Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Re: gluing up workbench top
paul womack
>your bench [5 feet] is about 4 feet too short. You're going to run out of space even for jewelry boxes.
That's odd. I had no trouble (at least bench length related :-) making a plant stand with 4 foot legs on a 5 foot bench.
It might not be perfect, but then so few things are.
BugBear
Re: gluing up workbench top
paul womack
>I thought my bench needed only be as long as my longest piece of furniture. I was wrong wrong wrong. The molding around a chest 40" wide 20" deep is 8' long. (I was thinking it would be no longer than 4'). Its important to be able to plane stock before cross cutting. And that's just one example.
Ahah! I see where you're coming from. But I think you're wrong: You're confusing "need" and "want."
Your bench only needs to be as long as your longest component; but you may want it to be longer.
Your example of a moulding is insightful. However, it's not essential to cut all your moulding in one pass; it's just quicker and easier.
What on earth size bench would you recommend to a trim carpenter making baseboard moulding for a 24' square room ?! :-)
BugBear
Re: Clamps versus Vacuum Bagging for Bench
Todd Stock
>We're into '...now - assume a spherical cow' territory, but yes, the outer laminations spread the applied load outward from the centerline of the clamp.
In other words, you can achieve the same pressure at the joint by using really wide cauls and a really big clamp (not too practical), or with no cauls and a bunch of clamps (not too practical, either, unless you got to the HD Bessey closeout).
A 45 degree load path (either side of the clamp centerline) is a nice, conservative assumption when clamping up bench-tops or other surfaces with multiple strips.
Re: Clamps versus Vacuum Bagging for Bench
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>I think this is a very practical consideration, not '...now - assume a spherical cow' territory at all. These big clamps are expensive, and anything that can be done to widen the effect of each one is good. And then there's the glue open time that limits the number of clamps that can be tightened.
Pam
Re: Clamps versus Vacuum Bagging for Bench
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Last week, I glued up a 7' x 30" x 5" thick bench top in a single glue up, using only seven clamps. While this claim may appear at first glance to be one of those proverbial spherical cows, it really is a practical example of the discussed principles. You see, I cheated. I started with a 16' long Norway spruce glue-lam beam, cut it in two and jointed a pair of edges.
I also cut off some more pieces of the same stuff, ripped them down the middle, mortised and tenoned them and got a massive base of 5"x7" cross section legs and stretchers. Tomorrow, I'll finish fitting the tenons, glue the end trestles together, drill bolt holes for the stretchers, and maybe start flattening the top.
Re: Clamps versus Vacuum Bagging for Bench
Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia
>Is this new bench for you Sir Will? JR
Re: Bench Surfaces
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Well, I think that's the plan, but I'm going to have to retrain one of other guys who works in the shop first. He seems to need a lot of "elbow room" and is really efficient at filling every surface in the shop with "stuff". We all have a tendency to do this, to a greater or lesser extent, and some days are much worse than others. Some days, I can misplace my combination square and pencil ten times in about five minutes, so it's not surprising that the expected bench surface or shoulder vise isn't always available when you need it. Since the whole shop needs to be used as efficiently as possible, a lot of sharing of resources is encouraged, but this one is supposed to be mine, mostly.
Pix? (please!)
Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida
>
Re: Pix? (please!)
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>I got all the joinery finished today. The end trestle assemblies are glued up and in clamps. I got all the bolt holes drilled in the legs and stretchers, and slots cut for board jack. I also took some photos. I'll process and upload them and post later, starting a new thread, instead of way down here.
Re: Bench Surfaces
Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia
>A very interesting idea. I wish I had thought of that!