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Thread: Workbench Finally Done

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,648
    That's a beauty for sure. It looks exactly like the one I made over 20 years ago from Frank Klaus's design. Well, no, that's not exactly true. Yours is much nicer. But the design does look the same and it has served me well. You are right about the tail vise being quite a challenge to build. It's been 20 years and I still remember that tail vise. But it has worked flawlessly and never needed any attention to keep it running smoothly so it was worth the effort to build it.

    Well done.

    John

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Princeton, NJ
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    Robert, nice work!

    I would love to see the underside of the bench as well, I'm curious about how the front batten ties into the shoulder vise.

    Couple questions;
    The bolt on your shoulder vise, is it entirely through the bench or threaded into the side of the slab?
    Whats the distance between your vise screw and that bolt? How far does your vise open?

    I enjoy my scandi shoulder vise a lot, it's awesome for dovetailed case sides, which I do plenty of. That being said I think mine exerts too much pressure on the pivot point as it pulled the bolt out twice, and I replaced the bolt with a wedged and cogged joint which is holding up, but it still manages to flex the 12/4 x 4" maple arm if I put some pressure on it.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    The bolt on your shoulder vise, is it entirely through the bench or threaded into the side of the slab?
    Whats the distance between your vise screw and that bolt? How far does your vise open?
    The threaded rod goes all the way through (visible in the rear view). It is at 10" and the vise screw is 17 1/2".
    Vise opening is about 5".

    I think mine exerts too much pressure on the pivot point as it pulled the bolt out twice, and I replaced the bolt with a wedged and cogged joint which is holding up, but it still manages to flex the 12/4 x 4" maple arm if I put some pressure on it.
    An alternative to a through bolt is a length of threaded rod into a captured nut mortised into the underside.

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Gregory Carles View Post
    How much time you have in this build?
    I built it over the course of 6 months. Difficult to say I would guess in the neighborhood of 100 hours. There was a huge amount of time in stock preparation and milling. I ended up fine tuning the jointing and squareing up of the top and aprons by hand.

    The mahogany strip made a perfect shadow line.
    I was hoping someone would ask about that.
    It was actually a fix to a mistake. When jointing the front 1/2 of the dog hole strip, for some reason I ended up tapering the whole piece.
    I was out of lumber so the fix was glue on a strip of wood and start over.
    That's when the thought came to me about using a contrasting wood.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
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    Very nice and is keeping me motivated with my bench build. Thanks for sharing.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Princeton, NJ
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    Thanks Robert!
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  7. #22
    Stunning work!

  8. #23
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Tyler, Texas
    Posts
    2,041
    That's a beautiful bench and it should serve you well. I'm planning a traditional bench similar to yours. I can only hope mine turns out half as nice.
    Cody


    Logmaster LM-1 sawmill, 30 hp Kioti tractor w/ FEL, Stihl 290 chainsaw, 300 bf cap. Solar Kiln

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Zimmerman, MN
    Posts
    164
    Awesome bench!! I love the accents throughout.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Lafayette, Indiana
    Posts
    1,378
    Great bench, and from the background, it looks like your shop is an ideal work environment. Is that a wooden floor?

  11. #26
    Outstanding work. You certainly deserve all the pride that must have come with the completion of that beautiful bench. Thanks for sharing.

  12. #27
    Thanks for all the compliments, guys. Great feelings of validation. Can't wait to start on some projects seems like all I've been doing is building a shop for 2 years.

    The room is a 14 X 16 air conditioned studio I built when I remodelled my shop a couple years ago.
    In the steamy south, it will make ww'ing comfortable and will also keep my project wood stabilized.
    I do my drafting and design work in there too. Need to bolster my lighting a bit.

    The floor is just a cheap laminate floor I put in at the last minute. In retrospect I shouldn't have chinced out like that but I ran out of money.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    N. Idaho
    Posts
    1,621
    Robert,

    Beautiful bench and great workspace. Will look forward to seeing the projects that are sure to come!

    C
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  14. #29
    Oh my! That's one pf those projects I'll dream of doing forever, but never find the time for. Love the large DT's and the contrasting woods.

    I think this traditional design can't be beat, all things considered. The only thing I'd change is to add a sliding deadman, (and maybe a perforated grate in the bottom of the tool tray) otherwise, that's workbench nirvana for me.
    Last edited by Allan Speers; 05-03-2016 at 4:45 PM.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Blacksburg, VA
    Posts
    199
    Fantastic job. Arguably, the most important tool in your shop!

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