Bench Build

[Eric R. Smith]

So I have been struggling to hold my work in my current bench for some time now. I have been saving for quite some time to buy the Benchcrafted tail vise and classic leg vise. Well the time arrived and the purchase was made. A good friend of mine has a Woodmizer and had some large Ash boards(some thicker than others) laying about that did not get stacked right when they were cut so they had some large checks, mainly through the center. He offered u up and threw them in the back of the mini van and brought them home. My plan was for this to be a hand tools only build but it turned out to be a hybrid. I broke the boards down with a skill saw and used a late '40s Delta 6" short bed jointer to rough out my stock. The rest has been all hand work. The size of the bench was determined by the available stock. The end cap and leg vice will be from some Hickory I had milled up about 4 years ago. Lets just say they have some character. All lumber used is air dried. The top ended up being 4 7/8 x 22 1/4 x 6' 5 5/8". I got a little excited when it came time to install the tail vise an decided to use a borrowed Skil plunge router to make the mortises for the vise rails. As I was routing the bit had slipped and the mortise got deeper and deeper before I noticed( about a 1/4" deeper). Its a good thing its on the underside. I leveled out the mortise with a chisel and glued in some patches. This brings me to where i am today. I think i have about 2 months in to it so far from the time I picked up the lumber. Ill post more as i progress if you are interested. IMG_0093.jpgIMG_0109.jpgIMG_0112.jpgIMG_0165.jpgIMG_0181.jpgIMG_0183.jpg
Thanks for looking,
Eric

[Archie England]

Eric, that's a beauty!!!!! Wow.

[Christopher Charles]

Looking great and you'll love, love, love it when it's done!

[Mike Baker 2]

Very nice!

[David Eisenhauer]

Outstanding Eric. You are well on the way to a new bench that should work very, very well for your projects.

[andy bessette]

That will make a fine bench.

[Andy Nichols]

Fine looking bench! Their is just something special about making your own bench, and it's a tool that's almost always in use, can't say that about many tools....


Andy

[Mike Baker 2]

Thing is gorgeous. Ash is a favorite wood of mine.

[Eric R. Smith]

Hey guys, thanks for the compliments. Made a bench dog tonight out of some hard maple I split last summer for Windsor legs. I used ash as the spring. I got my tail vise installed and it works like a dream. One more dog and it off to the base. The size of the bench will gain me a few inches in the shop. It is only 14x16. I forged a hold fast before I built the bench out of 7/8 round mild steel. It works great in a 1" hole but I'm curious to find out how it will work in a 5" top. My dog block has a little more clearance than needed but works just fine.
Thanks for looking,
Eric

[Kees Heiden]

You forged that holdfast yourself? great job! Very nice bend with that thicker section.

[Eric R. Smith]

Kees, Thanks. If you upset the steel where you want the bend you have enough material for the bend to look correct. I if you don't upset you will stretch the material and it looks spindly. It does need adjustment so I can use with thinner stock. Right now it binds because of the corner if I use it for anything thinner than 1 1/2".

[Kees Heiden]

Upsetting is one of those (many) smithing tasks that ain't easy!

Maybe you can bend it down further so it works with thinner stock too? Or make the English style holdfast, which is much flatter (allthough some say the English never got into holdfasts).

[William Fretwell]

Fine solid bench. Should look really good after you oil it.

[Clark Magnuson]

Eric,
In 1984 I bought the Lee Valley modern bench plans for $20 and built a 400 pound bench from $2.50/board foot rock hard Maple.
I found about 10 errors in the plans, it was hard work chopping mortises by hand, but I am still using that bench every day 33 years later.

[Eric R. Smith]

Hey Clark, my hope is this will be the bench to last me the rest of my life. I have no reason to think it won't. The chopping of all the mortises is a small price to pay for the amount of use you get.