Yea!, My new Benchcrafted Classic Leg Vise is in. Unfortunately they must have run out of the unfinished vises, I am still very happy with this vise. The machining on their vise hardware is amazing. They are the best you can get…period!
Now to build a leg to put it in. Should be able to build a couple on Friday.
-Aaron
BenchCrafted Classic Leg Vise – Unfinished
3x5x22 Maple End Cap – Cat Inspected
I have almost all the materials on hand for my workbench. I am still waiting for my new Benchcrafted Traditional Classic Vise to get here, but I finished surfacing my hard maple end cap that secures the tail vise to the end of the bench. As you can see my shop cat is inspecting my work with aloof approval. It started out as a rough log and now it is surfaced on 4 sides, square and flat 3″x5″x22″ board. As you can also see, the benchtop boards are now acclimating in my shop. I will start laminating them soon.
2x5x6 Leg and Stretcher Stock
I was waiting for my “Southern Yellow Pine” SYP lumber to dry some more. I checked them with a moisture meter and it read 10%, that is dry enough to start processing them so I have ripped them to width from 6 2″x12″x6′ boards, down to 12 2″x5.25″x6′ boards that will be used for the legs and stretchers. I still have a LOT of surface planing yet to do on these boards. If I had a power surface planer I would use it. I do have 2 nice joiner hand planes that can do the job, albeit a bit slower and a with a bit more muscle power.
The only parts for the bench I have left to buy are the bolt hardware (used to secure the end cap to the bench) and the chop board for my leg vise. The chop board is going to be a 8/4 x 8″ x 36″ piece of hard maple. I will need to get that at the local lumbar yard. Depending on price, I may also get a 6/4 x 5″ x 6′ hard maple board for the front on the workbench. That will make a stronger front edge that I will be clamping to all the time and also will look nice dovetailed into the end cap.
I know this project is progressing a bit slowly, but I have never built a workbench before and I like to think about projects as I build them so I do not make as many mistakes. This workbench has some complications that have me really putting my engineering hat on. I am loving every minute of it. This bench will serve me well for many, many years and I can’t wait to build my first project on it.
-Aaron
This is a project that is way overdue. I’ve been working with my lightweight commercial workbench for way too many years. Last Friday I purchased 10 beautiful 5/4 x 5″ x 12′ boards of southern yellow Pine. I had already purchased my Benchcrafted tail vice about a year and a half ago. This tail vise is quite an expensive piece of machinery to have just laying around not earning it’s keep. So I have decided to go ahead and build my very own Roubo Workbench. In these pictures you’ll see the boards have already been cut in half and resting nicely on my two saw benches. I will be following Chris Schwarz’s plans for a 18th century Roubo workbench, modified as to fit incorporate my Benchcrafted tail vise. The finished Bench top should be 5″ thick, 20″ wide and 72″ long. This is going to be one heavy workbench. The overall workbench dimensions will be H 34″ x W 20″ X L 72″. I am using Chris Schwarz’s book “Workbenches – From Design & Theory to Construction & Use” as my primary source for plans and instructions. I also have Chris’s other workbench book “The Workbench Design Book – The Art and Philosophy of Building Better Benches”. He has republished his “Workbenches” book and it is available on his website at Lost Art Press.
My biggest conundrum at this point this how to mount the Benchcrafted tail vise. The issue at hand is, I have not glued up all my boards yet because I want to cut them out before laminating them so that I don’t have to hog out a lot of material later. It’s kind of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together in 3-D before you’ve even seeing the pieces. Not only that, the pieces don’t exist yet, and I will have to fabricate them correctly, so when it does go together, everything will fit perfectly.
I’ve been toying with the idea of making a 1/2 scale model, just so I know how everything will fit together. This is one of those projects I have to sleep on and think about for a few days before the solution comes to me. In the meanwhile I’m studying the plans, and I’m looking at my boards in the garage longing to have this bench finished.
Here is what the tail vise will look like when it is installed.
This will not be a very long journey, I want this workbench finished before the ghouls and goblins come out on Halloween.
-Aaron
One of the things I love to do in the shop is make tools. I have made saws, tool boxes, knives, mallets, hammers and other assorted useful items. One thing I always wanted to make but was hesitant to, was a plane. Any plane would do, a jack, molding or scrub plane would be great. One of the reasons I have hesitated is because planes are different. They do take some skill and experience to set the blade and the wedge at the right angles where they actuality cut wood and eject the shavings. The history of planes goes back for centuries and they have been made by hand for that long but these things take skill to make and get right.
With that in mind, I had been keeping an eye on Bill Anderson’s plane classes at the Woodwright’s School for some time. Recently (a year ago), I got my chance, I was on the wait list for a joiner plane class and got the call at the last minute. Let me tell you, I was excited. In this class you built a 28″ long 19th century joiner plane complete with a vintage iron. This was a three-day class and I loved every minute of it. I finished all the major parts in the class. All that was needed was to widen the mouth for the iron a bit, as it was a little too snug, make the front and back buttons and make a knob.
The buttons and the knob were afterthoughts, but the more I looked at it, the more I thought it needed a little color. I added the cocobolo buttons, cocobolo being a very hard wood will protect the plane ends when I adjust the iron with blows from my wooden mallet. The knob was also a last minute item where I had a hardwood button to put in the top, but I wanted more. I put a 4″ long dowel in the hole already drilled for the top button and I liked the way it felt when I used the plane. Excitedly, I went to the lathe and turned a nice cocobolo knob.
I was going around and around in my head on how to fasten this knob to the plane body and then an old technique came to mind. I would use a foxtail wedge. Basically an exposed wedge is one you do after sawing a slot and inserting a dowel or spindle in a hole and driving the wedge home. A foxtail wedge is the same, but you do not have access to the wedge to drive the wedge with the mallet, so the bottom of the hole acts as a stop. You have to widen the bottom of the hole into the end grain and put the wedge in the sawn slot and insert the knob in the hole, and with a mallet, you drive the knob to the bottom forcing the wedge to widen the bottom of the knob locking it in place. At that point, you have a glue-free solidly fixed knob. Click here to see a picture and description of how a foxtail wedge works.
A little sanding and a few adjustments here and there and the plane was ready for the finish. Planes are usually just finished with some type of oil and wax. I put 3 coats of Danish Oil on and then some wax and she is ready to go to work.
This was a great project and it still was a bit difficult, but Bill is such a great teacher, I was able to do all the complicated work in the class, under his guidance. If you get a chance, go take a class at the Woodwright’s School, you’ll be glad you did 🙂
-Aaron
You might not know it, but I have been looking for a brass hammer for some time now. I need a brass hammer to tap my wooden plane’s irons to set them at just the right cutting depth.
You see, brass hammers are preferable to steel hammers as the brass is softer than the plane iron and will not damage it where the steel hammer will “mushroom” the steel and that is bad.
I went to the MWTCA tool meet yesterday and I happened across this nice little beauty in the rough for $5.00. A real bargain, as these babys can cost a lot of dough new. It had a brass head and brass handle with a duct tape grip.
I could have just left well enough alone and used it happily, but I just had to make it better.
I had to get that duct tape off of there because it was pretty nasty and really old so it was breaking down. This came off with a knife and the brass rod handle was in good shape. I was really struggling on how to properly put a wooden handle of the brass rod. This decision was made for me, as I was cleaning the head the brass rod came right out of the head.
The high end tool manufacturer Lie-Nielson used to make a really nice cross-peen hammer and I liked the handle shape, so I decided to mimic that shape.
I had to re-drill and enlarge the hole in the hammer head so it would accommodate a wooden handle. I drilled half way through on the top of the head with the next larger size bit so when I wedged the handle it would not would not come off.
I had a nice piece of cherry that was perfect for the job. So 30 minutes on the lathe and I had me a new handle. The Lie-Nielson cross-peen hammers have a more slender handle than what I made for my handle. I made my handle a little thicker to accommodate the heavier head on my hammer. The hardest part of this whole project was fitting the cylindrical head to the cylindrical handle and getting it to fit.
This is what I ended up with. Quite a change from the hammer I brought home yesterday! I am really happy with this and I hope it gives me many years of good service.
-Aaron
In an effort to expand my experience with building larger woodworking projects, I am starting this new year making some furniture pieces. I do not want to go totally crazy, so I am starting on two Shaker end tables featured in the September 2004 Issue of Woodworking Magazine. This article goes into great detail on building this popular and timeless design. The Shaker style has an appeal to woodworkers, as it is functional, very stylish and pretty strait forward to build. I decided to build two end tables so that I could maximize my wood use and match the pair using the same wood for the whole project.
My first step was to procure a beautiful piece of cherry from the local lumber yard, Capital City Lumber, here in Raleigh. I did score a choice board 8/4″x12″x8′. This was a thing of beauty and I have to give credit to my friend, Bob, who saw this board and called it to my attention.
The next step after getting it home was board layout. In order to get the most use out of a board and avoid waste, it is important to plan the usage of each section of a board and how to cut it out . I worked this around in my head for a couple of days to avoid making a mistake on this expensive and precious lumber. This is part of any woodworking project takes time to learn and gain experience. Fortunately I have been doing board layout for some time now, so I felt confident in my layout decisions. I have done numerous projects with less expensive lumber that have really added to my knowledge and skill level.
One of the big challenges for this project is the stock thickness. It is 8/4 or roughly 2″ thick. Most of the boards called for in this project (except the legs) are 3/4″. In a conventional shop you would “re-saw” these pieces in half on a band saw and have two pieces about 7/8″ thick. My band saw is currently down for repairs so I have to do it the old fashion way, with a rip saw. That’s right the following will have to be cut in this manner: 2 tops 9×18, 2 drawer fronts 4×12 and 6 aprons or stretchers 5 1/2×13. I have about 2 full days of sawing ahead of me, but it will be worth it. Below is a picture of my rough sawn stock cut to the length and width.
-Aaron
A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the class schedule of Roy’s Woodwright’s School and noticed Chris Schwarz from Lost Art Press was going to be teaching his Dutch Tool Chest. It was then I decided I would build my own Dutch Tool Chest. Yes it would have been great to take the class and experience Chris’s cheeky teaching style and benefit from his vast experience, but I have a business to run so I can’t really get away for the three day class right now. Besides, I knew I had the skills to make this simple project and decided the time was right. My old chest is great and I still use it but, It is not big enough for the tools I use everyday.
The plan was to follow the Popular Woodworking article by Chris and make the smaller, one shelf version. This small Dutch chest still holds a huge volume of tools and I will be able to work directly from it. I had most of the materials on hand and like the originals were probably built, I used what I had on hand. The sides, bottom and shelf were glued up panels of white pine and the top was a poplar panel left over from when I built a 6-Board Chest. The front and back pieces were white pine 1×12’s that I was going to use on another project.
This project is very straight forward and the joinery is dead simple. Only two sets of dovetails on the bottom and the rest is screwed and/or glued. Speaking of screws, I purchased my screws and bolts from Blacksmith Bolt & Rivet . These folks are excellent and I recommend them for any hard-to-find slotted screws and old square bolts. They are quick, friendly and reasonably priced.
All said, I have about 40 hours in this chest including finishing. The most difficult part was the breadboard ends on the top as I have never done this type of top before. I must say, I love using this chest and it will be an asset in my shop and well worth the 40-hour investment in time.
-Aaron
Below are a few pictures of the chest.
Some of you may remember the Saw Box I started in this post -> Have Saw Will Travel . In preparation for finishing my chair I made in the “Continuous Arm Windsor Chair Class” at Elia Bizzarri’s, I wanted to get some more practice with the finishing techniques that I will use in the chair so I decided to finish my Saw Box.
The process goes like this:
1) Prepare the surface. Remember that any surface issues will show up in your face if you do not get all the blemishes out prior to applying paint
Plane, scrape fill any voids with putty to get the surface as smooth as possible. Lightly sand if necessary.
2) Clean the surface with a cotton rag or wipe down with a cotton rag and denatured alcohol to get all the dust.
3) Apply 3 coats of “Salem Red” milk paint. The first coat uses Extra-Bond as an adherent to pine surfaces to help even application over knots and pitch pockets. Wait a minimum of 4 hours between coats. Also, the first couple of coats may need some light sanding from 220 sandpaper.
This is a very light application for each coat and the first one looks really crappy, but subsequent ones look a lot better.
4) After the the red paint, comes the “Pitch Black” milk paint. There are 2 coats of this color and it is mixed even thinner than the red.
5) Rub Down – after all the coats of milk paint have been applied, all the painted surfaces are rubbed down with 000 steel wool. This wears through the black top coats and reveals some the red base coats.
6) Oil Finish – Clean off all the paint dust and begin oiling the project. This can take 3 – 4 coats of oil (I used Danish Oil on the Saw Box) letting it dry 24 hours between coats.
As you can imagine this is lengthy process and patience is definitely a vulture here. This is one aspect of this job I am really getting better at.
7) After all the oil coats (3 for this project) then the easiest part, adding paste wax, then buffing with a cotton cloth after 25 minutes.
I used to have a dowel to keep the hasp secure. Once I got my lathe, I thought a nice turned hasp-keeper would be more decorative.
When I assembled the Saw Box and got all the brass hardware installed, I thought it still needed something. I decided to add the small dovetail saw to the front. This identifies the purpose of the box and adds a bit of artistic expression.
I really like this finish, and it will only look better over time as more of the red wears through. Let me know what you think.
-Aaron
If you would like purchase any of the items I currently make, please visit my store.
The completed machine – what a beauty!
You may recall from my previous post, that my half-finished spring pole lathe had become a temporary “bookshelf” due to an injury. Now, oh happy day, it has been repurposed into a functioning lathe! This project, by far, was one of the most difficult I have undertaken. I don’t mean technically difficult, but physically difficult. But let me say up front that it did not have to be this way. Sometimes, we work against ourselves and are our own worst enemy.
I believe improper bench height was to blame for my injury which snowballed into the delay of my lathe project, my absence from a week-long, much-anticipated class at Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’s School, and the ill temperament of my wife. When I purchased my bench, I was not aware of the proper bench height. I have since read and learned more about benches and I determined that by cutting off 4″ it would be the perfect height for most of the work I do.
For me, it was a hard lesson learned. I say to you: Make sure the surface you’re working on is at the approbate height for the activity you are engaging in. You do not have to have two or three benches to do all your work, just build appliances to add to your bench or to use on the floor to keep the work at the correct height. Use a knee-height saw bench to do ripping and crosscut sawing. Use a “Moxon Vise” (this is my next appliance) attached to your bench to do dovetail work higher up. Do chopping and planing work at normal bench height.
Even with the injury, I have loved making this lathe! It is a joy to use and is a wonder of engineering. This design was created by Roy Underhill, adapting a centuries-old spring pole tradition and modifying it to his need to have a portable lathe to take to shows and demonstrations to create interest.
I made several modifications to the design for my own use. For one, I used copper wire to connect the pole to the short side of the rocker arm; I used what I had on hand – just 12-gauge electrical wire. I also used it to fasten the 3/8″ leather strap to the long end of the rocker and the foot board. I used a leather belt to connect the two spring poles. The original design used a flattened piece of copper pipe, I was hoping the leather would give me some “lively” action and it does. Plus, if it breaks while I’m away from home, I have an awl and can punch a new hole in the belt I am wearing at the time and be back in business in two minutes!
I was going to use weaving loom shuttle points for my centers, but I did not have an easy way to fasten them in a way that gives me room to work between the piece being turned and the tail or head stock. So I opted for a 1/2″ 13 x 1′ steel rod which I ground into two pieces (one 7″, the other 4 1/2″), then ground and polished the ends to a point. I also ordered some weld nuts, 1/2″-13. These allowed me to fasten the threaded rod to the head and tail stock.
Notice the “Plain Finish Malleable Iron Handles, 1/2″-13 Threaded with Through Hole.” These were installed to operate the screw in and out on the tail stock and also to tighten the poppet on the tool rest. I also bought a bar of brass (3/16″ thick, 3/4″ width, 1′) to use on top of the tool rest. I was thinking the brass would not mar my tools but would protect the wood from tool damage and is replaceable if it wears out. After using this for a little while, it has become evident that brass is not going to work the way I had intended. Brass is so soft that my tools are catching and digging into it and keeps the tools from “skating” along the tool rest. I will be replacing the brass with steel soon.
Here are but a few of the many things I want to make with the lathe: Spinning top, a three legged camp stool, handles for my long suffering chisels and files, blanks for wooden screws, a new pump drill, and new handles for my turning saw.
The finish on the lathe will be just 3 coats of boiled linseed oil (boiled means it has additives so that the oil dries and hardens). I believe this lathe will be around for a long time. One great advantage of building a machines like this is that if it ever breaks you know how to fix it. Using a tool you make yourself gives you great satisfaction and really energizes you for the next project.
This type of lathe lends itself to green woodworking. A lot of chair legs and spindles are made with green wood. Some turners turn the parts most of the way and then either kiln-dry the parts or wait for nature to do it for them and the turn them one last time to the finished size to remove the oval shape that comes when wood dries.
Roy said in his book, “The Woodwright’s Guide: Working Wood with Wedge and Edge,” – “I want you to make this lathe.” Well, I did and I glad I did. This tool is a real pleasure to use and does good work. It is not loud and and allows me to enjoy yet another dimension of my favorite hobby/obsession/therapy.
– Aaron
P.S. All steel and brass hardware was purchased from McMaster-Carr and the 3/8″ leather belting can be obtained from Universal Sewing Supply.
The wooden tightening nut
Toolrest sans the wooden nut
Toolrest adjustment lever
A few weeks ago, I posted some pictures of my spring pole lathe and the great progress I was making. Well, as always, life happens, and manages to alter the best laid plans of men. The lathe was to a point where it was looking really good. After chopping out the mortises, I noticed a bit of stiffness in my arm. I stopped working for the day and rested for the night. My arm was very swollen and I could not fully flex it. Where does the “Spring Pole Bookshelf” come in you may ask? Please bear with me and I will explain.
I rested my arm for a week, and took anti-inflammatories, and it was feeling better, although still a little swollen. Then, I made the mistake of using it again to install a storm door that was a Mother’s Day gift for my very patient wife. It re-injured my elbow so badly that I had to do the unthinkable; I had to cancel my Moravian Workbench class at Roy’s Woodwright’s School. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was when I realized I would not be able to physically stand up to a solid week of punishing mortise chopping, but I contacted Roy and let him know I was not going to be able to make the class.
Fast forward a couple of weeks to this past weekend, and after going to the Doctor and getting some stronger medication and a new arm brace, my injury was doing better. I decided to take it slow and do some limited work. I did some plane refurbishing, which amounted to some sanding of the sole of the plane and blade sharpening. I took frequent rests and iced my elbow after each session. I was not feeling any pain afterwards, and I could tell it was healing.
After doing some deep thinking about my predicament, I surmised that the root cause of the problem was the height of my workbench. I have not discussed my workbench a lot as it is a commercial bench I bought from Grizzly before I knew any better. It’s funny, for what I paid for this bench, I could have purchased the material for a really nice bench. I have made do with this light-weight, thin-topped, crappy-vised bench-shaped object for almost 3 years now, and I have never adjusted the height. That all changed. I reduced the height of my bench by 4 inches. I must tell you, this really made a huge difference. Planing is easier and so is sawing.
Now we get to the “Spring Pole Bookshelf” part: As I was piddling around the shop this weekend, I was cleaning, and I placed s few books on my lathe. They fit nicely on the bed and it got me thinkin’….If I cut a board the same shape as the tail stock, I could use it for a sliding bookend. This was just the small project I felt I could tackle with my limited elbow capacity.
I sawed out the block of wood and drilled a hole for a 1/2″ dowel rod and inserted the rod after placing the bookend on the lathe bed. I put my woodworking books on the lathe bed and adjusted the new bookend. I cut a wedge to set the bookend in place and it worked great; who needs a lathe when you have such a nice bookshelf! I took a few pics and then went to rest my arm and elbow on some ice.
I like this design concept and I will probably make a bookshelf similar to this after I complete the spring pole lathe. Yes, I plan to finish the lathe. This bookshelf was only a side-diversion to entertain me until I am physically able to continue the lathe project.
I will publish a list of my books in a later post. This is a combination of deliberate purchases, books I’ve had for years and lucky finds in the annual library book sale. All of the LAP or Lost Art Press books I own are definitely deliberate purchases.
One side note, I was planning on doing a “The Onion“-esque post with a title like “Traditional Woodworker Injures Self in Freak Strain-Related Accident” but decided I’m not the professional humorist like those that populate “The Onion.”
-Aaron
