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My Workbench Saga :: observations of workholding devices and putting it to wood! |
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Versatility at it's core: a wooden twin screw vise, without garters. 24" between the screws, 8" jaw capacity. When I was deciding what to incorporate into my bench, the twin screw was high on my list. After visiting Mike Dunbar at his renowned Windsor Studio in New Hampshire I did decide I needed a metal face vise, which has been indespensable. But a twin screw vise is another matter. The vise is used for a managerie of things, most of which I've just read about, and have yet to try out. But, the vise is operating well, and I can't wait to break it in building things for Anna and me! The vise will hold up to a 24" wide board for dovetailing, and can also be used to hold boards for cutting tenons, two of the most widely used joints in woodworking. The vise doesn't have garters either, which means when I loosen the 1 1/2" Hard Maple screws, the jaw of the vise, a Southern Yellow Pine 2x8, doesn't retract with the scews - this allows me to hold tapered stock, such as the legs for a Shaker table. After pricing buying the wooden screws I decided to just make my own. I would recommend hunting someone to make them for you though, if possible. I bought a simple hand threading tap and die, but I failed to make that work - it cut out of the box, but adjusting and sharpening the cutter threw me too far off. Then I bought the Beall router jig. This worked ok, but it's far from just wind the wood through the jig, and poof! Perfect threads... I did manage to get it done, so it's not impossible, but think it through first - the router jig is $100 dollars, and grief is worth something! Also, the router cuts 1 1/4" 8TPI threads, which is a bit fine, 3-4 TPI would be more ideal. Adam Cherubini, Dean Jansa, and Christopher Swartz, maybe even Scott Landis in a small way, are really responsible for what I know about workbenches. I hope to include something of the thought process I went through to get where I am, as well as pictures as progress happens. Follow the linked picture to another thread on WC, a long, very intriguing part of my workbench. |
Overview of my bench ideas: My first bench ideas came from the glossy photos of Landis' book, good or bad as that may be to some of you. Landis at least gave me some sense of the history of workbenches, and started me off right, with the Roubo! I still remember reading about Tarule's reproduction Roubo, and sitting there completely floored at it's raw simplicity - without the leg vise, the bench was little more than a table with a few battons! Then, somewhat unfortunately, though the deviation has really helped me now that I've come full circle, I meandered on through the gloss and found the Shaker monsters and Klauz's piece of furniture. As I fell further into the book's spell, I went from the incredible simplicity of the Roubo to dancing visions of glossy, figured wood, fancy joinery, and more gadgets than I could remember the names of... So, I was lost for awhile in metal screws, tail vises, and odd clamping devices - I explored everything, in my mind anyway - I wanted to see all these different ways of holding wood. Then, finally, I began to draw, and ask questions on WoodCentral. I think the high point, as many may well remember, had to be Adam Cherubini's comment about the Shaker benches, telling me what not to do: Don't build some shaker bathroom vanity underneath it! From there on out I began to read everything Adam and Dean had ever posted on WoodCentral, and to ask more and more questions - I'm going to try and compile all the different threads I read one of these days. Anyway, for now it will suffice to explain the design I've decided upon for my first workbench, probably not my last, but hopefully the last one I build for a long, long time! For edge jointing: I decided a crochet was optimum and that I wanted access to 8' of clearance for edge (and face) joining (or planing) at all times. Face planing: planing stop, in line with the crochet, so I have that 8' of clearance. Twin screw vise (wooden), without garters, for general clamping, but specifically for dovetailing and cutting tenons. So my design is this: Twin screw left front. Crochet just to the right of the twin screw, and a permanent board jack, or fifth leg essentially, just to the right of the crochet. Two holdfasts and battons, and a single, homemade planing stop (or possibly the aluminum Lee Valley stop). Then, the final kicker is that I'm going to drill through my entire top so that I can have the twin screw left front, or right front if I want to swap sides of the bench. Also, I'm planning to make it possible to have two twin screws installed on the bench at the same time, if for some very weird reason I decide I need two. The dimensions are as follows: 12' long top, 5" thick, almost 30" wide (20 - 2x6x12's), 3 - 2x8's laminated together for the four legs, bench height 34", and the stretchers are going to be 2 - 2x6's laminated together. The ideas are in my head, and loosely on paper - we'll see what they do in the medium of wood! |
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This is a post that Dean made on WC of his Roubo, with a twin screw vise. Dean really helped out a lot of folks with the pictures and demonstrations here, me included - thanks Dean! Here's a link to a thread I started on WC, that helped me a great deal in figuring out how I want my final bench to turn out. Christopher Swartz weighed in on the thread and posted some fantastic photos of his SYP bench, which have been great inspiration. |
Sometime I'll chronicle the time I spent with Mike Dunbar last summer, but for now it will suffice to say that this was why I went: The Boston Fan Back side chair. Anna and I hope to have a whole set of these before too long! I just finished this one the other day, and I love it's proportions, strength and grace all together in a very functional, comfortable chair. This picture is linked to a fourth thread on WC, which is to me a very interesting read, to someone who knew nothing about workbenches anyway! |
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 The picture is linked to yet another thread, as I found further problems and questions about my bench ideas. |
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