Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Bally Block
William Duffield
Back in the good old days, Bally Block, in Bally, PA, was unofficially open on some Saturdays, and woodworkers could go in and buy seconds of their rock maple countertops for workbenches, at discounted prices. Does anyone know whether that service is still available?
Re: Bally Block
Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey
They're open the 2nd Saturday of each month.
Call'em at 610-845-7511 and ask
PS: Let us know what you find out! 
Re: Bally Block
William Duffield
Thanks, Mark. That's just what I needed to know.
Whether I will decide that a 4 hour drive is worth the effort is still to be determined. I guess part of that will depend on how much rock maple I can find and extract from the depths of my stash.
I recently acquired an Oliver patternmaker's vise and I want to build a carving bench with a small footprint to mount it on. I'm starting with Geoff Noden's Adjust-a-Bench kit for the undercarriage, because it will provide the vise two more degrees of freedom (vertical adjustment of the rear jaw, and four lockable swivel casters).
Since the vise is very heavy, and it is designed to hold very heavy work, for stability I need to hang the vise between the bench legs, instead of cantilevered under one end. Geoff provides the accessories to accomplish this, although
not documented for this purpose on his website or anywhere else I can find on the internet.