Workbench almost done, but it rocks...

[James K Peterson]

My bench is almost complete. Thank you all for all of the advice on construction. I went with a more modern face vise and another in the tail position. The tail vise has some sentimental value, it was my grandpa's originally, who passed it to my mom (who gave me my woodworking love), and is now in my bench
I had a few flubs and a couple of issues I didn't think through when I decided to use the record clone in face position. I mortised in the rear jaws on both vises with the intent to put a leather covered wood face on the vise jaws. But I forgot that edge of the top was supposed to be flush to the legs, so I couldn't add another edge to cover the rear jaw

So... I set the mortise deeper with the intent to put in a piece over the rear jaw and flush to the edge. It's in there, but not real pretty.

All I have left is some planing/scrapping and a little sanding. Then a coat of BLO and we g2g.

Then I found a problem with the legs or rather where they are in the garage. My garage floor is not very flat and the place where the bench sits is just a bit off so the bench can rock about 1/16 or so
Can I just put some kind of rubber non-slip mat under it or something?

Any suggestion on the feet, or any other areas you see, let me know.

Thanks
James

[Ben Fleis]

James,

Perhaps the mechanism we use in the machine shop works bench. Take a wedge from your scrap box (or cut one to width of your leg, if you like), shove it in place, make sure it's sturdy, give it another kick to lock it in, and break it off.

It's not as graceful as others, but works. If you break it off nicely (or from the back) it's not even noticeable.

-b

[glenn bradley]

I used regular shims out of a shim pack to get setup. I planned to replace them with hardwood shims but the 400+ pound beast has sat on them for well over a year's worth of WWing and hasn't budged.

[Peter Quadarella]

My garage floor is like a rollercoaster. I just stick some wood under one or two legs until it doesn't rock. With a heavy bench you will never notice the difference.

[glenn bradley]

Don't ya love it when the answers so simple?

[Alex Shanku]

To keep it from skidding around, I cut 4 squares of rubber roofing and put them under the feet. One shim to level it to my floor and I was all set.

Any pics of the bench?

[Michael Hammers]

See if you can get a pic posted to understand your foot design better....
I had to do some design modification on my feet for the same reason.
Mike

[John Schreiber]

The picture police seem to be taking a doughnut break. So I will demand pictures. If there's no picture, it doesn't exist.

[Michael Hammers]

as Homer would say........mmmmmmmmmmmmmm doughnuts.......

[James K Peterson]

I must have messed up the attachment of the pictures, I saw them when I previewed, but didn't check after I submitted. I'll put the pics in as soon as I get back to my home computer.

Thanks
James

[Bill Houghton]

Three comments:

1. The best use of shims calls for what the British call "folding" shims - one coming from each direction so that the tapers offset each other, resulting in a flat surface that provides full support under your bench foot.

2. Around here, the common construction shims are fir, or hemlock/fir/who knows, or something similar. These are inelegant, but they seem to be strong enough to hold up house walls, so they oughta work on a bench.

3. You might dab a little white glue or something similar on the shims as you drive them in. This will keep them in place. Don't use much: if you move the bench, you want to be able to remove the shims easily. A little dab'll do ya.

[James K Peterson]

Thank again everyone for the help.
I was cleaning up the vise faces and getting ready to smooth/flatten the top before I put the coat of BLO on it.

Here's the pics (I hope)

Thanks
James

[Jeff Wittrock]

Real nice looking bench. Looks solid as a rock!

As most others have suggested, I would just use shims.

My own garage floor has enough waves that I have to shim my bench often. Unfortunately I can't leave the bench in one spot, so every time I move it I re-shim it. Hopefully you can leave yours in one spot.

-Jeff

[Jim Becker]

Like Ben mentions, I use wood shims to make my bench rock solid on a slightly uneven floor...and level on the slope that the same floor has.

[Johnny Kleso]

I'd finish it with the top on and just let it sit there with a lot of weight on the top for a week or two and I bet it might just settle on its own..

Or you can belt sand one foot or shim it..