Tonys new workbench - lots of photos

[Anonymous]

Great looking bench, can't wait till I start mine.
Just a few questions

Thansk Stefan - happy to answer any questions

What was the extra alu fence on your saw for when you were cutting the tenons.

To stop the work racking and jamming when cutting the shoulders - if you run against the fence AND the mitre gauge, there is a real risk of kickback or non-alignment of cuts. The wood leaves the extra ali before touching the blade. This is standard practice.

Did you band saw from both sides or just face side.

Just the face sides - I turned wood over and kept fence in same position for all cuts. I prefer to cut the faces slightly over size and then fine tune with a plane - this is quick and takes slight variations in mortise width into account.

When you cut the tenons at 5 degrees, what thickness did you leave at the bottom.

More-or-less nothing. I drew a line with my square all around the wood and in line with the ends of the basic mortise. I then set my bevel gauge to 5 degrees and drew a line up the side of the wood from level with the end of the mortise at the bottom (used previous line as reference). I used the square again to extend this new line across the top face and clamped my guide block against this line.
When I chopped the mortise to 5 degrees, I held the chisel very tightly against the block (fingers on back of blade and hand at back of block) and the chisel emerged just about in line with the bottom mortise ends (within a mm).

I don't understand the phrase "sprung the joints with a 0.5mm dip in the middle" - can you explain

OK. Wood tends to shrink more at the ends than along the main pieces of a plank over time - this is due to the end grain taking in or giving up moisture more rapidly than the main faces and is why boards often have the ends painted when one buys them.

What I did was plane the edges dead straight from end to end, then started a plane cut about 6" in from the end and stopped it about 6" from the other. A few passes causes the boards to have a slight 'dip' in the middle (length of plane really determines the depth as it stops cutting pretty soon - called a 'stop shaving' by DC).
When I glued up the boards, the clamps closed them together and the ends are under compressive strain, thus if the ends do shrink a bit as the wood continues to dry out, the joint won't open up.

Is the "boiled linseed" bought as is or do you make it yourself.

Rustins - £2.99 per bottle. You can see the bottle in some photos

Sorry about all the question, only way to learn

No problem at all - I hope I have clarified, if not, then feel free to pm me and we can discuss further

 

[CYC]

=D> Superb.

It's beautiful.
I really enjoyed looking at your WIP pictures.
I loved the dovetails, some job you did there!
Makes me want to get some hand tools :wink: :wink: hehe

 

[Alf]

Well, I've been looking at these tonight and can't find the ding :lol: You first :wink:

See that little mark right in the middle of the front vice jaw? Careless drill bit. ](*,)

Mind you that was four or five years ago now, when the bench was quite young - it looks much worse now.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Mike.C]

Out of this world Tony, out of this world.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Evergreen]

Tony

My word, that one isn't going to shift in a high wind! Great work! Nice classic design with particularly interesting use of timbers.

Regards.

 

[Shultzy]

Tony, thanks for the answers.

"I don't understand the phrase "sprung the joints with a 0.5mm dip in the middle"

Funny I remember doing this when I made my drawing board at school (it was made with loose tongues), never made the connection but it was a long time ago.

 

[Chris Knight]

Tony,
It's looking great - well done!

 

[Bredbin]

Fantastic bench Tony. I have been itching to get a very similar one built for which I have already bought some American white oak for the top. Fitting and hanging eleven new interior doors for Management (her other name) is now finished, so I can now get on with more important stuff. Important to me anyway!

Thanks for providing all the useful info.

 

[Bredbin]

What I meant to add was - I like the sound of the sprung joints, but it sounds like you are quite a deft hand with the plane, which I am not. When you say you start and finish the planer strokes 6 inches from either end, do the cuts stop dead or is there a slope as it were. I guess as we are only talking about a half mill then it doesn't matter, but I thought I'd check.

Planer novice.

 

[RobertMP]

Can I just ask about the vice?

I've just bought a woodworking vice to fit to my workbench. I notice you have a large wooden jaw fitted to the vice. Does that amount of overhang mean that you can't apply full pressure at the edges - or is the wood used and fixing screws/bolts so strong that you can?

I have some 1" hardwood ply that I was thinking of using for jaw liners but had never considered making them that much oversize.

I bought a second hand Record (marked 52 1/2 P) and it is a big un. 9" jaws that open over 12"

 

[Anonymous]

What I meant to add was - I like the sound of the sprung joints, but it sounds like you are quite a deft hand with the plane, which I am not. When you say you start and finish the planer strokes 6 inches from either end, do the cuts stop dead or is there a slope as it were. I guess as we are only talking about a half mill then it doesn't matter, but I thought I'd check.

Planer novice.

With the spring cuts, I pull the plane off the board whilst it is still moving - learnt how to do this from David Charlesworth's DVD on hand planing.

Then, when the cut is deep enough, one runs a complete 'through' pass along the entire board to sort of blend it all in

 

[Anonymous]

Can I just ask about the vice?

I've just bought a woodworking vice to fit to my workbench. I notice you have a large wooden jaw fitted to the vice. Does that amount of overhang mean that you can't apply full pressure at the edges - or is the wood used and fixing screws/bolts so strong that you can?

I have some 1" hardwood ply that I was thinking of using for jaw liners but had never considered making them that much oversize.

I bought a second hand Record (marked 52 1/2 P) and it is a big un. 9" jaws that open over 12"

hi robert

The fixing is solid and I can apply full pressure but there is a little racking (twist). currently I use Al's idea to deal with this which is to pack the other side of the vice with a varying number of pieces of hardboard.

In most cases there is no problem and the vice clamps fine

the fixing is with 8mm bolts through 2 inches of beech and the vice jaw is also 2 inch beech. The rear of the vice si also bolted down with 10mm coach bolts into a big block of oak

 

[Benchwayze]

A lovely, plain and simple bench.
Happy hours to you Tony.

I have given in and decided to get me a Nielsen. I am hoping that 'Bedrock' design is still in production.

John

 

[MarcW]

Awesome! =D>

I like it!

You have a very nice tool coll... :-s tools too

 

[devonwoody]

Another thread whilst I was doing my time in Oz.

Must get round to making myself a bit of furniture like that, I would have to have a number two bench to do those those other jobs like taking the car engine apart.