My glue up cauls have packing tape on one edge. This make them easy to separate after a glue job.
jtk
Contributor
My glue up cauls have packing tape on one edge. This make them easy to separate after a glue job.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
[OP]
Member
Originally Posted by andy bessette
Not so much having ignored, as having misunderstood. I went with a bench design that was rather obscure and was just trying to figure out how the top and the leg assembly attached.
There's tons of information out there on certain bench types such as the Roubo or Moravian or English workbench, but nobody makes a turn of the century Sloyd bench!
If I had researched more broadly and looked at more similar benches such as Scandinavian benches, I would have perhaps realized my error I guess. I did that *after* realizing the problem. But even then, it's quite difficult to find pictures of the underside, and more difficult still to find any plans or people building truly traditional ones as opposed to construction methods meant for people using power tools and a lot of modern fasteners.
Anyway, I learned. And, ultimately, I agree with you. I have a huge appreciation for Historical designs. The more I solve problems and work through designing something, the more I realize just how cleverly the originals were designed, and I often catch myself wanting to change or "improve" something only to realize that, actually, I'd be making it worse or causing more trouble for myself down the road.
[OP]
Member
You mean a groove across the end grain, right?
I can see how some kind of groove and "joinery" could make it much easier to glue up...
Contributor
Grooves run WITH the grain...2 grooves right on the face of the 2x4...Then a spline is glued in place in each groove, and then glued into the adjoining face of the next 2x4. and so on until the last glue joint.
A Planer? I'm the Planer, and this is what I use
Contributor
Luke,
My bench is Scandinavian type actually the Danes built the benches for the Scandinavians who then made furniture.
Attached are some pictures showing the attachment to the top and the underside of the bench. I made the tail vise twice as long for lots of reasons. The pictures show the sliding frame of the tail vise. I had no plans either, just designed my own. It works very well, no complaints at all.
D4FBD630-9328-4552-8CE2-1350D2108990.jpg
E9F04397-658C-4144-AC76-FE5E2677080C.jpg
25230AD8-4BA2-47BD-B111-44ADA8171A18.jpg
Hope they are of some help.
You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!
Member
I used cheapest 2x4 I could find, picked through em, ripped a sq edge, built a glue jig that was perfectly flat & level to avoid any twist and extensive hand planing after glue up. I did it in 3 parts 1st was about 10-12 boards 2nd 8-10 boards third joined 2 parts together. The top came out very very flat and took very little hand planing. Super happy with result excpept I wish I would have used a better quality wood.
Glup2 jig.jpg1st half.jpg
Contributor
Luke I feel your frustration, I live in an apartment too and am also building a bench.
I chose to make a Roubo just a really short one. my working theory is a smaller bench needs to be thicker to not wander around the apartment floor.
In Europe beech is the preferred choice of wood for a bench
I am making mine by a very slow and inefficient method of planing 2 boards, laminating them together, coming back the next day and replaning them to add a third board and so on...
my theory is the laminate gets rid of a lot of potential built in tension that way. it also becomes less work each layer (1 board isn't likely to warp 5 laminated together)
Good luck!
Member
I wish I could afford 5" worth of maple for a top as well. My 2x4 top works very well though, it just doesn't look as nice or weigh as much. I always planed to load the bottom with sand bags. Haven't gotten round to it.
Contributor
No. That will just make it top heavy. A small bench needs to be ballasted with weight added down low.
Mine has a cabinet built into the bottom in which I store coffee cans of nuts and bolts (used for weighting glue-ups). Additionally I store two 60-lb lead pigs and other scrap lead weights under the bench.
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."
Contributor
My current bench also has cabinets. They do add weight, but they also can become problematic. I tried to use them for tools, once, work holding constantly got in the way. Wood choice, IMO, is all about what's available locally. Although, I am in no way going to build my next bench out of mesquite.
~mike
happy in my mud hut
Contributor
My bench is a lightweight and would move all over when edge planing large pieces. An 80 pound bag of concrete helped solve the problem:
100_1804.jpg
A notch is cut out of the bottom of the bucket to sit on the lower runner on the bench leg.
More here > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?119667
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
1. top heavy is still heavy. Right now I have one half of a split top route on sawhorses and it barely moves when I plane. Double the top weight, and add substantial legs and the thing will be rock solid
2. I still plan on building a built in chest of drawers into the bench. But that will likely take a few years
Contributor
Top heavy gives it inertia, very good for planing. Rigid frame transfers the forces to the floor before deformation occurs. Heavy rigid frame even better. It is lovely to have a bench that just does not move.
You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!
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