Frankenbench begins

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Thinking about how to solve the one board too short issue, I decided there is a bright side to this. First of all, I believe what actually happened is that despite being very careful to stack 7 boards for cutting to 6' and 8 for cutting to 7', we seem to have cut one too many 6' and one too few 7'. I even stopped half-way through the cutting process to double check our count. I think when I recounted maybe I got mixed up and did 8 shorts and 7 longs. This is what happens when you do a lot of cuts at the end of a long, tiring day. Anyway- I have a fix. It works out perfect to just have a Roubo style bench stop and the short board can be installed to land right at the leg, and I'll widen the hole to probably 3" or so and I have ordered one of these: http://www.blackbearforge.com/benchstop.htm I'll mortice it into a long, square post which will fit into the hole. I'll wait until it arrives to decide my measurement. So that worked out okay, and in fact I'm kind of glad it happened.

Also I ordered this awesome little mini Roubo holdfast. I love the arch and the transition from the head to the shaft on this one. http://www.stark-raven-studios.com/s...roubo-holdfast Actually, their shopping cart did not have an option for shipping to my territory, so I sent him a FB message and asked for an invoice so I can buy it. Hopefully he will get the message because I love that holdfast. I gave a lot of thought to it because it's a bit more than most other holdfasts, but I really appreciate what this guy has done to recreate (in smaller scale) the Roubo holdfast and the appropriate arch and transition. Well done.

I'm probably going to spend some time this weekend dimensioning the wood for the base and get started on that. The leg vise is scheduled to arrive this week. I'd like to get this base done and then the ash will have acclimated to my shop and I'll final dimension it and glue it up. Thankfully these had been stored in Florida before I bought them and they are at the same moisture level that the mahogany is, so I figure a couple of weeks is plenty to wait. Since I do not use A/C, there's not much transition.

Oh, also I got out my Makita powered hand planer, and what do ya know- it came with a fence. I will likely use it to dress up one edge and use that edge against the fence of the table saw to cut the other edge. I do not own a jointer. I have access to one, but I really don't want to carry these all the way back to the big shop. I was going to finesse them with my Veritas low-angle jointer, but honestly that might be a bit much for this many linear feet. I will probably kill some electrons this time.

[Reinis Kanders]

Nice view from your workshop, enjoyed the video tour and that Ash looks great.

Last year I built ~4" " thick workbench top from Ash, actually it is a split top, first 16" are ash and the second 12" are fir. I have tried Gramercy and Brusso Hardware holdfasts and they just do not hold in the Ash without counterboring. They do hold in the Fir. Veritas holdfasts work in both woods. Will be interesting to see how your holdfast will work out, it looks great.
I also have a small workshop and incidentally my first workbench top had a twin screw endvise, but I swithched out to Veritas quick release tailvise. Tailvise for me works better, twin screw just does not support material the same way, it inevitably sags a bit, especially if one applies pressure when planing. When doing rabets or moldings I use workbench edge to help support plane fence and that did not work as well with twin screw.
My split is about 1.75" and it has a lose board in it that can be elevated to work as sawing stop.
I ended up making a taller smaller bench for the twin screw and use that for detail work and dovetails.

Just my two cents. Good luck with the bench, Ash was a good choice IMHO.
Here are my benches:
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[Malcolm Schweizer]

That's a nice shop, Reinis. I labored and toiled over getting the Veritas tail vise. I finally went with the Lie-Nielsen because the threaded nuts are very long and with the shorter throw of the LN vise, I figure sagging won't be as much of a problem. I may regret it down the road, but I decided I was more likely to regret not having the larger twin screw vise than I would be to regret getting it. I do love how your vise clamps on the very edge of the bench. I am going to test the LN before drilling holes and see how bad it racks with holes close to the edge. So many choices!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I got out the ultra-fancy Fes-Stool for these cuts. (That's a crappy version of a Festool. Prashun isn't the only one around here with puns.) Perfct finish with the Freud Diablo thin kerf smooth cutting blade. I waited a day after marking before cutting into this beauty. No second chances- just barely wider than the dimensioned stock. Measure twice, then two more times, cut once.

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Those shorties will be ripped in two and glued up to make book-matched legs 4" thick. The long one will glue up to make a front stretcher and enough left over for one side stretcher. The other board I have is the next slab from the same tree and will yield the back stretcher and other side pieces. The whole base is going to be from the same tree. Another matching board from the same batch will be used for the leg chop and end caps.

I love that first peek inside the never-before-seen grain.

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Sorry folks, but I had to kill some electrons on this one. I do not own a pit saw, and no way am I ripping a 10' board by hand! I will joint one face with a Veritas BU Jointer, then thickness them in the thickness planer, then finish with a 4 1/2. This is how I typically do it. No room for a power jointer, and I kind of like jointing by hand. This stuff is very flat, so it is not as hard as it may look.

I had to stop and batten down because a crazy storm is brewing outside. My house has shutters only (open air otherwise) downstairs and in the kitchen- glass windows upstairs. I had to close up all the shutters. Usually we leave them open when it rains, but this one has potential for some sideways rain.

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[Malcolm Schweizer]

By the way, that was all from one board, 15.5" wide and near vertical grain. Just over 2" thick rough sawn. Here she is before the rip cut.
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Edit- forgot to mention- this came over the weekend, and the LN vise shipped today. Apparently they make the twin screw vises at LN in batches as ordered so mine had an 11-day wait before it shipped.

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Really impressed with with the heft of the crisscross, and love the classic handle. I am glad I went this direction. By the way, to my surprise it came with leather for the chop, but I already had bought some. FYI if planning to purchase this vise. I did not know it came with the leather.

[Curt Putnam]

" I am mounting leather pads on the bottom of the legs for friction."

Consider using the same material as is used for bench pucks and the like, Lee Valley sells it by the sheet. About as non-skid as you are going to get.

[Brian Holcombe]

That wood is really nice stuff! Good mahogany is such a pleasure to plane, I always expected it would be difficult but it planes like a dream.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

That wood is really nice stuff! Good mahogany is such a pleasure to plane, I always expected it would be difficult but it planes like a dream.

It's one of the few woods I can get locally, and until last month it was fairly reasonably priced. It just went up, but still cheaper than the states. Wait until you see what it looks like when planed and finished- it's got a beautiful iridescent ribbon stripe. It does, however, like to tear out, and I use a toothed iron followed by a high angle to avoid chipping. When it does tear out, it can do so in deep chunks. It is a very heavy wood- much heavier than the ash. Sometimes it can have a very twisty grain, and when building boats with it I have had strips go pretty awry after ripping, but it does take steam bending very well.

[Reinis Kanders]

PSA sandpaper also works well, 100 grit or 80 grit are on the bottom of my bench. My floor slopes so I made wood shims and glued sandpaper on both sides.

That Lee Valley material is thicker than most rubber and it has a lot of give/sponginess. I tried it for vise jaws, but it got mangled up really fast and adhesive failed.

" I am mounting leather pads on the bottom of the legs for friction."

Consider using the same material as is used for bench pucks and the like, Lee Valley sells it by the sheet. About as non-skid as you are going to get.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

It's carnival week in the VI. Happy Jouvert Morning. As I sit and listen to the ruckus in town, I will type up an update. Since it is impossible to get anything done work wise this week, I took off and spent two half-days working on this project. A lot of that time was spent jointing everything for the glue ups. I used epoxy and you will see why. Epoxy is less viscous and soaks into the pores allowing you to clamp the heck out of a joint and get an invisible glue line. Check out this one at my finger tip.
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The legs and front stretcher are laminated from two 8/4 boards. The only issue there is for the front stretcher I need to offset the bolt so it does not fall on a glue line, but the benchcrafted plans call for it to be offset anyway to avoid the crisscross recess. The sides are pegged and the front uses Veritas knock-down joinery bolts. Everything was hand jointed, then taken to the thickness planer. Folks, I have highest praise for the Ridgid 13" planer. I have run hundreds and hundreds of bft of rough sawn mahogany that looked like it was sawn by a drunk blind man (which is pretty likely down here- at least the drunken part), and tons of figured maple, Peruvian walnut, and Bubinga- woods I frequently use. After planing, the leg pieces were ripped in two and book-matched and face glued to make one 5.5 x 4-ish piece.
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Today ay more planing and gluing up the chop, then on to the top pieces and the chop for the LN vise.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

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Also I made the pattern for the leg vise chop. It will have an arch near the top which transitions into a flat edge. I have a method to do this that is best to wait and show you in pictures. I think the curve will offset the otherwise angular look of the bench. I added a decorative curve to the bottom as well. It also serves to keep shavings and wood chips from getting caught up under the vise chop where it meets the floor.

Here is a look at one of the book matched legs after (or maybe during) jointing. All the legs are jointed and I am waiting for the rain to stop before I run the other side through the thickness planer.

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[Mike Cherry]

This thing is going to be awesome. This is a timely thread for me, as I find myself thinking about workholding solutions for my next bench. I am slipping down the carving slope a bit and I definitely think an end vise would be helpful in that regard.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

This thing is going to be awesome. This is a timely thread for me, as I find myself thinking about workholding solutions for my next bench. I am slipping down the carving slope a bit and I definitely think an end vise would be helpful in that regard.

Thanks- that's why I am sharing- take my ideas, turn them around, accept them, reject them, and make the bench that suits you.

The pattern maker's vise is such a do-all vise that at the moment if I could only choose one, that would be the one. Of course I have yet to fully experience them, but I just live the do-all capability if that vise.

[Mike Cherry]

Yea I can't wait to see how that works out for you. I'm totally envious of your view there too, so serene!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Resurrecting this thread from the dead. I have been travelling a lot; in fact, I'm travelling right now. Also I have been very involved with our local Historical Trust. We are moving our museum and that has been very time consuming. This is something I do as charitable work. Once we set up, I will start a thread showing some of our historic Danish West Indian mahogany furniture.

So last week I got back to work on the bench. I sawed all the tenons, and lost 3 pounds and now one arm looks like Popeye. No pics yet, sorry. I will work on it this weekend and get the tenon shoulders square and then start chopping mortises, which is probably my favorite thing to do. Nothing like hammering out tension after a long day at work.

Just wanted to let folks know I am still alive. I sometimes travel a lot and things get put on hold. After this week I don't travel again until after Christmas. I am going to try to have this thing together by then. Okay, I should not have said that...