Reading through the new Tools & Shops issue, I was pleased to discover the Hack Workbench.
As it happens, I’m about to embark on Yet Another Workbench Project, (YAWP, according to my lovely wife) and I’ve been wagging my head and crying “Woe, woe!” because the wood I happen to have on hand at the moment is about 1,000 feet of Broadleaf Maple (Acer Macrophyllum), which will make a great workbench, but almost all of it is rough cut into 4/4.
(Here in the Pacific Northwest, Broadleaf Maple is a trash tree, and if you are persistent, you can get all you want of it simply by showing up with a pickup, and volunteering to haul that crap away. Then it’s a simple matter of a bandsaw with feed tables and a step block, but I digress. Suffice it to say that I have lots of Broadleaf Maple, and using it is no problem, because I can replace it quickly and very cheaply. Now if I could just get a hold of the idiot who made the decision to chop it all down to 4/4…)
So the Hack article is right on time, and now the mist is parting, and in my mind’s eye, I behold the finished, gleaming vision of YAWP as it will be, with a beautiful, laminated top!
Therefore and whereas, I gathered together my entire set of Custom Milled Personal Best Finest Kind Mental Ultra-fine Toothed Combs, appointed an Investigation Task Force, and went back over the article.
And Lo! The committee that lives in my head began racing to and fro, gnashing their teeth, crying “woe, woe!” and “What? What?”
On page 34, at the bottom of the page is a drawing, a plan view of the top.
I see a gap of 2-7/8″ between the breadboard end of the top and the end cap of the tail vise, and the committee is concerned.
None of them are aware of any reason that this gap should exist, several of them want to know if there’s a good use for this gap at this particular dimension, some of them are sure it’s an error, and one of them is certain that it’s a plot, designed to cause catastrophic failure upon the first use of the vise, and that it will make the bench to burst into flames and kill everyone in the room by smoke inhalation, because the dust collection system is not capable of filtering out smoke.
So is there a use for that gap at that measurement?
I must now go and calm the committee down. I believe, given the ambient temperature today, that I’ll use brandy.
Replies
"...given the ambient temperature today, that I'll use brandy."
Given the peculiar prose of the Committee's musings, you've already had enough.... <gr>
I would recommend a Barbaric Yawp. Standing on a desk helps...
Enough BRANDY?[Jammer rubs his nose in confusion]Enough BRANDY?Do you realize what the committee will do when I report that?
>Enough BRANDY?Do you realize what the committee will do when I report that?<Ha, ha, ha, aaahhhh, Ha, ha, ha, haNah I gave that stuff up for " brain solvent ". Now I am addicted to the hard stuffhttp://www.bissingers.com/category/detail/2112.htmlQueenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer placed the order after I marked up the catalog for "rations" and "provisions" for the holidays.Her response when I got home form work was " Are you sure you wanted me to order ALL that you marked ? "
I said sure am.She just eyed me from a distance and she gave me that look that sort of said I wonder what rehab is going to cost . . . this time ?Here you go mate build a real work bench. No funny gaps.https://www.finewoodworking.com/Workshop/WorkshopPDF.aspx?id=2129Frank Klausz built two of the finest ( most useful ) cabinet maker's benches I have ever seen and I been looking at benches out of the corner of my eye for more than twenty years. He said he could not improve on the basic design. That it was a thousand years old and this is what you need if you are going to make cabinets.His protégée Andy Rae built a similar almost identical bench. It seems he would one up the "Old Master" if he thought it worth doing. rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )Edited 11/1/2009 6:10 am by roc <!-- ROC2013 -->
Edited 11/1/2009 6:17 am by roc
Not knowing where you are, perhaps your perception of BLM as a trash tree is accurate but where I'm at on the central Oregon coast and in most of the central and north Willamette Valley, it definitely isn't. It still commands a fair bd. ft, price at most of the yards between me and Portland. A sample board of BLM quilt at 13" x 63" x 8/4 is $310, spalted to half that size is $175 at North West Timber. 4/4 maple at Gilmers is between $7 and $15 a bd. ft. Flat plane select 4/4 2.85 - 5.50 wholesale/1000bd. ft.
It's an excellent secondary wood for drawers and web work. The more highly figured is much in demand in musical instruments.
The only "trash" tree I know of in this neck of the woods, and then only by the fir choppers and ply slashers, is Alder.
Where exactly are you located at? I need to come and stock up on your "trash" wood. Sound like you have a supply that won't quit :)
Boiler
I'm with you, Boiler. I live just 9 miles out in the Sound from Seattle, and have never seen "trash tree prices" for big-leaf maple ("broad leaf") at any of the lumberyards I've visited. Granted, it doesn't bring as much as hard maple, but it's not cheap either, LOL.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Aren't you the one who suggested I contact contractors, Forrestgirl?Turned out to be a golden tip...And since I used to BE a contractor, I had several phone numbers. :)Granted, wet logs in the back of a pickup aren't nearly as tidy as a nice, heated lumberyard, but free is free. :) I even passed up a fairly large broadleaf because it was already on a burn pile, and I didn't want to crawl around and get all DIRTY dragging the darn thing out.Tell you what. Gimme three bucks a board foot, and tell me how many logs you want. :)
Someday, just for a hoot; pack a lunch and take a day trip up to the "upper Skagit". Go through Arlington, Darrington and just before you get to Rockport take the turn off to the East. Along that road you will find a couple of mills. If you can establish a relationship with anyone up in that neck of the woods you will find LOTS of BLM at VERY REASONABLE prices. It's not trash but there sure is a lot of it!!!
Take cash and don't ask anyone their last name.
Regards,
Mack"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
"Take cash and don't ask anyone their last name." Sounds like my kinda place, LOL! Is there a pool-hall nearby for evening entertainment?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Closest pool hall would be in Concrete. There are a couple of watering holes in Marblemount but after the pass closes in the fall it's pretty much hit or miss if they stay open or not.
Regards,
Mack"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
Where I hit paydirt was excavation subs.When land developers short-plat land, then punch in roads, run sewers, water and power to lots, the very first thing that happens other than paperwork is clearing.You have to be on the spot at the right time, but it pays off.They bring in one or more large machines-- the day I was out there, an old Cat 977 loader and a D-8 were pushing trees down, choking them, hauling them to a huge burn pile, and then the loader and a couple of dumptrucks were moving just enough dirt to punch a rough (really rough) road another ten feet into the woods. There were two choker setters and a guy with a chainsaw, and while they were happy to knock a couple trunks down to six feet, (to fit into the back of my pickup) they were a lot more concerned with speed, and didn't want me to slow their operation down.Their objective is to get a useable road in as quickly as possible, so utility crews could bring their equipment in, and the window for us scavengers opens and shuts very quickly. They drag the trees out of the woods on chokers behind big equipment in as long a section as their equipment can handle. At that point, it's had a minimum of work done to it-- just enough limbs limbed and cut just short enough that it will move. Then they use a D-8 to shove it into a huge pile, and they light it on fire, and burn it.After the first day, the pile is burning, and new logs (along with root clusters, brush and whatever else comes out) goes straight onto the pile.If you're standing there at the moment they bring the tree you want out, they'll lift it up with the machine, the saw man will chop it shorter for you, and they'll drop the pieces next to your pickup for you, as long as your pickup is parked out of the way. From that point on, it's your problem. If you're not standing there at the moment the tree you want comes out of the woods, it goes onto the pile, and they drive back into the woods for another tree. If you want to walk into the woods with them to look at the trees that are about to come down, (on the day I was there, they were marked with pink surveyor's tape) you're going to need a hardhat. (I suggest this practice, because while the danger goes up, you're a lot more likely to get good wood this way. When trees have been shoved over with a D-8, limbed, bucked, choked, and yarded out, they all look suspiciously the same-- nasty, dirty, wet maple looks a lot like nasty, dirty, wet alder.)There was no attempt to save (or even identify) any of the logs coming out. I saw alder, Broadleaf Maple, what we call Vine Maple (I don't know the real name of that one) fir, and a couple cedar. (One of their crew took half a cord of the cedar for his home fireplace.) There was also, on the day I was out there, another scavenger working, a guy chopping up firewood, he had his own chainsaw, and was taking vine maple and alder. We weren't competing, and after watching him for about an hour I decided we never would be competing.The object was lineal feet of road that would hold a dumptruck, not wood.My half ton Chevy was by far the smallest piece of iron on the property, (and, for once, by far the prettiest) and how much wood you can haul away is limited by tonnage, not feet.The stuff was nasty, wet, dirty, and had lots of small critters, goo, and unidentifiable substances attached to it by the time I got it back to my shop.But there was a lot of it.Don't get me wrong, this is NOT an easy way to get wood. It's cheap, really cheap, but itisnoteasy.I bucked most of it down to four feet long, simply because it was so heavy that I didn't want to handle more than four feet by myself. There's nothing quite so disconcerting as looking at a six foot log, fifteen or twenty inches in diameter, that's nasty, filthy, soaking wet, and really heavy, then looking at your tiny 14" bandsaw, and realizing for the first time how high off the floor the bandsaw is, and how far from the bed of the truck it is.The other thing that will happen is that when you're done screwing around with what was a huge, heavy bear of a log when you were lifting it, you will be amazed at how puny the boards are that came out of it, and how all out of proportion the payoff is to the labor, mashed fingers and soreness. Then, in a mental leap that will amaze you, you will realize that in spite of the effort required, the real payoff was from the biggest, heaviest, hardest logs, and that bigger is better. At that point, you will want a thing called an Alaskan Sawmill, and then I feel truly sorry for you. Beyond that point, your are lost, and your only hope is a larger room with more chairs for the committee, and job lot quantities of brandy.I believe the next time I set out on an adventure like this, I won't go alone. I believe I'll bring someone who's as close to 20 years old as I can arrange, who thinks fifty pounds is light and "dude" is a real word. Then I'll feed him as many cheesburgers at lunch and both coffeebreaks as he wants, and I'll make him truly tired for the first time in his life.Wear boots. Real boots.Good luck!
Gives you a bit of respect for the guys that do that kind of work all day long, every day of the week doesn't it?!
I must admit, the wood I got was MUCH easier. It did cost me $100 for a pick-up load of 4-10 ft boards, 4 to 8 1/4 with many having wane edges. It was air dried for several years and there must have been at least 200 bd. ft. of lumber in the batch.
The property owner had several storage areas, separated by quality. I got the stuff from the "bargain bin". He had a shed full of slabs that would make your eyes water to look at but that stuff was much more expensive and I didn't really know what I'd do with it or where I would put it once I got it home.
Regards,
Mack"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
Well, the finance members of The Committee have a point.In the Hack design, if the center (and lower) layers can be different species, why can't they be standard framing lumber?
Laminated that way I wonder if standard framing lumber would get the chance to dry out. You'd have to do it beforehand, perhaps stickering it in your shop for six months, or such like. Framing lumber generally comes in at somewhat just south of 19% moisture content unless you pay extra (and can find the really high end lumber yard that carries it) for KD14 lumber at 14% moisture level. How dry you need it depends on your shop environment of course.
Frankly, that looks more like a hardwood sort of bench, to me. Mostly just an aesthetic thing.
That gap, whether that particular dimension, is quite standard with tail vises. The exact size likely depend on the particular hardware chosen.
Nothing is ever to be clamped in that space. But, the gap exists because the board that secures the tail vise end cap needs to be longer than width of the tail vise. See this on page 38 and in the bottom right photo on page 39.
And, of course brandy is appropriate. I'm working on a moderately priced XO that is very smooth, though perhaps not as complex as some.
Boiler, I'm in Seattle.Steve, I see that.The tailvise I'm using at the moment doesn't overhang the bench at all.I'm not sure what I'll, do, I don't see a reason for the overhang.
With the hardware he is using, the attachment of the outer casting of the tail vise extends past the body of the tailvise. The overhang provides "meat" for that casting to be attached, and visually centers the vise screw in the end cap. It also provides "meat" surrounding the tenons that attach the tailvise core to the end cap. I see it as just making a stronger tail vise, at least as long as one resists any temptation to clamp anything in that little overhang. Again, different hardware might have different requirements. If it isn't needed for the other hardware, then no need for the overhang. Once you get enough strength for the vise attachment the rest is just aesthetic--your call entirely.
I wondered about that space too. Knowing that it isn't a clamping jaw, I couldn't figure out why the end cap is so long. Somewhere I read a hypothesis that it was to help a bit with balancing the vise. IOW, it move the center of gravity closer to the vertical plate. I don't know if that is true and I can't see it doing much toward that end. Someone else told me that it sometimes comes in handy for extending the bench a little bit.With enough brandy, it probably doesn't matter.
Yup. In fact, the custom vise in the Workbench Boot advocates exactly that-- there's even a Sketchup drawing of the Fortune/Nelson tailvise, that shows no overhang.The hardware doesn't overhang, at least if you rotate it ninety degrees.I just went downstairs and looked at mine, which is on the pattern of the Fortune/Nelson vise, but uses hardware I got from Woodcraft all those years ago. Call it ten years ago, and we'll be close.It is horizontal, and the casting doesn't overhang.I smell a tradition.
I'm curious to hear opinions about GH's use of the dovetailed end caps on his bench. They look great and I'd love to use them on my latest bench but I can't help but feel a little uneasy about the prospect of my dovetails popping apart with expansion and contraction of the top (even with elongated bolt holes and limited gluing). I suppose clever engineering of the tool tray offers some potential for accommodating the movement but I'd be interested in hearing what people think. I also live in the land of broadleaf maples and my shop certainly doesn't have a very stable climate but it sure is tempting to go with the dovetails....
Edited 12/7/2009 6:39 pm ET by begleyn
I'm glad you posted this
I'm glad you posted this because I'm currently building my workbench and would love to have the endcaps the way that GH has them but I have the same concern as you. I'm worried that shrinkage of the apron will cause the pins to stick out thereby limiting the usefulness of the full apron as a vice jaw.
Would love for someone to provide insight into this matter.
Thanks,
Charlton
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