Beading with Multiplane - work holding question

[aesmith]

Thanks for all the comments. It's not really that my bench is a thing of beauty, it's more that the top is a couple of thick slabs of beech. Nailing or screwing direct to the bench implies the top will be replaced now and again which isn't really an option in this case.

Anyway what I ended up doing was making a board with a notch in the end that can sit against the planing stop on the bench. The stop supports it both lengthways and sideways, so all that's needed in addition is to hold the other end down with a clamp. A fence screwed down at the correct distance from the edge, and a stop screwed across the end to complete it. All those parts were from dismantled pallets so can be reused or made into firewood as appropriate.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

A sticking board, in reality, is a false bench top for banging nails into. Save your bench top and make a sticking board from scrap. You can mould as long as you like, since you start the moulding from the furthest end and work backwards. It is easy to advance long mouldings forward as you complete a section. I've made 10 foot long mouldings on a 3 foot sticking board. It is how it is done.

Mike.

All the sticking boards I've seen have some kind of end stop. This means that you cannot work pieces longer than the board (George Ellis mentions sticking boards being as long as 9 feet, for this reason).

Link to sample sticking board with end stop

Your device sounds slightly different (no bad thing) to what's normally call a sticking board. Could you describe it?

BugBear

Hello,

I usually make them as needs arise. If a standard board with a stop will not suffice, (I have seen them and made them with a panel pin sharpened and sticking up as well as the stop) then I remove it and rely on the pin or pins gripping from beneath. Or clamp the work behind the plane, since the planing takes place at the far end, and advance the work forwards as I go. This is a good way for planing sawn veneer, too. I object to nailing into my bench top, as no only does it ruin a good surface, but Sod's law states I will run into the nail with my plane resulting in two ruined tools! I do not worry about my bench top, but it is easy to find working methods to avoid destroying it and keeping it for what it is intended, I always chisel down into a scrap board, for example as well as hand drilling. I keep the surface flat for planing and as a reasonable reference surface for assembling frames etc, straight and can use a square for checking assemblies from the bench surface. Also, bench dogs are reliable when the areas around them are not all gnarly.

Charles, If modern practice is not to turn a fine bench top into a butchers block, then whet is wrong with that.? craftsmen no longer have to work by oil lamp light or die of consumption. Almost nothing in the past is actually better or more efficient than we have now, except for unjustifiable, romantic fictions as to how it was, from people who (obviously) were never there..

Mike.

 

[bugbear]

I usually make them as needs arise. If a standard board with a stop will not suffice, (I have seen them and made them with a panel pin sharpened and sticking up as well as the stop) then I remove it and rely on the pin or pins gripping from beneath. Or clamp the work behind the plane, since the planing takes place at the far end, and advance the work forwards as I go. This is a good way for planing sawn veneer, too.

Thank for that - very clear. What you're making may or may not be a textbook "sticking board" but it sounds very helpful!

BugBear

 

[Trafalgar]

Mike, I absolutely don't think anybody should drive nails into a finely crafted bench with expensive stock for the top.

 

[bugbear]

Mike, I absolutely don't think anybody should drive nails into a finely crafted bench with expensive stock for the top.

YOU. ABSOLUTE. REBEL. !!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Although my bench is old and battered, it has a solid beech top which I don't feel like nailing stuff directly onto. I did think now and again about making a sacrificial top surface, but that might be better on a different bench.

Benches are sacrificial. You have to be able to nail/screw into it, for the occasional little job. If you were doing a very long run then you might think about another set up. Fixed sacrificial tops aren't good as they tend to introduce a bit of spring which you notice when morticing or similar.

 

[Trafalgar]

Mike, I absolutely don't think anybody should drive nails into a finely crafted bench with expensive stock for the top.

YOU. ABSOLUTE. REBEL. !!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

BugBear

Ha... but having had both types of benches I vastly prefer one with a softwood top. Nails drive much more easily into these! Who wants to bang nails into beech? Not me.

Freedom to me is personified in nailing thin battens and stops of various sorts into a top (if not nailing the job down itself) in whatever configuration is required. No head scratching.

 

[Jacob]

.....If modern practice is not to turn a fine bench top into a butchers block, then whet is wrong with that.?.....

It's no good as a bench if you can't bash it about a bit. Ditto butcher's blocks. That is the whole point. Is it "modern practice" to not use your work bench for work? Doesn't surprise me! :lol:
If you have a finely crafted bench or butcher's block which you want to keep in perfect condition, you should put it in the living room under a cloth and replace it with a working bench for the workshop, or block for the butcher's shop.

 

[aesmith]

OK I get the scorn because I don't want to damage my bench any further and of course you're right that I'm just a hobbyist. However if you saw my bench you'd probably be amused that it's referred to as "fine", "pristine" and "finely crafted". From my point of view if I can preserve the bench by using a bit of scrap wood as a backer, or as a sticking board then that's what I'll do. I'd probably do the same if it was a plywood or MDF top unless I'd made it so that the top surface was readily replaceable.

 

[JimF.]

I totally get your reticence about damaging your work bench. The idea of knocking nails into mine sets my teeth on edge too. But when you read some of the older books you see that 'they' recommend nailing battens to the work in certain circumstances.

Possibly as amateurs we need to develop a much more robust attitude and learn to realise that the finished visible aspects of the item are more important than what state our work surfaces get in.

Like so many things, it's what gets the job done is what's important.

 

[Trafalgar]

.....If modern practice is not to turn a fine bench top into a butchers block, then whet is wrong with that.?.....

It's no good as a bench if you can't bash it about a bit. Ditto butcher's blocks. That is the whole point. Is it "modern practice" to not use your work bench for work? Doesn't surprise me! :lol:
If you have a finely crafted bench or butcher's block which you want to keep in perfect condition, you should put it in the living room under a cloth and replace it with a working bench for the workshop, or block for the butcher's shop.

Good point, it would be silly as hell (and quite an affectation) trying to keep these in pristine condition:

http://www.johnboos.com/Items_page.asp? ... up=40&hdg="AA" Block 16" Deep &nsf=False&nsfc=False&csa=False

At some point when it's a little too chewed up you could take a little thickness away then chew it up some more.

It is the meals prepared with it, not the block, that are most important.

Somebody got a good bit of use from this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Workben ... 257f11bf56

 

[aesmith]

As a relevant aside, I did some classes that were run at a furniture workshop. The instructor was quite blase about pinning or screwing stops and guides onto the benches, for example a shooting board was improvised in that way with a couple of strips of MDF, or guides to help cross grain trenching for example. However these were really just work tables, no vices for example, just a surface for setting out work and in a working environment I'm sure the tops got replaced pretty frequently. His two "good" benches with hardwood top and tail vice were in a side room, and I didn't see any nail holes there.

 

[Jacob]

As a relevant aside, I did some classes that were run at a furniture workshop. The instructor was quite blase about pinning or screwing stops and guides onto the benches, for example a shooting board was improvised in that way with a couple of strips of MDF, or guides to help cross grain trenching for example. However these were really just work tables, no vices for example, just a surface for setting out work and in a working environment I'm sure the tops got replaced pretty frequently. His two "good" benches with hardwood top and tail vice were in a side room, and I didn't see any nail holes there.

I've been using and abusing my softwood bench for 30+ years including nailing, screwing, painting etc. It looks a mess but in fact the surface is still flat (albeit indented) and good for another 30. I'd draw the line at chain sawing, axe work, oily engine mechanics, welding etc.
I tried a sacrificial surface at first (birch solid ply) but got rid of it and didn't miss it.

 

[Student]

Just to be clear - I am not an experienced woodworker/craftsman like so many on this forum. My workbench was made for me by my (long since departed) father-in-law some 45 years ago as a birthday present; he taught woodwork amongst other skills. The top is made of 4 x 1 1/2 inch planks except at the edges where they are 4 x 3 inches. Because the bench has some sort of sentimental value, although it's looking worn, I never nail anything to the top so that it still looks OK after all this time. Instead, I clamp 6mm MDF to the top to give a flat surface and then use a further piece of 6mm MDF as a sacrificial surface when painting, gluing, oiling bikes etc. The sacrificial surface gets turned over when dirty and then binned once both sides are dirty.

Going back to the OP's post, he has a Workmate. For the purposes of a sacrificial board, why not get a piece of 900 mm by 300 mm 18mm MDF, screw a piece of 4 by 2 CLS timber along the middle, clamp this in the Workmate and pin the trim to the MDF. After use, keep the MDF for a jig of some sort and burn the CLS!

NB The width of the MDF may need to be narrower or wider than 300 mm depending on the width of the Workmate jaws when clamping the CLS in order that the MDF is supported by the jaws across its whole width.