Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
My (Almost) Finished Bench!
Davy
>I'll try to include a pic with this message of my nearly finished bench. I plan to eventually add a sliding tail vise and maybe some shelves to the bench. You may notice also that I need to get the ends of the bench straight. My mortises are quite ugly, but they work and they're my first ones. Everything on this bench was done with hand tools - and not many of those since I don't yet have the variety and number that most of you have.
Some details
Davy
>The bench was built totally out of construction Southern Yellow Pine. I used boiled linseed oil as a finish and plan to also put a few coatings of shellac when my backordered shellac comes in. There is a tool tray. The bench is approx. 33.5" high and about the same wide - not counting the tool tray. Notice some of the jigs on the bench top. I'm quite proud of the very nice dovetail saw that I recently got from Vlad Spehar. Any other questions you may want to know, just post them. Another pic will be following.
Re: Some details
Ernie Miller Topeka
>Nice bench now you can start on some shop furnature to hold all of the tools you will start buying.
Re: My (Almost) Finished Bench!
Earl Drury prague okla
>What did you do on the bottom of your leg vise. I can't quite see it
Re: My (Almost) Finished Bench!
Davy
>I just mortised a 1x4 into it and through the bottom of the leg. Drilled holes to allow me to set it nearly parallel to the top of the vise. Am currently using a long lag screw to hold it in place. Pretty much the standard way of doing the bottoms of leg vises.
Re: My (Almost) Finished Bench!
Frank Mutchler
>Looks nice, Davy. What is the width of the top of the vise? Looks like maybe a 9" throat? I wish you guys would quit posting pictures of your new benches....everyone is a guilt trip for me ;>)! I've had most of my material stacked against a wall for 2 or 3 months now & can't seem to dig my way out of other obligations to get going on it.
Re: My (Almost) Finished Bench!
Davy
>The vise is made of 2-2x12's laminated together and tapered below the vise screw. Frankly, I haven't even measured how far it is from the top of the bench to the screw. I just put it where it looked about right. I'm in the house for the night, but going by memory I don't think it's quite 9" from the top of the bench. More like 6 or 7". Wish I had a special moulding plane for rounding the edges of the vise. I don't, so just used my #4 Stanley to camfer/round the edges. Definitely has a "hand tool" look.
Re: My (Almost) Finished Bench!
Frank Mutchler
>I like to refer to the 'hand tool look' as Character! Something only a craftsman's hands can impart to wood...precision machines just can't do it. Your bench has a lot of Character.
Re: My (Almost) Finished Bench!
Steve Kubien
>Hey Frank,
I do a lot of work building stuff for the folk art/tole painting classes my Mom teaches. It takes a bunch of time but earns me some decent $$$. I told her back in August that I'm out of business until my bench gets done. Worked well and SWMBO also bought into the plan.
Hey, I even got it done!
Steve Kubien