Holding timber on your bench without a vice?

[matmac]

Currently on a holiday break from my furniture making course and as i am home i feel as tho i am stranded with out any survival kit. I am trying to make do with my small light workbench and uneven floor. I am as i said before a student so have few funds so am trying to make jigs to make my life easier to work with purely hand tools on a small budget i.e nothing lol. I am struggling to simple hold timber securely. Suggestions for useful jigs would be brilliant with all aspects particularly holding timber securely so i can plane it but also any good ones you can think of. I have had a quick scan though the index but any pointers would be great.
Thank you for your time.
Matt

 

[paulm]

How about a simple batten nailed or screwed to the top of the bench as a simple but effective planing stop ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[matmac]

Thanks thats a nice solution haha seems so simple. il give it a go.
Matt

 

[paulm]

It works surprisingly well

Put another batten at right angles too if you need to plane at more of an angle on the timber, so that you are pushing the timber into the corner against the two battens.

Lots of variations on the theme possible, including a couple of parallel battens and the use of folding wedges to hold the timber between them, sure there is more I can't think of at the moment..........

Cheers, Paul

 

[matmac]

That honestly is wicked i love solutions like that cheap and easy thanks
Matt

 

[Alf]

Coupla ideas on a theme here and here.

 

[matmac]

defiantly food for thought thank you both very much keep them coming if there are more thinking more face side as well as edging jigs?

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Yes its an effective solution and one I still use regularly. I have a piece of ply on my bench shelfs which I place in the vice as a back stop when belt sanding. When planing wide pieces I simply just use nails into my bench.

 

[AndyT]

The old style wooden handscrews have the extra benefit that they will lie flat and stable on the bench, and can themselves be clamped down if needed. Here I am using one for morticing:

and another similar:

 

[Jacob]

If it's a bouncy bench it'll help to brace it against a wall in the direction you plane or saw. Clamp/nail/screw a suitable board or batten on, to reach the wall.
Also wedges are really handy in 100s of ways, e.g. nailed on stops as recommended above, with wedges for adjustment.

 

[SteveB43]

From AndyT
The old style wooden handscrews have the extra benefit that they will lie flat and stable on the bench, and can themselves be clamped down if needed. Here I am using one for morticing:

I've seen quite a few plans for these and they feature heavily in Robert Wearing's books on Jigs and tips, but must admit to being completely flummoxed :? as to where to buy the hardware to make these types of clamps. It's not something you can walk into the DIY sheds to buy, and dont bother asking anyone there for advice, you may as well be from another planet... (I know :wink: where to get the wood from...)
Also to create the threads in the wood, is this just a tap n die set? I've seen a few US articles on creating threads in wood using kits available over there, very few UK suppliers though. Here's a US from Garrett Wade
http://www.garrettwade.com/complete-tap-die-set-1-2-in/p/98N11.01/

Toolpost though have this,
http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Turning_Tools/Thread_Cutting/thread_cutting.html

which looks the same, but pricey though?


Any suggestions for suppliers or articles on how to build these would be much appreciated.


Cheers
Steve,

 

[bugbear]

From AndyT
The old style wooden handscrews have the extra benefit that they will lie flat and stable on the bench, and can themselves be clamped down if needed. Here I am using one for morticing:

I've seen quite a few plans for these and they feature heavily in Robert Wearing's books on Jigs and tips, but must admit to being completely flummoxed :? as to where to buy the hardware to make these types of clamps. It's not something you can walk into the DIY sheds to buy, and dont bother asking anyone there for advice, you may as well be from another planet... (I know :wink: where to get the wood from...)
Also to create the threads in the wood, is this just a tap n die set? I've seen a few US articles on creating threads in wood using kits available over there, very few UK suppliers though. Here's a US from Garrett Wade
http://www.garrettwade.com/complete-tap-die-set-1-2-in/p/98N11.01/

Toolpost though have this,
http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Turning_Tools/Thread_Cutting/thread_cutting.html

which looks the same, but pricey though?


Any suggestions for suppliers or articles on how to build these would be much appreciated.


Cheers
Steve,

Don't confuse traditional wooden handscrews with the more versatile ones by Jorgensen (although they're also fairly old now).

Trad is here:

http://www.woodwork-magazine.com/index.php/archives/65

The Jorgensen ones are available as kits

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.a ... 72&p=59472

I don't know of a UK source - but google tells me that their UK agent is Chesterman Marketing

http://www.chestermanmarketing.com/#/ad ... 4545030866

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

BB's linked article is a good guide on how to make these.

It's not very clear from my pictures, but the first one is an old Woden with metal screws, as above. If you only want a little one, then Axminster sell a finished article which is cheap enough to put you off making your own, or you could potentially make new wooden parts for it.

Of the wooden clamps, one I bought second hand, the other is a copy I made myself. I did the threading with exactly the threadbox you showed - there must be one Chinese factory supplying the world. I used holly for one threaded bar, beech for the other, and an unidentified hardwood for the jaws. All are fine - you can find suitable sized bits of beech from broken furniture.

I have a 3/4" thread cutter, bought from RDG (who sell mostly engineering stuff) after a tip-off on here, but they've stopped selling them. I think it was about £26.

Rutlands do sell them - if you can find them - but at £49.95 which is a bit steep even with 12% off for Easter.

They do seem to be a very hard tool to search for - nobody seems to know which section they fit in, and there are too many names.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

From AndyT
The old style wooden handscrews have the extra benefit that they will lie flat and stable on the bench, and can themselves be clamped down if needed. Here I am using one for morticing:

I've seen quite a few plans for these and they feature heavily in Robert Wearing's books on Jigs and tips, but must admit to being completely flummoxed :? as to where to buy the hardware to make these types of clamps. It's not something you can walk into the DIY sheds to buy, and dont bother asking anyone there for advice, you may as well be from another planet... (I know :wink: where to get the wood from...)
Also to create the threads in the wood, is this just a tap n die set? I've seen a few US articles on creating threads in wood using kits available over there, very few UK suppliers though. Here's a US from Garrett Wade
http://www.garrettwade.com/complete-tap-die-set-1-2-in/p/98N11.01/

Toolpost though have this,
http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Turning_Tools/Thread_Cutting/thread_cutting.html

which looks the same, but pricey though?


Any suggestions for suppliers or articles on how to build these would be much appreciated.


Cheers
Steve,

To make the Bob Wearing type of clamp, B&Q sell 'threaded rod' (a.k.a. 'studding' or 'stud-iron') in a range of sizes, and about 3' long. A couple of lengths of M8 (which just means Metric threadform of 8mm outside diameter) and a couple of bags of nuts would make several medium-sized clamps, with maybe M12 for big 'uns. Using the nuts sunk into the wooden bits of the clamp would save the need to cut threads in the wood. If you drill handles out slightly larger than threadsize and fix the thread with epoxy, that saves threading the handle, too. Engineering threads wouldn't last very long in wood anyway - most wooden threads are very 'coarse' by metalwork standards.

To cut the threaded rod, you'd need a hacksaw (junior would be fine), and you'd need a small file - say 6" hand or flat second cut - to clean off the burrs so that a nut will run on and off easily. A spanner to fit the nuts (adjustable will do), and you're sorted. To hold the threaded rod for cutting, either clamp it between two pieces of scrap wood, or run on three nuts, positioning two at either extremes of the vice jaws, and using the third to snug up against one of the other two and stop the rod turning.

 

[Jacob]

Battens, nails, wedges all good but if you are going to fiddle about a bit and spend money you might as well cut the cackle and go direct to a proper bit of kit. I just got this on ebay for £20 - brand new under the rust! It's the top o the range 52 1/2D with a DOG!! luxury.
They aren't always there when you want them but if you put a search in one will turn within a couple of weeks or so.
I've stuck it on the other side of my old bench so I've now got two. Very handy being able to swap sides, or to leave something unfinished in one while you carry on with the other

 

[Digit]

A proper jig Matt takes the idea of the two pieces of timber nailed to the bench as follows.
A piece of ply with a batten attached at the side, the ply acts as the stop and the batten prevents sideways movement.
Two dowels through the ply into holes in the bench top. The jig drops into the holes or you can simply clamp the ply base down to the bench top.

Roy.

 

[SteveB43]

Hi,
Thanks for the articles, links and info on how to make the Bob Wearing type of clamp, I'll look out for some threaded rod, nuts etc over the next few weeks..
A threadbox approach, maybe later....
Cheers and have a good Easter All...

 

[matmac]

haha thanks Roy

 

[Benchwayze]

You can always sit on a piece that you are morticing with hand-tools. Extreme I know, but some workers just do things that way!

 

[Jacob]

You can always sit on a piece that you are morticing with hand-tools. Extreme I know, but some workers just do things that way!

Not extreme - quite normal and traditional. You do it on a saw horse, or even better - a purpose made mortice stool. There's one in Ellis I believe.
Actually saw horses are extremely useful, especially in the absence of a proper bench. They are essential accessories in any case.