Lots pf progress today! Finished the front apron, cut the front vise dado and glued it all up. So close!
Wow, things happened fast today! FINAL ASSEMBLY COMPLETE!!! Lagged everything together and vises are in!!!!! All that is left is wellboard and finishing!
Whats your first project on the new bench? One thing.... You might want to come up with some bench dogs to use with the vice. Thats what that metal tounge is for on top of it. Looks good though! EXCELLENT JOB
Thanks man! Plan on fitting up dogs for sure, and get some holdfasts. Can't believe it is together. Next steps: Fit well board Plane top Sand Finish Bench dogs First project is fix my wife's makeup stool. Second is a mandolin repair.
I just noticed you have 2 vices mounted..........NICE! For the side vice, if it was mine, I would drill some holes about 12" apart level with the bottom of the vice opening. This way you can stick dowels in there for when you have long stock clamped. It will stop the piece from wanting to rack in the vice. Does that make sense? Kinda hard to explain in written words. Lets say you have a 6' pc clamped in. You would stick a dowel in the 5' hole to hold the other side up. Works good for when you need to plane an 3dge.
Yes! I will Make the holes the same height as the rods in the vise so I can lay long stock down etc. apron sizw gives a lot of options!
THAT LOOKS AWESOME! What plane is that? Stanley #7? Or 6? Any idea of the year made? I love rehabbing old planes. Could we get a pic of the plane?
Any thoughts on making a drop in removable cover for the center well? I'm thinking if you need the whole bench top for a larger project, a nice plank over the well with a few supports could give you the whole surface to use. Other than that, you did a fantastic job and gained a lot of skill.
Ha, unfortunately that plane I was using is a #5 "great neck" POS from harbor freight or something that my dad let me borrow. I have 4 others that are beat down and unusable at the moment, including 2 #4 stanley baileys I picked up at an estate sale and a Wards Master #8 jointer plane. I'll start a new thread about those when I get to it! I have diamond plates on order so I can restore the blades, but they're on back order (and sharpen all my chisels which are fairly smoked too) To fishingpol's question - I had that in mind, but will see how the bench usage goes and determine if a well cover is warranted. I was also going to make a removable plate in the well so I could increase clamping options or perhaps put in a perforated chisel holder as needed. Will see how projects go. Once I get the vises setup and dogging system in, I'll do a few projects and then plan what my working style could benefit from additional bench improvements. I read a blog that had a bunch of different jigs to increase the utility of bench vises, probably start there. Thanks for all the feedback everyone, so close!
