The Schwarzapffel Workbench

[Wallis Hampson]

This will be the beginning of my workbench build. I had the pleasure of attending a class a while back instructed by Chris Schwarz. He really inspired me to get the handtools out and do some Neandering. As you all know, you cant Neander without a workbench of some kind. I chose the name above due to the fact that I really like the Holtzapffel style, Chris's inspiration and ideas from his book and blogs...hench "The Scharzhopffel". The bench should look like the one in the Autum 2007 issue http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/backissue.asp?issuedate=9/1/2007 which I have literally worn the issue out, with a few changes that I wanted. Im shooting for approximately 7' X 24" and 34 1/2" to 35" high...top 3" thick. Mine will have the large face vise as his did but a traditional tail vise on the right side and a tool tray (I know alot of you will get on my case about that) but I have a good reason why and I'll show you at the end. It will be built of multiple woods that I have been gathering....white oak for the legs and stretchers, mostly maple and some walnut accent strips for the top.

The first picture is most of the wood except the pieces for the legs which I have already joined and have begun gluing up. The large pieces in the pile are hard maple..7' (it was a 15' board cut in half) X 13 1/2" X 2" so I will rip 3 1/4" pieces, stand on end and face glue. That will allow me to make my entire top out of one board (with a couple walnut strips in there).

Going to be a busy weekend...I'll keep you posted.

[Richard Magbanua]

Hello Wallis!
I've been working on my Schwarzoubo workbench for the last 3 months now. I'v been trying to follow his book as close as I can. One of the reasons it's taking me so long is that I'm trying to cut all of the joinery with handsaws, bit and brace, etc. I figure it's good practice for my work on the bench after it's done. I just got my vise screws delivered and am ready to tackle the top.
The maple should be very nice for your workbench. I chose to use SYP and am very happy working with it so far. Mostly because of the price :).
Good luck and keep us updated!

[John Dykes]

Nice work! Good luck to both of you!

Would love to get started too, but the Douglas Fir in Denver is horrid compared to the SYP...

- jbd in SYP'less Denver

[Johnny Kleso]

I seen this video about Chris Swartz you have to watch...

http://www.inews3.com/play.php?first=Chris&last=Swartz

[Wallis Hampson]

The leg material actually came at no cost :). They were shipping skids on some industrial AC units that a friend picked up for me. They had a little cup so after ckecking for nails and staples...off to the jointer. Once I have two faces jointed to where they have no gap without clamping....almost time to glue. The legs finished size will be about 4 1/2" X 6".

[Jerry Gerard]

Wallis
I look forward to following the build of your bench . Nice selection on the lumber .

[Jerry Gerard]

Hello Wallis!
I've been working on my Schwarzoubo workbench for the last 3 months now. I'v been trying to follow his book as close as I can. One of the reasons it's taking me so long is that I'm trying to cut all of the joinery with handsaws, bit and brace, etc. I figure it's good practice for my work on the bench after it's done. I just got my vise screws delivered and am ready to tackle the top.
The maple should be very nice for your workbench. I chose to use SYP and am very happy working with it so far. Mostly because of the price :).
Good luck and keep us updated!


Richard
Nice looking start to your bench , what size are those legs ? I hope you document the build with pictures and start a thread here about the build .

[C Scott McDonald]

Are you going to get wooden screws for the vise or get a Veritas twin?

[Wallis Hampson]

The plan is to make my own wooden screws 2 1/4" (with the help of a friend with a metal lathe).

[Wallis Hampson]

After jointing the legs, I spread a liberal amount of yellow (i use Elmers) wood glue. Home Depot gift cards..... They're the gift that just keeps on giving and since I dont have a fancy-dancy glue roller, its works perfect. You know you are doing good when glue comes out from a tight not in the middle of the board. Honey....I need more clamps.

[Wallis Hampson]

Well, I got the legs all glued up and started on the mortises. The legs were too big to fit in my mortising machine so I had to drill them out with a forstner bit (7/8") and chop out the waste. Neither was much fun in white oak. Ive got to hand it to Porter Cable on their forstner bits......40 - 3" deep holes in oak and it still is fairly sharp. It would get hot so I would drill a hole and let it cool for a few minutes each time.

[Wallis Hampson]

I took the time to build a crude but functional jig for routing my dog holes. I am going withe the traditional wooden ones that I will make myself. I made the jig with a 2 degree offset (leaning towards the tail vise). The dog holes are 1 1/2" at the top and 1 1/4" at the bottom and are 15/16" thick. The jig was the exact width of the thickness of the top so I could just slide it up and down the piece and clamp it in place. I used a 1/2" router bit and made two passes to get the depth without burning up my router.

[Wallis Hampson]

I planed down another piece of white oak for the stretches and cut the tenons with my dado set. MAN, that set needs a tune-up. Had to break out the shoulder plane to clean that mess up.

[John Schreiber]

Thanks for taking us along for the ride Wallis. I'm progressing on my bench, but I haven't got the confidence (or the camera) to show anyone until I'm done. And maybe not then if it doesn't look like I hope it will.

[Wallis Hampson]

Whew...Dog holes are cut. No major issues but just nerve wracking having to cut the all twice (depth). Rather than move the router depth everytime, I cut them all 1/2" deep then had to replace the jig in the EXACT spot to make the final cut. I was just nervous as I got the the last few that a gremlin might sneek in and make my router bit fall out and ruin the whole piece :( . That didn't happen and I'm glad to have that behind me.

[Johnny Kleso]

Wallis,
Is your shop like mine?
You cant work till you roll out all the lawn mowers and other stuff?

If it is I know what a pain it is to have to work for 30mins before and after working on a project and think you bench is really coming along fast and well..

If you have a free standing shop it is still coming along nice..

OH can I add that your bench is a lot like mine and I forgot to add a triple dog hole (if your doing a double row) to my bench..

I would add a double hole right before you vise as a planing stop for board you plane that you just lay on the bench and use a stop..

A double dog hole about 2"-3" apart works well..

[Wallis Hampson]

Johnny - Thanks for the reply

Well I used to have a seperate shop till we moved. Now I am in the 3rd bay of a 3 car garage and can have it all with the cars out but all that I have dedicated to me is about 10X20. It works ok and most of the time I leave my truck out so actually its 20X20. I am putting a big planing stop (2"X2") about 5" in from the front which will be inline with one of the existing holes. It will be about 8" long for planing tall boards on end or drop it down to the height of the others for planing wide boards flat on the bench. I havent done that yet and I do like your idea better except for wanting a tall big one for edge planing wide boards on end.... I guess I could just do it your way and make some tall dogs...so I will ponder that. Thanks for the advice!

[Wallis Hampson]

Im glad that i chose to chop the mortises in the top boards before I glued the top completely up. I had just glued 2 of them together and I must vae taken it off 20 times before I was happy with the fit. No way will I try the back ones like that...too many variables to messing up. Once the top is together, I'll lay it on its surface and flip the base over on it and mark those two out.

By the way...why didnt someone yell "YOUR PUTTING A DOG HOLE RIGHT ON TOP OF A LEG''?

Oh well, a little chiseling as seen in the third pic and it will just be a shorty.

[Wallis Hampson]

Forgot the pictures

[John Schreiber]

...why didnt someone yell "YOUR PUTTING A DOG HOLE RIGHT ON TOP OF A LEG''?
That's one of the things I just can't get comfortable with. With 5" legs, it's inevitable. My plan is to mortise the legs into the top, drill the dog holes with the whole thing assembled, then drill some holes in the legs to at least allow for sawdust etc. to blow through, then do the drawboring to hold everything in place.

[Chris Friesen]

That's one of the things I just can't get comfortable with. With 5" legs, it's inevitable.

In ChrisS' version, the dogs are about 6" in from the edge, so there is no hole over a leg.

[Wallis Hampson]

I guess thats because he doesnt have a tailvise on his, he uses an end vise.

[John Schreiber]

I plan to set mine back 3 1/2 inches from the front. Some people like to have them just an inch or so back, but that way, they are centered on the end vise I plan to use. I feel like they shouldn't be any farther back then they have to.

[Wallis Hampson]

John,

When you say end vise, do you mean end vise or tail vise? If its a metal bodied tail vise like the Lie Nielsen that I am using and you put your dog holes 3 1/2 back from the front edge, you would only be able to have one dog hole in the vise itself. The metal body would be in the rest of the space down the length of it. With the holes about 2" in from the front edge, you can then have 3-4 dog holes down the length of the vise itself creating more clamping options. Just a thought.

[Randy Klein]

My dog holes lined up with my legs and this is what I did:

Skip the hole over the leg
On your tail/wagon vise, have multiple holes (I have 3)


That way if you have a board that ends up at the absent dog hole over the leg, you just move the board back on the tail vise a dog hole or two.

[Bill Moser]

Wallis - Your bench is looking great so far! I built a bench a couple of years ago (pic attached), working from David Charlesworth's design from one of his books. The "Schwarzappfel" base looks a lot like the Charlesworth design, but I guess that's no surprise -- big honkin' lumber with timber-frame size joinery really helps to keep things together. With the Record vises, my bench weighs in at around 350 lbs, which means I have a rock-steady base for planing. I learned a lot about joinery from building this. It looks like yours will turn out great -- can't wait to see the final result!
- Bill

[Dave Anderson NH]

Don't worry about the dog hole over the leg. I did it myself a number of years ago and the hole is still useful. Just make a special short dog specifically for that hole. Believe me, you'll find some uses for it.

[John Schreiber]

John,

When you say end vise, do you mean end vise or tail vise? If its a metal bodied tail vise like the Lie Nielsen that I am using and you put your dog holes 3 1/2 back from the front edge, you would only be able to have one dog hole in the vise itself. The metal body would be in the rest of the space down the length of it. With the holes about 2" in from the front edge, you can then have 3-4 dog holes down the length of the vise itself creating more clamping options. Just a thought.
I decided that the traditional tail vise was to "fiddly" for me. I've seen few which didn't sag or push to the side when being used. I also don't like the fact that while they look really solid, they are actually largely hollow and can't take much punishment.

I've got a Wilton vise which I plan to put there. It will require a hole in the leg and short dogs, but I've made that leg extra wide to compensate and I think it will work well. The vise also has a separate pivoting face which allows clamping odd shaped work.

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I suppose I could put the dog holes further forward, but then the force wouldn't be right over the screw, but with a tail vise it's not right over the screw anyway. I'll be watching for new ideas until I actually start drilling the dog holes I guess.

[Wallis Hampson]

Couple more pics of the top glue up. I think this was about 14" of it. I have a 15" planer so Ill run this through, then the other 8" piece ten put them together.

John - I completely understand what you are saying but I can assure you that a) These Lie Nielsen vises arent going to sag like the old wooden ones used to if mounted properly and b) Mine wont have much hollow space in it :D because I agree that I have seen them that do and I dont like them either.

Again you are correct that the closer to the screw line that the dog holes are, the better chance that it wont push your work sideways. I do believe that most people put 3 times the pressure on a board than is needed to hold it still while you do surgery on it.

[Wallis Hampson]

I did take Johnny Kleso's advise on the Double Dog Holes instead of the planing stop that I was going to incorporate. I only put three in as I will primarily use them without the vise to just hold a wide board from scooting as you hand plane it. I figured with three, it would accomodate by short, medium and wide board needs. I will put a dog hole in the vise inline with them just in case. Another nice thing is that it puts a few back farther from the edge (thanks John Schreiber for the idea) when planing perpendicular to the length of a board like end grain trimming or trimming across a board like a shoulder adjustment. I figured most boards that i would do that with are 2-6" wide and having 2/3rds of it hanging off the front edge of the bench wouldnt be good.

Also... something about saying "Double Dogs" is way cooler than "Planing Stop" :D

[Jameel Abraham]

I like my dog holes as close to the front of the bench as possible. I didn't want them 6" back from the front. So here is the solution I came up with. Works like a charm. I drilled access hole straight through the leg so I could blow out chips and dust. I also keep a dedicated dog in that hole, so it never really gets fouled. And I echo all your sentiments about the traditional tail vise. I didn't even bother installing one on this bench, instead I went with wagon vise.

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[Wallis Hampson]

I had a change of plans. I was going to wait and mortise in the top for the back legs after the top was all glued up. I decided however to put the 14" of the top that was already assembled with the other 8 loose boards on temporarily with some boards and clamps where I could mark out where they needed to be cut. I also decided to rout the mortises this time instead of the forstner bit way. I marked out a heavy line with a sharpie as to make sure and get enough clearance and just routed freehand taking all but about 1/32" of the line which I cleaned up with a chisel. You can see ing the first pic I was a little chicken and didnt get as close to the line as needed so I got the courage to get closer the second time around which made life much easier. Obviously I made multiple passes and left a block in the center to support the router until I was finished then just popped it off with a chisel.

As you can see, my 71 1/2 Stanley was perfect for the job. The other router in the back is just there for illustration for non-neanderthals. :cool:

[Wallis Hampson]

I decided to add some upper stretchers on the ends of the bench. Sice I will have a reasonable overhang off the ends, I figured they wouldnt interfere with clamping and would make a nice place to hang 2' or shorter clamps. I only made the mortises 1" deep on these because I dont really need the strength and I am getting tennis elbow from pounding the mortise chisel :eek:. I got all the holes drilled and conterbored the holes in the stretchers (drawbored) by about a 16th of an inch and I can tell you it really draws the joints up tight. I placed a block with paper shims in the mortise so that I wouldnt blow out the back when the bit came through and then I removed it to drill the lower half of the hole. I use walnut pegs and sharpened the tips slightly with a chisel to overcome the initial offset of the counterbore.

[Bill Moser]

Wallis, I'm glad to see that your drawboring efforts are better than mine. I also drawbored the side stretchers to the legs on my bench. On the first one, I (unwittingly) made the peg slightly larger than the hole. When I went to pound it in, it stopped moving about 3/4 of the way through. Idiot that I am, I just reached for a larger hammer. A 3lb sledge, actually. Yeah, bad idea -- I blew out the back of the leg with that trick!

[Wallis Hampson]

Ouch. I hate to hear that Bill. As much as i considered turning my pegs, i just didnt want to spend the time turning 4 feet of 1/2'' pegs. i just ended up buying a couple of walnut dowels so i would have a little contrast. They spec'd at about a thousand under a 1/2 inch so they were perfect. As soon as i drove them home, i could take the clamps off.

[Richard Magbanua]

Sounds like it's coming along very nicely Wallis! I'm glueing up my top in 6" sections and definitely taking my time.
I was very happy with my first time drawboring the base. I thought it was a lot easier than it seemed and I was amazed that it actually works!
I also bought dowels pre-made to size. I did make a few just to see if I could. I just ripped stock to square and then rounded the corners with a block plane and it turned out just fine.
Thanks for posting your progress!

[Alan DuBoff]

A good workbench takes a lot of work, good to see your persistence.

Looking good!

[Wallis Hampson]

Thanks Alan, I would agree on the "lot of work" comment. It is surpising how much time goes into building just 4 legs and stretchers when you try to make the joints like you are building a piece of nice furniture. I can already tell that the end result will be more than worth it!

[Alan DuBoff]

Thanks Alan, I would agree on the "lot of work" comment. It is surpising how much time goes into building just 4 legs and stretchers when you try to make the joints like you are building a piece of nice furniture. I can already tell that the end result will be more than worth it!It sure is amazing how much time it takes once you get into it, but that's why you see comments from folks that they have been working on their bench for months, even a year or more in some cases.

Like anything, one needs to be determined to finish their bench.

It is nice to have a solid bench that one can work on, it is the best tool in the shop, hands down.

Chris Schwarz is giving a class on building the Holtzappfel down at Kelly Mehr's shop in KY. He has been posting about on the Popular Woodworking Blog (http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/default.aspx), if you haven't seen it. They are into their 2nd or 3rd day.

The class will go for 6 days, but they did a bunch of the heavy work in regards to preparing the stock before hand, having the top dry clamped, etc...it looks like it took quite a bit of orchestration to make it happen.

The Roubo seems to be a more popular bench, possibly because it's an easier bench to build, the twin-screw does complicate things slightly. I did my top first, put it on a set of metal stands to finish, and it worked out nicely. You are doing the base first. There's no set way to do this, other than persistence. :) My biggest problem is that I stopped a couple times in the middle of the build, and it was easy for a few weeks to go by as I was traveling out of town, and taking care of the family obligations...glad I got it done though. ;)

What type of vises are you putting on your bench? I might have some leather that would fit the end vise, it's about 1/4" thick...(I bought scraps) it's beautiful stuff, but not big enough for a twin-screw. I put a slightly thinner leather on my twin-screw, and only put leather on the vise chop. Luckily I found a shoulder that was a 2nd at the local Tandy shop, that would just fit the twin-screw, it is about 1/8" thick. Leather is measured in thickness by the ounce. Each ounce is approximately 1/64" thick. The smaller thicker pieces I have are 16 oz. It is the thickest leather I've ever worked. Great for the vise jaws.

You are making great progress. Keep it up!

[Steve Clardy]

Great thread. I'll have to go back and read it again. ;)

[Wallis Hampson]

The base is mostly assembled as well as the top. I will be able to post pictures soon. I did a little chamfering on the legs and stretchers. I also routed a 3/4" wide groove on the inside of the stretchers that I will glue a 1 1/4" wide strip in to hold a shelf in the base. I will be building a set of drawers on the tailvise side that will go up to about 6" from the top as not to interfere with clamping to the top. I figure on the face vise side, the handles of the screws would always be in the way so I'll just use that side to store misc things on the shelf.

[Wallis Hampson]

Hey...sorry i didnt see your post before now. I am going to make 2 - 2 1/4" wooden screws for a big face vise. Thanks for the interest.

[Steve Sawyer]

Wallis - I finished my Schwarzappfel bench a few months ago. I stuck with Chris' original design pretty closely, and wanted to give you some feedback on my one major modification and overall experience with the bench.

As to Chris' use of a quick-release iron tail vise, I've been extremely happy with that arrangement. The quick-release feature is a joy, and the capacity and overall robustness causes it to be in use constantly.

The changes I made were the addition of some thick leather to the chops on both vises, mortising the stationary jaw of the tail vise behind the end rail so there is no metal-to-wood contact, and most importantly, I offset the bench screws of the front vise slightly so as to give me a 7" shoulder on the right end. This equaled the length of the shoulder vise on my previous Frank Klauz style bench, and I find myself using this little shoulder all the time. A highly recommended modification. There are some pictures below, but you can see more and larger versions on our club website here (http://www.semiww.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6364).

http://www.semiww.org/forum/download/file.php?id=230&t=1

http://www.semiww.org/forum/download/file.php?id=231&t=1

http://www.semiww.org/forum/download/file.php?id=233&t=1

[Wallis Hampson]

VERY nice bench. I deliberated back and forth on an end vise versus a tailvise and I know that that advantages and disadvantages to both. In the end I chose the tailvise and I hope tat I will be happy with it. I have used benches with both and seem to just prefer it but I know most of the new benches are going the other way. We'll see!

I definitely need to get some leather.

[Steve Sawyer]

Much of a workbench's design is personal preference, and building one is so much work that you're usually better to stick with what you KNOW you'll like. I took a chance on the front vise on this one, as I loved many aspects of the shoulder vise on my old bench, but find that (luckily) the compromises haven't yet outweighed the advantages of the new design.


I definitely need to get some leather.

It's amazing how firmly leather grips wood. I glued it with the rough side out, and the result is that I can easily tighten the vise with a gentle tug and can NOT move the stock unless I really put my shoulder to it. A good solid pull on the vise handle and the stock ain't goin' nowhere.

[Wallis Hampson]

Do you find it an issue to have to use two hands to work the vise or is that not a big deal? Mine will be just like that only wooden screws.

[Steve Sawyer]

Do you find it an issue to have to use two hands to work the vise or is that not a big deal? Mine will be just like that only wooden screws.

Like so much else in life, its a trade-off. If I have something in one hand and am trying to open the vise, then yeah, it's a PITA. However, every time I think of going with one of those fancy chain-drive arrangements, I remember that the ability to control the racking, particularly when using the shoulder is greatly enhanced by the ability to move the two screws independently. Just like a hand-screw, I can tighten the right screw, then back off on the left one to get a perfect parallel clamping action on the shoulder. You can also grip items that are slightly wedge-shaped too, such as when working with a piece of rough-sawn lumber.

I was also encouraged in this line of thought when I played with Chris' bench at Sindelar's Tool Meet last year. Those big wooden screws he found are sweet!!

[Wallis Hampson]

Since I have some walnut in the top with the maple, I figured that I would use some small, knotty, sappy pieces of 12/4 stock and resaw it for use for the tool shelf. I will use a little Lockwood Dye and get rid of the sap wood color before I oil everything. The panel that you see has already been glued up and I am just pulling (gluing) it up against the very last board on the far left. I will just let it float as it is pretty snug and if I ever wanted to take it out, I could. The top is almost all together so hopefully tomorrow I can post a pic of the whole bench

[Bill Moser]

Ouch. I hate to hear that Bill. As much as i considered turning my pegs, i just didnt want to spend the time turning 4 feet of 1/2'' pegs. i just ended up buying a couple of walnut dowels so i would have a little contrast. They spec'd at about a thousand under a 1/2 inch so they were perfect. As soon as i drove them home, i could take the clamps off.

I used an L-N dowel plate to make the pegs. What I didn't realize was that some temporary compression seems to take place when pounding the peg through -- the peg will expand slightly after going through the plate. The remedy (on the next several pegs) was to put then through the plate several times.

On an unrelated topic, but one raised in this thread, what is the benefit of leather-faced vise jaws? Does the leather just create more friction, so that clamping pressure can be reduced? if so, I'm all for it, and would like to learn more about it. I finished my (hard maple) jaws to 600 grit, and I find that I really have to crank then down super-tight to ensure that nothing moves. The problem being, of course, that most of the wood i work with is not as hard as rock maple, so it can get bruised by the vises...

[Alan DuBoff]

Do you find it an issue to have to use two hands to work the vise or is that not a big deal? Mine will be just like that only wooden screws.I have to say, in regards to twin screws, Jameel's Deluxe Roubo is without a doubt one of the ultimate setups in that regard. The execution and craftsmanship is outstanding, as-is the end vise, that's the type of solution I admire. The sliding/rolling leg vise really makes for the ultimate twin, and you can use both independent of each other if one desires. However, that bench is not without complication in building. Not that I was looking for a simple bench to build myself;-)

I exchanged quite a bit of email with ChrisS when I built my bench, and one thing we talked a bit about was the wooden screws vs. the metal/twinscrews. I decided the ease of use, and efficiency of the chain to out weigh feel of the wood screw. That and the fact that I had bought the vise already to use in another bench design I had started to build before changing to the Hotzappfel style. But I have to say that the twinscrew is not without it's own problems as Chris mentioned I would see, and he was right...:o, but not enough to make me switch to wooden screws yet.:p It is easy enough to swap out the screws if wanted either way, so it's not that big of a deal. I'm very happy with mine though.

Bob Lang's bench really makes a lot of sense for many folks, the top simplifies flattening as it can be done with precision on a bench top porta-potty-planer. Bob added some nice features, and did it in a way that average folks can accomplish easily.

I saw that LN would offer the Roubo soon, and I suspect they will be able to reproduce Bob's bench easily, by using the Charlesworth bench with a couple vises on it. That could be a simpler route for folks that don't desire the education (not me! :rolleyes:).

I am a firm believer that everyone needs to think their own bench out for themselves, and this is one tool that folks should not cheat themselves on. I have done quite a bit of work on a 2x4 dimensional bench that was hacked together as a part of my garage when I bought my current home, and have done quite a bit on portable infeed/outfeed stands with a length of plywood over them...those solutions are note pleasing with hand tools, although the infeed/outfeed stands worked out xlnt to build the top and use on the stands to finish the base, for me. For $30/pair, it's a good way to go, even if you didn't have them like I did.

I'm with Steve on the leather, it makes a sweat vise jaw liner.;)

[Steve Sawyer]

On an unrelated topic, but one raised in this thread, what is the benefit of leather-faced vise jaws? Does the leather just create more friction, so that clamping pressure can be reduced?

You've got it - leather is grippy, grippy, grippy. Amazingly so.

I held a piece of 36" x 30" x 3/4" panel of MDF with the 7" long x 4" high shoulder of my face vise, just snugging it up gently...without clamping the other edge to allow me to do a some drilling on it. Didn't budge a millimeter.

[Wallis Hampson]

The final two sections of the top to be glued together. Hopefully I can get this done accurately as to minimize the final planing and scraping.

:(:(:(

Wish me luck.

[Alan DuBoff]

Wish me luck.
Good luck! ;)

Use a set of simple cawls, at least one set on each end to keep the pieces in sync. Another set in the center would be good also, if you have the clamps, therein lies the one problem with gluing up a top, it takes a LOT of clamps! I used just about every clamp I had.

The mortises in the top for the legs were some of the most time consuming mortises I have chopped in a project to date, but patience along with persistence gets it done, they are no more difficult. I tried to bore out as much as I could, but it wasn't easy to have enough bite after doing a few, because of the un-evenness after I started to bore (I used an auger in a brace).

I was looking at the entry on the Popular Woodworking Blog, and the amount of tools and people they have to build those workbenches this week in KY is startlin'...even seeing them with huge sticks to glue together for the top, I had to mill up 4/4 which requires about 31 or 32 pieces for my 27" wide top. OTOH, I did get my hard maple for $0.50/bf, so made do with what I had...;)

They had 2 huge Felder jointers, a nice Felder planer, and a Felder tablesaw that could handle a full size bench top for trimming the ends...that is not to mention the mortising machine pic'd for the students, nor the saw horses, workbenches to work at, and all the tools one needs...even so, it doesn't look like a slam dunk. ;)

Kelly Mehr sure looks to have a great shop though...:cool: It's not needed, but that sure looks like a great way to get a bench done quickly, not to mention all the help from other students and instructors to help you move all the heavy pieces around...I had some back problems in the middle of my build, so that caused me some delay as I had nobody to help me lift some of these pieces. Once the top is together it's a big chunk of wood...:o

[Wallis Hampson]

I did sucessfully finish assembling the top. Right now, I have it upside down as I am tennoning the ends of the bench for my floating endcap. Here is a couple of pics. As soon as I flip 'er over, I'll get a pic of the top. I have decided against a tool tray :(. As much as I'd like one, the addition of 4+ inches or so to the width of the bench is just not good in my limited work space.

[Bill Moser]

Wow, this is starting to look like one beautiful bench! After its all done I think we deserve a YouTube video tour of it. No pressure:D, I just think that would be cool...

[Wallis Hampson]

Thanks for the kind words Bill. I have made quite a few pieces of furniture in my day but this is turning out to be one of my favorites already. I am out of town this week but hopefully when i return, I can finish her up and post some pics and or video. Thanks again.

[Wallis Hampson]

OK...back to work on the bench.

What you are looking at in the first pic is the underside of the bench. I am mounting a block underneath the bench that most of the bolts of the the vise will bolt to. The reason for this is so that the vise will be mounted low enough so that the top of the handle will not stick up above the top of the bench when I am finished. The top of the vise is about 1 3/4" below the top of the bench. You might need 2+ inches if you are using the LN handle but I am not and will just turn my own with shorter "knobs". I am also considering installing this maple block that is fitted with a 1" hole and pegged into the body of the vise so that when the vise is ever extended out to its max (rarely) there will be no slop or sag from the tolerences in the acme threads. This is TOTALLY not necessary but just makes this vise EXTREMELY rigid and the screw co-planer during travel.

[John Schreiber]

. . . This is TOTALLY not necessary but just makes this vise EXTREMELY rigid and the screw co-planer during travel.
Nice mods. A workbench should be over built, and the vises should be doubly over built.

[Wallis Hampson]

I have begun the construction on the tail vise. Again, I am using the Lie Nielsen but obviously, buying that was the easy part. I am finger jointing the end to the "L" piece. So far things are going well.

[Wallis Hampson]

This Tail Vise seems to be taking forever but it should be strong as I am trying not to cut any corners.

[Wallis Hampson]

This is the last one on the tail vise...I promise:rolleyes:. I decided to cut off the "L" really short as so I would not even be tempted to clamp anything in there as that is a no-no. I've got it all glued and clamped up. Tomorrow its time to get out the old #7 and get the top dead flat.

I see the FINISH LINE! :D:D

[Chris Friesen]

I have begun the construction on the tail vise. Again, I am using the Lie Nielsen but obviously, buying that was the easy part. I am finger jointing the end to the "L" piece. So far things are going well.

Given the finger orientation, the grain direction in the walnut is not ideal...you've only got long-grain-to-end-grain, which won't be great for glue bond strength. Also, the fingers in the walnut will be weakened somewhat due to the short grain at the base of the fingers.

It may hold up fine, but the traditional way would have been to cut the fingers horizontally instead of vertically. That way you get long-grain-to-long-grain joints for maximum strength.

[Wallis Hampson]

Chris -

You are absolutely right. I got caught up in thinking of having the look of the Walnut fingers contrasting with the Maple that i completely didnt think until i had already started cutting. I am hoping that since the only real stress is compression that ill be OK in this instance. Thanks for pointing it out as I wouldnt want somone following this thread to make the same mistake.

[Wallis Hampson]

Where I put the two halves of the top together has about a 1/16" crown over the width of the top, just slightly towards the back. I would plane some and then scrub on some chalk so that i could see where I had planed. With a good sharp blade, it actually went pretty quick. The last pic is what a 1/16" crown looks like on the floor:D.

[John Schreiber]

Congratulations Wallis! Looking good.

[Alan DuBoff]

Looks great Wallis!

[Wallis Hampson]

I added some leather to the inside jaws of the tail vise. I have since dyed them brown so they would look better (I hope that this isnt turning into a showpiece instead of a bench on me :o). I am using the finishes shown in the picture (1/3 of each) mixed together. Flooding it on...let it sit for 10-15 mins then wipe it completely off. The picture is after one coat.

[Dave Anderson NH]

You've done a great job Wallis. You are really going to enjoy using that bench. I would warn you though that you should go easy on the varnish part of the finish. You don't want to make the benchtop to slippery or it will make some operations difficult.

[John Dykes]

Holy smokes....

Nice.

[John Schreiber]

Did you tell us what the plan is with the dog hole pattern? There appear to be some extra to the side and some missing.

[Matt Z Wilson]

nice work!

[Wallis Hampson]

Thanks for the comments.

John -

The places where dog holes are absent are the 2 areas where the 2" diameter wooden screws will be for the face vise when I get time to turn them and install the vise. The double dogs are in essence to act as a planing stop for wide boards where I may not want to clamp them in the tail vise. Also, if I wanted to say rout the edge of a long board that was maybe 5-6" wide, using the 2nd dogs in will allow me to get more of the board on the table with less hanging over the edge

[Wallis Hampson]

Here she is with 3 coats of oil. I guess its time to start using it!

As stated earlier, I will put a twin screw (wooden screws) face vise on it but it will be a couple of months and a couple of drawers down low for my bigger planes. My next project will be a tool cabinet to hang over it.

I want to thank Chris Schwarz for the inspiration and all of you guys for the advice and encouragement along the way.

Well I guess its time to go drop a chisel on it and get it over with :( !

[Alan DuBoff]

I guess its time to start using it!
...
Well I guess its time to go drop a chisel on it and get it over with
Hear, hear!

After you start using it, you'll not think twice about it...

[Shannon Vincent]

I am so jealous.Love the contrasting woods.The tail vise rocks the house.You,sir...Suck!:D

[Greg Cole]

Hi Wallis,
I've followed this thing since the beginning. Very well done and very inspirational. You will love that bench for a heckuva loooong time.
I've gotten by far too long with a less that useful bench arrangement.
I am going to start on a bench to replace said POS.... with my hybrid skills mine will be a tad different.
Seriously one very very nice bench.

Greg