Workbench and Vise Questions

[Greg Parrish]

I previously bought one of the Benchcrafted Classic 84 benches and it was thing of beauty. However, it was really geared towards a hand tools only approach given the very basic roubo design. It went away when I sold my prior shop though. This time, I'm thinking of a hybrid bench that can meet more general shop usage demands in addition to hand tools. As a hybrid wood worker, I'm not switching to hand tools only any time soon. Don't know who's bench this is linked, but its the general vision of what I have in mind for the style of bench I want to build one day. A Holtzapffel style with twin screw vise on the face with a wide span and a tail vise of some flavor/style.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Workbenches...fel_workbench/


However, it may take me a while to gather up the wood for this build, especially if I end up using oak that we mill and dry ourselves. So, in the mean time I'm contemplating buying a vise and affixing to my Armor bench. Something like the Sjobergs vise that is used in the link above would be an easy retrofit now and could be used later as the tail vise. Whatever I went with for the short run would need to be usable during a build for later so its not a waste. Anyone have any thoughts on the Sjobergs? It's about the same price as the Veritas face vise. Rob Cosman seems to recommend it.

Also, Would it be a terrible idea to suspend a sand box below this bench for ballast? I had a ballast box on my prior Laguna 18/36 lathe with about 500 lbs in it and that thing was solid as a rock. The bench is pretty rigid overall but the smaller footprint and 1-1/2 maple hardwood top makes it top heavy. Anyone ever build a ballast box for a lighter weight bench to compensate for the lack of bench frame weight? How well did it work out? I'm guessing the steel structure of the Armor bench could hold the weight and I could add in maybe 200 to 300 lbs of sand bags down low to the floor.

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[Stephen Prunier]

I built my bench 10 years ago from plans I got online from the magazine that has all of there plans online for free. I used douglas-fir 2x4's glued face to face, and I used 4x4 post, etc. It has a leg vise and tail vise. At 7'x3', it's larger than what you want, but you can build it to the size you want. It's heavy enough for handtool work, which I do 90% of the time. If you need to add weight just use a couple 80lb bags of quickcrete.

[Jim Koepke]

Anyone ever build a ballast box for a lighter weight bench to compensate for the lack of bench frame weight? How well did it work out?

Mine has worked out great for over a decade now > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?119667

That happens to be a Sjöberg bench.

jtk

[Greg Parrish]

I built my bench 10 years ago from plans I got online from the magazine that has all of there plans online for free. I used douglas-fir 2x4's glued face to face, and I used 4x4 post, etc. It has a leg vise and tail vise. At 7'x3', it's larger than what you want, but you can build it to the size you want. It's heavy enough for handtool work, which I do 90% of the time. If you need to add weight just use a couple 80lb bags of quickcrete.

Stephen, I'm thinking of using the home center wood for a base. We don't really have much here beyond yellow pine, poplar and red oak, but they do sell some white wood that is some sort of fir.

Mine has worked out great for over a decade now > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?119667
That happens to be a Sjöberg bench.
jtk

Jim, I looked at the Sjobergs but the price has gone up so much in the past few years I think I'm better off building something. I really like their larger one with the cabinet though. Thanks for the feedback on the ballast.





On a separate note, I just had another thought. Since this bench will have to go when I built one down the road, why not steal from this one towards building one. The top is roughly 54" x 25" x 1-1/2" thick and its very hard maple. How about building my frame/trestle from what I can get locally like 2x12 yellow pine and then adding a double layer of multi=layer plywood under my existing bench top to make up my 3" top. Once I trimmed the edges of this premade bench, I could then wrap the layer sandwich with a nice outer face/skirt to hide the plywood. And the 3/4" holes are already in the top to provide a nice drill guide to go down through the plywood.

I could then add a veritas or hovarter twin screw vise to it to get me going. Should keep the cost down and theoretically I could be building this weekend since this top is already here and conditioned to my space and plywood would be fairly stable. This would get my weight naturally to make it steady too. May not end up as the prettiest bench but should make a functional option that gets use ready quicker and the only byproduct is the steel framing which I can repurpose later.

Any thoughts on this approach? Thank you.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I would have a single screw vise somewhere.

Also, I would have a metal workers steel vise, you know for pipes and other metal attached firmly to a plywood base with a short full width clamping leg to fit inside that single screw vise

I would put a shelf on the lower cross members and/or add some shallow drawers under the main top. The drawers may interfere with bench dogs, but only if you let them. I store my metal workers vise on that bottom shelf.

[Jim Koepke]

You might consider running strips of hardwood under your dog holes to reinforce them if you ever want to use holdfasts.

Another consideration is how much can your old bench bring in a sale? It might be enough to pay for a hardwood top for a new bench. Check with the local lumber suppliers. Many sell laminated countertop material or laminated 2X4 beams that might be just what you want.

jtk

[Richard Coers]

At my first home, I anchored the bench to the wall to stabilize it. My current bench has plenty of weight in the base. Rob Cosman probably recommends that because he tied in with Woodcraft for a while.

[Greg Parrish]

At my first home, I anchored the bench to the wall to stabilize it. My current bench has plenty of weight in the base. Rob Cosman probably recommends that because he tied in with Woodcraft for a while.

It actually went back against the wall tonight as I'm shuffling the floor plan a little. It can be secured to the wall for stability so I think my current plan will be to just get a decent face vise on it and start using it. I have plenty of 3/4" dog holes in it and with a good assortment of planing stops, dogs, dog hole clamps and holdfasts I should be good until I figure out what I want to build that will fit in my space. I'm still thinking a twin screw face vise would be nice even if I did build a moxon vise later. Both the veritas model and the hovarter models look nice but I don't know which would be better.

[Greg Parrish]

Well, I ordered vises today. Looks like shipping is about 3 weeks out so I’ve got time to be thinking about my build but I think I’ve decided to build a simple Roubo style bench. Not quite as sparse as the prior Benchcrafted Classic 84” model I had, but along those lines. In this case, I’m thinking solid top (not-split) Roubo with leg vise and wagon vise. I’m planning dog holes in line with the wagon, and holdfast holes on the bench top and the leg under the wagon vise. Lastly, I’m debating the idea of a static deadman in the form of a cross brace. I really don’t think I want a sliding deadman but have seen a cross brace style deadman with holes spaced along it, but honestly for a shorter bench in the 5 to 6 foot range, I don’t know if it’s really needed and practical.

With regards to vises, I decided to try the Hovarter leg vise and wagon vise. I liked the quick release function. Having previously had the Benchcrafted screw style leg vise, it was straightforward and easy to use also so it was a tough decision. Anyway, I’m looking forward to a proper bench in the coming months.

Now time to start looking for wood to use. Not sure if I want to mill my own oak or find something in the maple or ash families. I have other surfaces from softer wood so I want this to be a hardwood bench. Regardless, I’ll be looking for something affordable. Thanks for the tips above.

[Jim Koepke]

Lastly, I’m debating the idea of a static deadman in the form of a cross brace. I really don’t think I want a sliding deadman but have seen a cross brace style deadman with holes spaced along it, but honestly for a shorter bench in the 5 to 6 foot range, I don’t know if it’s really needed and practical.

Having dog holes in an apron to support longer piece can be useful. If nothing else, they can be part of the support for a Moxon Vise.

jtk

[Greg Parrish]

EDIT: Nevermind. Seller just messaged me and let me know he is selling to someone local for more money. Will have to start looking again for wood options.



Found some 8/4 kiln dried Ash lumber in the vicinity that I'm going to pick up later today. Looks like there are 8 of them that average 8' long and 6" wide. I'm calculating around 64 board foot. That's not going to be enough for a full top after jointing and planing so I've got some decisions to make. Need some input from those that have worked with Ash before. Especially on an Ash workbench.

Thinking 4" to 5" thick, 6' to 7' long and 24 to 30 inch deep range since I'll have it against a wall for a while. I'm possibly thinking of building it as a split top with 12" glue up slabs so it would fit through my planer. Most likely a roubo style, or hybrid variant of it with thick top and substantial thick legs.

> Would you use the Ash for the bench top? I could probably get one 12" to 14" wide glue up out of these 8 boards.
> Is there another wood I could mix into the top construction that works with Ash? Maybe I could make the aprons out of something else if I find another wood for a good price?
> Would the Ash be better served as the stand/frame given it's weight and use something else for the top?
> or is my best bet to hold out for more KD Ash? I'm guessing I would need at least another 80 to 100 BF based on the various plans I've seen. Benchcrafted recommends at least 150 BF for their benches and as much as 200 if you don't get to pick the boards out for straight stock. But they also say their bench only needs about 100 BF total for its construction not counting the waste pieces.

Thanks for any additional direction or thoughts now that I have the vises on order and will have the first pieces of wood on hand soon.

[Tom Bussey]

The front vise is different but not really and it is still basically a Roubo style bench.

Tom

[Greg Parrish]

Since the guy with the ash lumber backed out on me as mentioned in post 11, I've gone back and decided to try something different. After reading the article below, I'm encouraged to give a try to a Roubo using slabbed oak for the top and pine for the base/trestle. Sometime over the next few weeks, I'm going to scout our farm for an oak big enough to provide two 84"x12"x6" slabs. My goal would be to end up with two 72"x10"x5" slabs to create my benchtop from. Don't know how long I'll need to let them dry before building but the article mentions building with it wet and flattening it regularly while it dries on the bench. The slabs in the article were joined but I'm thinking about the possibility of leaving them detachable for the first few years so they could be flattened in the planer every so often.

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/a...turn-of-roubo/

Any reason not to try this? It would cut my cost significantly down to just the frame material since we have the trees and sawmill available on our property. Thanks.

[Greg Parrish]

Bringing my prior thread back to life. The Hovarter vises were taking forever to become available so I ended up cancelling my order. I think it is because they just came out with a new version but regardless the wait time gave me time to rethink my bench needs and approach.

During the black friday sales I debated buying a new prebuilt bench versus building but decided to stick with my plan to build. I have a Veritas sliding tail vise inbound from a purchase here on the forum and I plan to add either a Veritas twin screw, or maybe the Hovarter if they have them in stock now. I also just picked up a batch of wood from a local supplier I just learned about and it should be enough to get my bench top assembled. Will be using soft maple and walnut, mostly because they didn't have enough of any one wood in stock in 8/4 thickness for my benchtop. Looking at the Janka scale, soft maple (950) and walnut (1010) seemed pretty darn close in hardness, so I'm assuming they will hold up well together. The walnut will help to dress up the top a little too.

I downloaded the plans for this bench and like the hybrid approach for the type of things I do. I'm planning to build this more or less in the 6' version: https://www.thirdcoastcraftsman.com/...orkbench-plans

Anyway, here is my latest question. What wood should/could I use for the legs/trestle? Could I get away with something softer like poplar, or even white pine? Would these be too soft? I don't think I would like the color of SYP mixed with the maple and walnut, but the lighter woods like poplar and white pine might not look to odd. Or, do I need to stick with soft maple and walnut for the whole thing?

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[Tom Bender]

The Armor bench looks like the feet are ready to fold under if you lean on it. Adding weight would be scary.