Oh so close ... bench update.

[Derek Cohen]

The bench is basically done. Just a few lesser pieces to build - the dogs (well, you cannot use the tail vise without them), the parallel guide pin (made one in steel ... hated it, and will turn one from Wandoo, a very hard timber), and the tool shelf.


I left off last weekend with the new dog strip installed. First chance I had on Saturday I chopped the last mortice (that the new strip had removed), and drilled the holes for the pegs to attach the top to the legs. I am not draw boring the top as this would make it very difficult to undo should I ever need to break the bench down.


And then I grabbed Jamie, my 19 year old son, and we lifted the top off the old bench, turned it over, and placed it on the base. A little wiggle ... a jiggle ... and the mortices dropped over the legs tenons. I had a bench.


Man, this is one solid construction! Even without the pegs being driven home, it was impossible to move. The pegs, by the way, were made from Oak. I thought that Jarrah would look too busy.


I slapped on a couple of coats of oil ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/final2.jpg


The top is flat .. flat .. flat ..


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/final3.jpg


The Benchcrafted tail vise (wagon vise) ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final4.jpg


Hey Wilbur, this bit is for you. First of all, another Thank You for the vise screw.


For the information of others, Wilbur purchased a pair of screws from "someone", who made them for him. This was not one of the current vendors, such as Big Wood Vise. The main differences were that the diameter of the screw is 2" and that it is a two-piece construction (the screw and the hub are separate). I decided to personalise the screw by turning my own hub from Jarrah to match the chop. In one of his emails to me, Wilbur pointed out that glueing the hub and screw together did not work well, and that he had added a dowel through the hub. Great idea! I needed to make my dowel removable (to dissemble the legvise), and so I drilled through the hub and screw shaft, then threaded the screw shaft for a bolt ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final5.jpg


The bolt head was removed and a slot sawn for a screwdriver ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final7.jpg


Here is the legvise complete ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final8.jpg


The garter is made from a stunning piece of curly Myrtle, which links to the Oak top.


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final6.jpg


This was also used for the leg glide rollers (I cannot praise highly enough this idea from Jameel. Until they were added, the leg vise was struggling. The rollers transformed the construction. It now slides back-and-forth with ease, and holds thin boards tightly with little force) ..


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final9.jpg


The leg glide begins as a through tenon. This is rounded at the front of the chop ..


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final14.jpg


The leg glide (from inside the base) ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final10.jpg


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final11.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

The sliding deadman runs on a triangular strip that I screwed to the top of the stretcher (rather than sawing the stretcher to a triangle) ..


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Phoenix13.jpg


This allowed for the removal of the strip when installing the sliding deadman, and in turn this meant that I could create a tighter fit with less play. In practice this worked extremely well. The sliding deadman moves very freely and still remains flush with the stretcher and legs. Tip: round the ends of the tenon for less resistance.


The deadman and the leg vise were buit from the same board. They are 1 3/4" thick.


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final12.jpg


So ... finally, the big picture ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Bench%20build/Final13.jpg


We'll finish it all off next weekend. So far it has been 7 weekends, including one in which the dog strip was replaced.


Thanks especially to Perry (Pops). HI really would have struggled these last few build sessions without his help.


Regards from Perth


Derek

[john brenton]

Let me be the first to say...that is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

[Chris Griggs]

That's really nice Derek. You struck a nice balance between having some lovely eye catching details, while still having a bench that looks like it was meant to be used. Very nice indeed!

[Zach England]

Most beautiful bench ever? I think so.

[john brenton]

I dunno, have you ever seen the Studley bench? Either way, this is definitely among some of the most attractive benches I've seen. With those wood screws it's going to be a sweet workhorse too.


Most beautiful bench ever? I think so.

[Joe Bailey]

Awe-inspiring!

[Brent VanFossen]

Add my praises to the list. Beautiful. I'm sure it will be a pleasure to use.

[Jim Neeley]

Derek,

I especially like your implementation of the leg guide rollers and deadman strip. Very nicely done!!

Jim in Alaska

[David Weaver]

That's a nice bench! I suppose you're not going to be chopping out waste between pins on that without something underneath the subject piece, huh?

[Erik France]

Incredible looking bench. Simple lines, but all the little details really make it special.


This was also used for the leg glide rollers (I cannot praise highly enough this idea from Jameel. Until they were added, the leg vise was struggling. The rollers transformed the construction. It now slides back-and-forth with ease, and holds thin boards tightly with little force) ...

I'm assuming that the leg vice was not easy to move without the rollers? Like mine... I never thought about adding rollers like that. Mine is just supported on an old steel benchscrew through a 5" thick leg. Even when freshly waxed it doesn't move very smoothly. The weight of my chop probably doesn't help much; it is 7" wide 2 1/4" thick red oak.

Where did you get the rollers? Are they re-purposed casters?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Eric

The wheels in the rollers are a heavy duty nylon and came from the local borg - a set of $10 swivel wheels that I took apart. They were the smallest I could find as I was looking for a construction that did not dominate. They have a diameter of about 1". Honestly, the rollers must have taken 30 minutes to build and 10 minutes to fit. They transformed the leg vise from a stodgy affair into twinkle toes. I whole heartedly recommend this mod to every leg vise.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Erik France]

Cool, I think I'm going to make a new guide and add some rollers soon! Glad I just left my current guide in as a friction fit and didn't pin it.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Just a beautiful bench.
Lots of well executed details, but the one that catches my eye is the hub on the leg vise.

[Justin Green]

That is a nice bench!!! I like the dovetails and the bench crafted vice. Big wooden screws are always neat to see, too.

[Eric McCune]

Very nice Derek. Now you have to build one for the shop. No way you can work on that.

My all ash bench I'm building looks a little boring in comparison.

Thanks for keeping us updated throughout the build. Including a mistake that probably saved me from doing the same.

Eric

[Paul Saffold]

The benchcrafted dot com site has detailed plans (pdf) (free) and Jameel had a post here on the creek several years ago when he was developing his glide idea. He originally tried skateboard wheels. I used skateboard wheels and bearings on the bench I'm building and it makes a huge difference. If you go with the skateboard wheels and bearings you aren't going to save much money over the Benchcrafted package ($39 +S&H). If I had it to do over I'd just order from them. Very nice bench, Derek.
226337 226338

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Derek,
When I built my Moxon/Schwarz twin screw vise I didn't immediately know how to connect a hub to my screw. In the end I did it with a fox wedged tenon (http://villagecarpenter.blogspot.com/2010/07/fox-wedged-tenon.html) and I also pinned it with some bamboo skewers :).

226366

Nice job on the bench and thanks for posting your progress!
Salem

[Thomas love]

Looks good Derek, I built one acouple of years ago and use it daily. Suggestion ... leather on the leg vice faces, I used bench crafted wagon and leg vice harware and resisted using the leather he supplied for no reason except I was being lazy . now that I have finally installed the leather on the faces....I could kick myself for waiting so long. Enjoy the bench it is a beauty.
tom

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Thomas

Good point about the leather. I use chamois leather on my Moxon dovetail vise, and swear by it. I planned to use something similar on the bench, but decided it should be a little thicker and harder wearing, so found a vendor on eBay just yesterday and purchased enough suede leather for the vises and dogs.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice bench Derek.

Thanks for sharing the build.

It is sure to help others of us who are also in the process.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Paul

Regarding wheels from Jameel - I'd definitely get them from him. The added shipping to Oz made them uneconomical by the time I decided not to use skateboard wheels. But I was still tempted - one only does a bench like this once (unless you really like building benches).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jerome Hanby]

Had a thought on shipping. Kind of takes advantage of the USA government, but if we're going to be blamed for everything wrong on the planet, what's a little graft <g>.

We have a Daughter and her family stationed in Germany and we try to buy everything we can through Amazon because they will ship to an APO. The delivery time may not be as fast as with some other methods, but the shipping cost is about the same as UPS (often free through Amazon). If you purchase from the USA and if the vendor will ship to an APO and (this is the important part) you are friendly with a local USA military family, you can get then to receive the stuff for you.

[Matthew N. Masail]

that is one beautiful bench !

[Bobby O'Neal]

Great looking bench, Derek.

[Kurt Cady]

Hi Thomas

Good point about the leather. I use chamois leather on my Moxon dovetail vise, and swear by it. I planned to use something similar on the bench, but decided it should be a little thicker and harder wearing, so found a vendor on eBay just yesterday and purchased enough suede leather for the vises and dogs.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Your PM box is full - so I'll post it here for all.

Can you comment on the thickness, or weight of the leather you bought?

Maybe the seller has other items similar - who is the seller?

Thanks in advance

[Derek Cohen]

Curt

I have sent you a PM

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Zahid Naqvi]

Kurt, if you have a hobby lobby near by they have bags of leather cut offs they sell for cheap. I bought bag for $5.99 which had several large pieces of random cutoffs. I used the stiffest piece I could find on my leg vise it made a tremendous difference in "grip".

[Mike Holbrook]

I'm not sure I could bring myself to work on wood in that nice a bench. You may have to just whack it a few times with a hammer or something to break it in. Maybe when I finish this building project I can get started on mine. Anyone want to go frame some walls....NOT!

[Kurt Cady]

Curt

I have sent you a PM

Regards from Perth

Derek



I don't think your PM about your vise leather sent. I didn't receive anything... It probably looked like it sent, but didn't if your box is full


Kurt, if you have a hobby lobby near by they have bags of leather cut offs they sell for cheap. I bought bag for $5.99 which had several large pieces of random cutoffs. I used the stiffest piece I could find on my leg vise it made a tremendous difference in "grip".

I'll have to check that out - is it a normal stocked item, or something you have to ask for?

[Zahid Naqvi]

I'll have to check that out - is it a normal stocked item, or something you have to ask for?
In my hobby lobby there are several crafts sections, one of them is for making leather stuff (belts etc).There is always a shelf under the leather tools which has several bags of random cutoffs. The cutoffs are also mixed, colored, raw, smooth/rough, thick/thin etc. The stock keeps changing so I guess there must be others who buy this stuff too.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Derek.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

FWIW, Benchcrafted is selling a "Bag 'O Suede" for 20 bucks. It's the same stuff they sell with their Moxons, some left over bits, some biggish pieces. I don't know if it's a good deal or not, (20 dollars for about 1 and a quarter pounds of suede) but I figure Jameel knows his stuff enough to be selling something that's at least well suited to the application, if it's the same stuff they're using.

[Kurt Cady]

In my hobby lobby there are several crafts sections, one of them is for making leather stuff (belts etc).There is always a shelf under the leather tools which has several bags of random cutoffs. The cutoffs are also mixed, colored, raw, smooth/rough, thick/thin etc. The stock keeps changing so I guess there must be others who buy this stuff too.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Derek.

I'll check it out. Thanks. I too have to apologize for the hijack

[Jeff Ranck]

Wow! Just Wow!

[Brian LaShomb]

Beautiful, love the dovetails in the tail vise.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Derek - is the attachment between the parallel guide and the leg vise chop just glue and a really well fitting mortise? I though originally you were talking of wedging it, but obviously that doesn't work in the normal wedging fasion with a mortise with the edge open like yours, and even if you offset the tenon on the parallel guide so it wouldn't be open on one end, with such a small bit below the tenon, I'd think a wedge would blow out that small bit. My natural inclination would be to pin this joint, but it doesn't look like you have. Any concerns about the shearing forces placed on a glue joint as you use the vise over time?