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!
image.jpg
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Mark Stutz
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.
