An old road, being traveled yet again.

Re: Ditteaux Roubo

David Hammond, in Powder Springs GA

>Yeah, I was laughing when I saw that one! :o) I love it around here.

David

Re: Insane workbench rant

Dean J in MN

>You are welcome, I learned all I know from others as well. I am indebted to them all.

-Dean

Re: plywood box

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>You might consider using the plywood box as an assembly table.

Pam

Re: Insane workbench rant

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I would look for steel forged holdfasts, if you can find them. One of my cast iron ones (Taiwanese) broke, just like a dropped plane, one day when I was hitting it with a wooden mallet. I might send the remains to Ernie for a drawer pull :^)

Good idea

David Hammond, in Powder Springs GA

>

Re: Ditteaux Roubo

Ernie Miller Topeka

>Maybe the quote of the month.

Re: Insane workbench rant

Ernie Miller Topeka

>Don't do that! I have a pile of them broken cast hold fasts. I though I was so cool buying them things at the wood show. I think I could build some if I had a welder. one day they work and the next day with a smart tap they are gone.

Cast iron+hammers

Bob Hackett

>Hitting cast iron with a hammer(or even a mallet) is just asking it to fail.Flexing it and then hitting it while stressed is a guaranteed failure.Steel will flex and return,cast may flex alittle and return for several cycles but that is not what it`s best at and sooner or later it will fracture.Think of cranking down on that vise holding your cast iron plane to get a clear picture of what I`m talking about.Now that it`s good and tight hit the protruding end with a mallet.Bet nobody even thought about conducting that experiment.

Holdfasts can easily be made from cold rolled or hot rolled steel rod.Take a torch and heat to bend and if you want to get really fancy forge out the end into a paddle shape and glue a leather pad to it so you don`t have to put a scrap piece under it.

I`ve had excellent luck using rod with far less diameter than the customary 3/4".3/4 is what we use to fix large metal parts to a platten in the shipyard and I never saw the need for anything that big to hold a piece of WWing stock.YMMV

Mainely,Bob

Re: An old road, being traveled yet again.

Angus Barclay, in New Zealand

>Hello David,

There's a lot of very good advice in this thread and I'm glad to have added a useful tidbit.

Tastes and opinions about features such vices, holdfasts, board jacks, dogs, stops, cleats, tool wells, under-bench storage etc are hugely variable.

My own bench (with sliding dog among its many features) works well for me and my situation but some people here would hate using it. The best advice could perhaps be summed up as: "Make a bench that works for YOU and YOUR particular working methods and style."

regards

Angus Barclay

Bob Key's Bench *LINK*

Brent Langdon, Sterling VA

>Have you looked at Bob Key's site? (www.terraclavis.com/bws) It has some good information on benches. I built my first bench with inspiration from his "Good, Fast, and Cheap Bench" (linked below). I learned a lot in the process and now I have a bench that is very solid, if not beautiful.

Is 20" x 60" to small? Probably but mine is a measly 24" x 48". Hey, you gotta make sacrifices when your shop is just 1/4 of a 2 car garage. The only vice I have is the "Regular Front Vise" from Lee Valley. I works and was only $50, but does rack quite a bit.

- Brent

P.S. I notice a banner on Bob's site saying that he is selling is entire shop.


Bob Key's "Good, Fast, and Cheap Bench"

Re: Cast iron+hammers

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>I see that 3/4" is probably overkill but the dog holes are there and they are 3/4" sooo...JR

Re: Insane workbench rant

paul womack

>What I need are the really big, flexible iron ones that are forged.

Given the cost, rarity, and difficulty of sourcing "real" holdfasts, the OP might once again consider a "normal" metal face vice.

These have provided excellent service for 5 generations of woodworkers.

BugBear

Re: Cast iron+hammers

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>I had read about the cast iron holdfasts breaking, so when I bought one from Woodcraft about a year ago I noticed that it was malleable iron. I have not had any problem with it and whack it regularly with a mallet. I noticed that the latest Woodcraft catalog shows two holdfasts, a smaller one of malleable iron and a larger one with a steel shaft and iron head.

Ted

OP?

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>

Re: USENET: "original poster"

paul womack

>

Williamsburg

John Jesseph

>I have a huge commercial German workbench. I plan on building a couple of workbenches, and the first will be a Williamsburg-style bench. Overall I agree with the insane rant, sorry I don't have time to read the whole thread. The WB is functionally similar to the Roubo, but can have a face vise. If I can find some pics, I'll post them. I have some enormous 8/4 poplar boards, ten or twelve feet long and wide enough for windsor seats, I'm thinking about using those for a top. Not the ultimate, but what is on hand in the shop.

Next workbench after that: Pseudo-Shaker with bathroom vanity (or is that "bawthroom") in the base, with twin screw vise, dog holes, etc. For chairmaking and luthery.

Re: In regard to holdfasts...

Bill White

>Had mine made by a blacksmith (Mike Rose) at Dollywood several years ago. 5/8" hot rolled rod bent, shaped and tipped. Works like a charm in the borkbench I made from a section of bowling alley.