Post production roubo build thread

[John Donofrio]

Yes, another bench build thread. Now that the build is almost complete, I figure I have no excuse but to post some pics, lessons learned and general observations from an amateurs perspective. Here goes...

Some general info:
Material: SYP
Top Length: ~77" (including closed tail vise jaws)
Top Thickness: 3"
Width: 24"
Height: 32"

Hardware:
Leg Vise:
Chop Material: SYP
Chop Thickenss: 2 1/2"
Screw: LV Tail Vise Screw
Alignment: Anchora Yacht Service Chain Vise

Tail Vise:
Material: SYP (end cap and jaw)
Thickness: 2 1/2" (end cap and jaw)
Screw: Veritas Twin Screw Vise
End Cap Fasteners: (6) 5/16" x 6" Spax

General:
I used the bench bolts and roller hardware from Benchcrafted.

I started this project back in August. The idea was to have a 'real' bench for the winter months so I could work on a couple projects before spring. One being a replacement arbor for the one that surprisingly made it through this past summer. I wish I had kept track of the countless bench build threads I read on both this and other forums. They were (and are) indispensable. Also indispensible; The Schwarz's bench books. As most already know they contain tons of good information. I read both.

I went to a local lumber yard to select the SYP. I wanted to use ash but it was simply too expensive and I was somewhat too impatient to keep shopping. Besides, I figured if the SYP turned out to be worthless, I'd have another fun (I think) project ahead in the future. At a minimum, I know I could replace the top with something more durable if the need arises. One advantage of the SYP I figure is that it is less likely to 'ding' a crisp workpiece if, when actually, it is dropped or slammed into the bench. A plus I hope. Here's the first load:

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I was pretty disappointed with the selection but I pressed on. I bought (6) 2x12x14's.

That turned into this:
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I quickly realized I would need more after getting to this point. Some of this stuff had so much stress in it that it warped well beyond use for the top, which I focused on first for material. One piece I was ripping actually bogged down and probably would have stopped a 3hp cabinet saw had I not killed it. Scary stuff for sure. Just about the equivalent of one 2x12x14 board was junk, at least as far as the top goes. I ended up using the band saw to rip them to rough width after breaking them in half with a circ saw. I still love electrons!

This was second load to replace the junk (the boards in the forefront). These were 2x12x8's from the local HD. I spent a couple hours picking through every one they had and actually found several gems. Nearly knot free and much tighter grain than the boards I had bough from the lumberyard. Of course, these boards were the exception.
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I'll pick up with the glue up of the parts soon.

[John Donofrio]

After getting enough acceptable material for the top, I proceeded to rough out the remaining pieces for the legs and stretchers. Actually, this is somewhat out of order since I used quite a bit of the first load to rough out the 'non-top' pieces. You can see the other pieces in the second load pic from the last post. This was mostly due to working around knots and cup/twist etc. As previously stated, the second load was much better SYP. That being said, just last night while roughing out pieces for the lower shelf from 'the good stuff', I had a piece I was cross cutting literally jam the miter saw.
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Luckily I was able to get the blade off the saw whilst the board was permanently attached to it. The split top came in handy here. Clamped it to the table and hand cut a kerf up to the blade thereby releasing it. Now back to the regularly scheduled topic.

I glued up the legs first, two at a time:
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The stretchers came next in pretty much the same fashion. This was the result:
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Now for the top. The scary sharp, uh top. I started with three boards at a time using TBIII. I figured I could handle that much at once using a roller. While the first glue up had me sweating, I was able to pull it off and the rest went more smoothly. A word of caution to those who will be attempting this and have never done a glue up like this... PLAN. PLAN SOME MORE. Take a break and then go through it AGAIN. Have clamps ready, towels, rollers, a helper. Just plan it.

I glued up each section of three first, 6 total for both top halves. Then I enlisted a helper, my better half, for the final glue up of each half. The reason was not because of the number of wet joints, there were still only two, but simply because throwing around 7 foot long sections is not as easy once they start to thicken. She was there to help me line them up and keep them from sliding around as I rolled the glue on the second joint. The latter was a problem I did not foresee so having help there certainly paid off. It would have been a complete debacle otherwise.

Began with this:
250603(These were ripped to the the same near final width before glue up began)

Did this (6 times):
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Then, with help, did this (twice):
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I forgot to note that per others' recommendation, authors included, I wiped each glue surface down with acetone prior to applying the glue. I'd let it sit for 10 minutes or so to let the acetone evaporate and then go to work. I also let each clamp up sit under pressure for at least 5hrs. Usually over night since it just worked out that way.

After all the sweating, I ended up with two ~7' long, 11 1/8" wide and ~3 1/16 thick slabs of SYP that were pretty flat. As flat as I could have hoped for at least. I was happy.

[EDIT] I forgot to mention an important aspect of the top glue-up. Make sure to do your best to orient the boards so the grain is running in the same direction. Really this applies to all the glue-ups but especially for the top. This will make your job much easier when doing the final flattening. I did my best here but, as those who have used SYP know, this stuff has really wacky grain. Very roller coaster like so I knew going in I would have tear-out when I ran my planes across it.

[John Donofrio]

Maybe one of the admins can chime in here.

I am building this bench in the hopes it will promote and help me learn more neander techniques but I must confess that it was and is being build primarily (but not completely) using more of the less environmentally friendly methods. Should this thread be moved to another section of the community such as 'General Woodworking and Power Tools'? I don't wanna step outta line before I reach the front and get the prize, whatever that means.

Thoughts before I continue on?

[Kurt Cady]

Hey, sweet looking bench

[Adam Cruea]

Maybe one of the admins can chime in here.

I am building this bench in the hopes it will promote and help me learn more neander techniques but I must confess that it was and is being build primarily (but not completely) using more of the less environmentally friendly methods. Should this thread be moved to another section of the community such as 'General Woodworking and Power Tools'? I don't wanna step outta line before I reach the front and get the prize, whatever that means.

Thoughts before I continue on?

What I've seen you use power tools on thus far doesn't necessarily disqualify you from posting here.

It does, in my opinion, qualify you as halfway sane. I can say from experience that building a bench completely by hand is very time consuming. I've been on mine since August or September and finally got to gluing the top up (granted, I had a month in there where I was useless because of an infection that knocked me on my butt and I also work 8 hours a day and commute 2).

[edit]And also, may I suggest on a next build, start with your bottom first so that you can use that to support your top when it goes to glue up.

[John Donofrio]

At this point I decided to ready the top a bit. I tried to find someone with a surface jointer large enough but didn't have any luck. However, I did find out that the local Woodworkers Guild has one, a 14" monster, (as well as some other industrial strength machines) but I'm not a member yet. My plan was to get one side flat and then run the slabs through my thickness planer. I ended up realizing this was the perfect time to attempt to flatten something by hand. Yes, by hand (hold the applause please). I wasn't terribly excited over this since I was afraid I might turn the slabs into large toothpicks but as it turns out, it wasn't all that difficult. I followed the tried and true methods as described by many here as well as in the books I had read. Took my time, used winding sticks, a straight edge, lumber crayon and a glazed donut, to go. It worked out pretty well although I was a bit wore out since the bench (the TS outfeed table) I used was a bit high for handplaning. Now I'm sure someone who is more skilled than I could've done it quicker and better but I was happy with the result. I felt comfortable I had a reasonably flat surface to mate with the soon to be base. I knew I had a final flattening ahead once it all came together, but this was a good start. Yet another reason to do this step by hand since I was aware the two halves would have to be flattened as one once they were mounted to the base. I now had some experience under my belt. About two hours worth.

I pulled out the #5 and went to town. Do not forget to run a small chamfer on the exit side of the strokes! A point I quickly remembered once I got started.
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See I told ya it was flat. I'm absolutely positive you can tell how flat this is without anything such as winding sticks or straight edges. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I took this. Probably because I was proud of myself or something like that.
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Once I was satisfied one surface was flat, I setup a rig with the thickness planer. I was a bit concerned that it would have trouble pulling the piece through but it was a non-issue. Remember the grain direction! I ended up with two slabs that were consistently 3 3/64" thk. Enough left over to hit my target 3" thick top (I hoped anyway). I stated in an earlier post that my initial glue-up of the top yielded two 3 1/16" thick slabs. They were actually more like 3 1/8".
250658250657 In the first pic you can see the 'junk' leaning in the background from the first load of lumber that was completely unusable for the top. It'll probably get sequestered to the fire pit burn pile once this project is done.


The end result of all the labor to this point. It was time to make sure the fridge was working. It was working, well!
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Now onto the base. Some suggest the base should be done first so there is a surface to use once the top reaches this point. I would agree now but the sawhorses did just fine once they were leveled out.

[Kurt Cady]

I bet it turns out pretty nice! How do you know which direction the grain is going, the tops of all of your boards for the tips look like straight grain?

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I don't know, I built my bench top first. That way, I could attach the top to my sawhorses, and have a surface large enough to build the base on. I think it can really go either way, and depends on what you've got for work surfaces all ready.

[John Donofrio]

How do you know which direction the grain is going, the tops of all of your boards for the tips look like straight grain?

Take a look at this pic
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=250658&d=1357843327

You can see the grain rising away from the cut (the side of the slab). If the grain were sloping the opposite way, the blade would be able to 'lift' the wood fibers thereby causing almost certain tearout. This applies whether it is a machine or handplane. Having a sharp blade and taking light cuts can help but are certainly no guarantee. Lowering the angle of the cut, such as with a low angle jack plane, can also help.

Check out this link for some more info
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?188396-Newbie-question-of-the-day

[Scott M Perry]

Great job surfacing that slab, but -2 on the Diamond Dave reference... :p

[John Donofrio]

After re-reading it, I couldn't agree more

[John Donofrio]

Now for the base. I wish I had taken more pics here. I just didn't think to stop for pics as I moved along at this point. I'll do my best to explain the steps.

As shown in a previous post, I now had two large slabs of wood and a bunch of sticks, well comparatively speaking. The target size for the legs was 5"x3 3/4" and the stretchers was 4"x2". I was able to hit both sizes using a combination of hand and power tools. The next step was to cut the legs and stretchers to final length which I did at the chop saw. After setting up a rig at the station to cut accurate lengths consistently, the stretchers were done. Easy. The legs were a different story. They are too large for the 10" chop saw to cut all the way through. I debated on attempting to hand saw them but I do not have a quality saw. Nor have I the ability to hand saw accurately enough for something I wanted to be accurate. I used the chop saw to make a cut through as much of the leg as I could. I then hand sawed of the remaining waste, leaving the cut a little proud. Using a sharp block plane, I smoothed out the end grain. It went well, just took some time.

Now for the mortises. I don't have pics of the legs as the mortising progressed so I've attached a Sketchup pic. I suppose I haven't mentioned I worked from a Sketchup model to keep things straight. It really helped plus it allowed me to prove out my design before cutting any wood.

Here's the left front leg:
251090 I printed out one of these for each leg and worked to the drawing.

After careful layout I used the drill press with forstner bits to hog out the majority of the material. Note here that it is critical to check your layout. I caught myself several times laying out a mortise on the wrong side or in the wrong location. Check and double check before making any cuts. It saved me a few times.

Since I don't have mortising chisels, I didn't see any other way. Besides that, it would've taken me forever to remove that much waste and the quality would've undoubtedly been less than ideal with my chiseling prowess.

Once I had most of the material gone, I chiseled and pared the holes square and smoothed out the walls. This took quite a while but I was happy with the result. Take your time here. You really want a good fit with the stretcher tenons.

Next was to fit the stretcher tenons to the leg mortises. I roughed them out with TS and a dado stack and then used a block and shoulder plane to get a nice friction fit. Alls well at this point.

A dry fit. This pic shows the two leg assemblies that were complete at this point. I do not have pics of process but I did use draw bored pegs (2) in each tenon. It was my first time doing that but it went smoothly. I did get a little bit of hole ream-out (if that makes sense) when the pegs were driven in, but I kinda expected it since the legs are SYP (soft) and the pegs are red oak (hard). It's not bad though. I had to remember, it's a workbench. I also glued these joints.
[EDIT] This pic is actually a true dry fit of all the parts. Notice the stub tenons on the top of the legs are not cut yet. After this pic was taken, I completed the leg assemblies.
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Now onto the long stretchers and the bench bolts. This was one area I had been stressing over for some time. I was worried that the 1/2" x 12" auger bit would wonder radically from the center of the stretcher. If it wanders too far, I'd have trouble lining up the nut from the inside of the stretcher. Since I used the drill press for the counter bored hole through the leg and into the bottom of the mortise, I knew that would at least give me an accurate guide for the bit to follow. I clamped the base up similar to what is shown in the pic above except I used a clamp above and below the stretcher.

Once making sure the whole assembly was attached solidly to my TS out feed table, I drilled to a depth of about 1" deeper than the bench bolts are long. The drilling went well except I still didn't know if the holes were true. To figure out where to make the counter bores on the inside of the stretcher for the bench bolt nuts, I made a small fixture consisting of nothing more than a block of wood and two dowels. I wish I could remember where I read about this technique. Just know that credit is due elsewhere.

On the drill press, drill two holes in the block of wood spaced far enough apart so that a dowel in each hole will allow you to slide one dowel into the stretcher hole while the other dowel allows you to see the path of the hole inside the stretcher. It is important that these two holes be accurately parallel or the purpose will be defeated. I hope this makes sense. I do not have any pics of it. Regardless, it worked pretty well. Using this, I determined about where to counter bore for the nuts. At first I was confident I could hit the mark so I drilled the first counter bore the size of the nut, 1". This gave pretty much no play to allow the bolt to find and grab the nut. I re-drilled the counter bore to about 1/4" oversized and that worked well.

This was the result:
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Note here you can see the draw bore pegs but barely since there is still no finish yet. This was the first point when I really felt like I was making good progress which probably explains the lack of pics. All the milling and fitting and gluing had taken a bit of a toll on me. This was reinvigorating.

Think this one is long enough. I'll pick up with some pics of the vises coming together.

[John Donofrio]

I next needed to mate the top to the base. In order to get everything to line up properly, I milled two spacers out of a few pieces of scrap that were the thickness of the gap I needed. I roughed them close and then kept taking thin shavings until the overall width of the clamped top matched the width of the base. 24" was my target and I hit it for all intents and purposes. It may be 1/64 or so wider but, hey, who's counting. I don't have a pic of it at this stage but once the top and base matched width wise, I traced a line around the stub tenons on the underside of the top. Using these marks, lines were cut with a marking gauge parallel to the length of the top and lines were cut perpendicular to the length using a square and marking knife. I chiseled out the perimeter of each mortise to about 1/16 or so deep. This gave me a nice 'stay away' area for the next step.

I resorted back to my electrical friends and used a router and straight bit set to about 1/16" deeper than the stub tenons were long to hog out the majority of the mortise waste. About 1 1/16" deep in multiple passes. I did this by eye only, staying away from the cuts I made previously. Chisels were then used to clean up the mortise sides. I was sure there would be multiple attempts in sizing the mortises but it dropped right in on the first try. This scared me! It turned out the fit was good. There is a very small amount of play but nothing that should affect the performance of the bench. Whew. Once again, I think we're in the 64'th arena. It needs said again. Take your time and things will [should] work out.

Here's the base sitting on the top:
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And the bench on the floor:
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Another real sign of progress! It looks like a bench.

In the last post I mentioned I completed the leg assemblies but forgot to mention the pre-work that needed done for the leg vise. Using the screw nut as a template, the holes for the leg vise screw were drilled and the back of the leg was mortised for the nut to sit in. At this point the layout for the chain sprocket was addressed. Following the instructions Jim provides with the chain drive, the holes and mortise for the sprocket were cut with the drill press and router. This was another part I was concerned about. If the sprocket was not square to the leg, it may not work properly. It turned out to be much easier than I thought. Another unwarranted stressful situation but this is good. It needs said again, well maybe not but I'm gonna anyway. Take your time and things will [should] work out.

Here's the finished sprocket and screw nut:
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This time I'm serious. Next will be the vises.

[John Donofrio]

At this point there is a base and a top. Time to get started on the leg vise.

First another glue-up to get a nice slab. My target thickness for the chop was 2 1/2" so my glue-up was about 2 5/8" thick.
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After taking the slab out of the clamps, it was cut and milled square on all sides as well as milled to thickness. I was almost ready to try this by hand but the angel on my shoulder, or devil depending on your perspective, made me think otherwise. Besides, I don't have a decent surface yet to do real hand planing. Unlike the massive slab earlier, there was no good way to hold this one steady.

It was too wide for the jointer so I used a sled in the surface planer to get a flat side. Then business as usual to get to the final thickness. Jointed an edge and then ripped the other parallel.

Now it was time for some more careful layout. Everything about the chop was laid out in pencil on this small slab. A hole was then drilled for the vise screw and the screw attached. From here, it was over to the assembled base. The chop was screwed to the leg and cinched down all the while making sure the center lines on the slab met the center lines on the leg. Once I was satisfied everything lined up, the same 5/8" forstner bit was used to locate the hole for the chain on the inside of the chop as was used to drill the hole through the leg.

My first 'screw-up', kinda. If you notice the little jig sitting on the top short stretcher in this pic, it was used as a drilling guide. Yes, I forgot to drill through the top short stretchers for the spax screws that will attach the top to the base. Oops. Since the side assemblies were already glued and draw-bored, I was pretty sure they were not coming apart. This solution worked well.
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Layout alone was used to locate the through mortise in the chop. Since all the layout on the leg and chop matched up well, I was comfortable the mortise was going to be located properly in the chop. but that didn't stop me from using a piece of scrap 3/4" ply to fabricate a test parallel guide to make sure it would work and was located properly. Once all was well in leg vise land, I moved onto making the real parallel guide. Red oak was used here. Since it's a sliding part, I figured it wasn't a good idea to use a soft wood. Plus it just looks nicer. The plan was initially to use the standard pin with holes in the parallel guide but once I stumbled upon the Chain Leg Vise, I just had to use it. I'm glad I did. It works wonderfully once adjusted properly.

Once the 'real' parallel guide was fabricated and fit properly it was time for some more draw-boring. But first the chop needs some shaping.

My first 'screw-up' of significance. Stopped cuts on the table saw were used to cut the leg width, lower portion of the chop. I miss-marked the exit point of the blade on the underside of the cut so with the stop point marked at the wrong location I cut into the area of the arc. This Sketchup pic shows what the original chop design was to look like.
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Once my two-year-old-like tantrum stopped, I gathered my thoughts. After nearly tossing the chop, I decided that instead of the arc, a 45 would work just fine. It just wasn't the look I was going for. Oh well. I'm way over it. Some adjustments and we were back on track.

Back to the draw boring. There was a slight concern since these holes were much deeper than the previous ones on the legs but there was a plus side. Since the pins would have to travel much farther before they hit the offset holes in the parallel guide tenon, there is virtually no chance of getting the 'hole ream-out' I mentioned in the last post. They came out perfect in my opinion. This time there was no glue used, only the pins hold the guide in place. This should be a non-issue since the large forces will be pushing the guide into the chop, not trying to pull it out. Unless of course I try using the vise as a come-along. I'll re-post in a few dozen years to let you know how it's holding up.

Time to break down the entire base and apply some BLO. I also put some on the chop and parallel guide at this time.
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Rounding third on the leg vise. A picture is worth a thousand words, or at least a few hundred.
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I think the pictures explain it well enough. If not, please don't hesitate to ask. What doesn't show in the pics is that the chain goes through the leg and attaches to a brass button mortised into the front of the chop. You can see that hole where the chop is sitting on the table awaiting it's BLO bath.


The completed vise in a test. As you can see, I had already started on the sliding deadman which I'll cover soon.
251178 She really grips. I plan to add a suede liner but even without it, there is a lot of holding power - AND no pin to adjust.

Almost forgot... The roller guide. I'll start with this pic:
Ooops. Only 8 pics per post. I'll include it in the next installment.


Sorry for the length. And if you're still there, thanks for looking.

[ryan carlino]

Thanks for the detailed write-up. I'm about to embark on turning 137bf of 8/4 maple into something very similar. I'm on the fence in terms of split-top vs. solid top right now. Sending the 12" wide slabs through a planer seems a lot more reliable than trying to level a 24" slab by hand.

Do you feel pretty good about the 2 slabs remaining coplanar? My fear with a split-top is ensuring the 2 slabs end up where you want them to.

It's cool to see the chain used on your leg vise. I'm also on the fence to use that vs. the new cross from Benchcrafted. The downside (I see) with the cross is it hoses up the leg-to-stretcher mortise and tenon joint. You chain and roller looks sweet.

Thanks for sharing!
ryan

[Jim Ritter]

Hi John... Nice installation on the chain. You will forget it is even there. But as to your top, it sounds like you are screwing the top to the strechers, yes? If that is the only attachment you may find the top gets pushed back by the leg vise. If you could fit a loose tenon to that front leg into the top ( it doesn't need to be glued, just a snug fit) it will help keep that edge registered to the front of the leg.
Jim

[John Donofrio]

Hi John... Nice installation on the chain. You will forget it is even there. But as to your top, it sounds like you are screwing the top to the strechers, yes? If that is the only attachment you may find the top gets pushed back by the leg vise. If you could fit a loose tenon to that front leg into the top ( it doesn't need to be glued, just a snug fit) it will help keep that edge registered to the front of the leg.
Jim

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the compliment! I'm very happy with the vise.

There are stub tenons on the top of the legs that keep the top from doing just that. I would absolutely agree that without some type of positive stop, the top would just simply get pushed out of the way. The screws alone would be no match for the power of this vise. We'll see how it holds up over time since this is soft wood but right now, I don't see it being a problem. Once I get the suede liners in place, it won't take nearly as much force to keep a piece steady.

Have things settled back to any type of normalcy up your way from the storm?

[Jim Ritter]

Yes we are on the east end of Long Island and were not hit as badly as near the city. Thanks for asking.
If you mentioned a stub tenon I'm sorry I missed it, but if someone just jumped in like I did I thought I should say something.

[John Donofrio]

Thanks Ryan. It's been a fun, challenging project. Except for a two story playset I designed and built for my daughter years ago, this is by far the most challenging project I've taken on. The biggest difference here is the accuracy factor. The bench requires just a tad more.

Split top vs solid top. I debated the same thing and using the planer was certainly a factor for me too. You could always run the two halves through and then glue them up as long as mating sides are square to the top surfaces. Be advised that no matter what you do a final flattening will probably need to be done. I haven't gotten to that part yet in the write up but I did have to do it on the top as a whole. I might actually be easier on a solid top but that's just a guess.

The post 'Base meets top' above explains how I got the two halves located accurately to the base. The spacers worked very well. It just took some time clamping, checking the dims, removing, shaving, re-clamping, etc.

As for the two staying coplanar... I'm sure over time it'll have to be re-flattened but that's probably the case no matter what you use. At least that's what seems to be the case from everything I've read. Time will tell here.

One of my biggest concerns with a solid top was maneuvering it around. I'm working with SYP. I couldn't imagine trying to move around a 7' x 1' slab of hardwood let alone one twice as wide.

Good luck and please post as you progress. I now wish I would have as I progressed instead of waiting until I was almost done.

[ryan carlino]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'll keep stewing on it. I better start working out to get ready for moving around all that maple :)

It's funny you also built a play set for the kids. I did one a few years back as well: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?166068-Kids-Indoor-Playset

Do you have any pics of yours?

[John Donofrio]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'll keep stewing on it. I better start working out to get ready for moving around all that maple :)

It's funny you also built a play set for the kids. I did one a few years back as well: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?166068-Kids-Indoor-Playset

Do you have any pics of yours?

Ryan, Nice job on the playset! I like the indoor concept. Mine was strictly outdoor. It was used by many kids over several years and was eventually sold to a friend for his boys to abuse. I believe it's still in use today.

251240



Is it wrong to sub-consciously design a feature that requires a new tool?
Absolutely not. SOP in my opinion. (Can we keep that quite please, you know... The wife might hear)

[John Donofrio]

Since I couldn't fit in the roller guide for the leg vise in the last entry, I'll cover it now. Unfortunately, the only pic I have is of it nearly completed. I also took one tonight of it mounted.

I wasn't sure how I was going to tackle this one so I started with a significantly larger block of wood than the roller actually is. It's easier to work with but more importantly, it's much safer. The block was squared up on all sides and yet more careful layout was done although it's a roller guide, not a turbine blade. As long as it can be attached to the leg and the wheel secured, it'll be ok. Quite honestly, I'm not even sure it's required. The leg vise ran pretty smooth without it but not quite as with it.

Before I continue, it should be mentioned that before the BLO was put on the leg assembly that hosts the leg vise, the layout for the tapped holes in the leg was done. A small jig was created and clamped to the leg as a drilling guide. Holes were drilled to appropriate size and depth then they were tapped. Prior, a test tapping was done in a scrap block of wood to make sure there would be reasonable holding power. I was very surprised since this was a tapped hole in soft southern yellow pine. I really think I could've kept cranking down on the cap screws to basically draw the washer into the block of wood, crushing the fibers below. Either way, I was convinced there was enough strength to hold the roller to the leg. I had read where some use CA glue to 'harden' the threads and this was my plan had the threads failed in the test. No CA glue for you! As a precaution though, after the roller was finished I added some 220 grit self adhesive sandpaper on the back to keep it from wanting to slide downward. Think we're good.

First the hole for the wheel axle was drilled. It was kept accurate at the drill press. It was also a good time to drill the small hole for the set screw. More tapping into the wood but a much different situation. No worries here. In fact, I used the set screw itself to manufacture the threads.

Onto the slot for the cap screws. A straight bit on the router table took care of that. Since the longest bit I have would not go through the whole block, multiple stopped passes were made from each side. Just be sure to flip the piece end for end length wise instead of 'rolling' it over.

The next order of business was to create the slot the wheel sits in. This was done with the piece clamped vertically against a fenced miter gauge on the TS. The dado stack was installed and the cuts progressed. Three passes for the width at three different depths. I would do this differently next time. My dado stack is of medium quality at best so these end grain cuts tended to burn with each pass. It was smelling pretty bad in the shop after this procedure. It's also possible the blades/chippers are dulling. They were freshly cleaned however. Lessening the width of the stack might help although I was far from maximum. If I remember correctly, the stack was 3/8" but I really don't remember. Another option would be to just use your best TS blade and make several passes. Of course, this being a neander forum, saws and chisels are always acceptable, if not preferred.

A bit of shaping at the band saw and out comes a rough roller guide. Since there's no drum sander in the shop, not counting the short ones that go on the drill press, I took to hand sanding the entire piece along with some rasping. Here's the result attached to the test hole I mentioned earlier.
251310
I was not looking forward to making this piece but it came out well.

The action pic from tonight...
251312

The sliding deadman(shhh). Oh, that's what it's actually called? I get it now.

Once again, I didn't take as many pics as I now wish I had but again I took one of the completed system tonight.

Bottom line is this; a groove in the bottom of the top, a track for the deadman to ride on, and a way to get it off the bench should the need arise. We'll start with the groove in the bottom of the top because, well that's where it starts.

This is the best pic I have that shows the groove. You can see it on the right of the shot. Also visible are the mortises for the legs as well as some of the work for the end vise but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
251314

The outside edge of the groove is 7/8" away from the edge of the top, 1" deep and 3/4" wide. It runs the full distance between the front legs. The groove was originally designed as 9/16" deep but it changed on the fly. The original concern was that the outer wall of the groove would be weak if it was too deep. Nonsense. There no real force pushing the deadman outward, or at least there shouldn't be. I wanted a little more 'tongue' on the deadman and so decided to go deeper with the groove. It's probably fine either way.

A router, straight bit and edge guide attachment was used to cut the groove. Even if I thought I could make this with a hand plane, I do not have needed handplane in my small arsenal of handplanes. I'm told there's a hidden sickness regarding this and I have had a cough lately. The ends of the groove were squared up with chisels then the base and top reassembled.

Onto the deadman itself. A friend of mine was generous enough to offer up an old red oak stair tread from a mill that was torn down. He has several and was willing to part with one for future help in the shop. A very fair trade indeed! After milling it flat, I had a 1 7/8" thick solid board about 4 feet long. This worked out excellent as I was planning on gluing up a slab from some HD red oak boards laying around. It was also long enough to rip off the 90 degree track the deadman rides on. Sweet. This made the width of the track the exact thickness of the deadman making the layout and alignment easier.

As usual, it started with a squared up block of wood then the layout for the final shape and dogholes was made.

Now for the 45 degree innie cuts at the bottom. Once again, to the table saw. No dado here, that would be silly, just a tilted blade. With the peak of the blade height set to the center of the thickness of the piece, I lined up the piece to the layout marks and slid it across the saw with a fenced miter gauge. Flip it. Repeat. Done.

The goal, for me anyway, was to minimize the gap between the deadman and the bench top. I just don't like the look of having a large gap there. To alleviate this gap, the track was made next by simply ripping a 45 on each face of the remainder of the oak board, longways. The resultant 90 was then ripped away from the board, cut to length and attached to the long stretcher with countersunk screws. The front 45 degree edge was kept flush to the front of the stretcher. The deadman's 90 degree groove could now rest on the track but at a leaning forward angle. This allowed for a 'close enough' mark for cutting the tongue.

The track was then removed and a thin kerf handsaw was used to cut the track on the left end nearest the leg vise. The cutoff being a little wider than the deadman. This is the exit area should the deadman decide to roam free. The long piece of track was returned to the stretcher. The short piece will be returned later.

Back at the TS with the stacked dado and fenced miter gauge, this time to rough out the tongue on the top of the deadman. Take off a little less than you think so you can sneak up on the final fit. The gap at the front and top ended up in the <1/16" area. A little play is needed for it to slide smoothly. The tongue is about 3/4" long.

Does it fit? Careful use of the shoulder plane gave a nice sliding fit. Some slop was intentionally left on the backside, again probably about 1/16" but the front side is dead flush with the front of the leg and bench top which is what matters. The slop helps to remove the deadman and allows it to slide easily.

Before final shaping the deadman, don't forget to drill the holes unless you just want a sliding board on your bench. Two holes at a time was about all I could drill before having to wait for the bit to cool down. After nearly burning up a 3/4" forstner bit the end of this stage was near. A couple cuts on the band saw then it's off to [drum roll sound] THE WORKBENCH! My first use of the leg vise. It was a pleasure. Some rasping, scraping and sanding. Also, some dust relief was added to the ends of the bottom track at the ends. Track pieces + deadman + BLO = done. Oh, and wax on the contact parts after the BLO dried helped too. It slides nice.

These are the best pics I have, the second one being taken tonight:
251315251316

These posts seem to keep getting longer but I'm trying to hit on all the major points. Hopefully it's not putting anyone to sleep. Finishing the top, the twin screw tail vise, and the bottom shelf is all that's left. Oh, how could I forget the dogholes in the top. They'll be last. In fact I'll probably be caught up by then. Should be wrapped in about fifty posts or so...

Kidding.

[Phillip Dejardin]

Hi John, Thanks for sharing your build. I'm enjoying the progress and partially into my own build. I was wondering how far your top overhangs on the right-hand (non-leg vise) side?

[John Donofrio]

Hi John, Thanks for sharing your build. I'm enjoying the progress and partially into my own build. I was wondering how far your top overhangs on the right-hand (non-leg vise) side?

Phillip, the right side overhang is about 12 1/2". The original design had it at exactly 12" but since I had extra material when I cut the top, the extra 1/2" was added as a safety factor.

The screws for the twin screw are 16 1/2" from the back of the thrust plate to the end of the screw. The chop and end cap are 5" thick together so I needed a minimum of 11 1/2" but that's just cutting it too close (intended :D). With the extra 1/2" that was added during the build, there's about 1" between the screw ends and the top stretcher so I'm sure the original 12" would have been fine.

Good luck with your build. Posting anything?

[Phillip Dejardin]

Phillip, the right side overhang is about 12 1/2". The original design had it at exactly 12" but since I had extra material when I cut the top, the extra 1/2" was added as a safety factor.

The screws for the twin screw are 16 1/2" from the back of the thrust plate to the end of the screw. The chop and end cap are 5" thick together so I needed a minimum of 11 1/2" but that's just cutting it too close (intended :D). With the extra 1/2" that was added during the build, there's about 1" between the screw ends and the top stretcher so I'm sure the original 12" would have been fine.

Good luck with your build. Posting anything?

Thanks, John. I'm doing a large part of my build via hand tools - surfacing and dimensioning - but using my band saw whenever I can. I don't have a jointer, planer, or table saw, which slows things down quite bit. My shop time is also limited, so this is talking a long time. I'm making the bench out of Hard Maple, based closely on the Lie Nielsen design. Any pics will be farther down the road.

[John Donofrio]

It was almost time to cut the top. But first I decided to attach the top to the base and do the flattening of the two slabs as a whole. Since I had tons of experience doing this, about two hours lifetime worth from the initial flattening, I forged ahead. A brief description of what I had to deal with.

It wasn't too bad but when I laid a reliable straight edge across the entire top width wise, I was seeing a pretty consistent 1/32 gap in the middle. I wasn't sure why. When I put winding sticks along different points of the top length wise, it looked really good, maybe an ever-so-slight twist. At first I thought the planer blades might be slightly out of parallel to the planer bed. But since I ran the two halves through the planer in the same direction, what I was seeing didn't make sense. Regardless of why, it needed flattened.

This time I remembered to create a chamfer on the exit side of the strokes BEFORE starting. Learning progress! (although I still got some blowout on the edges) Using the same methods as before, the tried and true ones described in this community and elsewhere, I proceeded to make shavings using a freshly tuned #7 picked up from most folks' favorite auction site. First came some lumber crayon artwork around the entire top. Then strokes directly across the grain the entire length of the top until the the crayon was gone. After renewing the scribble, diagonal strokes in one direction and then the opposite were taken. The straight edge and winding sticks were rechecked between each step and several times during them. A few passes the length of the top with the grain and after an hour or so, I was happy with the flatness of the top.
251419

It's worth noting that during this whole process the bench never, or barely moved. This was in spite of the fact that I still had it sitting on some thin boards to keep the feet off the concrete. I did this to give the BLO in the end grain of the feet plenty of time to fully dry. Not sure if this was necessary or not but regardless, the bench is solid!

Now, it really was time to cut the top. This wasn't really a point of concern for me. It was an absolute fear. If I mess up now, it's back to basket weaving, no I meant car chasing. Whatever. The left end was less of a concern since there was nothing attached to it. The right was a whole 'nuther thing. If it's not square and plumb, the tail vise will not be square and plumb. As simple as that. Scary.

Fortunately, the top was significantly oversize which was intentional. I started with roughly seven foot long boards for the top but only needed about six. There were several reasons but the main ones are:
- The ability to cut off snipe from the thickness planer, if any.
- The ability to move boards left or right to put flaws (knots, cracks, etc.) outside the cut zone.
- Simple but true. Fourteen foot boards divided in half make seven foot boards. Hey, it made the list.

The latter point also applied to the two top halves as individual wholes. Had the need been there, I could have slid either top half in either direction by several inches and still had enough to hit my target top length. Had this been a more expensive wood, I may not have intended to have that much waste. SYP is cheap. At least it is here.

So there was plenty extra on the top to do a practice cut, or two if needed. That's what I did. I ran through the drill to see how it would go. Once a straight edge was secured square to the top, I used my trusty old circ saw (by old, I mean probably 20+ years) and a good blade to cut the top in multiple passes until I could cut no deeper. This left maybe a half inch of top holding the cutoff. This was hand cut a little proud and the remarkable 60 1/2 was used to clean it up.

I considered it a success but was still not convinced it would be accurate enough for the end cap, which also happens to be the all important mounting point and inner jaw of the twin screw vise. It was decided that this was fine for use on the left end, which would be cut after the right side while mated to the base.

What I ended up doing was using router with a straight edge guide. Not one attached to the router, but one where you use the router itself to actually trim the straight edge to the exact width of the router base. This would also eliminate the possibility of tearing up the top with the circ saw. The circ saw was still used to cut the top to within 1/4" or so of the target line. Remember to leave enough for the stub tenon on the end! Fortunately I remembered this before making the first cut but not before setting up for the first cut. Cut, cut, cut, saw, saw. A large chunk of the top that took so much effort to assemble broke free.

This pic shows the right end of the top, now removed from the base and the two halves clamped together. This is where the router work was done.
251420

You can also see the grooves for the screw clearance. The screws are centered on the bottom of the top slab so these are kinda important. There's also a shallow depression in the roof of these grooves to allow room for slide plates (don't remember what Veritas called them in the instructions, but they made sense so I included them). These depressions are about 1/8" deep with the intention of placing 1/4" thick slide plates made from UHMW for the screws to ride on. I ended up using some thin red oak scraps milled to give a nice fit.

Once all the routing was satisfactory the bench was reassembled.

Now to finalize the tenon for the end cap. Removing the waste along the tenon was done with a wood mallet and chisel. That is until my repaired mallet re-broke. It's initial demise happened when the Steelers turned the ball over 8 times against the Browns. OUCH. For both the Steelers and the mallet. That taught me it was never meant to handle a full swing into a chunk of wood. It also taught me the season was in serious jeopardy. From then on I used a small hammer and chisel and entered the market for a new mallet.

Stage 1:
251421 You can see the results from an overzealous blow to the chisel on the left. Fortunately, defining the edge first saved this from being a visible, ugly scar on the front edge.

Stage 2:
251422 A repair from a small blowout at the top of the groove. Not really necessary but hey, it's my bench!

Stage 3:
251430

The end cap and chop were milled square from another glue-up the same as before. Final thickness: 2 1/2". Each is 6" high. They started slightly oversize so once things were lined up to the bench, they could be cut and trimmed to final size.

After some more careful layout on the end cap, the mortises were created same as before. Use cut lines to define them, chisel a shallow depth around the perimeter and then freehand route to depth. Clean up the walls with chisels.

After some paring and shoulder plane work, there was a nice tight fit. Not too tight, just to the point where a few taps of the palm would seat the end cap. Now is a good time to mention that the mortises are slightly wider than the stub tenons. But only on the walls towards the inside of the top providing about 1/16" expansion room each. The arrows in the Stage 3 pic above show where this happens. The plan is to have the top grow towards the middle from both directions as it expands. If the top halves shrink, the vise jaws may become slightly proud of the top on the front and/or back. Hopefully 1/16" is enough but I'm sure I'll know eventually.

Next were holes and mortises for the screw nuts. With the end cap in place, I made sure the centerlines for the screws lined up with the centerlines of the groove. All good here. Then a line was traced around the groove on the back of the end cap. This allowed me to confirm the top of the screw would have ample room and would not hit the underside of the top. Since I made the groove slightly deeper I was confident this would check out and it did. The slide plates will take up the slack.

Can't fit anymore pics here so I'll finish this part in another post.

[John Donofrio]

Thanks, John. I'm doing a large part of my build via hand tools - surfacing and dimensioning - but using my band saw whenever I can. I don't have a jointer, planer, or table saw, which slows things down quite bit. My shop time is also limited, so this is talking a long time. I'm making the bench out of Hard Maple, based closely on the Lie Nielsen design. Any pics will be farther down the road.

I wish I had the courage and the tools to attempt this by hand. I'll just have to keep building projects to get the tools the build the courage to build the project. Keep us informed.

[John Donofrio]

Same as the screw nut in the left front leg, the two screw nuts were mounted into the back of the end cap. A word of caution: Take good care to make sure the two nuts are installed parallel to each other. If they are toed in or out at all, the screws will bind. I used a router (of course) to keep the bottom of the mortise as flat and true as possible. It payed off.
This was the result:
251434

Now for the chop. With the other block of similar dimension, the center of the screw holes were laid out and drilled. After mounting the end cap, the two screws were fed through the holes in the chop and threaded into the screw nuts. The two pieces were clamped together vertically and cinched down so marks and holes could be made for the thrust plates. The included lag bolts and washers were then used to attach the chop to the screws.

The first look at the vise on the bench. The end cap and chop were still oversize as you can (hopefully) see. They were also kept about a little proud of the top and will be planed flush later.
251435

Back at the drill press, the 3/4" dogholes were drilled. I could only get about halfway through the block even though I had bought a forstner bit extension. With the extension and forstner bit on the drill press, there wasn't enough room to get the chop under the bit, even with the table lowered all the way. An issue with a benchtop drill press I didn't foresee. From the flip side of the chop, 1 1/8" holes were drilled to meet up to the 3/4" holes. One was slightly off center but oh well. A round over on the chop ends was added then the vise was reassembled.
251436 This is when I was comfortable with the fit so the final sizing of the two pieces was completed and top of the vise was shaved down flush. The same was done over at the leg vise.

The final stages of putting the vise together really consist on just connectiong the chain (after shortening it a little in my case) and adding the chain cover. Oh, you'll probably want some handles too. I had to shorten the cover a little to get it to fit but the dremel and a cutting wheel made easy work of it.

The finished vise:
251437251438

Here's one more pic I'd like to share. I'm also curious as to what others thoughts might be.
251439

This shows how the end cap is attached to the bench top which also means the way the entire vise is attached to the bench. These are 5/16" x 6" Spax screws. Three into each half. The two holes through the end cap nearest the center for each half are a bit oversize for expansion purposes. Once again, only time will tell if I got it right. One thing I am pretty confident about is the holding power of these screws. I think that if they were to ever be pulled loose from the top, there has obviously been WAY TOO MUCH force placed on the vise. I think the shear pins in the vise would give first. I know this is far from tradition but I really wanted to be able to break down the bench.

Just a little ways to go. Onto the shelf. No big deal there but I'm on a roll so I'll cover it. This actually brings me up to date since the shelf pieces are sitting on the old bench as the BLO that was applied Last night dries.

[Jim Ritter]

Looks good John. With the nut on the inside of the end cap you can't tighten the vise too much. Plus it has tenons to boot. I don't think that will come off unless you want it to.
Thanks for taking the time to post all this I'm sure it is helping many people that aren't speaking up.
Jim

[Kurt Cady]

The bench is looking sweet!! Thanks for the write up. Seriously. I have started cutting my 2x12s into 4.5" wide boards for the top of my bench. I'll be using all of your posts along the way for sure

[John Donofrio]

Looks good John. With the nut on the inside of the end cap you can't tighten the vise too much. Plus it has tenons to boot. I don't think that will come off unless you want it to.
Thanks for taking the time to post all this I'm sure it is helping many people that aren't speaking up.
Jim

Thanks Jim. My real concern is with using the vise and the future dog holes in the top. There should never be that much force applied so I'm pretty confident they'll hold up but...

[John Donofrio]

The bench is looking sweet!! Thanks for the write up. Seriously. I have started cutting my 2x12s into 4.5" wide boards for the top of my bench. I'll be using all of your posts along the way for sure

Thanks Kurt. I really appreciate this might be of help to someone. Take your time, enjoy the ride and stay safe!

What are your overall dims? Sounds like your shooting for a 4" top.

[Jim Ritter]

Right you are, I totally forgot the dog holes. That will want to push the vise away from the bench.

[Chris Griggs]

Looking Good! I'm enjoying the writeup too. An excellent bench.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

With the Spax brand lag bolts, I'd be surprised if you had any problems - everything I've heard about them has been terrific, even in end grain. If they do appear to begin to lose their grip (as bolting into endgrain is never going to be quite as secure as screwing into face grain - all those threads are biting into short grained sections) you can do what I ended up doing in my bench (after a suggestion here - unfortunately I don't remember who to credit)

Make a hole (from the bottom of the bench top is easier to hide, from the top of the bench is less drilling and might be easier on a finished bench) and insert a dowel so that it intersects the end of the screw hole. Drive in a dowel into the hole, and re-drill the pilot hole before driving the screw. The concept is similar to a bed bolt/bench bolt, and now the end of the screw is holding into face grain and will have much more pull out resistance.

I haven't commented on this thread yet, but thanks for sharing. Your bench looks a lot more well thought out and nice than mine; I don't plan on building a new one anytime soon, but I still get a kick out of these bench build threads. This is a nice one, and I'm really enjoying reading it.

[John Donofrio]

Thanks all for the compliments! They're really appreciated. Makes it all worth it for sure, regardless of the outcome.

So far so good. Got the shelf in tonight and thought I'd show a few pics of it... I know, how exciting. It should be a short one.

It began with some milling to get some material about 1" thick. Then over to the router table to mill some rabbets and grooves.
251506
The piece on the right shows the area that will be ripped away providing two pieces of cleat that will support the shelf. The rib will sit in a groove that was milled into the stretchers way back when, '73 I think. The shelf boards are all shiplapped and about 5/8 thick because after re-sawing from the 2 by stock and milling flat, that's where they ended up. Several were scrapped since they turned into capital C's off the bandsaw.

A gaggle of shelf parts after a bath. This was after a little chamfering and general cleanup. I didn't sand them though. What, it's a shelf... on a workbench!
251507

Now we're almost in real time. All the parts were installed.
251508

And the final product.
251509
I left about 1/8" gap total across the entire width. That should be enough to absorb any expansion.

I started thinking about the dogholes and began construction of a simple jig. Actually, the doghole thoughts started here:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?196953-Looking-for-opinions-suggestions-for-dogholes
Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to figure out if the jig will be acceptable or not.

Now the vise liners. Last weekend I stopped by a local upholstery shop and got some suede but that's a story in and of itself. The ending; Is it worth twenny to ya? Think you know the answer.
251510
It's a really good size piece of fairly heavy suede. Grey with a slight green haze.

Now for the question. I've read that typical yellow glue would work fine but I'm thinking about spray adhesive. I have some 3M Super 7 and 3M General Purpose 45. Acceptable or no?

Thanks again.

[Paul Saffold]

John, I used the 3M gen. purpose on my record vise and yellow glue on my leg vice. Both worked fine. I've been enjoying your build.
Paul

[John Donofrio]

John, I used the 3M gen. purpose on my record vise and yellow glue on my leg vice. Both worked fine. I've been enjoying your build.
Paul

Thanks Paul. I'm going to use it then. The idea being that if the suede ever starts to wear out, it can be replaced. Not sure that will ever be necessary though.

[John Donofrio]

Thanks for the tip Joshua. I hope I never need to but that should certainly work.

[John Donofrio]

It all started several nights ago when a panel like glue-up was done from some of the worthless scrap left over from the rejected top pieces. This was then trimmed square at one end and just trimmed at the other. A fence was screwed to the square end to create this:
252074 (sorry for the blurry pic)


I could only get about halfway through the block even though I had bought a forstner bit extension. With the extension and forstner bit on the drill press, there wasn't enough room to get the chop under the bit, even with the table lowered all the way. An issue with a benchtop drill press I didn't foresee.

The previously useless forstner bit extension came in handy here. Using it and the 3/4" forstner bit, I was able to reach through the 6" chop to mark the underside of the jig for the hole locations. These were then accurately drilled out at the drill press.

4 1/2" doghole spacing was agreed upon by the arguing factions within. Since it was decided long ago that access holes into the legs would not be provided, there are also two rows of holes with 6 3/4" spacing to 'hop' over the leg area of the top. I also made a spacer for the first row off the tail vise.

The drilling commenced:
252075
After each hole was drilled using the jig, the jig was removed and the hole was completed through the top. Then, using the correct spacer butted up to dogs in the previously drilled holes, the jig was reset to the next row.

The next pic demonstrates why it is important to take your time and think things through. For some reason I felt the need to put the suede liner on the leg vise ASAP. Well this jig will clearly not work with the suede glued to the side of the top. Fortunately, adhering to Paul's reply (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?196969-Post-production-roubo-build-thread&p=2041119#post2041119) of my inquiry concerning the use of spray adhesive, I was able to peel off this piece of suede with relative ease. After a little acetone cleaning, I was back to a nice smooth surface for the fence to ride on. As a bonus, the leg vise was used to hold the jig in this area.
252076

For those who may be wondering, the suede was not coming off without the specific intention of taking it off. The piece was reused.

The finished top:
252077
I decided on a pattern of every other hole for the back three rows of dogholes with each row alternating. With this configuration a holdfast can reach pretty much anywhere on the top surface. We'll see how it works over time. I can always add more if needed but I doubt it'll be necessary.

Just had to try the dogholes in conjunction with the end vise. Wow! Previously I had no good way to plane a board of this size with such ease. The bench and board didn't even think about moving, no matter how hard I tried to move it with the #4. Me likey!
252078

This leads me to a question. There's enough room at the left end of the bench for another row of holes but I was thinking about a traditional planing stop there. Good idea or just stick to dogholes and a dog as a planing stop? I've also seen the ones with a flip-up stop at the end of the bench? What do those who have any of these configurations think of them?

What would I do differently next time?
- At this point all I can comment on is the choice of wood for the drilling jig. As mentioned previously, I used some left over scraps of southern yellow pine. This was fine for about half the dogholes but then the jig holes started to get reamed out from the bit due to the softness of the wood. I didn't have any scrap hardwood that I was willing to sacrifice for this use. Next time I would make the sacrifice. Towards the end I was basically centering the bit manually within the jig hole since by this time there was about 1/16" play in each. Not a huge deal but it is worth mentioning.

What wouldn't I do differently next time?
- Although it's a bit pricey, I would definitely use the 3/4" brad point bit from Lee Valley again. I have no vested interest in Lee Valley and I'm not even sure if giving a recommendation like this is legal on this forum. I hope it is since I'm gonna. This bit is incredible. Not only is it razor sharp, the perimeter cutters are long enough and cut clean enough that I was able to get clean exit holes on the bottom of the top without the use of a backer board. Incredible. The trick was this: Once I knew I was close to punching through the bottom of the top, use the high speed setting on the drill and let the drill do the work. I put very little to no downward pressure and the bit would cut a clean exit hole through the bottom. Sweet! Practice it a few times on some scrap and you'll get the feel. The cost of the bit was easily offset by not having to constantly move a backer board. If this is not acceptable, the pilot of the bit is also long enough to provide a location to complete each hole from underneath. This was my original plan but I found the former to be quite acceptable. It left nothing a small chamfer would not clean up. (off to the mailbox to see if the commission check has arrived yet :eek:)
- The jig worked very well but as mentioned above, I would use hardwood.
- The cordless drill was fine. It should be said that it is a pretty powerful drill and I did have to let the motor cool down about halfway through the whole process. Other than that, no issues whatsoever using it. I ran through about one and a half batteries. I'm sure it would be a somewhat different story had the top been made of ash or maple so keep that in mind.

Realizing I haven't said anything about the stop gap for the center of the top, I'll give a brief summary. No real magic here since it really boils down to personal preference. I went with one that does have the gaps in the center to hold things like chisels, marking knives, shavings, etc. As is typical, it allows you to flip the stop so one side is flush (or slightly recessed), and when flipped the opposite way provides a planing stop for cross grain work. The jury is still out on the gaps for the tools though. If it doesn't work out between us, a solid one will be fabricated.
252080
Here I'm just trimming it down so it is slightly recessed when in place. Yet another example of something I would have had no good way to do previously. I'm lovin' it! (sorry McD's) What you can't see in this pic is the two notches that are cut to allow it to set down over the upper stretchers. They are both hidden, one by the leg vise and the other by the anti-marking pad under the holdfast. Does it look familiar?

Next up, the wrap-up post with some completed pics of the new bench AND the old bench. We'll see if you can tell the difference.

[John Donofrio]

It's been a long road to get to this point, even though I've only been posting for a couple of weeks. If you remember from the first post, this thing started back in August of 2012. What follows are some closing comments and pics.

Hindsight would dictate that if I ever do this again, I would post along the way as much as feasible. There was a lot I struggled to remember or remembered later after already posting about it. Plus I now believe that 'posting as you go' would promote taking more relevant pictures along the way. That's something I didn't think about during the majority of the build. I would also use a better camera. The wife and daughter have the nice cameras. I used my cell phone since it was always with me.

It would not be appropriate if I did not acknowledge at least one thread I read. Unfortunately it is on another forum so I cannot post a link but there is a brand of green tools that has a forum... Jim Kirkpatrick has one of the longest threads there I have ever seen and it is very detailed. His bench is beautifully crafted. The thread is a few years old so I never posted anything. There are also many other build threads I read but this was the one that really inspired me to attempt this build. If you ever read this, thanks Jim.

I remember reading about a void one feels when a project of this scope is completed. I now understand.

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And now the old bench.
I can't say too much bad about this bench since it was originally designed when I worked out of the garage. It HAD to be both portable AND multifunctional. It serves those purposes very well. However, it has some serious shortcomings.
- One, it is on casters. Very useful for portability, no so much for anything else. Try using a plane on this bench and you're in for a ride, almost literally. Now, they are double locking casters but they can only do so much. Needless to say, very little planing was done on this bench. In a do over situation with this bench, I would most certainly design in some method of lifting casters so the base could rest solidly on the ground.
- Two, the vise type and placement pretty much render the vise useless for anything but very basic work holding. It's a relatively cheap vise and I got what I paid for. As far as the placement goes, I have to attribute this to my lack of basic work holding knowledge at the time it was built. It could have at least been moved a little forward so the vise was flush to the front allowing basic sawing tasks to be performed.
- Not really a shortcoming but this one concerns the T track all over the place. The original ideas was to use them with compatible clamps as hold downs, kinda like a holdfast would be used. Neh. Doesn't work very well and they're a pain to move and adjust. Not only that, the stuff is expensive in any quantity. No bang for the buck here. The tracks do work very well for the router table fence though.

On the plus side, the storage and router table are fantastic. In fact I still use the router table, the storage, and the top as an assembly table. It's reliably flat. The table legs fold up into the table and the table folds down for storage against the garage wall. Eventually it will be retired back to the garage so the wife can use it in her 'Girl Cave', as she now calls it. A dedicated router table/cabinet will be built and a dedicated assembly table with storage will replace it in it's current location.

I wanted to raise these points in case someone reading this ever has a similar idea for a portable bench. Overall, it really has served me well.

Here it is:
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I think the new one qualifies as an upgrade.

I just have to show these. I debated it but I just have to. It's not really too off topic since it happened in the shop where the bench was being built, right? One night after putting the BLO on the leg vise chop, I decided to attempt a quick repair of a concrete yard decoration my wife wanted to try and save (don't ask). I was also in the process of reconfirming the fridge was working properly (it was). Anyway, it's a rabbit with a small area for a potted plant near the bottom. Well the ears had broken off and she wanted me to epoxy them back on. About two weeks prior, I had brought it into the shop to get it to room temp and for it to dry out. I pulled it off the floor and up onto the (old) bench. I set the ears into place to see how well they fit up and BAM!
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This came crawling up around from the back of the ears just as I pulled my hand off them. I have no idea where it was when I carried the thing up onto the bench. Holy $h#t! It stayed there long enough for me to get this pic, although I never took my eyes off it. I was hoping they don't jump! A few spray cans of insect killer later (well maybe a few sprays worth anyway) and it was posing nicely for the second pic. Fortunately, I keep some insect spray in the shop for wasps during the summer.

I just had to.

One last thing. Attached is the Sketchup model I made to build this bench (had to ZIP it due to the size). Maybe someone will find it useful as a starting point or maybe even use it to build the same bench. Everything, except some of the small details, is what was actually built (groove depth for the deadman is an example). Also, the details for the chain vise are not modeled since the original plan was to use a pin and perforated parallel guide.
Credit for the vise screws goes to others, as well as a few other items. They were downloaded from the 3D Warehouse and those credits are viewable in the model info dialog. Since it's doubtful anyone has the same name as me, the engraved text in the lower short stretchers can easily be deleted since the elements are grouped. I didn't actually do this on the bench as you can see, it was just a thought.

Thanks to all for the comments, tips, compliments and just for reading my jibberish. Hopefully it was both entertaining and informative, even if just a little of one or both. I'm really optimistic that this bench is going to help me both learn and improve working wood with hand tools. Although, quite honestly, I don't ever see myself as being completely old school but who knows. It sure is nice to not fill the air with all that dust, not to mention the noise.

Stay safe in the shop!

John

[Jim Ritter]

Thanks for taking the time to do this posting. I love to see how other people solve their shop problems. I'd love to hear how you like the chain on the leg vise and if anything could be changed.
Jim

[John Donofrio]

Thanks for taking the time to do this posting. I love to see how other people solve their shop problems. I'd love to hear how you like the chain on the leg vise and if anything could be changed.
Jim

Hi Jim,

Quite simply, I love the chain leg vise. As you suggested in an earlier post, I am forgetting about it already. It just works, and works well. Right now I wouldn't change a thing about it but I will be sure to send you a note if something ever creeps into my head.