joinery/carving bench

[Mark Maleski]

I once built a carving bench with a vise on the front, and came to hate that vise. It wasn’t only the threat of the metal around my carving tools, it was also that the vise got in my way. Carving is a dynamic activity that involves your whole body; you’re using your feet, legs and torso just as much as your arms and hands…and the vise kept getting in my way as I was trying to move through a cut. I got rid of that bench and replaced it with my copy of Bill Pavlak’s carving bench (at the Anthony Hay shop). That one has no face vise to get in the way; you can press all the way up against the bench with nothing to snag against. Have been much happier with that carving bench.

[Mike Cornwall]

I wasn’t able to find Bill Pavlak’s bench online, is there any photos of it? Thanks in advance

[Thomas Crawford]

Mike I believe it is this:
https://anthonyhaycabinetmaker.wordp...rs-platform-3/

I'm familiar with the Steve Latta design and this is a modification of it.

[Thomas Crawford]

I once built a carving bench with a vise on the front, and came to hate that vise. It wasn’t only the threat of the metal around my carving tools, it was also that the vise got in my way. Carving is a dynamic activity that involves your whole body; you’re using your feet, legs and torso just as much as your arms and hands…and the vise kept getting in my way as I was trying to move through a cut. I got rid of that bench and replaced it with my copy of Bill Pavlak’s carving bench (at the Anthony Hay shop). That one has no face vise to get in the way; you can press all the way up against the bench with nothing to snag against. Have been much happier with that carving bench.

I agree with you about the vise being in the way. I am planning on the bench being 48" long with the vise taking about 20" total in width (~16 btw the screws). That part of the bench is for dovetailing. That leaves me with 28" to work with, and if I end up with some huge flat carving project then I can unscrew the vise for that time period.

[Thomas Crawford]

I guess I should note here with my bench plan I have some specific carving goals in mind for the next few years. I will not be doing anything in the round any time soon. I have a few large wooden crosses to make that I want to add some celtic knotwork to, as well as some small appliques in a contrasting wood color. All of that should be easy workholding with the tail vise and double sided tape for the appliques. Secondly I am aspiring to carve some icons, which are largely just 10x12 relief carvings.

And in the end I might suck at it, and I'll at least have a joinery bench because I am half-way decent at building standard furniture. At a minimum I have many dovetails to cut and mortises to chop in my future.

[Mike Cornwall]

I’m not sure, I saw that one but I’ve also seen photos of Pavlak working on something more like a Mallila MB.

http://www.workbenches.se/en/modelmb.php

I’ve seen an Ulmia in that scheme too I think.

[Prashun Patel]

Looks like it worked out for you. Good looking bench.

I do a decent amount of carving. Enough to know that there's some variance in what people carve. If you are looking to carve images into the face of a board, then a bench as you've designed probably suits you fine.

But if you are carving things at multiple positions (maybe even crosses or spoons as I do) I have found one of these immensely helpful. Woodcraft and LV and many others make similar models. If you time it right these can be had for under $150.

70G1110-universal-vise-f-01-r.jpg


This vise has several wonderful features:

1) I attaches through a dog hole onto an existing bench. So it can be positioned many places - including in a saw bench as a makeshift shaving horse.
2) When using it on a standard woodworking bench it raises the work conveniently as does your bench on bench.
3) The soft jaws do not mar the work.
4) The jaws pivot to hold irregularly shaped items.

[JOEL MONGEON]

But if you are carving things at multiple positions (maybe even crosses or spoons as I do) I have found one of these immensely helpful. Woodcraft and LV and many others make similar models. If you time it right these can be had for under $150.

70G1110-universal-vise-f-01-r.jpg

How do you like this vise for spoon carving?
I've made a spoon mule and then built a collapsible shave horse to carve spoons. They both have worn out (left one out in the rain, the other was made from pine and broke) and take up too much space. I was thinking of giving this vise a try but did not want to spend the money if it is not a decent replacement.

[Prashun Patel]

I love this vise. I'm using drawknives and spokeshaves and gouges (2 handed tools) for all but the finishing work; I'm coming at spoons more as a chairmaker would than a traditional Swedish carver might. So, I need another pair of hands and this is perfect for that. It holds things securely and you can really get around and in front or behind of things in a way that my leg, face, and tail vises do not allow.

I (like many) have gotten into spoon carving because it's conducive to being outside. I used to just do knife work outside, but lately I've been fitting this to my saw bench. I haven't worked out all the ergonmic kinks of using this outside, but I still love being able to do this.

[Mark Maleski]

Mike I believe it is this:
https://anthonyhaycabinetmaker.wordp...rs-platform-3/

I'm familiar with the Steve Latta design and this is a modification of it.

yes, that’s the one I meant. I see he credited Steve Latta as his influence in that post. The one I built is a slightly jankier version of that. 🫣 It’s great for low relief carving. I especially like it’s simplicity.