LN Improved Workbench

[Jack Curtis]

...I don't know what a Japanese style planing beam is? I have wood in my shop for the bench build though. I'm sure there are many other things the wood could be used for.

It's a big beam, say 8" square by 8' long or longer. Each end is held in a cross piece, one end higher than the other. You put the piece to be planed on top and plane down hill. If you need to, a couple of screws in the lower end will hold the piece in place. You can also nail a long thin board to the side and use that to hold a piece as a sticking board. Let gravity be your friend. Here's an example: http://images.search.yahoo.com/image...p3ulg&fr=aaplw

PS, I like them a lot, so I installed a smaller (say 4" square) version with a bench slave on the back side of my bench. Works great.

[Lloyd Robins]

Mike, Japanese planing beam (bench) at http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wo...nese-workbench . The sometimes have one end higher than the other to allow gravity to help. There are all kinds of variations.

Jim, I read about the idea somewhere and decided to try it.

[David Weaver]

David congratulations. I am certain the bench will serve you well. I have never seen anything LN that was not well built. as to the thread this is a bit of a Mac vs PC arguement again except for the learning and skills involved in building a bench. I just checked Benchcrafted and tail and leg vises (with crisscross) are about $800 dollars. In my area getting 12/4 maple costs about $12.99/bf plus shipping. We are starting to get close in price considering the hours to build. I am quite happy with my Noden and when the top goes I will just replace the top. I may consider using battens, holdfasts, and my Moxon instead of traditional vises. Anyway, I am also very limited in shop time, so I certainly understand your choice. I would not be able to build the bench in the time that you will wait for yours. Enjoy it when it arrives.

I can't remember what I was so ardent about, but I went and checked here. Hardwood grows here like it grows on.....trees. So, we have a lot of lumber suppliers here who will ship. I personally wouldn't buy 12/4 if it was for a bench, the premium is too great unless you can get a local sawyer to slab a tree for you (in that case, the sawyer will likely charge you about the same per BF regardless of the dimensions). At any rate, this is a place I've been to, and they ship free in the continental US with 150 bf of wood. that might be more than a bench would need, but it would give you extra to build fixtures, moxon vises, etc.

https://www.westpennhardwoods.com/ca...d-fbe8725b6f4e

(I have no idea what prime is).

If time is short and money's not, then buying seems the way to go. Otherwise, as my mother says, you can always look for a way to skin a fart for a nickel. I really don't know what that means, but I think it just means figure out a cheaper way - $5.50 with no tax and no shipping would be that in your case. In my case, I would buy whatever was on CL for $1 or $2 a BF, but recognize that's probably not going to be an option in LA.

And I'd skip the $800 boutique hardware. It's not necessary to work wood quickly, but the social cause (or shop jewelry factor) is admirable if someone wants to buy it for that reason.

[Lloyd Robins]

David, thank you for West Penn's information!

[David Weaver]

Sure, and like I say, not trying to create an argument, just make mention because a dollar saved is a dollar that can be justified frivolity elsewhere. I've gone to west penn lumber for figured wood (which is fairly far away from me, and i'm in west penn, they're actually in NY, and I"ve had them ship me stuff depending on what I wanted).

For the first few years I woodworked, I bought all of my lumber retail from various places, and that would be OK if the quality of a lot of it wasn't so bad. We have so many options around here because cherry, maple, white oak, beech, red oak, walnut...they all grow here and there are small sawyers that will sell directly for about half what retail of the lumber would be elsewhere here (millworkshops, etc, that are really selling to people who are just going to add the cost of what they buy to a wealthy buyer), and sometimes less than half.

I can't imagine that any good wood would last too long in LA, that's perfectly understandable. My best supplier retired earlier this year (about half market price and delivered for free), so I have some things to figure out, too. I can find wood a lot of places around here, but not guys who will deliver and who have cheap and good wood.

[Mike Holbrook]

There were at least three saw mills within 10 miles of my home, until I started needing to buy hardwood. Now I can't find any. The hardwood supplier I have used recently isn't to much worse than Davids: hard maple-4/4-$5.55, Ash-$2.95, poplar $1.50, red oak $3.95, yellow pine $2.95...They have gone up since last year, so I guess I will shop around next time.

Lloyd you do not say what you thought of the Japanese planing beam, after trying it?

[Lloyd Robins]

David, I agree that a dollar saved is a dollar for more tools, oops saved. I usually get my wood from a place in Arizona. They are good people and great to deal with, but I do shop their specials. I will watch West Penn also. As to the hardware for a bench, I was just using their hardware for cost. I used a Jorgensen press screws on my Moxon not a Benchcrafted. If I had more room for a longer bench, I might try going without hardware and working with holdfasts, a moxon, and battens, but that will probably never happen.

Mike, I was going to build a Japanese planing beam and bench, and I even bought enough purpleheart to make the bases (that is where I learned how much I hate purpleheart.) Then at a woodworking show, I saw Toshio Odate using the Noden bench on display as a tilted planing bench. After consideration, and the knees not working as well as I would like, I went with the Noden. Over the years it has done everything that I need. However, with western holdfasts and a few modifications, a Japanese bench still would be something interesting to try and quite inexpensive. Bench Tools by Fine Woodworking has an extended article on using one of the benches. They call it a trestle bench. I also switched over from Japanese tools to western tools. I work a lot with oak (most cost effective in the area) and I always worried about the porous wood and Japanese saws. However, I must admit that I do wish that I had kept the Nishiki paring chisels.

[Mike Holbrook]

Lloyd, did you ever post pictures of your bench? I searched posts under your name for a while but did not find any if you did.

If I was rethinking the whole bench thing from square one starting now, I might very well just figure out how to do everything on an AAB system due to the versatility. Still I think it will be nice to have a low bench on nice wide legs, steady as a big rock, for planing and maybe chisel work with a mallet. I invested in the two vises and so I am going to use them, although I am thinking about putting one or one bench and the other on the other if for no other reason than to simplify construction. I don't think the work that is easier to do at a higher level needs as steady a base, so that is the work I plan to do on the Noden gear. I am sure there is still some truth to the old adage "jack of all trades, master of none", which is my justification for a two bench system.

Purple Heart is a pain to work, but it does make a great plane body. Steve Knight suggested the Purple Heart as the best wood for a plane body, and since he did the main cutting with his CNC gear I did not have to do any major planing on it.

[Lloyd Robins]

Mike, I did post some pictures, but I don't remember when, so here some new ones. Please pardon the stuff on the floor, I am rethinking my shop layout. My bench is not fancy, but I did spend a little extra (for me) on the legs. The top is what I could afford after buying the legs. The Kreg plate was used as a holdfast. One thing that I really like is that as I get older my bench height has gone up. Maybe I should rethink LV planes. The jack of all trades master of none describes me, except I am not certain that I qualify for being as good as "jack." My wife thinks that I am a tool buyer/seller rather than a woodworker, and she may be right.

Knight planes were fun, expecially the ones with the Japanese blades. As to purpleheart. I have some lamp tables and other items accented with purpleheart, but I traded the last of it to a friend for some turning work. I really got the better of that deal, because he turned a pen for me from the wood as an extra.

WB1.jpgWB2.jpgWB3.jpg

[Mike Holbrook]

Lloyd, thanks for the pictures.

I was actually thinking about the Adjust-A-Bench system in regard to it being a jack of all trades device. Even in that regard I think the AAB does most things very well. I am just postulating that it might not be as steady as a heavy Roubo for planing, although with the big rubber screw down feet I have seen on at least one AAB bench I'm not even sure that is the case. The Noden casters I have on mine are on large bolts, so they can be used to balance the bench on an uneven floor adding a stability factor that fixed length legs do not have regardless of their size and weight.

I am also more of a jack of all trades kind of guy. So far my tools have been used more in construction projects than what we might term woodworking. I keep adding on to the building I built for our home business. I still have not finished finishing our basement, including my shop. I am getting more into a carpentry/cabinet making phase. Then I hope to get around to furniture. To date I have spent more time at a Festool table & home made cutting table than the compact woodworking bench I have.