Dovetail Sub-bench completed

[Gary Benson]

Finished the shoulder vise equipped sub-bench this weekend. My bench is about 34 inches tall, sub-bench is 4 inches thick, about 38 inches total. The concept came from Duncan Robertson at the Cosman course, but the vise was closely dimensioned to Frank Klaus's bench. It seems to be a nice height for hand sawing, keeps the back more upright. Used hard maple for the core and cherry for the end caps, several coats of BLO. The screw went to the machine shop today to be shortened by 2 1/2 inches, will also shorten the shop made handle. Put leather on the face of the vise, really improves the grip, glad to be rid of the racking face vise. The large dovetails were a challenge, dimensions actually based on the size of my Adria small tenon saw.
Thanks for looking and the help and suggestions in previous threads.
Gary

[Jim Koepke]

You could just build a cabinet under that and have a stand alone dovetail station.

Nice work.

jim

[Jim Barrett]

Gary,
Well, well, well.... awesome job! DT's look fantastic! Looks like you got some good use from your new Adria saws!

Jim

[Martin Shupe]

Now there's a great idea.

It appears that a bolt goes from end cap to end cap.

Can you explain what that is for? I must not understand it's purpose.

How is this held down to the bench?

[John Keeton]

Very nice! And, as expected, the dovetail work is beautiful.

[phil harold]

You could just build a cabinet under that and have a stand alone dovetail station.

Nice work.

jim

+1 on that

[Gary Benson]

Martin,
The end caps are not glued, just splined to let the center swell and shrink. The bolts are not thru, but have nuts in the interior of the center section. The vise does have a threaded rod that runs from back to front to hold it together in that direction. I drilled 2 holes thru the existing bench top and secured the sub-bench with 2 large lag screws, very secure.

A stand alone station would be very interesting. It would free up the entire bench surface for planing and working larger pieces, but allow the additional height of the dovetail station. I'll keep my options open.

Gary

[Roy Wall]

Gary --

That's a slick idea and beautiful work. My bench is 36" tall and think 40-42" would be much better for my DT work.....this has me thinking....

Jim K's suggestion is good......(as usual :))

Now what about a HINGED VERSION off the end of the bench, flip it over into working position and tighten with thru bolt or hold down.....

For a bench that is open on all sides - what if the hinged sub-bench version was facing the backside? Then one could keep the front vise too. Cut the DT's using the sub-bench from the backside..

Biggest downfall is the 'hinged sub bench hanging off the end of the main bench'......may be awkward.......

I'm rambling.......

[Martin Shupe]

Thanks for the information...makes sense now.

I was thinking that it was not permanently attached to the bench.

I wonder if there could be a way to attach it strong enough to use it, but so it could be removed if you need the entire bench?

Great idea, and well executed!

[John Gornall]

An old woodworker I knew long ago had a similar but somewhat lighter vise. It hung on the wall until he wanted to use it and he would place it on his bench. There was a board that extended below the vise which he clamped in his front vise to hold it solid while he worked.

[Matthew Dunne]

Looks great! (But, since it goes on top rather than underneath the main bench, shouldn't it be called a super-bench rather than a sub-bench?:))

[Gary Benson]

Martin,
To make it as stable as I wanted, it needed to be bolted down. Duncan Robertson has provisions for his to be clamped down so it can be easily moved, but his is higher than mine and has 2 runners underneath that can be clamped. I don't plan to move mine, but if it needs to be removed it is just 2 lag screws. However, I do like the hinged idea previously mentioned, I also like the idea of a self-contained mini bench. Will have to give careful consideration next year when I start over and re-build the main portion of the bench with a wagon vise instead of the always sagging tail vise.

Matthew,
I will from now on refer to it as the "Dovetail Super Bench".
Thanks,

Gary