for the day. I had plans that evening and I was tired and frustrated. So, yesterday I went back bright-eyed and bushy tailed and decided that given the # of these timbers I have, I need to be methodical. First order of business being to flatten one face with hand planes. And not just sorta flatten but really flatten. Chalk line and straight edges take care of most of the work but what about the twist? Well, recently there was a forum post about making winding sticks and I've seen several online over the years but never saw the need for them with power tools. I was up for a side-project and a little gratification anyway so yesterday was spent making a pair.

I read Paul Seller's blog post on making winding sticks and a couple of the Schwarz's blogs about them. After getting a feel for how to go about it, I decided to just start working and "wing" the design as I went.

I started by looking for a straight-grained, stable piece of wood that was long enough. I thought I had some QSWO but I was mistaken. I did have a 22" piece of Jatoba left over from some other projects that appeared to be my best bet. It was straight-grained and clear but it had a knot near one end. I figure the knot will be stable enough for this project and if it goes to acting-up in the future, I'll just cut the sticks down to a shorter set.

I started by four-squaring the 5/4 stock and then laid out a rip line on one end that looked right to rip the stock into 2 pieces. The profile of the pieces ended up being roughly as shown:










I ripped the angle on the bandsaw and planed the angled faces smooth. I then re-checked and flattened and squared any distortion from the rip and made sure the two pieces were the same height and that the tops and bottoms were parallel. I also took great pains to be certain that the tops and bottoms were truly flat so I can use them as straight edges as well. After that was done, I did some inlays.

Now there are several different types of inlays and some advocate no inlays at all. I felt that contrasting inlays would be helpful in use and decided on the type Chris Shwarz suggested. Sellers' are basically the same but the two short ones he uses are dovetail-shaped. I could see absolutely no good reason for that so I didn't do it. I laid in a strip of Walnut along the full length of one stick and two short pieces of Ash on the other. I also noticed that everyone puts their inlays on the angled faces. No one said why and it didn't make sense to me. Seems to me that it was better to use the flat vertical faces since I knew they were parallel to one another so that's what I did.










I liked Paul Seller's idea of adding a small dowel dead center of each stick to help position them so they're balanced on a board. So, I marked the center line of one of the sticks and marked up 3/4" from the bottom. I used some carpet tape on the angled faces and stuck the sticks together to drill them to be sure I got the holes precisely lined up and drilled a 1/4" hole through both. DUH… now I had a hole 3/4" from the bottom of one and from the top of the other. So, they got 2 dowels on the centerline, 3/4" down from top and up from bottom. While they were stuck together, I also drilled 3/8" holes for dowels to "nest" the sticks together when stored and 1/4" hanging holes on each end.

I inserted Walnut dowels on the stick with the Walnut inlay and maple dowels on the one with Ash inlays. I wicked super glue from both sides to keep the dowels in place and flushed them up with a block plane.










I laid out an angle on each end and cut it just 'cause I thought it looked good in the examples I looked at online. Finally, I put a slight back bevel on the tops with a block plane to be sure that the edges with the inlays were the high-points. I scraped the faces and sanded everything with 220 paper lightly and put a couple coats of BLO/Poly/MS mix on them. I checked this morning and everything is still square and flat. So yay, a little bit of success for the weekend! I'll put a coat of paste wax on next time I'm in the shop and start trying to work the twist out of the timber I've started on. Below are the sticks nested together.










I must say, I've never thought I needed any winding sticks. But I put these guys on my timber just to see how effective they were and they showed me the obvious twist that I completely missed with my chalk-line and straight edges. The extra length really exaggerates any errors and the contrasting inlays really make it easy to see even when lighting isn't ideal. I hate to be putting off workbench work to do little side projects but, I really think this was a day well-spent.

Probably no shop time this week but I'm planning to be in the shop all next weekend breaking wind!

Now, for you guys' input… I gave you a rough run-down of my procedure for flattening these faces with my handplanes. But it's a fairly new process to me, at least at this scale. How do you Galloots tackle it? I'd love to do this more efficiently so will greedily consume any suggestions your have.

Thanks for reading!


----------



## madts (Dec 30, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Breaking Wind*
> 
> You guys thought I'd forgotten about the blog didn't you? Well never fear, here is yet another exciting and timely entry! ;-)
> 
> ...


Marvelous. I also need to make a set.

-Madts.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*It's Knot So Bad*

I HAD come to enjoy hand planing immensely. The tool itself is brilliant and elegant in it's simplicity and effectiveness. Restoring old planes and fettling them is a relaxant for me. I delight in taking a smoother and bringing a board to a finish that is flatter and feels smoother to the touch than one that has been sanded. I enjoy taking a jack or a router and curling off whisper thin shavings until an edge shows dead square to its reference face and there's no sliver of light below my straight edge.

I'm sure in time, those feelings will return.

There are many, some of whom may be reading this, who are purely unplugged woodworkers. Who take their raw stock to final dimensions with the wonders known as hand planes. I am not one of them.

I spent all weekend, a total of 15-20 hours, working on my bench. I spent at least 10 of those hours hand-planing or sharpening plane irons. I am SORE. I do not like hand planing any more. What do I have to show for an entire weekend? 2 beams glued together to form the front slab of my top. That's all.

WHINING COMPLETE

Okay, that was a bit dramatic but, not untrue :-/ I did spend more time hand-planing this weekend than ever before. It's mostly because flattening large timbers is new to me and it was a learning experience. It became an exercise in frustration because I really wanted to get these things flat. I want my bench to be as flat as I can possibly get it and I know that the flatter it is at glue up, the easier and truer it will be at final flattening. I'm still learning and I'm completely embarrassed about how long it took me to do it but, I am encouraged that the last beam I did took much less time and came out flatter than the first.

I flattened a face on each beam and then thicknessed them with the power planer. I can tell you that not all of the soreness I now suffer was a result of hand-planing. Running 8' long 4×8 beams of white oak through a lunchbox planer by oneself over-and-over is not for the faint of heart! But, I ended up with 2 acceptable flat beams at about 3-3/8" thick so the ends justified the means

I said in an earlier post that I was going to joint my glue-edges on my power jointer. Well, I was working alone and running them through the planer cured me of that thinking. Much easier to take a small tool to a big workpiece than a big workpiece to a big tool. So I jointed the edges with handplanes as well. That was satisfying. It went well and I got good edges in a reasonable amount of time.

Just a side-note, as much for my future reference as anything. (A) It takes less time to remove an iron, sharpen it, reset it and get back to work and finish the job than it does to try to finish the job with an iron that's even moderately dull. (B) A little paraffin wax "squiggled" on the bottom of a jack or jointer plane GREATLY reduces the sliding friction and gives much greater control over the cut.

The good news is that I did get some tangible progress and I'm getting pretty excited ;-)

So here she is, the first completed portion of my bench when I quit for the evening yesterday:










I got started on a couple of other beams but after some scrub-planing, realized that they weren't the best choices for the top. So, at least I have a bit of a jump on surfacing the timbers for the legs and stretchers. I found the wood wasn't as clear as I initially thought but is still good enough for my bench and fantastic for what I paid for it. One beam is horribly checked.










I knew the end was unusable but didn't realize that the checking runs pretty deep and about half way up the timber. I don't think I'll need it for the bench so I'll rip the edges off and use them elsewhere (maybe a stand for my new lathe?)

So, why the "Knot…" in the title? There are a few small, tight knots in this lumber but so far nothing I'm concerned about. I don't mind a few knots showing in the top, in fact, I think it gives character. But after surfacing, I did find this one big one that's kinda messy and it's on the side I'm making the top. You can see it here on the board closest.










So here's you guys' homework. By the way, y'all failed miserably on the last post. No one commented with a magic recipe for painlessly and effortlessly surfacing these timbers with handplanes ;-p But, my question for this week is how to handle this knot. My thinking is to use a burr in my dremel and remove all the punky wood from it then fill it with epoxy. I'm also thinking I'll mix some stain into the epoxy so it doesn't look like a big booger got stuck in my bench. Got a better way to handle it? I've filled knots with epoxy before but never anywhere visible and never on a working surface. If my method is good, will regular old 2-part epoxy work and can I just mix some oil-based stain in until I get the color I want? Or do I need to get some kind of special epoxy for a knot this big?

So, next up is surfacing and thicknessing one more plank this size and one smaller one to make the spacers that will form the "slots" for the tool wells. Then I'll be able to finish the glue-up to complete the top and move on to the legs. I said in an earlier post that I wasn't sure about the joinery for the legs to the top. I think I've decided on blind mortises. Tight on the front legs with elongated mortises on the back to allow for movement. As classy as the through tenon/dovetail is, I just don't want the exposed end-grain in the top.

Thanks for checking in and sound off in the comments on how you'd handle my knot and with any other suggestions or criticisms you have!


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *It's Knot So Bad*
> 
> I HAD come to enjoy hand planing immensely. The tool itself is brilliant and elegant in it's simplicity and effectiveness. Restoring old planes and fettling them is a relaxant for me. I delight in taking a smoother and bringing a board to a finish that is flatter and feels smoother to the touch than one that has been sanded. I enjoy taking a jack or a router and curling off whisper thin shavings until an edge shows dead square to its reference face and there's no sliver of light below my straight edge.
> 
> ...


Two ways to address the knot that I can think of, and one of them you've mentioned: fill it. 'With what' offers a range of options. I mixed sawdust w/ glue to create the fill for a couple of the voids in my benchtop, a solution that works just fine.

The other patch method is just that: a wood patch. If you have material left over, a piece that's as thin as 1/2" to 3/4" can be used. Simply make the patch, outline it on the benchtop w/ your marking knife, then get busy chiseling to a depth that allows the patch to sit a bit proud. Plane flat, Bob's your Uncle.

My .02, and worth half what you paid for it.  Good luck!


----------



## DLK (Nov 26, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *It's Knot So Bad*
> 
> I HAD come to enjoy hand planing immensely. The tool itself is brilliant and elegant in it's simplicity and effectiveness. Restoring old planes and fettling them is a relaxant for me. I delight in taking a smoother and bringing a board to a finish that is flatter and feels smoother to the touch than one that has been sanded. I enjoy taking a jack or a router and curling off whisper thin shavings until an edge shows dead square to its reference face and there's no sliver of light below my straight edge.
> 
> ...


(1)You can just leave it alone it won't effect the function of the work bench and will look cool.
(Maybe remove all the punky wood from it.)
Put it on the tool storage area of the bench and don't worry about it.
(If you are right handed thats is as you face the bench the right back side.)

(2)You can chisel out a recess and fit in a patch, say a butterfly.

(3)You can fill with epoxy. I didn't like the result when I did it Wish I had done (1). I have a streak of pith, but it looks cool.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *It's Knot So Bad*
> 
> I HAD come to enjoy hand planing immensely. The tool itself is brilliant and elegant in it's simplicity and effectiveness. Restoring old planes and fettling them is a relaxant for me. I delight in taking a smoother and bringing a board to a finish that is flatter and feels smoother to the touch than one that has been sanded. I enjoy taking a jack or a router and curling off whisper thin shavings until an edge shows dead square to its reference face and there's no sliver of light below my straight edge.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys! I don't want to patch it with a butterfly or another piece of wood because I like the look of this wood and would like to keep it "uninterrupted". I did consider just leaving it Don. You can't tell from the pic but it runs pretty deep. I just don't think I want a hole that big and deep in there. I'm in no hurry to decide though, I'll wait until the bench is done and flattened before I fill it so I don't have to plane whatever I fill it with.

Smitty, I have used glue/sawdust on small voids before but this one's deeper than I would think that would work with. I'd be concerned about the glue at the bottom fully curing. Have you done voids this deep (about 3/4") using that method?


----------



## RonAylor1760 (Aug 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *It's Knot So Bad*
> 
> I HAD come to enjoy hand planing immensely. The tool itself is brilliant and elegant in it's simplicity and effectiveness. Restoring old planes and fettling them is a relaxant for me. I delight in taking a smoother and bringing a board to a finish that is flatter and feels smoother to the touch than one that has been sanded. I enjoy taking a jack or a router and curling off whisper thin shavings until an edge shows dead square to its reference face and there's no sliver of light below my straight edge.
> 
> ...


I agree with Don as to putting it on the tool storage end of the bench and do not worry about it; BUT if it is as deep as you say I like the epoxy idea … perhaps with a dark stain added. I like the knots!


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *It's Knot So Bad*
> 
> I HAD come to enjoy hand planing immensely. The tool itself is brilliant and elegant in it's simplicity and effectiveness. Restoring old planes and fettling them is a relaxant for me. I delight in taking a smoother and bringing a board to a finish that is flatter and feels smoother to the touch than one that has been sanded. I enjoy taking a jack or a router and curling off whisper thin shavings until an edge shows dead square to its reference face and there's no sliver of light below my straight edge.
> 
> ...


Kenny, short answer: Yes.


----------



## thcyclist (Nov 21, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *It's Knot So Bad*
> 
> I HAD come to enjoy hand planing immensely. The tool itself is brilliant and elegant in it's simplicity and effectiveness. Restoring old planes and fettling them is a relaxant for me. I delight in taking a smoother and bringing a board to a finish that is flatter and feels smoother to the touch than one that has been sanded. I enjoy taking a jack or a router and curling off whisper thin shavings until an edge shows dead square to its reference face and there's no sliver of light below my straight edge.
> 
> ...


You wouldn't have to fill the whole hole with sawdust and glue, you can put in a piece of wood in there as filler.

But I'd also try to put in a filler patch, trying to match the grain.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Do these sticks make my slab look flat?*

Oh dear… What is he doing? Is this the second entry in a single week? Yes, yes it is 

I got a couple of free hours last night so decided to sneak in a little bench work. I decided I was going to flatten the slab I glued up over the weekend. But wait, aren't you supposed to wait until the bench is done to flatten it? Well, yes. And I didn't completely flatten it, that will be when I finish the build. But, my thinking is that this is the bulk of my top. Once I dimension one more timber, I'll glue it with some spacers to this slab. The render below shows the final top with the lighter pieces being what's left to be added.










So, I think flattening this now and leaving the rest slightly proud at final glue up will allow me to just plane the back down flush and give better flatness than flattening the whole thing at once. Then, I'll do a final "shave" with a jointer plane followed by a smoother to finish it off in earnest.

So, here is how I flattened it…

It was fairly flat to begin with but, the middle was a bit high after glue-up. I would have much preferred the middle to be a little low but, it was what it was.

The front section seemed to be the better reference to start with so I laid a straight edge across the slab making sure it was contacting the front edge and marked with a pencil everywhere it touched. This left marks showing all the high points that needed to be planed down.










Before I marked out with the straight edge, I ran my jack down the glue line a few swipes to even the 2 pieces up. Then I worked in 24" sections marking lines and working straight across the grain with the plane.










I took me a little less than an hour to get it flattened across the width. At that point, it made sense to check for twist so that I could straighten it out before the next round of planing. So, out came the winding sticks I made in a previous entry. I am soooooo glad I took an afternoon to make those guys! I laid one across the right side to use as a reference and starting at the far end, checked the wind and marked the high spots. It's hard to get a good picture of the sticks in action but I think this one shows the obvious twist at the far end.










It turned out that there was little-to-no twist along the majority of the slab. It started with a little bit about 36" from the far end and got progressively worse up to the end. I marked the high side with "H" being a lot of twist and "h" being just a little.










Rather than straightening the twist going cross-grain, I decided to just work it out during the next stage which was working at 45 degrees to the grain with the jack plane. When I got to the twisted section, I just took an extra pass on the high side of the slab on each pass.










I worked down the full length of the slab in one direction and then worked down it again in the direction perpendicular. I continued to do so until I was taking shavings at almost every point on the slab.

One thing worth mentioning: After the first 2 passes, I found I was actually creating a "hump" in the middle. It was slight but it was there. I had to really focus on making sure all of the pressure was on the front of plane at the beginning of the cut, even pressure on front and back during the middle of the cut, and all of the pressure on the back at the end of the cut. Even slight pressure on the tote at the beginning of the cut caused me to be cutting "uphill" and any pressure on the knob at the end caused "downhill" cutting. It was almost like I had to try to cut a hollow in the center to end up with a flat cut. 2 more passes pretty well evened out the "hump" I had formed.

It took me about 45 minutes and 8 passes (4 in each direction) to get consistent shavings down the full length of the slab. Then I switched to my jointer plane and repeated the process.










It's surprising how much different the feel of the jointer is than the jack. The extra 8" really makes a difference. I was getting full shavings with the jack but, it took a couple of passes before I was peeling shavings all the way across with the jointer.

It's also worth noting (as I think I did in the last entry) that parrafin wax is probably the greatest substance on earth ;-) I didn't apply any initially and the extra size on the jointer really adds a lot of friction. I was getting a bit tuckered after the first 2 passes. I rubbed a little wax on the sole and it was like Chevy Chase's sled in "Christmas Vacation".

3 passes in each direction did the trick with the jointer. It only took 20 minutes or so since the jack plane had done the heavy lifting.

I went back down the full length spot-checking across the width with the straight edge and took a couple swipes in a few spots to flatten a hump in the center. Then I put the winding sticks back on.










It was pretty good. Still a little twist at the far end. The 2 knots make it kind of hard to get a real good, consistent swipe across the width in that area. I may try to straighten it out but, it's pretty minor and that section will be on the front left of the bench which is where I keep my layout tools so most likely I'll just leave it as-is.

I don't have a real good way to gauge the flatness length-wise. Checking in sections doesn't show any obvious issues and eyeballing it looks darned-near perfect. I wish I had a reliable, long straight-edge but a 48" drywall square is as good as I have and it ain't great. I'm probably being overly-anal about it anyway. If it's flat enough that I can't detect a problem, It's a pretty safe assumption that it's flat enough to suit its purpose.

So, now the front slab of my benchtop is flat. I'm glad I went ahead and did it, it instills some confidence to know that I can get it done with hand planes 'cause I wasn't at all sure I was capable to start with. It just took a little reading about how other people do it and developing my own methodical approach though and now my worries about that part of the build are greatly alleviated. Now if I could just say the same about chopping mortises in this wood…

The best part about last night's exercise is that these were all the tools I used to flatten it:










No cords on any of them!


----------



## JimDaddyO (Dec 20, 2009)

HokieKen said:


> *Do these sticks make my slab look flat?*
> 
> Oh dear… What is he doing? Is this the second entry in a single week? Yes, yes it is
> 
> ...


Looks like you got your exercise for the day. Looking good!


----------



## RonAylor1760 (Aug 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Do these sticks make my slab look flat?*
> 
> Oh dear… What is he doing? Is this the second entry in a single week? Yes, yes it is
> 
> ...


Way to go! I look forward to seeing this completed. What color are you going to paint it? LOL!


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Do these sticks make my slab look flat?*
> 
> Oh dear… What is he doing? Is this the second entry in a single week? Yes, yes it is
> 
> ...





> Way to go! I look forward to seeing this completed. What color are you going to paint it? LOL!
> 
> - Ron Aylor


Red of course, that way blood doesn't show up


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Brief update and vise opinion solicitations*

Geeze, I'm really on the ball with this blog huh? Well, unfortunately the pace of my blog updates pretty well matches the pace of my bench build :-( A LOT of family (and just general life) crisis the past couple months have severely limited my shop time. And, I comitted to the toolswap going on so I've had to keep up with that too. Soooo, the bench has kinda taken a bit of a back seat.

While my shop time is still limited, it is solely focused on my bench now, so I've made some progress. Basically I have the top finished and F-L-A-T. I still need to give it a good pass with a smoother but I bought a 50" precision straight edge and made my winding sticks and can say that with the exception of one corner, the entire benchtop is probably within .015" deviation of being planar. The front left corner has a small dip of maybe .030" but since I don't use that corner for planing or assembly, I decided it was best to leave it rather than continue to remove material.

I got much better at flattening after the debacle of flattening the front portion! I decided to leave as much material as possible and ended up with the back 1/2 of the bench being 3/8" thicker than the front! I could have planed it down in the electron-eater but I figured that's just some extra mass and since it's behind the tool wells, there's nothing lost by it being thicker than the front. I'll just have to remember it when I cut the legs to length :-/

I'll add another post later with pics of current progress. I cut it to length and squared the ends up yesterday using a circular saw and router with a straight edge guide.










Then I milled up a couple of pieces of 3×10 Walnut to make the end cap and end vise chop.










Now, I have agonized the last couple of months over my end vise. I use my end vise a lot. I like the idea of a wagon vise though for planing thin stock. But, I just can't live without my end vise. Then I saw this vise by Texcaster:










Well, for a while, I thought the heavens had opened up and a light had been shined down to illuminate my path to Vise Nirvana. It was a little extra work but doable. It had an end vise with slightly reduced capacity and a wagon vise. It is like a tail vise but without the sagging corner so many seem to encounter. It seemed perfect. And it probably is. BUT…

The end vise on my old bench is just simple hardware, a big, beefy chop that runs most of the full depth of the bench and my Widdleracker to help with racking. Very simple, very basic, very easy. And I absolutely have loved it just like that. Sure a quick release would be nice and a twin screw vise like the Veritas would be easier than the Widdleracker. But I really just don't want to change it. At all. Ever.

So I'm not. I think I would find occasional use for a wagon vise but I'm not convinced enough to go mucking up something I know works well for me.

So I'd pretty much given up on the wagon. But then I thought, why not on the back on the other end? I don't like unnecessary "fluff" and I'm going to have my endvise and a leg vise. But, if I put some sort of a simple wagon vise on the back left corner of the bench, it would be out of the way and there when I need it. I'm thinking of a wedge-based one like Shipwright's
 that wouldn't require any hardware and wouldn't have anything sticking out of the end of the bench. The only reason I want it is because recently I've had to hand plane some 1/8" and 1/4" stock and using the dogs in my end vise just doesn't support the full length enough. Of course, that bench is severely out-of-flat so maybe just having a good flat bench will rectify the situation?

So anyway, what do you think? Is a third vise only used rarely on the back left corner of the bench a good idea or a bad one? Got any other ideas on how to hold thin stock for hand planing that doesn't involve adding a wagon vise?

Thanks for any advice you may have! It's not holding up construction or anything but it's something I'd like to iron out in my mind before I get to a point where working on the bottom of the bench is a PITA in case I need to do so.

I'll try to keep up with this blog a little more often ;-P


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Brief update and vise opinion solicitations*
> 
> Geeze, I'm really on the ball with this blog huh? Well, unfortunately the pace of my blog updates pretty well matches the pace of my bench build :-( A LOT of family (and just general life) crisis the past couple months have severely limited my shop time. And, I comitted to the toolswap going on so I've had to keep up with that too. Soooo, the bench has kinda taken a bit of a back seat.
> 
> ...


Swaps been over for awhile now slacker…..I need an update.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Chisels be Cryin'*

OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?



> Swaps been over for awhile now slacker…..I need an update.
> 
> - ki7hy


Fair enough ;-P I really hadn't made any progress since the last update other than getting the end vise installed and drilling my dog/holdfast holes until last week. I did have a couple of days last week that I got good time and I got my legs all milled and got the tenons cut. So now I'm marking out and cutting my mortises. At the rate I'm going, I'll be done with them by the next Summer Olympics.

So, I promise a full update soon complete with pics but for now, I need some advise…

Up until now, any M&T joints I've done have been either done using the drill press or router table to do most of the work and then clean up with chisels. Well, that ain't happenin' with this benchtop. At first, I thought I'd just rough out the bulk of the waste with a forstner and hand drill. Ha Ha. Tried my cordless and corded drill. Too much for them. For reference, my legs are 3.5" x 6.5" and tenons are about 2" x 4" and are 2" long. So my mortises need to be 2×4 and ~2-1/16 deep.










So then I figured, I'll just do this like a big ole' bad ass macho man and chop the whole thing. Yeah, I'm neither bad assed nor macho evidently. Not that I can't get it done this way but what you see in the pic above is roughly 1/4" deep and my chisel hates me…

Well, not the chisel so much. It's an old Witherby 1/2" mortise chisel and it's doing admirably. Problem is the handles! I bought the chisel last summer and turned an ash handle for it but this is the first time I've really pounded the sucker. Well that ash split right down the middle not long in. It happens, probably just bad luck on the turning blank I used. So I grabbed a piece of scrap hickory and turned another handle real quick so I could get back at it. Well, when I got to the point in the pic above, a big chunk broke out of that handle too! Not sure what the deal is. I'm using a wooden mallet. Anyway, I turned another handle yesterday from cherry but on this one, I put a stack of leather washers on the business end. It looks really nice so I hope it holds up!

Back to matter at hand though. How should I make these mortises? I have a brace but have never had much luck getting good, clean, straight holes using an auger and it would be a lot of work roughing out all 4 mortises with a 1" auger bit anyway.

My thinking now is to make a jig and use my plunge router and a guide bushing to cut to size/depth then just pare the corners with a chisel. Problem is I don't have a bottom cleaning bit that's long enough so I'll have to buy a new bit.

Better ideas? PLEASE?! Maybe chopping with a bigger bench chisel would be better than the smaller mortise chisel? I'll play around and see what works. Just a new process for me and I don't want to be at it for a month so I'm hoping some of y'all with more experience can throw me a bone!


----------



## RonAylor1760 (Aug 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Kenny - Can you not bore a series of holes with a 1/2" or 5/8" auger bit and then use your 1/2" mortise chisel to clean up … or for that matter an 1-1/2" bench chisel (??) ... looks like you are trying to take out too much waste at once … baby steps my friend, baby steps!


----------



## DLK (Nov 26, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


You can use a spiral up bit in your router. But I did as Ron suggests, except I used a 1/2in mortice chisel and a 1" firmer. I also agree you are trying to take too much out at once.


----------



## DLK (Nov 26, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...





> You can use a spiral up bit in your router. But I did as Ron suggests, except I used a 1/2in mortice chisel and a 1" firmer. I also agree you are trying to take too much out at once.
> 
> Also you don't need a bottom cleaning bit. Who's going to see the bottom.
> - Combo Prof


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


You guys make good sense. It just seems like SO MANY holes to bore with an auger bit. Maybe in the long run, that's the way to go though? Maybe I'll give it a go on one of the mortises and see how it goes. I hate to buy a long router bit just for this. I guess my biggest fear is not keeping the bit square and cutting the mortises over-sized. I can always shoot to be a little under-size though then pare the walls with a chisel.

Your right Don, I guess the bottom really doesn't need to be clean.


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Ron's jig is good with a brace. Also the router is good for electrons. I also agree your chomping to much in the oak. If I were you and you wanted it done quicker/easier I would build a template and use the router. Whiteside bit I think is like $18 for what you need (totally going off memory which from what I remember means nothing).

Ron's jig is pretty good though if you want to own the hand tool thing.


----------



## builtinbkyn (Oct 29, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Kenny you could try using a block of wood as a drill bit guide and a 1/2" brad point bit. Set the bit in the drill so it cuts to the depth you need - the drill bottoms out on the chuck. That way to don't have to be concerned with the depth. Then drill as many holes in the mortise as you can fit. Then clean out the mortise with a good sharp bench chisel. Maybe start each mortise as you did so you have a good clean opening and the pattern set.

Edit: I guess I should add - the drill bit block should be wide enough to span the mortise when at the extreme end of the opening so it always registers agains the underside of the top. This is the way I'd do it. The 1/2" bit will hve no problem with the oak. Cleaning out the waste wouldn't take much time. Using the auger will give you a nice workout though


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Yeah, I'll give the brace a shot first. If that don't get the job done, I'll order a new router bit.


----------



## RonAylor1760 (Aug 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...





> Yeah, I ll give the brace a shot first. If that don t get the job done, I ll order a new router bit.
> 
> - HokieKen


Eat your Wheaties … and take a couple of Advil …


----------



## DLK (Nov 26, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Are you going to add a sliding deadman? If so then get a 1/2 spiral up router bit. If you need a cheap beefier router 
get the drill master from HF plus the router controller. Or auger out many holes.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


I'm all set for router and bits for the most part Don. Just don't have a bottom-cleaning bit that's long enough for these mortises. No deadman at this time but I have a plan in case I decide to add one down the road though. I just don't think I'll ever need one between my long end vise and a leg vise with dog/holdfast holes in the opposite leg, I think I'll be good for workholding.


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Kenny, I went the brace bit route for my bench build. All of the mortises including the BenchCrafted Criss Cross on the leg vise.

Actually laid out a grid then drilled.

















Chop on the leg vise









My preferred depth stop( a commercial version of Ron's)









Then cleaned the edges with a wide chisel and the bottoms with a router plane extended as far as it would go!


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


You make it seem so simple…. ;-)


----------



## RonAylor1760 (Aug 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...





> ... my preferred depth stop( a commercial version of Ron s)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Kevin, you bought that? It looks like a curb feeler off of a 1952 DeSoto … LOL!


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Well, wouldn't that make it vintage seeing as you and I are of that age?

Ken all it takes is time and a pot of strong coffee!


----------



## Buckethead (Apr 14, 2013)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Speaking of simple, check this out, ken: 




Technique is the key to effective hand mortises. Paul Sellers is the king.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Buckethead, you're my hero. Of all the youtube videos I've watched, how have I never seen that one before?! I feel like a total ass now. My technique was all wrong - I was attempting to excavate in even layers. Using the previous cut as relief to take a deeper cut on the next chop makes a ton of sense. No wonder have so much trouble with hand cutting mortises :-/ I'll definitely be trying Paul's method out tonight!

Now for another question since you guys came to the rescue thus far… Are my Auger bits crap or what? Here's why I ask. So last night I took a brace (MF with 10" swing) and a 3/4" auger bit and attempted to do as many of you suggested. First hole, get going good, bit sinks in about 1" then just spins. Okay must be a dull bit, right? I don't have an auger file (apparently they're made of gold these days and I REFUSE to pay $20+ for one) but I have many needle files. So I just used a needle file and sharpened the bit per Brit's (Andy's) blog post on the subject. But it didn't seem dull to begin with and the lead thread was clean and sharp and all there.

So the lead thread had just wallowed out the hole in my first attempt and wouldn't grab any more. So with my newly sharpened bit, I started a new hole. Same thing! Got to about 1" deep and quit pulling. Chips were clearing well so I don't think it was clogged up. So I tried a third hole with a 7/8" bit. Same thing! I've never used these bits before. They don't have a name on them but appear vintage and well made. The steel is as hard as I would expect. I bought them at a flea market a couple of years ago. I have never used my brace much so I'm sure it's my technique.

So help a brother out guys! Why can't I drill a hole?!


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Kenny, what does the lead screw look like? Is it a fine thread or a coarse thread? Also what type of wood?


----------



## RonAylor1760 (Aug 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Kenny - I can only assume that you are up over the brace … holding the cap in line with you chin? I find that when the bit stops cutting the screw has become clogged and needs to be cleaned out with a knife or something.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...





> Kenny, what does the lead screw look like? Is it a fine thread or a coarse thread? Also what type of wood?
> 
> - theoldfart


Not sure if it's coarse or fine thread. I only have the one set of bits so nothing to compare it to. I'll try to remember to take a picture and post it when I get home this evening. The wood is White Oak. Air dried for a very long time so it's some pretty hard stuff.



> Kenny - I can only assume that you are up over the brace … holding the cap in line with you chin? I find that when the bit stops cutting the screw has become clogged and needs to be cleaned out with a knife or something.
> 
> - Ron Aylor


Yes Ron, I actually used a small step stool to get me a little higher to give me better positioning. I did check what I did get bored and the holes are straight and round so I'm at least getting that part right! I also would have assumed the lead was getting clogged up but every time I back it out, it's clean…

One other thing that may or may not be relevant. When I drilled my dog holes, I piloted them with a 3/4" bit in my plunge router to a depth of 1-1/2" or so to make sure I got them started straight. Then, I finished them through with an Irwin Speedbore bit in my cordless drill. I had to set the drill to the high-torque driver setting and just a few holes exhausted a battery. The bit did just fine though. The reason I'm not taking that approach here is because I don't want to tax my cordless that hard with so many holes. I tried my corded drill but it just doesn't have the ass.


----------



## RonAylor1760 (Aug 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Well … the only thing I can suggest at this point is to continue boring 1" deep holes … chisel out the waste and start boring again (??)


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


After watching the Sellers' video, I think I'm going to try just chopping them again using proper technique. The auger bit thing just bothers the crap out of me. I want to know why it isn't working so I can correct my tools or technique for the future.


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Ken, FYI course vs fine









The bit on the left is a Russell Jennings 100 the one on the right is a Ford(later bought by Millers Falls).


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Mine are definitely coarse lead threads Kevin. Maybe that's the problem in this oak?


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


I would use a fine thread on white oak. I had a lot of trouble like you did. A couple of the bench top boards were kind of wonky hardness wise. For the softer ones I used the coarse thread and a lot of pressure. Only later did I realize they needed sharpening!


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


I'll give that a try if I can find one.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Well waddayaknow? Paul Sellers method works!

I forgot to snap a pic so I'll put it in the next entry. But… I didn't have any shop time last night but I was dying to see how it would go chopping with a bench chisel. I chose a 1" chisel figuring I could basically excavate 2 mortises side by side.

On my way out the door to dinner, I had about 10 minutes to kill. So, I grabbed a 1" bench chisel and a pretty heavy leather-faced mallet. I went like Paul in the youtube video linked above in the comments. I didn't get done but I got about 4X more done in 10 minutes than I did in 30 minutes doing it "my" way. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to chop these out in less time than it would have taken me to bore waste out with a brace.

Like I said, I'll give detail in the next entry. Just wanted to say thanks for all you guys' help and let you know I'm on my way!


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Sounds good.


----------



## DLK (Nov 26, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Now I bet you will watch all of Paul's videos's, sign up for Pauls's master classes, and become a master yourself! 

IMHO the pedagogy of his teaching is brilliant. I have learned so much from just watching them. More so then any others. Usually I hate videos and just prefer to read books, but not Paul's.

For example watching him mortice hinges made a huge difference for me. Now I like putting in hinges.

(Sometimes Stump, Izzy, or Rob and others are fun to watch too and sometimes you learn something new. But I always learn something from Paul.)


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Chisels be Cryin'*
> 
> OMG, I am horrible with this blog huh?
> 
> ...


Right on Don. I have learned a ton of stuff over the years from Mr. Sellers blog posts and videos. This is just another one to add to the list


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*One Day I Might Finish this Beast!*

Man, it seems like each big project takes twice as long as the previous one. Aren't build times supposed to go down as you get more experience? ;-P

In all seriousness, this bench is taking FOREVER it seems. But it's due to much more limited shop time than I've enjoyed in the past. I have learned to be okay with that and cherish the time I have alone with the smell of wood, the "thwack" of my mallet on the chisel and the solid "thunk" when I know that chisel has gone as deep as it cares to go in that particular spot. I am really exercising my hand tools. Not only because I want to become more proficient with them but because I find that with less time in the shop, I much prefer that there be no saws, routers, dust collectors etc… running. I still love my little electron eating tailed babies, but I love my silent children as well and more so at times 

I recently picked up a couple of planes I've been on the hunt for for a LONG time. Millers Falls #10 and #15 (Stanley 4.5 and 5.5 sizes). Man what I've been missing!! Particularly the #10 is a huge help. If I were relegated to a single hand plane, I now think this wide-bodied smoother would be the one:










I also picked up a Stanley 140 a while back to tune tenons. It's okay but I think I'll find it more useful on smaller stock. With tenons this large, I find I'm constantly bloodying my knuckles. It's a super fellow for end grain though so even if I don't come to adore the rabbet part, the skewed iron was worth the investment.

So back to the bench… I know I promised a pictorial update. And I'll deliver ASAP but, I have it flipped upside down now to fit the legs and it's a B E A S T when I have to flip this sucker over by myself! As soon as I get the last 2 legs fit, I can cut and fit the stretchers then I'll flip her back over and take some shots.

I finished fitting the M&T joints for the back legs and have the front left leg fit. I'm really trying to tune it so it's perfectly flush to the front of the bench and perfectly square to the top since I'll be installing a leg vise there. Here is where I'm at:










I read somewhere that your joint should be just tight enough that you have to drive the tenon in with your hat. Well, it's about right  My problem is that I squared the top and the front edge but I didn't square up the bottom to the front. Of course, not thinking, what did I do? Chopped the mortise square to the bottom which meant the leg ended up about 1 degree out of plane with the front. No biggie, I chiseled the front wall of the mortise down with a little undercut and glued a thin spacer to the back wall and I have a nice tight joint again that's flush with the front edge. Now, the problem is that the back shoulder seats and there's a small gap of ~1/32" at the front. It's not terribly noticeable, the joint is solid and with the bottom of the bench not being truly flat, it's unlikely I'll ever get it tuned perfectly and I'm worried that repeatedly putting the tenon in and out will loosen the fit.

Should I leave the gap? Put a little tinted epoxy in it? Tune it until it's perfect? Remember, there will be a leg vise here so it won't really be visible. I just don't want that gap to allow a little bit of movement in the joint that will, over the years, cause a problem. FWIW, I don't think I'm going to glue the tenons into the mortises but I think I'll cross pin them with 2 dowels through each tenon. Why not glue them? Well, in case I have to move, I want to be able to pull the top off and move this sucker! The way I'm planning, I can drill the dowels out and do so. Then I would glue it at the next house and tell my wife that we can never move again because I can't take it apart any more.

As another little tooling aside, I recently bought a chisel lot off the 'bay and one of them was a 1 inch "Fulton Special" bench chisel. It's a big beefy fellow that has nice weight and balance. I thought it was going to be perfect for chopping these 2" mortises. That's him in the middle below as purchased.










So I lovingly flattened his bottom and ground a 25 degree bevel then honed a 30 degree on the front half of it. Then I turned him a lovely new cherry handle with some leather washers on the end to cushion the blows that I would deal him. Then I put him to work.

Well about 1/2" down into the mortise…










Bad spot in the material right? No sweat. I finished out that mortise with another chisel and then I ground the Fulton back square and re-shaped and honed the bevel. Started on the next mortise and…










So are these Fultons to be avoided? Is it just this one? It's as if it was hardened but not tempered. It's not particularly hard to grind or hone on diamond stones but it seems to shatter like glass.

I know what you're thinking, it's the user. It may very well be but, I've chopped the mortise fine with another chisel. And you know what kinda chisel it is?










Yep, an Aldis one. I bought it at the grocery store! After hearing and reading Paul Sellers recommendation, when I happened upon them in the store last year, I had to try them out. I must say, they are great. I have been using them as beaters rather than primary chisels but this one has really impressed me. I've done 3 of these 2×4 mortises 2 inches deep with it (other than the little bit the Fulton did between breaks) and haven't had to do anything more to the edge than a few swipes on a leather strop.

So, long story short, if you have the opportunity, pick up a set or two of them things if you find them in your local Aldis. IIRC, I paid $8 for the set of 4.

Well, there you have it… a little update. I still owe a pictorial one and I will deliver soon! Please chime in below if you have any thoughts about how I should handle the small gap on my leg vise leg shoulder or if you have any experience with the Fulton Special bench chisels.

Until next time, thanks for checking in!


----------



## DLK (Nov 26, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *One Day I Might Finish this Beast!*
> 
> Man, it seems like each big project takes twice as long as the previous one. Aren't build times supposed to go down as you get more experience? ;-P
> 
> ...


I have both a Stanley 4.5 and a MF 10, and these are almost always the planes I grab first for smoothing. I do think the MF 10 is a little better, but I have only have the one sample so its hard to say if thats because of the particular two that I have or if its true in general. I often hog off the high spots a 5.5 that has a cambered blade. It is only by willpower that I don't spend all day in the shop juts making shavings for only the joy of planning.

I am surprised by the fulton breaking as it did. It must have been hardened poorly. Send it back to the manufacture for a replacement. LOL. I have two sets of the aldis, I may make some skew or dove tale chisels out of them or just use them for chopping.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *One Day I Might Finish this Beast!*
> 
> Man, it seems like each big project takes twice as long as the previous one. Aren't build times supposed to go down as you get more experience? ;-P
> 
> ...


I've come to prefer MF planes Don. It's more of a "feel" than anything but I find them easier to fettle and I think the factory irons take and hold an edge better. Also I've found that in general there is less work to be done when rehabbing the Millers Falls. I now have 9, 10, 14 and 15 sizes from MF and the only Stanley bench plane I have left is a #5 set up for heavy cuts.

I have 2 more sets of the Aldi chisels still in the package. I'm considering grinding one set down to intermediate sizes (1/8, 3/8, 5/8, 7/8) and grinding the other set as skews. Or they may just set in the package forever and end up in a box at an estate sale after I die ;-)


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Home Stretch Baby!*

Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0

But, I said I was going to blog the build so I'm not giving up no matter how sporadic the updates!

I got a lot of shop time this weekend and made great progress on the bench. I still have it upside down but the day when I can flip it over is in sight ) I finished mortising all the legs into the top a while back. I also installed my end vise prior to that but I don't believe I ever took a picture. Well, here's the bottom of it:










Over the last week I got all of my stretchers milled and got the short ones mortised in.










Yesterday evening I wrapped up the weekend by getting one of the long stretchers mortised in.










So when I went to bed last night I was feeling pretty good. Only 2 more mortises to chop then my bench will be functional! I need to make some drawbore pins and drive them in but I can do that after it's upright. On the plus side, I did, by some fluke, end up with really good, tight M&T joints so even just dry fit it's pretty rock solid. I figured once I have it upright, I'll fit a shelf in and install my leg vise then I can make storage to go underneath when time permits.

But I woke up this morning and cursed a little. It dawned on me what a PITA it would be to install the leg vise with the bench on it's feet. Boring the hole for the screw will be much better on the drill press but that could be done with a brace and bit. But the mortise for a parallel guide is a different story. I am definitely doing the bulk of that work with the drill press! I am so sick of chopping mortises that I'm tempted to throw all my chisels away so I'll have a good excuse to never do another one. Only kidding of course. Sort of.

So, that's the state of the never-ending bench build. I should get the last stretcher finished up and do a final dry-fit this week. Then I'll get the leg vise under way. Hopefully it'll be a painless process but we shall see.

Until next time I make any significant progress…


----------



## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Great work Kenny!

That's one stout workbench.


----------



## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Keep at it Kenny, you've almost got it beat.


----------



## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


good looking bench. I know what you mean about working and not taking pictures have that problem myself.


----------



## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Looking awesome.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Thanks for looking in guys. I CANNOT WAIT until this thing is done!



> Keep at it Kenny, you ve almost got it beat.
> 
> - Rick M


I'm pretty sure it's the other way around Rick but thanks for the vote of confidence!


----------



## builtinbkyn (Oct 29, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Looking forward to seeing the upside of this Kenny


----------



## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Yeah buddy!

What are you gonna do for anti racking?


----------



## Northwest29 (Aug 1, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Great work Kenny! Should be very useful and last many years.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Thanks gents.



> Yeah buddy!
> 
> What are you gonna do for anti racking?
> 
> - TheFridge


For the leg vise, traditional parallel guide.

For the end vise, I already did this:


----------



## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


I know how you feel. I wrote a blog when I was building a FLW desk and I never could find the time to sit down and write a good update. The project seemed to drag out endlessly but one day it was done and now I'm getting things ready for another desk build that will take a long time. There's something about a big project that is oddly appealing. BTW - I'm having serious bench envy. I just installed the same vise on my 2×4 and melamine kind-of-sort-of work bench table top, big flat area. It doesn't look nearly as nice and at-home as yours.


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Ken, build looks good and I couldn't agree more on the leg mortises.


----------



## galooticus (Dec 7, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Looking good!

Think of it this way: after tackling these mortises, regular furniture size ones become easy forever.


----------



## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

HokieKen said:


> *Home Stretch Baby!*
> 
> Okay, so let's say this blog sucks, at best. Or at least the author sucks at keeping it updated. It's just hard when I squeeze in an hour here and there and next thing I know, it's almost done and I haven't taken any pictures :-0
> 
> ...


Plenty o beef right there.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Still Plugging Along*

Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*

First thing I did since the last entry was to finish up all the M&T joints for the long stretchers. Here is the final dry-fit of the whole big beautiful baby 










After getting this far, I was so excited to get it flipped over that I almost neglected to cut the through mortise for the parallel guide for my leg vise. Thankfully I thought about it and hogged out the waste on the drill press and cleaned it up with a chisel before I got too far. I could have chopped it out after the bench was assembled but it would have been a MUCH bigger PITA. As luck would have it, I got some blowout on the front side of the mortise ;-( No biggie though, the chop will hide it most of the time and it's not enough to affect function.










After that, I thought the best way to go about it would be to drawbore the short stretchers into the legs while it was assembled dry and leave the long stretchers free. This way I have 2 independent leg assemblies which will make it easier to take everything apart and re-assemble it right side up.

I had decided I definitely wanted my drawbore pegs to have good contrast with the oak. I was going to use a stick of Ironwood I have squirreled away but I've never worked with it and I was afraid it would be too brittle. So instead, I chose a chunk of Purpleheart that was the right length and that should provide all of the pegs I need. I sawed it into several blanks just over 1/2" square and turned the pegs on the lathe.

This was the first time I've used drawbored joints and I was surprised at how firmly it really locks the joints down! I have no glue in there at all and I don't have any fear of the joints being able to rack or twist at all. I was also pleasantly surprised at how well the pegs drove home. I had one that exploded but it was already driven in far enough that the joint was firmly locked down so hurray!










I'm very pleased with how the Purpleheart pegs look in the oak too. I'm not taking any precautions against UV so it won't stay purple long but even the dark brown that it goes to when exposed to light will still be visually pleasing in the oak. I left them all slightly proud and I'll go back with a flush cut saw and chisel and trim them all once the final assembly is done.










I didn't go into detail on drawboring. But if anyone is curious, look up Chris Schwarz's blogs on it or look at his workbench books. I know he details it in at least one if not both of them.

My process for the drawbored joints was:


Drill 1/2" holes through the mortises going at least 2" through the back side.
Fit the tenons in and use a transfer punch to mark the hole center.
Remove the tenon and drill 1/2" hole through ~3/32" closer to the shoulder than the transfer punch center mark.
Turn pegs to 1/2" and taper last 1 or 1.5" down to about 5/16" diameter.
Rub a block of paraffin wax on all but the last 1" or so before driving peg in. Alternatively, used wood glue instead of wax if desired.
Drive pegs home.

Not difficult at all but sure results in a rock-solid joint.

I didn't take any pics yet so I'll save it for the next blog but I'm currently working on the leg vise. I got the chop roughed out yesterday and made the parallel guide. I installed the guide in the chop and clamped it up to the leg. I was in the process of boring through both for the screw when I ran out of time. So, that's where I'm at now…

I'll do another post on the leg vise when I get it finished up. Thanks for checking in!


----------



## jeffswildwood (Dec 26, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Ken you have put a massive amount of work in on this and it is looking good. This is going to be a great bench!


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Looks great buddy. Finish that beast!


----------



## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


My first drawbored joint was putting a handle on a cane. And yeah, they pull together rock solid. If you have drawbore pins of the appropriate diameter, you don't need to taper the pegs very much, either. But it is another tool you have to have on hand. ;-)


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Thanks fellas.

Dave, I was going to make a drawbore pin but thought I'd try it without first to see if it was necessary. It wasn't. But yeah, if I was using pre-made dowels, it might be faster to use a pin rather than making the taper.


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Very nice, congrats on the progress!


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Like the purple heart pins, nice touch. Your almost there Kenny.


----------



## Northwest29 (Aug 1, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Oh my gosh Ken that is a beast. Looking good your commitment to completing it is really paying off.


----------



## mirock (Mar 13, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Very cool.

...when I will do my own?...


----------



## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


This workbench is looking good.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


----------



## GR8HUNTER (Jun 13, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


your NOT done till the final photo of you posing on it LIKE fridge did LMAO :<))
im loving the peg choice fancy….... GREAT JOB :<))


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Thanks guys. I don't think anyone can pose like Fridge did though Tony )


----------



## SpaceAgePlane (Mar 18, 2017)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Very Nice! Don't be afraid of working with Ironwood. It's actually not bad and as long as you don't have a piece that was close to the "sapwood"(if there is such a thing on Ironwood) it's very tight and easy to work. Sharp tools make it compliant. Can't wait to see more!


----------



## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Plugging Along*
> 
> Well, it's been a bit and most of my shop time the past several weeks has been spent working on Father's Day gifts and my contribution to the current LumberJocks Tool Swap. Those are both wrapped up and out of the house though and I had a long weekend with some pretty good shop time so I got quite a bit done. In fact… *I AM ALMOST DONE!*
> 
> ...


Going along nicely


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Leg Vise*

Well, over the past week, I did manage to get the leg vise mostly done. At least as "done" as I'm going to until the final assembly is done.

I had already cut the mortise for the parallel guide before drawboring the leg. So next thing I did was to make the parallel guide and cut my chop to rough shape. The guide is made from a piece of cherry and the chop is the same gnarly Walnut I used for my end vise. I cut a blind mortise in the chop for the guide and drilled and pinned it with some Jatoba scraps. I marked the location for the vise screw and drilled a 2" hole on the drill press.










Next, I clamped the chop in position on the leg. I used a thin shim at the bottom of the chop to give it a slight toe-in at the top.










Then I used the 2" hole as a guide and bored through the leg with a Forstner bit.










(I have no idea what happened in this^picture. I swear those 2 holes are aligned!)

The hardware I'm using is a tail vise screw from Lee Valley. It's a 1-1/8" screw so why did I bore it out at 2"? Because I don't want any slop in this guy so I want to insert some bushing/bearings that will keep it aligned and steady.

My original plan was to make bearings from some UHMW stock I have. But then I picked up some Lignum Vitae on clearance a couple weeks ago and decided to use it instead. So I turned a piece long enough to make 2 bearings to 2" diameter on my lathe then bored through it with a 1" drill. Then I used one of my new carbide inserted tools that LJ ki7hy made me in the recent tool swap to bore it out for a good fit on the vise screw.










After that, I cut the bushings to length and then did a fit up with the vise hardware and bushings in place. Forgot to take pics, sorry. Once I was happy with everything, I clamped the chop down and marked the position of the vise nut on the leg and the screw collar on the chop and took it apart.

Next, I chiseled out a recess for the collar on the chop to let it in so the handle doesn't stick out as far.










Then installed the nut on the leg.










Rather than installing the Lignum bearings permanently, I just drove a small finish nail in each one to prevent them coming out of the bores. I waxed the bearings with paraffin.










Again, I forgot to take pics but the last thing I did was another fit up to make sure everything was still aligned properly. It was!  Now I'm working on finish-shaping the chop and sanding/scraping it and the guide. I left the chop a couple inches long. Once I get the bench assembled, I'll cut it off to ensure it's flush with the top of the bench and put some cork or leather on the face.

So, the leg vise is pretty much done. I still want to finish drilling out the rest of my dog/holdfast holes before I flip it all over and put it together. I've also decided that my end vise has too much slop in it so I'll probably re-mount it before it's all said and done. But that's definitely no emergency and not high on my priority list ;-p

So, there ya' have it… I'm a leg man now! Hopefully the next blog will have pictures of a right-side-up, fully assembled workbench in it!


----------



## GR8HUNTER (Jun 13, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Leg Vise*
> 
> Well, over the past week, I did manage to get the leg vise mostly done. At least as "done" as I'm going to until the final assembly is done.
> 
> ...


I THINK we need to have a workbench swap …....Kenny gets my name ....I will PM you my size Kenny ….. LMAO cant wait to see it finished…....... looks tough and sturdy…........ probably drive a rig on it LMAO :<))


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Leg Vise*
> 
> Well, over the past week, I did manage to get the leg vise mostly done. At least as "done" as I'm going to until the final assembly is done.
> 
> ...


Congrats on being a Leg Vise Man, that's some fine work you've done! Looking forward to the right-side-up shots.


----------



## jeffswildwood (Dec 26, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *Leg Vise*
> 
> Well, over the past week, I did manage to get the leg vise mostly done. At least as "done" as I'm going to until the final assembly is done.
> 
> ...


Looking good buddy, That is one beast of a work bench.


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Leg Vise*
> 
> Well, over the past week, I did manage to get the leg vise mostly done. At least as "done" as I'm going to until the final assembly is done.
> 
> ...


Tony, it's taken him a year to build that…longest swap ever!!

Did you bring the tip of the turning tool? Glad it worked out for you. It took me some practice to get a really smooth cut/scrape with the thing. You have to go really light. Of course, I have HSS tools so honestly I'll still use the scraper in that to smooth things likely but the carbide ones sand out easy too I suppose.

Looks like a solid fit with the lignum. Good thinking on that and hopefully it's "sealed" enough that the wax doesn't collect too much dust. I love the idea using it. Looking forward to seeing it done buddy.


----------



## GR8HUNTER (Jun 13, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Leg Vise*
> 
> Well, over the past week, I did manage to get the leg vise mostly done. At least as "done" as I'm going to until the final assembly is done.
> 
> ...


I can wait a year LMAO :<))


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Leg Vise*
> 
> Well, over the past week, I did manage to get the leg vise mostly done. At least as "done" as I'm going to until the final assembly is done.
> 
> ...


Dave, the tool is just as you sent it. Worked fine and I don't think it needs any modification. That was a 1" bore about 3" deep and the bottom of the tool just rubbed slightly. I don't imagine I'll be boring out stuff that small and deep very often. If I do, I think I'd just grind a new tool from HSS for it so I can leave the "beef" on the one you made. I didn't really worry about the finish on the bore, just how the screw fit it. Those threads are gonna rub it anyway so no need for a slick surface. I doubt I could get a real good finish with that tool though just because carbide simply isn't as sharp as HSS. I'd still follow it with a scraper if the finish mattered.

Tony, I'm good with a workbench swap. I've gotta do something with the POS I'm building this one to replace! ;-P

Thanks for the encouragement Smitty. Your bench is one that I drooled over before starting this one so I'm glad you approve! 

Jeff, thanks for checking. You're still likely to get a call before long with some sucker begging you to come help him put this beast together ;-P


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Still Upside Down... But Better *

Had a little bit of time this week and got a few things done. I didn't get the bench right-side-up… yet. But, I'm ready to now! WOO-HOO!

First thing I did after the last update was to finish drilling out my dog/holdfast holes. I did the row closest to the edge with 4" spacing. The other row is on 12" centers. I didn't want to "Swiss Cheese" it too much so the second row is spaced to ensure my 8" holdfasts can get anywhere on the bench. I can always drill more holes later if needed. Once I got that done, I figured it would be a good idea to go ahead and put finish on the bottom of the top so I don't have to contort myself to reach it later.










Next was the leg/short stretcher assemblies. I decided I would go ahead and do final finishing on them before assembling the bench. I used a flush cut saw and my 140 block plane to flush up all the drawbore pegs:










Then I made a final pass with a smoother on the faces:










And scraped some of the nasty spots in this tough old oak:










Then I put finish on those parts as well.










I didn't take any pics but I also planed/scraped the long stretchers but didn't put finish on them yet.

So, I can flip her over and finish pegging everything just anytime now! Hopefully I'll have a couple of hours and some help one evening this week. In the meantime, I still need to turn a few more drawbore pegs, mill/cut some wood for the bottom of the tool wells, make some French cleat for the back of the bench, make holders to go on the cleat and work on ledgers and boards to make the bottom shelf.

So, I still have a lot to do obviously. BUT the good news is that there's little left to do before the bench is fully-functional and in service )) The rest of the stuff is all "fluff" that can be done as time permits.

Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully the next blog will show what actually looks like a workbench!


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Upside Down... But Better *
> 
> Had a little bit of time this week and got a few things done. I didn't get the bench right-side-up… yet. But, I'm ready to now! WOO-HOO!
> 
> ...


I'll be over this week to flip it over. Good job.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Upside Down... But Better *
> 
> Had a little bit of time this week and got a few things done. I didn't get the bench right-side-up… yet. But, I'm ready to now! WOO-HOO!
> 
> ...


Awesome! The straight edges and winding sticks are hanging under the plane till. Just go ahead and check the top and do the final flattening when you get it assembled. ;-P


----------



## jeffswildwood (Dec 26, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *Still Upside Down... But Better *
> 
> Had a little bit of time this week and got a few things done. I didn't get the bench right-side-up… yet. But, I'm ready to now! WOO-HOO!
> 
> ...


That bench has come a long way! I bet it feels great to see the light at the end of the tunnel!


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*

Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.

Yesterday I assembled the base with the long stretchers fit loosely.










Then I wrestled the top onto it. Turned out to be pretty easy and I didn't need any help at all. Just slid it on the base and then went around tapping here and there until all the mortises fell on their tenons.










Then I drove in the drawbore pegs for the long stretchers and the base is done.










Now I just have to pin the top to the front legs then I can re-mount the vises and tune them up.










Stay tuned! ))


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


Awesome!!!

Dude I have to go back and read about the split top. I can't remember your thought process on that part and why the holes seem so big?? It's looking awesome. Time to mount some hardware. It only gets even more exciting from here.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


The holes are 4" x 28". They are to give me a tool well that doesn't take up much space and still leaves a continuous surface front to back. I intend to make an insert for one side to hold chisels, saws, layout tools, that sort of stuff. I also plan to make the insert so it can be pulled up slightly for a planing stop. The other side will be left open for hand planes, hammers and other tools in use that I want handy but out of the way. At least, that's the plan…


----------



## ocean (Feb 13, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


That's a great looking bench. Now all you need is a cabinet below with some drawers.


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


Inserts….makes sense now. I like it. I'm a fan of the tool well so go forward! I approve.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...





> Inserts….makes sense now. I like it. I'm a fan of the tool well so go forward! I approve.
> 
> - ki7hy


Whew! I was afraid I was going to have to start over there for a minute.


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


As they say….keep calm and carry on. You're approved.


----------



## jeffswildwood (Dec 26, 2012)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


That bench is coming out awesome! It should serve you well for many years and maybe generations!


----------



## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


Fine looking bench ya got there, Kenny.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


Thanks fellas. Evertime I walk into the shop
I kinda giggle like a school girl to see it sitting there fully assembled )


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


I got up early today and finished pegging the top to the legs. It's officially a single structure now! Screwed up though and only had enough Purpleheart scrap for 2 of the 4 pins for the top. So I turned down some Walnut for the remaining 2. Thought they'd look kinda cool next to each other. Honestly though unless you really look close, the colors are similar enough you don't even notice


----------



## duckmilk (Oct 10, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


I promised you I would read your blog on this and today I did. Awesome job, and I love reading about the whole process. You are about 85% there ;-P Just don't be a 90%er like me.


> Awesome!!!
> 
> Dude I have to go back and read about the split top. I can't remember your thought process on that part and why the holes seem so big??
> 
> - ki7hy


It helps if you read the whole thing in one day ))

Okay, on to part 15!!!


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


I can't handle that much Kenny in a day Duck.


----------



## duckmilk (Oct 10, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


He might say the same about you ;-)


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


I guarantee he would!


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Not Much but Right-Side-UP!!*
> 
> Not much to say but I am so excited I just had to post a quick update.
> 
> ...


Hell, I can't handle that much Kenny in a day! No one can, just ask my wife ;-)


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

*Little More Progress, Nearly Done*

Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.

Now that everything is assembled and pinned, it's time to get to work on the "fun"stuff… well mostly. First up was to get the end vise back on. Now, this is the one part of my build I'm not totally satisfied with. There's just too much slop in this hardware for a chop as long and heavy as the one I'm using.










With the hardware being off center, the chop wants to lean to the long side. The fit between the guide rods and the bushings and bracket isn't tight enough to prevent it. For now, it's functional for sure. And it works well with the dogs so I'm going to leave it as-is until I finish everything else up and then come back to it. I figure I have a few options:

Shorten the chop up and make a Moxon for when I need to clamp up on wider things.
Make another front jaw with an attached "bracket" with tightly machined nylon bushings for the guide rods to prevent sagging. Problem with this is that it will reduce capacity.
Add an auxiliary guide rod on long end. Not sure how effective this would be.
Go with it for a while. If it's okay, great. If not, buy new hardware. This is the obvious solution if you're not a cheap-ass.

So, we'll see how that goes. For now, what you see is what you get. Next up was a final dry-fit of the leg vise before finishing it up. It turned out to work like buttahhhh… going in. But it would bind up coming out. When the screw started to move the chop out, it would tilt the chop and the parallel guide would bind. I had hoped if I was careful and precise during the build that I could get by with only the parallel guide. No such luck. So, I made a guide roller with parts from my "someday I might need one of these doo-hickeys" bucket and mounted it on the inside of the leg. Worked like a charm. I'm plum tickled pink with everything about the leg vise ))










Once I knew I was happy with the function, I trimmed it flush with the benchtop, glued a piece of leather on the top, finished shaping/sanding it and slapped a couple of coats of BLO on.










I'll consider that part complete for now. At some point, I'm probably going to modify it to use a handwheel but I'm holding off on that until I stumble across something really cool and unique at a junkyard or antique store.

Next thing is my Dawgs. I actually made a few of these a while back to use during the build but I wasn't sure I would use them as-is. But they've held up well and I think I'll make a couple more the same way. They seem to be solid and effective and most importantly, cheap ;-P

In the end vise, you can see holes above the hardware I cross drilled to the dog holes so I can put my finger in and slide them up.










The dogs are made using some brass bullet catches and leather from an old pair of shoes.










The ones used in the bench top shown above are made from Oak dowel from the big blue box store. The ones in the end vise shown below are made from some Ironwood I turned down on the lathe.










Next, I cut some plywood to go into the tool wells for now. I will make a thinner piece for the side nearest the end vise (3/4" ply is overkill and reduces the depth too much) and I plan to make an insert for the other well that will hold chisels, saws, layout tools etc. Just can't quite decide on the best design for that yet so for now, it's just getting a plywood bottom too.










The final thing I got done was poking some holes in the leg opposite the leg vise for holdfasts. I got the Gramercy holdfasts for Christmas. I liked what I had read and for the price, thought they were an excellent value. I did have some issues when I tested them in the bench top with slipping. I could pull up with my hand and they would pop loose pretty easily. A little Googling turned up a FAQ page from Gramercy that recommended using some coarse sandpaper and sanding *AROUND* the shanks not up and down. I did so and, Bob's your uncle!

I drilled 3 holes through the leg starting at 8" down from the bench top on 8" centers. This lets me get anything from the floor to the top of the bench with a holdfast. I can always add holes if I find I need them for dogs or other accessories. But I'll wait until I need them before I poke them.










So what's left? Well, like I said, the end vise isn't done. But, it's usable so I probably won't tackle the re-do for a while. As mentioned I need to make the final tool well inserts when I decide on a design. The leg vise is ready to rock as soon as my oil cures so I'll pop that back in place then. I have a few more bullet catches so I'll make a few more dogs and use them up too.

At present, my goal is to get finish on the rest of the bench. Before doing so, I need to remove an ass-load of pencil marks from the top. I thought I was going to just wipe it down with acetone but that didn't work so well. An eraser works but takes way too long. So, card scraper it is! Once I get all the pencil off, I'll put some finish on it and on the long stretchers.

As a side note, I'm thrilled with the stability of this air-dried Oak. I flattened the top back in the fall and when I finally got it flipped back over and installed last week, it's still flat except for the same low spot on the front left corner which I had identified back when I flattened it. There was also no twist in it. Hurray!

Once I get the finish on, I'll make some French cleat to go on the back of the bench and make some holders for tools I like to keep handy all the time. I want them modular and removable though for times when I need the full bench width plus some overhang for larger projects.

After that, a ship-lapped shelf for the bottom. Eventually there will be a bank of drawers down there but it's not necessary right now and after a year, it's about time I quit working on my bench and use it to make some things and justify its existence! ;-P

Thanks for dropping by. If you have any suggestions on the benchtop toolholding insert or ideas on how to tighten up the end vise, I'd love to hear them. Any other comments, critiques or suggestions are welcome as always!


----------



## hokieman (Feb 14, 2008)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Looks great. Just like something a Hokie engineer would do. My wife laments that my work bench is our most expensive piece of furniture.


----------



## KelleyCrafts (May 17, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


That's awesome Kenny. I would like to see the leg vice front hardware when you get it mounted. The castor was a genius idea. I like that one a lot.

You should be proud of that one. I would be please as punch to walk out to one like that in my shop.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Thanks hokieman. My wife can't really complain about the cost, I have less than $250 in the build. I guess she can complain about how long it's taking me though :-/ Hokie-Hi!!

Dave, I'll show leg vise details after I get it put on. It's just a tail vise screw from Lee Valley aside from the parallel guide and castor though. I do get a little excited when I walk out and see it sitting there ready to be used


----------



## duckmilk (Oct 10, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Nice Kenny! Yes, you should put it to work…making that bank of drawers ;-)

I've seen (somewhere) someone using square wooden guide rods to help with alignment of an end chop. Might help with the sag of yours on the right end. But maybe steel rod riding in a bushing might be more effective.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I've seen the Nicholson vise Duck. It's like mine but with the square wooden guides and just a screw. I was leaning toward the steel rod and bushing on the right side. But, that takes away my ability to clamp up wide boards so it's no better than just cutting the chop down. I think I'm going to leave it as-is for a few months and see if it's really even an issue at all.

I'm probably gonna wait until I can score some free plywood for the drawers. I'm pretty proud to say I have only invested $230 in this bench including wood, both vises and holdfasts. If I can finish it out with a bank of drawers for less than $250, my tight-wad street cred will go through the roof ;-p


----------



## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Your bench is really shaping up, Kenny. Nice work, and I like the plan to leave the vise and see if it's really a problem in use. Best not to fix what ain't broken.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Thanks Dave. You're right, I need to make sure it's a problem before I fix it. But DANGIT! the Engineer in me says "that's poorly designed" and the machinist in me says "it will never be precise like that". Luckily there's a woodworker in there too hollering "it's probably good enough, just try it and see!" ;-)


----------



## theoldfart (Sep 9, 2011)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Bench does look good Ken.


----------



## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I completely get that, Kenny. And maybe you will end up rebuilding or replacing it, but get the bench working and see how much it bugs you then. Heck, you can always tackle it when there are no other projects pending, right? ;-)


----------



## Woodywazza (Jul 30, 2017)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Aaah the leg vice. I am planning to build my own workbench and include a homemade leg vice. The tight-wad in me says it will be cheaper and a nice challenge to tackle. I have seen some blogs that say the screw mechanism can be made from a scaffold "leg leveller" with a bit of lathe work to create the centre and handle. Any words of wisdom fellas?


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...





> Aaah the leg vice. I am planning to build my own workbench and include a homemade leg vice. The tight-wad in me says it will be cheaper and a nice challenge to tackle. I have seen some blogs that say the screw mechanism can be made from a scaffold "leg leveller" with a bit of lathe work to create the centre and handle. Any words of wisdom fellas?
> 
> - Woodywazza


You could indeed use a scaffold jack screw. However, it would take some modification and the nut's aren't very long. I'm not sure but it's probably got more slop in the threads than I'd want. For an extra $10 or $20, the screw from Lee Valley is good quality and can be used just like it comes. More than worth a few bucks to avoid having to make all the modifications IMHO>


----------



## Woodywazza (Jul 30, 2017)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for your advice Kenny. My problem is that I live on the other side of the globe in the most isolated city in the world, Perth, Australia. Just the cost of freight for items like this double or triple the cost to me. Oh, if it only wasn't the case! I can get the jack screw for nothing so will persevere at this stage. Thanks again, keep up the good work. Love the forums.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


In that case, Woodywazza, I'd go with the jack screw too! Good luck and welcome to the site!


----------



## GR8HUNTER (Jun 13, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I am loving this bench Kenny ….....looks to me like it will work good for producing swap items MASTERFULLY .... LMAO ….GREAT JOB :<))
cant hardly wait for the centerfold pictures lol


----------



## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


This is a nice bench. It will be a great addition to your shop.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


----------



## PoohBaah (Mar 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I gotta ask what are your thoughts on the bench nearly a year out. You going to have a follow up post on likes, dislikes, what you would change?


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...





> I gotta ask what are your thoughts on the bench nearly a year out. You going to have a follow up post on likes, dislikes, what you would change?
> 
> - PoohBaah


Funny, I was just thinking that I needed to do so earlier this week Neil. And I will when I get time and remember pics… But for now, I absolutely love the bench in general. I have used the hell out of it and with both power and hand tools, having a good flat bench with so many workholding options has made so many things soooooo much easier and better. Hand planing is a pure joy now that I can scrub gnarly oak without having to chase the friggin' bench across the shop 

I am 100% happy that I included the tool wells. Use them constantly and wouldn't want to be without them. I am also 100% happy with the leg vise. In fact, the leg vise made building the bench worthwhile. I will NEVER work without a leg vise again.

As many of you know, I'm a bit "thrifty" when I feel like cheaper stuff will work as well as higher-end stuff if I put some ingenuity and elbow grease into it… Well, for the most part, that paid off in spades on this bench. Where it didn't pay off is the end vise. It works and never fails but there's too much slop in the hardware to support the full length chop. So, that's the one thing I'll be replacing. I just haven't decided whether to go with a smaller quick release vise and keep using my Widdleracker to prevent racking or just jump in the deep end and grab a twin screw vise. So, more to come on that when I make up my mind…

I still haven't added the shelf to the bottom but still have every intention of it. And I'll add some kind of storage down there too but I'll absolutely leave clearance for holdfasts and bench dogs cause both of those things have changed my life.

One other addition I think will be forthcoming that I skipped on the initial build because I wasn't sure I needed it is a sliding deadman. I haven't made up my mind completely but, there have been several times when I was clamping stuff in the leg vise that just wasn't quite long enough to reach where the other end could be secured with a holdfast. Using a bar clamp under the benchtop works fine but it's kind of a pain in the ass. So there will likely be a sliding deadman in the near future.

So in summary:

Extremely happy with the White Oak material. It's remained extremely flat over 4 full seasons, it's rock solid and it makes for a hefty bench
Leg vise is definite winner. Glad I used the basic screw on it with my improvised parallel guide roller. Works exceptionally well.
Should have sprung for the "good stuff" on the end vise though. For a vised that long with a chop that big, any sloppy hardware becomes at best a mild annoyance. That being said, it still does everything I ask with some finessing and creative rack-prevention
I wasn't sure if a sliding deadman was really needed but it's pretty easy to add and I most likely will.
Tool wells are good.
Having several holes where either dogs or holdfasts can be used makes life MUCH better )


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I just read through your entire bench build blog (say that fast 3 times) and I feel cheated. Not only did you not show a picture of the leg vise mounted, you didn't post a project for the bench either. Talk about anticlimactic. ;-)


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Don't rush me Nathan! It's only been 2 years 363 days since this entry ;-)

I have thought many times that I need to do a wrap up blog post but my bench is always so covered up and dirty, I never do…

I have replaced the leg vise hardware with a Hovarter mechanism. I would marry that vise if I was single. Or a Mormon. I added a ship-lap shelf that holds some bench tools like miter box and hollow chisel mortiser. I decided the tool wells are best left without inserts because what lives there changes with every project. I am still glad I chose to include them though in spite of tbe Schwarz's disdain for them ;-). I am also glad they are in the center and not at the back. Finally, I'm still not thrilled with the end vise but, I also haven't decided on the best replacement solution so it's still there and still used every time I'm in the shop pretty much.

Other than the end vise, I have zero regrets about this bench after 3 years in hard use


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I think that a real workbench may be my next big shop project. Of course, I will have to figure a out a layout that allows it to fit in the shop first. I'll probably have to come up with a better lumber storage approach to get a few extra square feet.


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


BTW, when you upgraded the leg vise hardware to the Hovarter mechanism, did you add the x-link or are you still using the parallel guide with pegs. I am contemplating using the parallel guide and maybe adding a Anchor Yacht Chain leg stabilizer so I don't have to mess with the pegs. It even looks like something I could make myself, perhaps even with steel cable and pulleys instead of chain and gears.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I still use the parallel guide with rod but, I'll probably add the x-link at some point. Or maybe I'll make my own x-link, depends on how much work it looks to be. I have seen the chain drive before and it seems to be a good idea. It's a little overly-complex I think though. I feel like I would be tweeking around with it all the time. I could be wrong but in my experience, drive chains require too much "slop" for something like this. I actually think steel cable and a pulley would work better.

I recently saw a bench where the guy put the parallel guide under the stretcher so the top of the parallel guide basically slides on the bottom of the stretcher. That way, the guide is constrained to be parallel in all cases. IMO, that's the best solution. Simple but, as long as everything is rigid, it's pretty bulletproof. Too late for my bench but if I were planning one, I'd probably include that.


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


There are some CNC machines that use a chain drive for their linear movement so perhaps using components intended for that would help remove any slop but the cable seems much simpler. If nothing else it will be a fun diversion to see if I can make my own. The Anchor Yacht system certainly looks like an easier retrofit than adding an x-link-drill a few holes and attach the gears and anchor points compared to cutting a couple of huge mortises.

Anyway, I am starting my research on finally building a bench and a leg vise is definitely on the list. I also like the idea of something like the Veritas twin screw vise.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I think a twin screw in the end vise position wouldn't be a bad option Nathan. I will say that the biggest beef I have with my end vise is in clamping between dogs. A wagon vise or tail vise would be the ideal solution I think but a twin screw would have the added benefit of more clamping capacity. I have been considering options for replacing the end vise on mine and I flounder constantly between something like a twin screw and a wagon vise. I'm leaning towards a wagon vise at present but if I'm by no means sold.

If you could figure out a good way to eliminate racking without giving up capacity, a tail vise with a big chop and quick action would be the perfect solution for me I think. If you don't do a lot of hand-planing, then I think the twin screw is the obvious choice. Although I would look at the Hovarter twin screw. I absolutely love that mechanism.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Oh, and CNCs with drive chains most likely also have some sort of encoder for feedback. I doubt they rely just on counting sprocket rotations for positioning. I could be wrong though. Not that you need that kind of precision with a leg vise in any case…


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


You may be right about them using an encoder. I was just thinking that they would still need something to eliminate backlash which may take out the slop. Just a thought. Plus , by design, it looks like it is always in tension so it doesn't seem like there should be that much slop? Of course the only chain I have ever used was on my bicycle.

Based upon some layout options I am toying with, I am hoping that I can put a bench in the middle of the shop so I would have access to all sides. With that approach I could have a wagon or tail vice on one corner a leg vice on another and twin screw end vice at the other end. And on the 5th corner a shoulder vise. I've been without a decent workbench for so long, I want them all. 

I just looked at the Hovarter twin screw mechanism. That is just downright cool. Now I definitely must have one of those. The ones that have gears have a wow factor but the simplicity of the rack and pinion beats that hands down, IMO.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Yep, I agree that the Hovarter is the solid solution. IIRC it's cheaper too…


----------



## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


I've got the Veritas twin screw as a face vise. The only real snag with it is that the chain cover is designed for a six inch chop, and I made mine with a four inch chop. It works okay, but I have the chain exposed and getting full of sawdust and shavings and stuff.

Probably next on the workholding parade for me will be something like the Benchcrafted HiVise, suitable for holding stuff for carving, about six inches above my bench-top. But I've been doing pretty well with my machinists vise and improvised jaw inserts made from tubafors, and it's going to be at least a month before I'm building something other than bookcases.


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Dave, Can't you just cut the plastic cover for the veritas twin screw to size? Having the chain on the front sort of bugs me but I am sure that I would get used to. I was wondering why no one had put the gears under the table. An interesting feature on the Veritas is that you can disengage the chain to slightly skew it for unsquare pieces.

It probably depends upon what type of carving you are planning to do but I think that a vise that pivots would suit my needs more than a Hi vise or maybe one that pivots to hold the piece sort of like a drafting table. Just thinking out loud. The little bit of relief carving I have done, I just clamped with my woodworking bench vise using dogs, though having a tail vise would probably make that better.

The Hovarter twin is "on sale" for $320, the Veritas is $249.


----------



## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


It's a metal cover, Nathan. And you can trim the length of it, but it's U shaped top to bottom, and if the chop is less than six inches tall, one of the ends will be hanging in space. I used a six inch wide chop, but cut a 45 degree chamfer in the middle of it, which means the cover is a no-go.

The skew is handy. You can even re-engage the chain after cranking one of the two handles to tighten both sides down again skewed. I only use it a couple times a year, but when I do, I always think it's pretty dang cool.

I pivot my machinists vise, but a Hi-Vise on the corner of a bench would let me move around it, so it wouldn't need to pivot. Or maybe I'll mount it on a 4×4 and just turn it 90 degrees sometimes. I think that'd be good enough for most of the stuff I do.


----------



## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Regarding a carver's vise/Hi-Vise, it's not like the Hi-Vise but, I have a knife vise like this:









So I bought one of these because according to reviews, the ball lock is solid. I removed the vacuum base and mounted it to a chunk of wood then removed the vise and put my knife vise on it. I fix it to the bench with a holdfast or I can fix it wherever with a quick clamp. The ball lock is solid. If I decide I need a vise for carving in the round, I'll use the same vise for the base. Just a PSA 

Along similar cheap-ass lines, JayT swears by this vise== which is what he uses to shape his plane parts.

Back to bench vises, even at $70 more, I like the Hovarter. Going from having a perfectly good leg vise with a screw to the Hovarter kinda set me to a never-look-back mindset. There aren't really options for a quick-acting leg vise other than it as far as I know. And holy crap it's awesome.

That in mind, I spaced my dog holes 6" apart. So if I'm looking to clamp a board between dogs and it's just a bit short of fitting, I have to back my end vise out 6". Is that a big deal? No. But when I use my leg vise, it makes it seem like a PITA ;-) If I were going with a twin-screw, I'm not sure that any argument or even cost savings would convince me to use another twin-screw. Well, okay, if you give me a Veritas, I'll use it instead. Wait, no. I'll sell it on Ebay and put the money towards a Hovarter ;-)

So why don't I just buy a Hovarter twin-screw and be done with it? One nagging little issue :-( The reason I'm not sold on using a twin-screw or a vise like I have for clamping between dogs is the void between the chops. Most of the time it's not an issue. But, lately I've been building a lot of boxes and other things that I've been using 1/8-3/8" thick stock. So I'm thicknessing the stock by hand. So what happens when you put a 3/8" board between the vise dogs and a bench dog with say 4" of solid air between the vise chops? Yep, it flexes like a contortionist playing twister. Even flattening 1/2" boards can be a challenge. This is exasperated by the slop in my current hardware that allows the moving chop to move up and down but even ignoring that, I'm pretty well decided that I want something that allows me to go between dogs with a solid foundation along the full length.

Unfortunately, I also use the long 24" end vise a lot for edge jointing boards or for holding long boards to work on the ends. This is where a twin-screw seems like the perfect solution. The previous paragraph is where it doesn't…

So basically, I want a full-length twin screw and a wagon vise in the same spot :-/ I have considered putting a twin-screw on the other end of the bench and a wagon on the end I use now Nathan. For some reason, I just don't like that idea. The end without a vise is where is set benchtop tools that I'm using or boxes of hardware and where layout tools and other hand tools that won't fit in the tool wells accumulate right now. I'm not sure a vise there would be a terrible idea. I'm just not sure it's a great one.

At present, I'm seriously pondering shortening my end vise up to about 16" and using the hardware I have now and adding the Veritas inset vise in lieu of a wagon vise. I don't see that as a permanent solution but it does give me wagon vise functionality that's simply retrofitted to my bench and lets me keep a fairly large vise down there too.

Another consideration is to replace my vise with the Hovarter twin screw and keep clamping between the dogs like I do now and add another line of dog holes staggered from the line I have now. That would give 3" spacing between dog holes which would mean worst cast scenario would be 3" of gap between the chops with thin stock.

If you can't tell, I've been pondering this for quite a while now and am still floundering. It makes my head hurt ;-)


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

HokieKen said:


> *Little More Progress, Nearly Done*
> 
> Well, I got some time in the shop this weekend. I split it about 50/50 between my Beer Swap project and my bench. Just wanted to post a quick update on where I'm at.
> 
> ...


Kenny, just do it , do it , do it! LOL

What about making a block or even a box you can set in your vise to bridge the gap and provide support for thin stock? Another option is to make a fence that fits In the dog holes. If the dowels are about 2" from one side and 4" from the other side, that will give you options where you would at most have 2" of air.

Since the jaw goes all the way to the corner, can you simply add a dog there and dog holes along the edge of the bench and accomplish clamping similar to a tail vise…especially after you order the twin screw tomorrow?


----------

