A Hand Built Roubo, and the Education of a Woodworker

[David Wadstrup]

Salem,

I just had an idea. What if I plugged the bottoms of the upper rail's tenons, and ripped 1" off the height of the upper rail(just on the vise side of the bench). Doing this would leave me with a less tall tenon(2.5", instead of the recommended 3.5"), but it would allow me to raise the screw up an inch. This would leave me with the same ratio you have -- 8" above, 12" below(now I have 9" above and 11" below). Does this make sense? What do you think? Would trimming the tenon compromise the strength/integrity of the base and bench?

Thanks,

David

[Salem Ganzhorn]

David,
It took me a second to figure out what you meant. My top is only 3" thick so it doesn't interfere with the nut. If your top is 4" thick it may interfere.

Another option is to champher the top rail. Have you laid out the top rail and the nut to see how much they interfere?

Note it is much easier to install the vise with the leg free. I mortised the nut into the back of the leg on the diagonal. This frees up a little more space for the rail. And if it is mortised you could let the shoulder on the top rail overlap the flange on the nut! This works as long as you never plan on removing the nut .

Salem

[David Wadstrup]

I decided to put together the roller brackets before starting on the Glide Leg Vise. I didn't expect that making them would be particularly fun, but they turned out to be the most enjoyable part of the build so far. My Gramercy Bow Saw turned out to be the perfect tool for cutting out the slots. I opted to make them simpler than the original Benchcrafted design. They are simply rectangular in shape, and I think fit the overall look of the bench

As much as I enjoyed making them, though, I'd like to try to hide the one that will be mounted on the front of the leg. Specifically, I'd like to extend the leg vise chop all the way down to the floor. Another builder did the exactly this, by hollowing out a recess in the back of the chop that would accomodate the roller guide when the vise was closed. I'm not able to do quite the same thing with my 2" thick chop, so I'm trying to come up with some other way of masking the roller guide. I've thought that perhaps I could thicken just the bottom part of the chop with a 1" laminate. The would make it thick enough to carve out such a deep hollow. I'm not sure how it would look, though, and am wondering if there is perhaps a beter way. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with handling this sort of situation? I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Thanks,

David

[Garrett Ellis]

Any updates??