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Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Denny Lawson - 09-14-2007

CT,
Thanks!
yes the drawers are on full extension metal slides, If I were to do it again I would use slides with 1" of over travel. I bought them at CS hardware online, great prices on slides.




Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 09-15-2007

Well, I did more work on flattening the top, and I think I'm pretty happy with flatness. It's not perfect, but it's good I think. I got out my $3 smoother and erased some plane tracks. Just for kicks I then got out a card scraper. Now, as a rule, I don't like light-colored woods aesthetically. But I'm really starting to dig the maple. Between the smoother and the card scraper, it feels like silk (at least where I was able to get rid of the tear-out). I like it a lot.

I made a couple dogs:



I admit I cheated and I used the bandsaw to make the "spring." I don't know how I would have made a piece that small by hand. The dog holes are not all exactly the same size, but the dogs stand up in all of them. They also push down below the surface of the bench, to be out of the way. However, I'm a little afraid I made the dog holes too far apart. They are 5" apart, and it seems like that vise has to be open a long way:



I used the facevise some when making the dogs. The quick-release is going to take some getting used to. I wish the tail vise was quick-release. That would be sweet.

Again, thanks to everyone for all your help so far. I'm really itching to call it done and put a finish on it. But I still need to make the cabinets, so maybe I should wait till they are also complete?

Sigh, now I'd better go do "responsible" stuff like clean the house, water the plants...


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - FordPrefect - 09-15-2007

I like the dogs. Could you put more dog holes between the existing holes on the tail vise? That would mean less vise movement required.

That is a nice looking bench. I was using my "new" bench today building a face frame and the solid, heaviness of the bench makes chisel work and carcase sawing more fun and less prone to error. The errors now are fully blamed on my technique.


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - mstens - 09-15-2007

You can also do what I do when I hit odd spacings in between and toss a block in between the work and a dog. I like it very much. I'd finish it and then use your new bench to make the cabinets


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 09-24-2007

So, in the course of measuring and planning for the cabinets, I've spent a bit of time really looking at the base (as if I've never seen it before). I'm no longer satisfied with it. It's ugly. The color doesn't match. It is not as rigid as I hoped.

I'm tempted to make a new base out of 8/4 maple, which I probably should have done in the first place. If I were to do so, it would still be a trestle base, but with both upper and lower stretchers, which would be narrower (~4"), to allow for more cabinet space. However, that would add a pretty substantial additional cost to the bench. (Nearly $200 worth. )

On the other hand, there's a good possibility that I may have this bench and use it for the rest of my life, or at least for many years. From that perspective, the cost does not seem like that much.

On the third hand, it's a workbench. Its purpose is not to win any beauty pageants. So the question is: does the current base fulfill its purpose? It is not as rigid as I would like, but I am not certain that a new base with four stretchers out of hard maple would actually be better. It sounds better, but I don't know for sure. How much of it is a matter of weight, versus rigidity? If I went ahead and built the cabinets, perhaps that would add the needed weight.

I guess I should experiment. I can put a piece of plywood across the stretchers and pile a bunch of junk on it, to see if the weight is what really matters.

Ahh, a dilemma. Any thoughts / advice would be appreciated.


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - BlueMaxx - 09-24-2007

From a purely aesthetic point of view I think you already know the answer. As far as it not being rigid enough I think that puts you right over the edge.
Keep the present base for another project and satisfy your "eye".
Either way it is stunning. I have started taking pics of mine and will post as soon as I develop. I am onto the base and am glad to be able to compare with those who have gone before me.
Keep up the stellar work!


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - gMatt - 09-24-2007

The bench looks great!

Am I right in seeing only one bolt on each end of each stretcher? If you are worried about rigidity, maybe double up (4 bolts per stretcher)? Just a thought.


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Skip J. - 09-24-2007

Crooked Tail said:

It is not as rigid as I would like, but I am not certain that a new base with four stretchers out of hard maple would actually be better. It sounds better, but I don't know for sure. How much of it is a matter of weight, versus rigidity? If I went ahead and built the cabinets, perhaps that would add the needed weight.

I guess I should experiment. I can put a piece of plywood across the stretchers and pile a bunch of junk on it, to see if the weight is what really matters.



Hmmnn.. bet you've already done this and already have the answer for us.... if not, go ahead!


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Bob Zajicek - 09-24-2007

The aesthetics maybe important to you now, but they can be addressed later if you decide to rebuild your trestle. A good block sanding will do wonders to clean up your present trestle and give some uniformity to it’s appearance. If you’re still not satisfied, a coat of paint will certainly do the job. A nice hunter green wouldn’t look too bad with that PH. I believe the Shakers painted their bench bases on occasion. FWIW.

I think your rigidity problem should be addressed pretty soon, however. I looked thru this thread and could not positively figure out how you attached the top to the trestle. Most are lag screwed on with the lag bolts going up through the trestle arms from below. Others use pegs and let the weight of the bench top hold things together. What have you done?

Another thing to look at are the stretchers. Are there M&T joints and are they square and tight? Are the bolts tight? They might loosen somewhat with warm weather drying and shrinking the stretchers.

You bench should be rack free and rock solid. If it’s not, you need to make it so. Especially if you plan to rebuild the trestle some day. You don’t want to make the same mistakes two times.


Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 09-24-2007

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'll give you more info for those who asked:

I did just try the extra weight thing. I just laid a piece of ply across the stretchers and threw some pavers, sandbags, and random garage debris onto it. Didn't make any difference.

The bench feels really solid if you push or pull on it from either of the back two corners. However, I can feel it twist some if I push on the left front corner (by the front vise). This is really bad because I plan on using the front vise to hold boards for resawing with a frame saw. So when I do that, it is A LOT of pushing / pulling on that corner. It tweaks a little when I push from the tailvise corner toward the front vise. This isn't nearly as pronounced, but it's still bad, because of course that is where I plane.

I wonder now if the weight of the two vises on the front have sort of thrown it out of kilter. The apron on the front is also a little bit thicker / heavier than the rear apron, so that makes it somewhat unbalanced even before vises are attached.

The top is not (for now) lag bolted to the base. The base has two 1" diameter dowels sticking up about 1.25", which fit into holes on the bottom of the top. The weight of the top holds it in place. I guess the next thing I should do is bolt the top to the base.

The stretchers are M&T'd into the legs. There is only one bolt at each end of the stretchers. When I get home I'll check to make sure the bolts are tight. The M&Ts where the stretchers meet are snug, but not as tight as I'd like.

A couple of the M&Ts between the legs and the feet are even worse. I'm going to blame it on going right from PH to Doug Fir. I shouldn't have chopped the mortises right to the line, because the tenons seemed to compress a lot. You can even see in one of the pics of the face vise where I "cheated" and added some screws through the bottom mortise into the tenon.

I'm so torn... I am not happy with it as it is, but $200 would be fun to spend on a LV shoulder plane, or new chisels... but don't worry, if I remake the base, I will buy a couple real mortise chisels first!