Question for G. Wilson on benches.

[john brenton]

Although benches are a common topic, they have come up a lot lately. George seems to be strangely silent on them. I don't mean to put George on the spot, and he's certainly not obligated to reply, but IMO he is the resident hand tool guru.

From what I see they used the "Nicholson/English" bench at Williamsburg. What say you George? What is your ideal hand tool cabinetmakers bench?

Speaking of, does anyone have a diagram of the historically accurate frame work of the Nicholson? I know what will work, but I'm looking for the original skeleton set up if anyone has it.

[george wilson]

Personally,I prefer a German style bench with a tail vise. But,you must remember, I am not making much furniture,and not having the need to clamp boards on edge for edge planing.

I'd post pictures of my bench,but it is always so cluttered that I haven't taken time to clear it off for a decent shot.

My bench is made of beechwood. I had a few logs custom sawn years ago at a country saw mill,into 4" X 6" 's. Then,later on,I found a huge beechwood plank about 5" thick,24" wide and about 10' long. I bought it and let it dry for several years. It had a piece of barbed wire in it,which is why they didn't keep sawing it at the sawmill. Drilled it out,and glued in a boat shaped insert to cover the hole.

Except for a 4x4" of beechwood along the front edge,which carries the dog holes,the top is one piece. I made all the hardware,screw,etc. for the tail vise.

[Ray Gardiner]

Hi John,

This is the Hay Nicholson...

http://anthonyhaycabinetmaker.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/hello-world/

Regards
Ray

PS, I notice some of George's work here... http://anthonyhaycabinetmaker.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/small-planes-more-tools-of-our-time/ Nice Boxwood Rule! (and the planes too)

[george wilson]

The blade on that little rectangular steel plane that I made,used to stick out from the wedge at least 1". They have worn it down to the nubs!! Maybe I should make them a new blade.

[john brenton]

Thanks Ray and George.

I could really use some little planes like that. I would just make them out of wood, but I'd love to know how you made them George. The bronze look like one piece, but the bottom of the metal planes looks like it was welded on.


The blade on that little rectangular steel plane that I made,used to stick out from the wedge at least 1". They have worn it down to the nubs!! Maybe I should make them a new blade.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Personally,I prefer a German style bench with a tail vise. But,you must remember, I am not making much furniture,and not having the need to clamp boards on edge for edge planing.

I'd post pictures of my bench,but it is always so cluttered that I haven't taken time to clear it off for a decent shot.

My bench is made of beechwood. I had a few logs custom sawn years ago at a country saw mill,into 4" X 6" 's. Then,later on,I found a huge beechwood plank about 5" thick,24" wide and about 10' long. I bought it and let it dry for several years. It had a piece of barbed wire in it,which is why they didn't keep sawing it at the sawmill. Drilled it out,and glued in a boat shaped insert to cover the hole.

Except for a 4x4" of beechwood along the front edge,which carries the dog holes,the top is one piece. I made all the hardware,screw,etc. for the tail vise.

Hey George,

I'd love to see some pics of that bench for sure!

Klaus

[george wilson]

John, You may have missed where I said I did not make the larger violin plane. It is an antique I found at a flea market. I made the sharp cornered,rectangular steel plane. The brass planes are commercial,too.

The rectangular plane was milled from the solid,from a 3/4" square piece of steel. The blade is 1/2" by 1/16" 01. If you look closely,you can see my initials GDW on the side. Made it in about 1975.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

George - having done as much instrument work as you do, I'm curious what your preferred method for clamping instrument bodies on the bench when needed. I always find it an interesting challenge to clamp the odd shape securely, yet without marring.

[george wilson]

Violin tops and backs are harder to clamp than guitar tops,of course. I use a hollowed out pine plank that you can lay the top/back in without touching the arched surface. Around the edges,little hardwood thin blocks with a screw or nail in the center. Hold the top/back down while planing to keep it from jumping the blocks. You can angle the clamping faces of the blocks inwards,and nail them down so they pinch inwards toward the edges some.

For the highly vaulted backs of early style guitars,it was very effective to drive nails around the edges of guitar shaped work boards. Then,lash the back down with twine. This is how the old Spanish makers often did it. It is very effective at getting the back clamped every where without damaging anything. You do not need,nor should you use much pressure to glue down well fitted backs. Repeated wraps with twine puts good pressure on the work,like wrapping a string around your finger many turns.

Here is something I did to hold tapered work: My bench in the museum shop had a tail vise,not a wagon vise,just a regular tail vise. I drilled holes and mounted an oak 3" x 3" over the fixed and the movable jaw of the tail vise. I used lag bolts centered in the tops of the 3" x 3"'s. These oak blocks were 6" long. By leaving the lag bolts just a little loose,I could clamp necks or other tapered objects by swiveling the oak blocks. I tightened the blocks down when I got them to the taper I wanted to hold. It was simple and quite effective.

At home,I use a "universal" vise that everyone now sells. They originally started out as gunstocker's vises that Ulmia sold,but we won't tell anyone that!

[Mike Siemsen]

Speaking of, does anyone have a diagram of the historically accurate frame work of the Nicholson? I know what will work, but I'm looking for the original skeleton set up if anyone has it.[/QUOTE]

Project Gutenberg has Nicholson on line at http://tinyurl.com/3cdla8m
The plate showing the bench is at ii and the written part starts at page 87
I wrote about mine at http://schoolofwood.com/blog/4?page=3
I think they knocked these benches together fairly quick. I believe the Hay shop blog has a diagram of how theirs are put together.
Mike

[george wilson]

There is a picture of a drawing,of the bench on their blog. What it doesn't show,though,is that the top slides open on its back half,revealing a tool storage area beneath it. Seems unhandy to me(because my bench is always cluttered!!):)