#Time to do the Bench

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

brazen blaze
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It's that time. Maybe.

Basic bitch bench. I already have the glulam timber for the top so not much is changing there (£65, who could say no!) but the leg and frame dimensions are a boggle.

Recommendations and suggestions sought - laminating is on the cards for the legs if they need to be chonky.

I will be boarding the bottom of the cavity so it can basically become the UK's heaviest cupboard.

Recommendations on dimensions for A,B and C, as well as thoughts on what to do about a vise and whether or not I will have to counter bore the backside of any hold fast holes.

Oh, and how the hell to fix the top to the frame.

I've never had a bench, or a vise, so I'm not really sure how to use either, however it's a stinking big pile of wood so I'd like to get it slightly better than terrible on the first attempt.

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If the top can be removed, that would make getting it in and out of the building possible. So however that gets fixed on if it can be unfixed somehow, that would be lovely.

slow tinsel
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German benches routinely only have a set of dowels in the frame; the top has matched holes that accommodate those dowels. That only works if the top is quite heavy, though, these benches are typically beech. I would imagine a lag screw or two through the top cross stretcher with oversized holes might work just fine

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What kind of vise will you use? A metal vise may not work well with this type of construction, but I haven't thought it through really.

brazen blaze
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I have no idea and I'm open to anything - so far I've used my arse and my feet for everything, so I'm pretty flexible 😂

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Even a bench top thing that gets holdfasted down might work, I'm clueless

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Three top dimensions are in the diagram - do you think that will be heavy enough? (Pine ofc{

cinder crater
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I'm assuming glulam is pretty dense, and if so I think you'll be quite fine with it holding itself down. Also, you will always be pushing it down when you apply force to it. The moravian workbenches often have unglued tops and they are similarly sized.

slow tinsel
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Follansbee has this little wooden screw thing, a planing stop and holes for holdfasts. Poet always linked was it Siemens' no vise bench?

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brazen blaze
cinder crater
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Over five inches of pine and glue? Very hard for me to imagine that being anything other than heavy.

brazen blaze
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Oop.

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I like that little follansbee stop. But i wonder if I'll just be making life harder for myself than just going full leg vise

cinder crater
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I think to some extent everyone learns to use their workholding and then has a hard time imagining losing it, but I would HATE to give up my leg vise.

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It's just so goddamn handy.

sharp finch
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Doing the same thing as dowels, I've seen shallow tenons going into small recesses on the bottom of the bench top. The gravity keeps it down very well so you just have to keep it from shifting. Maybe even just 1cm deep?

brazen blaze
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Locating those must be tricky

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Especially dowels, I can't drill perpendicularly to save my life

slow tinsel
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they are pretty loose in my experience, like 2mm larger hole or something

brazen blaze
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Would that not result in movment when planing etc?

cinder crater
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I think only loose in one direction (front to back) kind of like slotted screw holes in a tabletop.

slow tinsel
brazen blaze
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Need to circle back to the missing dimensions on the drawing though - Any advice ?

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Xa Xb, Ya Yb

cinder crater
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Stretcher only far enough up to sweep under and get toes under. Thickness is whatever. 4 ish inches for the legs, half or so for the stretchers.

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AWB has fine numbers for this.

slow tinsel
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Yeah 4x4 2x4 sounds about right. I’d spend a bit on wood selection and skip the worst knots, especially on the joint portions

brazen blaze
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Feels like I need to be buying a lot of 2x4 and then laminating the legs out of that, too.

slow tinsel
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Can’t get 4x4s?

brazen blaze
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UK.

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I figured they'd be ungodly in terms of cost.

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rather than 2x 2x4

marsh valley
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Recessed bolts in the top at both long ends, nut + washers below the short stretchers an option?

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with slot/room for movement of course

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this in the top essentially

sharp finch
# brazen blaze rather than 2x 2x4

You should read the Anarchist's Workbench for sure. This is the construction method described there. Don't get 2x4s though, get 2x13s and rip them down because they have much, much better wood in them (less pith, less knots, and yes, you can do it on the floor with a ryoba).

brazen blaze
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I read that once and seem to recall the "rip bigger timbers" bit

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Gonna take a year to plane it all to dimension 😂

cinder crater
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That’s why I went with two slabs for the top, but needs must and whatnot.

brazen blaze
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Yeh the slabs I have, it's the legs tht'll take forever 😂

marsh valley
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meh, as long as the one with the vise stays in plane with the top it doesnt really matter, ive never checked mine again for flat or square, no issues so far

cinder crater
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I think he means all the flattening to do the laminations.

marsh valley
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ahhhh

brazen blaze
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I did indeed

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's gonna be a lot of planing

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The top is sorted, so it'd just be the leg post laminations

brazen blaze
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If I go the leg vise route, I need the edge of the top to be flush with the legs, right ?

marsh valley
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it'll still work if its off a hair, crubber/cork/leather buys you a bit of wiggle room with compressibility

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but we're talking like 1.5-2mm of wiggle room

brazen blaze
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Yeah so by and large you gotta make sure those faces are intentionally planar

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Can you see any drawbacks in cutting the leg posts out of another glulam ?

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The guy has another one for sale for £65

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(310 x 130 x 4000)

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Which is a lot of wood for that money.

marsh valley
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nah

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seems fine to me

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mine are laminated maple/beech

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literally just what I found cheap at the time

slow tinsel
brazen blaze
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Hah no it's from a private guy who has one left over from a job

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not a woodyard