Replies

1. 
   Lataxe | Oct 22, 2007 12:27am | #1

   B,

   That is a fine, fine bench. You'll be inspired now to make furniture at least as good.     :-)

   Those LV twin screws are excellent, I know. May I ask why you didn't use one for your face vise as well?

   The dovetailed aprons are also very attractive and traditional.  One point though: you'll find it a tad more difficult to replace the inner jaw of the end vise should it be damaged.  Of course, the liklihood of damage may be small, especially with the leather lining.

   You've made lots of fine looking storage space and other bench-utilties. I wonder if you could elaborate bit about your design-drivers?

   Lataxe

    

1. 
   Barrel | Oct 22, 2007 02:34am | #2

   Evening Lataxe, you're quite right about the inner jaw. Should significant damage occur it cannot easily be replaced, however, with a little care I doubt there is much that could seriously damage the hard maple.I would have like to use the twin screw for my front vise, however, cost was the deciding factor. The quick release front vise was purchased from Lee Valley as a display model without packaging so I picked it up for about $80.00 Canadian - a far cry from the $225.00 for the twin screw.As for design, function over form I guess. I collected hard maple from smaller mills over the period of a year or so, rough milled it and stickered it until needed. The idea was an affordable bench that contained as much storage as possible, hence the shelves between the legs and the extra drawer below the stretchers. Not too much as far as design goes - very traditional bench by all accounts. Alot of fun to make (if lifting heavy hard maple can be considered fun).Basically I wanted something that would inspire me when I sat at my bench.Ian Edited 10/21/2007 7:41 pm ET by Barrel

   Edited 10/21/2007 7:48 pm ET by Barrel

2. 
   noviceneil | Oct 22, 2007 05:06pm | #3

   Great looking bench. How thick are the boards you used for the end caps and apron?

   Neil

1. 
   Barrel | Oct 22, 2007 06:16pm | #4

   Hi Neil, the end caps and  front apron are just under 2 inches thick.  None of the stock was milled to a uniform thickness for the top. Some pieces are 1 1/2 thick while others are 2 1/8 thick. The components were milled until flat  and square, but no more in order to make the largest surface with the available stock. The top are all milled to 2 7/8 wide (deep) and glued on edge.  Naturally all of the other pieces such as legs, stretchers, stiles etc., are milled to a uniform size.

    

   Ian

1. 
   noviceneil | Oct 22, 2007 06:44pm | #5

   Thanks Ian,

   I built mine a couple of years ago at the beginning of my woodworking career and would do it differently now. My top is a purchased maple one, 72" long...I wanted to put an apron and endcaps similiar to the way you've done it...just needed a good picture which you've provided...my Twin Vise has been sitting in its box for six month so now I can get started...well, after I finish two other projects first. Thanks again.

   Neil

1. 
   Barrel | Oct 22, 2007 07:49pm | #6

   No problem Neil, the end caps are secured by maple splines and glued only at the front 6 inches or so.  The middle and ends are secured using the bolts supplied with the twin vise.  The instructions that come with the vise are detailed and if followed carefully, installation is simple.

    

   Ian

1. 
   noviceneil | Oct 22, 2007 10:11pm | #7

   Ian,

   Did you attach the aprons with splines or bolts or some other method?

   Neil

3. 
   jeff100 | Oct 22, 2007 10:38pm | #8

   Barrel, after you settled on a design, did you create dimensioned drawings for your bench, or did you build it from what was in your head? 

   When I built my bench, I had to sit down and draw it out otherwise I would have messed it up and most likely wasted much stock.  Especially in the design and install of the tail vise.  All I had for the tail vise was a box of parts and no assembly drawing (you get what you pay for eh?!).  Luckily I had bought one of the workbench books from Taunton to research designs and help me lay out a design.  I was able to leverage what was in that book to help me with the tail vise.  I was very pleased with the outcome and it turns out that the tail vise is used a lot more than I thought it would be.  During the drawing process, a lot of dimensions changed from what I initially thought would work.  So the drawing process became a key part of the design process, it acted as a virtual validation of my design so to speak.

   Beautiful looking bench by the way.  What did you finish the bench top with to get the gloss look?

   Jeff

1. 
   Barrel | Oct 22, 2007 11:05pm | #9

   Niel, see above post.  I used some splines, a little glue and two barrel bolts on each end cap. The holes for the bolts are oversized to allow the top to move and the splines with glue at the front should keep the front apron from moving - front vise alignment and all.

   I used the FWW article on an essential workbench as a starting point.  I made scale drawings (Lee Valley workshop graph paper) to avoid any errors.  Some of the measurements did change slightly as the work progressed.  I was limited to using maple and walnut I had on hand and did not want to buy alot of new lumber, so design choices were based on function and materials.

   The legs are solid, not laminated and 3 1/2 square.  So design changes were made along  the way to incorporate shelves between the legs (oak shelves,sliding dovetails).  It would have been nice to make inset doors to match the flush drawer fronts (yet to be built), however, that would have decreased the size of the shelves by another 3/4 to 7/8, so offset doors were built.  The rails on the doors were wider than what looks nice but I was limited by the left over walnut I had.  Two small doors were chosen over one door in order to clear the vise face of the twin screw vise which is 7 1/4 inches wide and would interfere with opening one larger door.

   Likewise the decision to place a large shallow drawer below the stretchers was made after the cabinet was made. It seemed a waste of space and good for larger less frequently used tools or perhaps larger rulers, saws that would not fit in the smaller drawers above.

   Originally, the tenons of the stretchers were goingto have proper wedged joints using walnut wedges.  I drew the scale  drawings with all the needed angles etc., however, when it came time to cutting a 5 degree slope on the ends of the mortises through 3 1/2 inches of hard maple I chickened out and went with drawbored tenons and handmade walnut pegs.

   So as you can see,the design evolved somewhat as the bench was completed,but yes I had a complete set of scaled drawings to begin with.

   The finish is a mixture of turpentine, BLO, tung oil and varnish. The last coat on the top was not wiped off and buffed as it should have been and hence the gloss appearance.  No doubt I will have to reflatten the top periodically anyway so I'm not too worried.  Thank you for the kind remarks - they are icing on the cake so to speak.

    

   Ian

4. 
   flairwoodworks | Oct 23, 2007 06:00am | #10

   Great looking bench!  I've no doubt that it's as solid as can be.  One question, however - I noticed that your front vice has three dog holes - two close togther and two further apart.  What is your rationale behind the dog holes?

   Chris @ flairwoodworks

5. 
   jw0329 | Oct 23, 2007 06:58am | #11

   Looks great, I really like the contrast of the walnut pins, even if you think it was "shortcutting". One question, which issue are you referring to?

   Jimmy W.

1. 
   Barrel | Oct 23, 2007 01:35pm | #12

   I think it was issue # 167 by Lon Schleining (sp?).As for the dog holes - two of the three sets is a continuation of the holes for the end vise which were set 8 inches apart. Another set of holes was added that lie between the guide rods and screw of the front vise (absolutely no racking using these holes). In retrospect it would have been better to move the right hand set of holes about 2 inches to the left as this would have lined up the three sets of holes nicely - one on either side of the vise rods and one between the vise screw and left vise rod. The vise has off-set rods to eliminate racking when clamping something vertically. I have not noticed any significant racking of the vise though using any of the three sets to clamp a board to the bench surface, or vertically on either side of the vise rods.Live and learn though, I am a beginner to woodworking and perhaps the next bench I make with have a better spacing of the front vise dog holes. Edited 10/23/2007 6:36 am ET by Barrel

   Edited 10/23/2007 7:11 am ET by Barrel

6. 
   WillGeorge | Oct 24, 2007 03:47am | #13

   I think you have lied to us!

   I do not see any "(alot of it seconds)"

   NICE work!

1. 
   fishnskiguy | Oct 24, 2007 04:31am | #14

   Drop dead gorgeous bench!

   Question. Are those hand cut dovetails or machined?

   Chris

1. 
   Barrel | Oct 24, 2007 05:58pm | #15

   The 'seconds" are not too apparent if you take the time to choose the wood carefully and hide any areas with knots - some of the stuff purchased at small mills as seconds had nice curl to it and it was about $3.00 per bf, much less than premium hard maple.  Anyway I only had to purchase a small amount to finish the top off.

   The dovetails are all hand cut with my trusty bench chisels and flush cutting saw.

   Edited 10/24/2007 12:07 pm ET by Barrel

7. 
   sykesville | Oct 25, 2007 11:28am | #16

   Holy Moly! I would be afraid to put my chisels down on that museum piece. But it sure looks fine.

1. 
   Barrel | Oct 26, 2007 02:49am | #17

   Thank you all for the positive feedback. Its nice to hear some praise from a group whose work and skill you admire. I plan to pick up enough walnut to start building the 10 drawers. After I'm finished I'll post again with new photos and try to give a better evaluation of how well or poorly the vises function with respect to handcut dovetails and drawer glue-up. Regards from OntarioIan

   Edited 10/25/2007 7:50 pm ET by Barrel