The Schwarzapffel Workbench

[Wallis Hampson]

This is the last one on the tail vise...I promise. I decided to cut off the "L" really short as so I would not even be tempted to clamp anything in there as that is a no-no. I've got it all glued and clamped up. Tomorrow its time to get out the old #7 and get the top dead flat.

I see the FINISH LINE!

[Chris Friesen]

I have begun the construction on the tail vise. Again, I am using the Lie Nielsen but obviously, buying that was the easy part. I am finger jointing the end to the "L" piece. So far things are going well.

Given the finger orientation, the grain direction in the walnut is not ideal...you've only got long-grain-to-end-grain, which won't be great for glue bond strength. Also, the fingers in the walnut will be weakened somewhat due to the short grain at the base of the fingers.

It may hold up fine, but the traditional way would have been to cut the fingers horizontally instead of vertically. That way you get long-grain-to-long-grain joints for maximum strength.

[Wallis Hampson]

Chris -

You are absolutely right. I got caught up in thinking of having the look of the Walnut fingers contrasting with the Maple that i completely didnt think until i had already started cutting. I am hoping that since the only real stress is compression that ill be OK in this instance. Thanks for pointing it out as I wouldnt want somone following this thread to make the same mistake.

[Wallis Hampson]

Where I put the two halves of the top together has about a 1/16" crown over the width of the top, just slightly towards the back. I would plane some and then scrub on some chalk so that i could see where I had planed. With a good sharp blade, it actually went pretty quick. The last pic is what a 1/16" crown looks like on the floor.

[John Schreiber]

Congratulations Wallis! Looking good.

[Alan DuBoff]

Looks great Wallis!

[Wallis Hampson]

I added some leather to the inside jaws of the tail vise. I have since dyed them brown so they would look better (I hope that this isnt turning into a showpiece instead of a bench on me ). I am using the finishes shown in the picture (1/3 of each) mixed together. Flooding it on...let it sit for 10-15 mins then wipe it completely off. The picture is after one coat.

[Dave Anderson NH]

You've done a great job Wallis. You are really going to enjoy using that bench. I would warn you though that you should go easy on the varnish part of the finish. You don't want to make the benchtop to slippery or it will make some operations difficult.

[John Dykes]

Holy smokes....

Nice.

[John Schreiber]

Did you tell us what the plan is with the dog hole pattern? There appear to be some extra to the side and some missing.

[Matt Z Wilson]

nice work!

[Wallis Hampson]

Thanks for the comments.

John -

The places where dog holes are absent are the 2 areas where the 2" diameter wooden screws will be for the face vise when I get time to turn them and install the vise. The double dogs are in essence to act as a planing stop for wide boards where I may not want to clamp them in the tail vise. Also, if I wanted to say rout the edge of a long board that was maybe 5-6" wide, using the 2nd dogs in will allow me to get more of the board on the table with less hanging over the edge

[Wallis Hampson]

Here she is with 3 coats of oil. I guess its time to start using it!

As stated earlier, I will put a twin screw (wooden screws) face vise on it but it will be a couple of months and a couple of drawers down low for my bigger planes. My next project will be a tool cabinet to hang over it.

I want to thank Chris Schwarz for the inspiration and all of you guys for the advice and encouragement along the way.

Well I guess its time to go drop a chisel on it and get it over with !

[Alan DuBoff]

I guess its time to start using it!
...
Well I guess its time to go drop a chisel on it and get it over with

Hear, hear!

After you start using it, you'll not think twice about it...

[Shannon Vincent]

I am so jealous.Love the contrasting woods.The tail vise rocks the house.You,sir...Suck!