Frankenbench begins

[Malcolm Schweizer]

She starts as a napkin sketch. My shop is very small and not square. It has a wall that angles about 20 degrees. The house was built to fit the lot. It makes for creative furniture arrangement.

The bench must meet these criteria:

• Multifunction, multi-hobby, but primary woodworking
• Has to clamp at minimum 8.5 feet on surface
• Able to clamp very long boards on edge
• Wide dovetailing capability
• Carving friendly
• Heavy
• Able to hold router table top

So here is what I came up with. I did not have room for a 7' bench all the way across, but I used this to my advantage. The "wing" is 14" wide, which matches the width of my pattern maker's vise. (I will use "pattern vise" for short.) This gives me the ability to work from all sides of the pattern vise and, for instance, bend a piece of metal backwards, or maybe clamp a chair in various positions. It gives me the length I need on the longer end of the room, and still leaves me room to move around in my odd-shaped shop. The pattern vise opens 13", and opposing it across the bench is a twin screw vise that opens at least 8" (not decided on LN or Hovarter yet). So the 7' bench can have dogs over 8'9" apart. Perfect!

The leg vise gives me side clamping for jointing and a sliding deadman or maybe just dog holes in the stretchers and sides of the top give me clamping options for wide pieces.

The end vise is a twin screw LN chain vise or Hovarter twin rod single handle vise. The Hovarter gives way more jaw opening and can be ordered in many different widths. I want the bench 28" but I can flex a little. The LN 18" (between screws) vise needs 28" with the chop. That works fine. I could also go wider with the Hovarter.

So many options with this design. The 14" wing gives me a place to work on case sides and chairs. The wider area lets me lay out plans or clamp panels.

The bench will have auxiliary tops that rest in dog holes. The end vise could open to allow a router to hang down underneath. There could be a removable tray that fits in the gap where the wing is. Many options to play with.

Here's the pic, using redneck sketch up!

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[Pat Barry]

Interesting. This will be a nice bench when done. One question though, what do you mean by a 8"9" clamp capacity on a 7' benchtop? Is that the size of the room? If so, I would add a requirement to make this bench capable of being taken apart strategically for when it gets moved to a new location.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

The bench is 7' plus 13" of travel on one end vise and 8+ " of travel on the other. With both vises fully extended I can clamp a board at least 8'9".

Just got an email from Len Hovarter and the upgraded version of his vise is due out late September and so is my birthday. Coincidence? I think not.

[Aaron Rappaport]

It's nice to see someone else is also searching for how to use a very small shop space. My one question is how will you saw large pieces in your shop, since your shop diagram makes it look like there's not space to use a sawbench.

[Mark Stutz]

Will the end with the pattern vise be cantilevered off the end of the remainder of the bench, or have some additional support in the form of a 5th leg?

[Brian Holcombe]

Might be best to make a base for the router table that will allow you to hold it with clamps on the bench, not really accommodating it specifically.

If you build a normal length bench with a leg vise and a tail vise and a lot of holes which can accommodate holdfasts you will be able to work panels and joinery without issue, IMO. The tail vise is better than a pattern vise, in my opinion, because it is not obstructed on the bottom. If you are holding parts it is hard to find a vise which better accommodates.

Build a knock-down planing beam that is 9 or 10' long or however long you need and use that for the time when you need to plane long beams that cannot support themselves. The Roubo can accommodate long boards for edge jointing, just clamp them in the center and use a dead man to support them.

Just some thoughts on keeping this a bit shorter, I know what it is to work in a small shop, and walking around a very long bench all the time can be a pita.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Malcolm - gotta ask, brudda.........

Whatcha got going on that is 8'6" long?

[Joe A Faulkner]

What are you planning to use for the leg vise? Matt Evans who posts here now and again makes very nice wooden screws for such applications. I'm a bit jealous of the Hovarter. You are going to have all kinds of work holding options with this configuration. Looking forwad to seeing it.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Will the end with the pattern vise be cantilevered off the end of the remainder of the bench, or have some additional support in the form of a 5th leg?

Cantilevered, but 4.5" thick except the huge channel needed for the vise.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Let's try this s again. I keep deleting my response.

Brian, I thought long and hard about a planing bench, but I would still need a bench and I don't want to keep knocking something down and setting it up. The shop is bigger than I may have suggested. It is roughly 12 x 17. I am moving stuff around and it will fit fine with 3' between me and the tool cabinet, and close to that on the pattern vise end. The other side has tons of room but has to serve as a pass through to the exit door on one end, and entrance to the downstairs kitchen (which has been commandeered as a sharpening area) on the other end. The air compressor will move into the storage area and that tall cabinet moves out of the way as well. I am moving stuff around so the shop is a wreck. The stuff piled on the bench is waiting for me to finish moving stuff.

image.jpgimage.jpg


Kent- Surfboards and replacing these 8.5' doors with mahogany ones are on the list.
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Joe- Benchcrafted and Hovarter are the only two leg vises I am considering.

[Brian Holcombe]

Ahh I see. 12 x 17 is pretty good, 3' on either side is plenty of space. I think my tightest pinch point is below that and it has never become much of an issue. (more mental than real, because there are sharp objects on the wall, lol).

4.5" for the top? That will be awesome I have a few minor regrets with my bench and one of them was using a 2" thick top. I think personally the really wide tops are tough to keep flat, but IIRC you have a much more stable humidity than I do. I flatten mine in one season and it's out of flat by the next.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Humidity is high but stable. I do have an AC in the shop that someone stole the copper off of before I bought the house. One day I may fix it but it would create issues with moisture.

I want a heavy bench because the floor is tile. I have no other choice- it is what it is. I am mounting leather pads on the bottom of the legs for friction.

[Brian Holcombe]

Leather pads should do the trick. A heavy bench is nice to have, I ended up adding weight to mine via a system of battens, all told it's probably very close To that of a 4" top without battens.

It's my understanding that the biggest benefit of the heavy top, aside from the weight, is that you can stand the edges up on the boards when you laminate them. That will provide, for all intents and purposes, a 1/4 sawn top. Even with a narrow range of humidity that seems advantageous.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I found some rough sawn hard maple in Florida for $3.69/bft, but they only have 7,8, and 9 inches in 8/4, and I have to buy 10' lengths. Suddenly I am so glad I made this thing short on one side. That side I can use 5' lengths with breadboard ends and be fine. The other side I get 3' off cuts which I am sure I can still use. I may even scratch the mahogany idea and use the off cuts for the base. (Maybe I didn't mention the base was going to be local mahogany. News flash: I just realized I need wood for the slats. Bingo.

Now for a question: Do you think I can get 4" wide straight boards out of a 9" rough sawn? That's the million dollar question. If I can't then I may go with the 7" and use the offcuts for cutting boards. The 9" works out more economical if I can get 4" width out of them. Remember, I have to ship by boat, so I can't just run get more.

edit: I know the obvious answer- it depends on how straight it is. Without knowing for sure, should I chance it with the 9" or pay an extra $300 to get 7" width and have a lot of offcuts?

[Pat Barry]

A 4 inch thick top is not really a must have IMO. In fact, I hear people talk about their holdfasts etc maybe not working so well in thick tops. I wonder if a 3" thick top wouldn't be just as good. I have a laminated ash top that is just under 2 1/4" and it is stiff as all get out. Weight works best on the bottom anyway and I use the lower shelf to hold all sorts of stuff. I had to read Brian's note about battens several times. I kept thinking he was talking about old batteries being used as weight .