Workbench Thread

[JayZeus]

I finally got around to milling some more beech to make my drawer set for my workbench. It’s only taken me 18 months

[JayZeus]

..

[JayZeus]

And I didn’t like the Veritas large vice as it racked like mad. So while doing some other work on the bench I figured it was time to sort that out. I replaced it with the fantastic Sjöbergs Elite vice which is fitted to their top of the line benches and also is sold and recommended by Rob Cosman. It hurt paying what it costs but I’m not disappointed. Does exactly what it should.

Veritas is green, Sjöbergs is black. I couldn’t recommend the Veritas at all, it’s not very good.

[CelticRambler]

Lovely job, JayZeus. Something for us lesser mortals to aspire to!

I'm still at the stage of using an old pallet for when I need a large, solid surface on which to lay stuff out

[JayZeus]

Thanks CR. I’ve often used a pallet to keep a project and myself off the ground

Here’s another recent low-budget bench (materials… ignore the tools!) I put together for a friend who’s started a bit of woodworking in a spare bedroom in his home.

I had a windfall spruce and didn’t want to battle my way to get it out of where it lay only to have to battle with it to split it into firewood. I got a clone of an Alaskan mill from Amazon and milled boards from it, figuring I’d use them for something more interesting at some stage. I cut them 45mm thick and peeled the bark edges afterwards. Much easier than trying to peel the whole log.

I stickered and stacked them and they were down to about 18% moisture content within a few months. The tree fell in late winter, so that helped. If the sap was rising already the whole thing could have ended up with a lot of labour intensive firewood, but it all worked out well.

[JayZeus]

I put them through my aging planer thicknesser (Elektra Beckum HC 260 if it’s of interest), jointing one face and then through the thicknesser part. After drying and planing I had about 35mm to work with.

Then I straight line ripped one edge, then ripped the planks into 10cm wide boards. These were all then stickered and stacked for a few weeks and dropped to 16% MC. Only a couple of them warped, out of about 36 planks. A good result!

I thickessed the boards down to 30mm with new knives in the planer and glued up a block for the front of the bench and used one nice 250mm wide board for the rear half. The frame is just glue laminated pieces for the legs and rails. A few screws at the half lap joints, then a single coat of Rustoleum Chalk Finish paint.

[JayZeus]

Posting from mobile and can’t figure out how to show the images in the correct sequence, but figure the text will make sense of it all.

Added a few bolts on the stretcher joints to replace the temporary screws from the earlier picture, then got to work with a saw and chisels to cut the recess for the vice. Nice enough vice too, an Axminster workshop quick release model, the cheapest one in their own brand line. Clean casting and well machined, worth a look for anyone who might need one.

The front of the benchtop is held with M8 threaded rod, using oversized holes and stacked washers to permit for any wood movement. To stop it shifting about too easily theres a piece of cork/rubber gasket material on top of the leg frame parts. Works nicely.

I forgot to take a picture of it all fully finished, but you get the idea. Including the vice and hardware bits and pieces, glue and paint, total out of pocket is about €200. If I had to buy the wood that might add €80-100 I guess, although I don’t buy softwood so that might be a bit off these days.

[JayZeus]

I suppose this fits best here also. A small stand or bench for the Midi Lathe. Made from some offcuts and 4 short ends of the boards I used for the main bench behind it. It’s sized to accommodate systainers underneath. Who can spot the mistake in setting out the marks for the domino?

[Fratello]

Very impressive.
I love all that but then I'd need to do a 4 year course to know how to use it.

[JayZeus]

I’m ‘self taught’ as such, although my Da gave me every opportunity as a youngster to make and fix things whenever I wanted to. YouTube and having a go at things is the way to do it and you can do a hell of a lot with a few handtools and a circular saw. Don’t be intimidated by it, if you want to have a go. Check out Paul Sellers or Chris Ramsey on YouTube for two different approaches to woodworking for beginners.

[Apelles]

I suppose this fits best here also. A small stand or bench for the Midi Lathe. Made from some offcuts and 4 short ends of the boards I used for the main bench behind it. It’s sized to accommodate systainers underneath. Who can spot the mistake in setting out the marks for the domino?

That's a very tasty set up you've got going on there JayZeus. I didn't know what you meant by the Domino until I Googled it and see it's a Festool biscuit joiner but still have no inkling what the mistake in the picture is.

[CelticRambler]

... but still have no inkling what the mistake in the picture is.

Payback for that artwork brainteaser you posted!

[Apelles]

IMG_2023-10-18-045534.jpeg (79.32 KiB) Viewed 7070 times

What type of router/jig setup do you have for doing out dovetail joints?
They're very neatly done.

[JayZeus]

I bought a lightly used Leigh D4R Pro kit with the VRS (Vacuum Router Support) and full set of the Leigh router bits. Got an absolute bargain on it to be fair.

I have a few routers, but mostly use the Festool 1010 and 1400 now. There’s a Metabo OF 1229 here with a swiss dial indicator depth gauge (fragile, easy to break, don’t bother) which I have semi-permanently set up as a compass router and a Trend T18s cordless which is handy for edge trimming but not good enough for precise work. If I didn’t have a good 1/4”-8mm router, I’d buy a Perles OF3 from Sautershop. Made in Europe and basically identical to the long proven Elu MOF 96 and Trend T5. Very similar to that Metabo I have also. I’ve used one a few times and it’s really very good.

I’d watched a few YouTube videos with a woodwork pal when I was telling him I was going to have to hand-cut 24 dovetail joints and he suggested it made sense to get a jig, especially with how long it would take to make a dozen of those as tidy half-blinds. I put it on my ‘maybe some day’ list. 20 years ago I made the mistake of buying a Sip brand jig in McQuillans and I really didn’t like it. I’d stuck with hand cut dovetails or alternative joinery, it was that disappointing to see the results of machine cut using that jig. But the Leigh looked interesting. An occasional search on the market sites was added, along with the usual Stanley, Festool searches.

Anyway, it was 10km from my home and the seller had just started using a Shaper Origin and decided he’d use that to cut his dovetails with in future. That man makes some very feckin’ expensive dovetails!

Took a little while fiddling with it to get my head around how it’s adjusted, but the user manual is very good and Peter Parfitt has a great video series on setup and use for drawer making.

There’s also another guy who is very knowledgeable about them and has a fantastic series all about the D4R on his channel, most helpful also. He’s mixed up D4R as DR4, so here’s the link if you’re interested. Great series to help get up to full speed with the jig.



There’s also the Leigh SuperJig line which look to be very good jigs, just not quite as adjustable or versatile as the D4 or even the earlier D3 models.

[Calahonda52]

Domino theory!

[Calahonda52]

Dropped in here after some time away, all the stuff in this thread lifts the spirits
I had a shot at the domino theory question

[JayZeus]

Domino theory!

Winner winner chicken dinner.

[JayZeus]

What type of router/jig setup do you have for doing out dovetail joints?
They're very neatly done.

Just remembered another option. I completely forgot I’d even tried this and only a look through old pictures reminded me!

A very simple subfence clamped to the miter fence on my tablesaw. Took a bit of head scratching, but if through dovetails are the need, it’s probabpy easy enough to batch out a whole load with very little effort.

IMG_2023-10-20-203626.jpeg

Straight off the saw with a standard 10” 40 tooth blade.

IMG_2023-10-20-203656.jpeg

[Calahonda52]

Winner winner chicken dinner.

I have lots of examples to work from

[CelticRambler]

Amongst the various "look what I'm making" YouTubers I watch, it's the ones who show their mistakes that I've found the most inspiring. One French guy (a professional cabinet maker) is particularly good at including his goofs - like the time he had to re-cut a whole set of interior dividers because he forgot to allow for a 2cm overhang at the back of the unit he was building. I do think that he can mess things up like that, I'm not so incompetent when I do the same ...

[CelticRambler]

Ehhhhh ....

No!

I'll stick with me pallet for now, thanks.



Nice bit of sarcasm from 17m56s to 19m06s, though.

[JayZeus]

Not to my liking either but solid technical execution. The guy has skills for sure.

[Calahonda52]

Rather than start a new thread, a pair of these arrived today
very easy to get up and going
heavy duty, 590 kgs each
https://worhan.eu/product/547-trestles- ... s600a.html
155 delivered to Nenagh.
Ordered Monday, arrive Friday