Work Bench
A design for holding the work
by Tage Frid
There are many workbenches available on the market today. Aside from obvious reasons of economics, why make my bench? I can convince my students and myself easily enough, but to convince you I should explain the benefits of this design and how I arrived at these specifics.
When I came to this country in 1948 I was given a tour of the school where I was to teach. I was guided to a large room and introduced to the teacher with whom I was to work. We talked for a while, or rather he did the talking because my vo-cabulary didn't go much beyond yes and no. By using arms and legs I finally conveyed to him that I wanted to see the woodshop. When I was told I was standing in it I just about passed out. In the room was a huge thickness planer I think Columbus' father must have brought over, and a few small power tools. I was really flabbergasted when I saw the student "workbenches." These were large tables for two persons with a vise in each end. Most of the time the students were holding down their work with one hand and working with the other. Some had taken much time to make special contraptions to hold their work so they could use both hands, which I'm sure was the Lord's intention when he designed us with two. (Of course the Japanese use their feet to secure their work, leaving both hands free.)
After being in school for a few months I realized that the bench I wanted did not, to my knowledge, exist in this coun-try. So I designed my first workbench, which was quite similar to the one I was taught on. Later we made one for each stu-dent. Since then we have been making workbenches every two or three years so that the students have their own when they graduate. I find it a good exercise in which they learn
how to set up the machines for mass production and work to-gether as a production team. It takes us three days from rough lumber to have all the parts ready to fit and assemble, and to have the bench top glued up. This year each bench cost us about $100, half for wood and half for hardware.
Over the years, having made the bench so many times and having had numerous people using and criticizing them, I have arrived at this design and these dimensions as best suited for a cabinetmaker. With its two vises and accessory side clamps there are five possibilities for holding the work—two in the right vise, one in the left vise, one between the bench dogs and one between the side clamps. Both vises are the type with only one screw and no guide pins to interfere with the work. A piece can be clamped all the way to the floor if nec-essary, and the vise can hold irregularly shaped objects. With only six bolts, the bench is easy to assemble and disassemble, and takes minimum storage space. The only glued parts are the bench top, the right vise and the leg sections. Everything else bolts together so that any damaged pieces are easy to replace.
This bench is almost six feet long, but if you wish to lengthen the bench you can easily do so by extending the bench top at the center and the two leg crosspieces (#18 on the plan) the same amount. You can shorten it in the same way. I would advise keeping all dimensional changes in five-inch increments so that the distance between the bench dogs remains the same. The bench is designed as a right-handed bench but could be converted to a left-handed one by reversing the plans. If additional storage space is needed, I suggest attaching a piece of plywood between the Vise closeup shows top spline construction. Dowel jig helps support long boards in other vise.
leg crosspieces and inserting two end pieces to form a large
storage compartment. If you wish you can add a piece behind the bench to hold gouges, chisels, screwdrivers, etc. But I find it more a bother than a help because if you are working on pieces larger than the bench top surface you have to remove the tools so that they don't interfere.
If you are working on long boards or panels you can make a
simple device to support the weight of the board. Take a good
heavy piece of wood (a 2x4 or 4x4 will do), and drill holes of at least 1/2-inch diameter in a straight line down the length of the piece about one inch apart. By clamping this into the
right vise and moving a dowel to the hole just under the work
you can easily add support to a long piece.
Before beginning, get your hardware. That way, if you wish to make a substitution or if something isn't readily available, you can make all your dimensional changes before any wood is cut. We could not find a 14-inch bolt so we make
our own by brazing a nut to the end of some 3/8-inch
threaded rod which we have cut to the right length. We got bench screws and dogs at Woodcraft Supply in Woburn, Mass., but I understand Garrett Wade in New York and others also may have them.
When choosing the wood, make sure you select a dense
hardwood and be sure the wood is properly dried. We use maple because it is extremely hard and durable and is the
least expensive in this area (it takes about 60 board feet). When cutting up the stock be sure to cut the longest pieces first. Cut them all one inch longer than the final dimension. It is best to purchase rough lumber, joint and thickness-plane
Base parts are wedged and glued.
it rough, and then final thickness-plane the whole top
togeth-er afttogeth-er it is glued. If a thickness plantogeth-er isn't available, buy the lumber planed and align carefully during gluing. I suggest not using pieces wider than four inches in the top because of possible warpage problems. We use 8/4 stock for everything except pieces #18 and #8, which are 5/4 stock. For
the heavier pieces which finish 2-3/4 by 4 inches, we glue-up two pieces of 8 / 4 because in this area it is just about
im-possible to find properly dried lumber of that thickness. If necessary, you can bricklay or stack these pieces if you are short on lumber. We use Titebond yellow glue for all the
glued sections.
Many students have found it best to start assembly with the base, as it goes together very easily. Assembling the base first eliminates many pieces, making things less confusing when
the vise is to go together. If you wish, you may round over the edges of the base pieces and radius the ends of the feet. These
details, along with your vise corners and handles, will give your bench a personal touch. Sand all pieces before gluing. Be sure to hammer evenly on both wedges and don't over-hammer or the wood will split. After the wedges are in, check the sections for squareness. At this point you can remove the
clamps because the wedges will hold everything in place. Clean off all the excess glue while it is still wet and you will
have little finishing work. After the glue dries, saw off the excess of the wedges and plane the tops even and flat. Clamp the base together to drill the hardware holes.
In making the bench top, we use splines between the pieces
to make gluing up easier. It isn't a bad idea for strength either, because of all the hammering that will take place on
the top surface. A spline should definitely be used between pieces #1 and #3 to help align the front piece flush with the rest of the top. We use a dado head to cut the grooves for the splines but it could be done with a shaper, a hand router or a
plough plane. The bench top is glued and planed before piece #3 with the bench dog slots is added. We use the dado
head on the radial arm saw to cut the bench dog slots with a stop set to keep the spacing and the angle consistent. It could be done instead with a router, a saw and chisel, or a router plane. The top step of the slot is chiseled out by hand at the very end. Cap piece #2 is added afterwards and a brad is used
in each end to prevent the piece from sliding over the length during gluing. Don't use too much glue or it will be necessary
to do a tedious clean-up inside each bench dog slot. After the front piece is attached, the top is cut in length and width. The tongues are made at each end with a shaper, circular saw, hand router or rabbet plane.
The lengthwise cut for the right-hand vise must be parallel to the front of the bench top, and the crosswise cut precisely
square to it. This can be done on a band saw, or with a circu-lar saw or hand saw. For making the groove for the right-hand vise to ride in, you can use a hand router or chisel it out. The accuracy of this groove is very important because it will deter-mine how smoothly your vise works.
As mentioned previously, none of the end cap pieces is glued. For this reason it is essential that the holes for the bolts
are drilled very accurately or the bolts will not go in square. Therefore I suggest drilling the holes in pieces #4, 5, and 7 on a drill press or with a doweling jig. At the same time, drill the hole for the vise in piece #7. After the holes are drilled, the
end cap pieces are clamped in place with filler #6 inserted. The holes are then continued into the bench top. The best
way to do this is to use an extra-long drill bit, or a bit on an extension. If you don't wish to invest in the bit, you can cut a dado and let the bolt ride in that. The same procedure should be followed on piece #18. If you do use a dado and wish to
close up the groove, you can add a piece to conceal the bolt. However, this isn't necessary because the nut will nestle in the
spacing using dado blades. Student uses chisel to clean saw cuts made to shape bench-top corner for vise. Below, Piece 3 is planed to align with Piece 1. Bottom photo shows vise.
TOP
At top, plywood board is used to square three vise parts when gluing them together. Middle vertical board is bench-top end (Piece 5). After gluing, other parts of vise are fitted together with the vise in place on the top. Other photos show bottom and rear views of vise.
shoulder of the right-angled hole, pulling the bolt in tight. In
our benches we insert the vise hardware brackets flush, but this certainly isn't crucial.
Now comes the most difficult part of assembly—the right-hand vise. It is advisable to make the tongues on the pieces all slightly oversized and carefully fit them with their grooves. It is essential that every part of the vise be complete-ly square. We use finger joints in the corners but dovetails
would probably be faster if you are only making one bench. In gluing the vise pieces together it is helpful to cut a piece of
plywood to the exact dimension of the inside rectangle of the vise. If you clamp the vise pieces around this piece, the vise will have to end up square. The plywood also provides an edge to clamp against on the open side.
The vise should be glued and fitted and all the holes drilled for the hardware before cover piece #14 is added. The hole for the vise is drilled in piece #11, and from there guided into
piece #5, with #5 bolted in place. It might be necessary to chisel a little notch into the bench top to make room for the vise bracket, but such a notch is invisible. The bench is
flipped upside down for the fitting of the guides. The notches should be scribed off the runner pieces and carefully routed or
chiseled out by hand. Countersink all the screws so that they
don't interfere with the vise travel. Piece #17 should be
screwed down first and then the other guides set in place. Take the time to make all of these fit right. Fitting the vise will drive you crazy at times, but be patient and worry about
one section at a time and eventually it will all fit just right. When the vise is working properly, piece #14 is added. It is
set into pieces #11 and 12 so these pieces must be chiseled out. If you want to get a little fancy you can undercut the edges so that the effect is almost like one large dovetail. A complimentary angle is cut on the edges of #14 and the piece
is glued. You must glue only to the moving pans of the vise and not to any of the stationary parts of the bench top. Drill
up from the bottom through the bench dog slots to locate the tops of the slots and finish chiseling them out.
Piece #8 is screwed onto the back of the bench after it receives a groove to support the plywood for the tool trough. The plywood is screwed directly to the underside of the bench
top and is further supported by the filler pieces which secure the top to the legs. The filler pieces #24 stabilize the top and
connect it to the base. The two corner blocks are screwed in from the bottom. Their only function is to make the trough easy to sweep out. Piece #23 is used to prevent direct clamping onto the work you are holding. A piece of plywood would function equally well here.
After the bench is completed, the top should be hand planed and belt sanded level. All the edges should be eased
off slightly, or "broken," to minimize chipping out when something hits against an edge.
All of the places on the underside of the right-hand vise where wood is running against wood should be coated with melted paraffin thinned slightly with turpentine—say a
tablespoon or two to a block of paraffin. The paraffin is first melted in a can or pot, and the turpentine is added with the container removed from the heat source. The mixture is liberally painted on in its liquid state to protect the pieces and help them to function smoothly. No oil is used on any of these pieces.
At completion, the rest of the bench and especially the work surface should be completely penetrated with raw
linseed oil. This will take several hearty coats. At least once a year the bench top should be resurfaced. This is done by
scraping it down, releveling it, and again penetrating it with oil.
Four small pieces should be added under the legs so that the bench rests on four points. The thickness of these pieces can serve as an adjustment for the final bench height.
Now your bench is completely finished and looks so
beautiful you hate to use it. If you take good care of it,
working on it and not into it, it should stay like that for years
and years.
[Author's note: Material for this bench includes 50 board feet
of 8/4 maple; 10 board feet of 5 / 4 maple; one piece of 1/2-in. Baltic birch plywood 8 x 60; two 1-1/4-in. diameter
bench screws, one 18-in. overall length, the other 13-3/4 long
with a swivel end; 1 pair 7-in. bench dogs with heavy spring, 1 x 5 / 8 knurled face, 7/8 x 5 / 8 shank (we used Ulmias); two 3 / 8 x 8 bolts; four 3/8 x 6 bolts; one 3 / 8 x 14 bolt (or threaded rod); two 3 / 8 x 5 lag screws.
[Editor's note: Blueprints of this bench are available for $6.
The prints do not give any additional information, but some readers may find the orthographic projections drawn to a scale of 1-1/2 and 3 inches to the foot convenient to work with. Send check to The Taunton Press, Box 355, Newtown, CT
06470. Connecticut residents add 7% sales tax.]
VISE
BOTTOM VIEW (and sections)
TOP VIEW
ADDENDA, ERRATA, ETC.
On the workbench drawings in the fall issue, in Piece 11 (p. 45) the hole for the bench screw should be 1-3/4 inches up from the bottom, not the 2 inches indicated. And the missing type on Piece 10 (p. 43) should read 1 - 3 / 4 i n c h e s . . . . The reversing third drum for the stroke Sander in the summer issue is no longer available as a stock item. George Mooradian says he'll make some up if he gets enough orders. Otherwise, he recommends his off-the-shelf Model 1000 special extended shaft mandrel as a substitute. . . .More bench business: In Fall '76, page 43: piece 3 should total 46 in.
long, not 4 6 - 1 / 8 in.; the top of the
bench-dog slot in piece 3 is 1-3/16 in. wide, not 1 5 / 1 6 in., (the bottom of the
slot is 15/16 in.); on piece 7 the dado is
7-3/8 in. long, not 7 in.; piece 5 is 16-3/8 in. long, not 16-5/8 in.; the protruding tongue of piece 23 is 2-1/4
in., not 2 - 1 / 2 in.; bolts are shown as
hex-head but mislabeled as carriage
bolts. On page 45, piece 12, the dado
slot is 1-1/4 in. wide, not 3/8 in.
An Easy-to-Build Workbench
Bolted butt joints for rigid construction
by Richard Starr
A
s a school woodshop teacher, I must often solve problems on the spur of the moment. That's how the design for my easy-to-build workbench came to me. A couple of kids wanted to build a bench as a gift for a neighboring preschool. The bench had to be quick and easy to construct, yet professional look-ing and, above all, absolutely rigid. When all the elements for a simple, bolt-together frame came together in my mind, I hit my palm to my brow. It seemed so obvious. I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before.Designing the workbench
The workbench mainly consists of four legs and four stretchers held together with eight identical joints. The joints are easy to cut yet forgiving because they are fastened with common hex-head bolts available at any hardware store. The joint, equally effective in hardwood or cheap construction-grade lumber, is also perfect for many types of knockdown furniture. It's even solid enough for permanent installations, such as a built-in work counter.
The first step in building the frame is to decide the dimensions
of the top. This decision should be based on the bench's intended use (a carving bench should have a narrower top than a cabinet-maker's assembly bench) and on the shop space you have avail-able. The bench I built has a 42-in.-wide by 72-in.-long top, good for general woodworking tasks. From these dimensions, I calculat-ed the size of the frame and the length of the stretchers, You can determine the length of each pair of stretchers by subtracting twice the thickness of a leg plus the amount the top will overhang at each end from the length and width of the benchtop. When de-ciding on the amount of overhang, keep in mind that it's a good idea to leave plenty of room on all sides, for mounting vises and for clamping things to the top. For example, I chose a 7-in. over-hang and used 3-in.-thick by 3-in.-wide legs, so my end stretchers were 22 in. long and the side stretchers were 52 in. long. I made my stretchers from 2x6 stock.
I used soft maple for my bench's legs, but you can use glued-up hardwood or construction-grade 4x4s. Cut the legs to a length that equals die height of the bench less the thickness of the top. I find that bench height is largely a matter of personal taste. I'm a
six-footer, and I like a 34-in.-high bench whenever I'm sawing or plan-ing wood; for small assembly work, though, I'd want the benchtop an inch or two higher. The workbenches in my school shop are 30 in. high, which is right for most adolescents, although younger woodworkers might do best with a 26-in.-high bench.
Making the stretcher joints
The function of a stretcher is to prevent the frame from racking and the bench from rocking, so it's imperative that each stretcher connection be rock solid. A joint held together with a single bolt
focuses pressure at the center of the joint, which doesn't
adequate-ly prevent the joint from racking. Two bolts are better because they pull the stretcher against the leg closer to the edges, thus keeping the joint square. But you need to buy twice as much hard-ware, plus it takes twice as long to knock down or assemble the bench. After trying several variations of the bolted stretcher joint, I
finally came up with the version shown in the drawing. A single
bolt is used for each joint, and an arched relief area is cut out on each end of the stretcher. As the joint is tightened, pressure is fo-cused at the outer edges (like a two-bolt joint), effectively locking the stretcher square to the leg and preventing racking.
To begin making the joints, crosscut the stretchers square and to length, and drill cross holes to provide the space for the nut and washers that are fitted to the end of each bolt. The center of each
cross hole is located where the bolt end will be when the joint is
assembled. For my bench, I used 3-in.-sq. legs and -in.-long bolts with the heads countersunk . in. deep. This places the cen-ter of my cross holes at in. from the end of each stretcher. You should avoid locating the cross holes any closer to the stretcher
ends than that or you risk the force of the bolt splitting out the endgrain and ruining the stretcher.
Bore out the cross holes with a -in -dia. bit, which will leave a hole large enough to allow a box wrench to fit around the nut during assembly. Next, the portion of the hole facing the end of the stretcher is squared up for the nut. I used a try square to mark out the pocket, as shown in the drawing. Then I chopped out the waste with a chisel. If you like, you can whittle or sand the edges
of the opening to give them an attractive chamfer.
To locate the bolt holes in the ends of the stretchers, I made a thin-plywood (you could use cardboard) template cut to the same
dimensions as the cross section of a stretcher, in this case about
in. by in. The template is used to mark the center for each -in.-dia. bolt hole, and then these holes are drilled through until
they intersect with the cross holes. A spade bit in a portable
elec-tric drill works fine in endgrain, although I prefer to use a modi-fied auger bit in a hand brace. To modify the bit, I just filed the spurs off, and it chewed right through endgrain. I tried to drill accurately by checking that the bit was parallel to the face and edge of the stretcher, and stopping and rechecking frequently. Be-cause the hole is much larger than the bolt, dead accuracy isn't necessary; as I've said, this joint is very forgiving.
If you plan to disassemble and assemble the bench often, you
might want to add an alignment dowel on the end of each stretch-er. This short, -in.-dia. dowel keeps the stretcher aligned during
assembly and mates to a slightly oversized hole in the leg.
Next, mark and cut out the relief area on each stretcher end, leaving two l-in.-long contact areas. A -in.-deep relief is all you
need, but if you'd like to add a decorative touch, you can cut a
fancy shape; just avoid cutting too near the cross hole or you'll risk splitting the joint when you tighten the bolt. I cut out the relief area on a bandsaw, but you could use a sabersaw or chop out the waste by hand with a chisel.
Use the same template described above to mark the positions of
the bolt holes on the legs. Each pair of legs is laid out differently, so be sure to mark carefully. If you choose to countersink the bolt
heads, drill the countersunk holes first. A 1-in.-dia. hole matches
the diameter of washers normally used with -in. bolts. Drill the bolt holes oversized— -in. holes for the -in. bolts-as you did on
the stretcher ends earlier.
Assemble the bench frame by first bolting together the legs and end stretchers, and then joining them with the side stretchers. The
joints will seem loose and sloppy when first assembled; simply
posi-tion and tighten them using two washers under each nut. You might need to retighten the joints after they've settled for a few days.
Fitting the benchtop
For my benchtop, I glued up some -in.-thick maple I had lying around. An easier (although more expensive) alternative is to buy a length of ready-made butcher-block countertop, available from many building-supply stores, home centers and lumber dealers.
Bolt the top to the frame through a batten glued to the inside faces of the end stretchers (see the drawing). Bore three -in.
holes in each batten, and then fasten the top with -in. lag bolts
and washers. While the battens keep the top flat, the oversized holes allow the solid-wood top to move with changes in humidity. If you want to add a shelf under your workbench, screw battens to the underside of some -in.-thick shelf boards; then drop the shelf in place, as shown.
Richard Starr is a teacher and author. Building this workbench is
the topic of the first show in his television series, Woodworking for Everyone, on PBS this fall.Emmerts are
clas-sics. Specialized
vis-es, like this EmmertNo. 1, were designed
for busy
pattern-makers during the
industrial boom
years at the turn of
the century. Vise
jaws hold irregularly
shaped workpieces
(above) and swivel
to improve access to
the work (right).
Patternmaker's
Vises
The most versatile work-holding
device ever bolted to a bench
by Benjamin Wild
M
ore than 20 years of woodworking and patternmaking taught me that the ideal vise is one that I can forget about while I'm working. I don't want to fight with a vise or spend much time setting it up. A vise should hold the work firmly, without marking it, and allow me to work in a comfortable posi-tion. I started my career as a patternmaker using the special vise that goes with the trade. Since then, I've tried every other type of vise on the market. No other vise comes as close to the perfect work-holding device as a patternmaker's vise.The patternmaker's vise was developed specifically to meet the demanding needs of a specialized job. A patternmaker turns out wooden models (such as plane bodies, gears or tablesaw tops) that are used, in turn, to create molds for casting parts in metal. The models often assume odd shapes and sizes and are difficult to hold—hence the development of a special vise.
You don't have to be a patternmaker to appreciate this type of vise. It's better than other vises at holding the work firmly so that the woodworker and the tool have ready and easy access to virtu-ally any part of the piece. I now teach woodworking, and I often see my students struggling with improperly held work. The result usually is inaccurate work or a botched job. The beauty of a pat-ternmaker's vise is that it can hold a variety of different sizes and shapes in almost any position.
The vise attaches to the front of the workbench like a conven-tional bench vise. But from this position, the vise can be rotated 360° or lifted 90°, so the jaws are parallel to the benchtop, all with the wood clamped firmly in the jaws. The jaws can be angled up to about 5° from side to side to hold tapered objects. An accesso-ry tilt plate will pivot up to 30° perpendicular to the vise for more severely angled work or for gripping pieces angled in two planes. In addition to this versatility, the vise has two sets of jaws. In the
normal position, the jaws are the same as in any other
woodwork-ing vise. But rotate the vise 180°, and a pair of metalworkwoodwork-ing jaws, similar to a machinist's vise, are brought to the top (see the top photo on p. 80). The vise also has dogs built into both front and back jaws to hold round, curved or odd shapes (see the top pho-to on p. 81). Or the front jaw dogs could be used with
bench-mounted dogs to grip objects beyond the capacity of the vise. For clamping simple square pieces of limited size, any conven-tional vise will suffice. But a patternmaker's vise is so versatile that
even mundane jobs become easier. You'll soon find yourself ro-tating and tilting your work for best access rather than twisting and turning your body to conform to the constraints of your bench and vise (see the bottom photo on the facing page). Once you've used a patternmaker's vise, you'll have a hard time going back to a
con-ventional one. Fortunately, these vises are still available, from used
Emmerts to newly manufactured imitators, at prices ranging from $250 to more than $1,500.
The Emmert vise
The Universal patternmaker's vise was first manufactured by Joseph F. Emmert in 1891. At that time, American factories were in
full swing, creating a huge demand for the patterns necessary for casting the parts for all those wonderful cast-iron woodworking
machines, as well as other equipment, that we covet so much to-day. These patterns assumed almost any shape, often were quite large and had to be worked to exacting tolerances. Emmert vises have been in use for more than 100 years, and they are still the benchmark, even though the company has been out of business for some time.
The original Emmerts came in two sizes, the No. 1 with jaws in. by 18 in. that opened 15 in. and weighed in at 87 lb. (see the photos on the facing page). A smaller No. 2 vise had 5-in. by 14-in. jaws that opened 12 in. and weighed a mere 56 lb.
What happened to the Emmert Co.?
"If these things are so good, why doesn't everyone have one, and
why did the Emmert Co. go out of business?" you might ask. For the same reason that I'm no longer actively making patterns. Most
of the work that used to be done by patternmakers is done by welding, sent out of the country or done with computers and au-tomated milling machines. And the materials are now plastics and ceramics worked to ever finer tolerances. Almost gone are the days of handworking patterns of clear mahogany, cherry and pine. The closing of the traditional patternmaker's shops, meant not
only that the market for Emmert vises was dwindling, but also that
competition was increasing as thousands of used Emmerts hit the market. Some bad management decisions and new competitors also had a hand in the demise of the Emmert Co.
What's available today
Ever since the original Emmert Co. closed, woodworkers who
have wanted the versatility of these fine tools have had limited
op-tions. But thanks to the rising demand for woodworking tools, new sources have developed and old sources have come to light for patternmaker-style vises. American Machine & Tool Co. (AMT), Veritas Tools Inc. and The Kindt-Collins Co. all offer some version of a patternmaker's vise.
All of these vises work much like the old Emmert. They all tilt, angle and spin. They all require about the same effort to install.
They all have metalworking jaws on one side, and they all hold the work firmly. They all have built-in dogs to hold things between the
jaws or between the front jaw dogs and dogs set into the work-bench. But there are differences. Choosing the right vise for you
Modern version
uses alloy casting.
Made by Veritas
Tools, this Tucker
vise uses a
zinc-aluminum alloy
instead of cast iron,
making it strong and
light. A quick-release
feature can be
oper-ated by a foot pedal
(above). The vise's
cork-lined jaws
pro-tect delicate
Vise handles metal,
too. Rotate this
Amer-ican Machine & Tool
Co. vise 180°, and
you'll have a pair of
jaws for
metalwork-ing (above). A set of
jaw inserts, which are
lined with soft rubber
(right), prevents dings
in soft material.
really depends on the type of woodworking that you do, how heavy your work is and how much money you're willing to spend.
The AMT vise
The AMT vise (American Machine & Tool Co., Fourth Ave. and Spring St., Royersford, PA 19468-2519; 800-435-8665) is a copy of the Emmert No. 2 vise. The specifications are almost identical: 5-in.
by -in. jaws that open 12 in. and an overall weight of 55 lb. for
the cast-iron and steel unit (see the photos at left).
The primary differences between the two are that the machining is not as good on the AMT as it is on the original, the cast iron is a little softer and the -in.-dia. handle fits sloppily in its 1-in.-dia. hole. In spite of the rough casting, though, everything seems to work well enough. In addition to the standard pivot plate, AMT of-fers a set of soft jaws as an optional accessory ($20 for the pair). The soft jaws are 3-in. by 6-in., rubber-faced aluminum plates that magnetically attach to the face of the jaws to protect your work, as
shown in the bottom photo at left. I found the soft jaws helpful, particularly for small work.
Although I'm used to working with the bigger No. 1 vise, I liked this little AMT vise and would be tempted to buy it if I knew I would never need the size and strength of the larger one. At $250, it's the most reasonable entry into owning a patternmaker's vise, unless you find a real bargain on a used Emmert, which usually sells for $350 and up depending on size and condition.
The Veritas Tool vise
Veritas Tool Inc. (12 East River St., Ogdensburg, NY 13669-1720;
800-667-2986) introduced the Tucker vise in 1991, exactly 100 years after Emmert patented his vise. With jaws that are 4 in. by
13 in., the Tucker is only slightly smaller than the Emmert No. 2, but the 12-in. jaw capacity is the same (see the photos on p. 79). The Tucker operates much like an Emmert, but there are some dif-ferences and a few added features.
The Tucker is much lighter than the Emmert, which gave me some concerns about its durability. But the zinc-aluminum alloy used to cast the Tucker is not only much lighter than cast iron, it's stronger and less brittle. The other readily noticeable difference is machining. The finish is a highly refined, smooth surface similar to
that found on the unmachined surfaces of machinist's tools. The Tucker vise has some advantages over the Emmert and, in
my opinion, some disadvantages. It has a quick-release mecha-nism, so the front jaw can slide open or closed easily without hav-ing to turn the handle. In addition to a top release button, a foot pedal allows the spring-loaded jaw to be popped open when both hands are full (see the top photo on p. 79).
The built-in dogs have a flat side and a round side to offer a va-riety of clamping surfaces. The jaws of the Tucker are cork-lined, which is great for protecting your work, but could be a pain if the cork lining gets damaged and needs to be scraped off. This is
like-ly because even the metalworking jaws, which tend to get more abuse, are cork-lined. The directions are complete, and installation
is easier than it appears. The exploded view of the vise makes it look as complicated as the control panel of a Boeing 747.
One thing I did discern from the mounting instruction's explod-ed drawing was that the Tucker has a lot more parts than the Em-mert. Although I did not have a chance to use the vise for an extended period, I would be concerned that with so many parts, it might be easier for the vise to get out of alignment.
The big drawback to the Tucker vise is that the angle feature is not all that convenient to use. The other vises use a quick-acting cam lock to hold the vise at an angle. However, the Tucker re-quires a separate, large Allen wrench (provided) to make this
ad-justment. Because of the smaller size of the Tucker, when it's ro-tated 90° to the vertical position, the end of the vise is only about 2 in. above the bench.
The end of the next smallest vise, the AMT, when in the same
po-sition, is 4 in. above the benchtop. This extra height raises small work up to a better working position. Also, the Tucker doesn't have a pivot plate, which is good for holding odd-shaped pieces. At $500, the Tucker might seem a little dear, but overall, this is a quality-machined product that works extremely well.
The Kindt-Collins vise
Although The Kindt-Collins Co. (12651 Elmwood Ave., Cleveland, OH 44111; 800-321-3170) master universal patternmaker's vise has been on the market for more than 20 years, it's been a relative se-cret. That may be because of its price: $1,555. Kindt-Collins con-tinues to sell vises primarily to corporate patternmaker's shops
and the government.
The Kindt-Collins is an improvement over the old Emmert. The
angle and other adjustments work much more smoothly because all the working parts are machined and hand-fitted (see the pho-tos at right). The surfaces of the large woodworking jaws (18 in. by 7 in.) are ground flat, and the metalworking jaws are ground, hardened and serrated. The tilt plate also is ground flat and fits
per-fectly into its groove in the back vise jaw, as shown in the bottom photo at right. The front jaw rides smoothly on a double-lead
Acme thread and opens a full 16 in. A nice paint job makes the vise look as good as it works.
The Kindt-Collins vise has much thicker castings than the Em-mert, so the Kindt-Collins can hold the heavy castings that
pat-ternmakers sometimes work on, but you'll probably have to bolt your bench to the floor. In fact, weighing in at about 170 lb., the
vise alone may tip over some workbenches.
Although the extra heft makes the vise stronger, the increased bulk gets in the way when working near the jaws on smaller pieces. Because of its heavy-duty construction, the Kindt-Collins is obviously marketed to industry. The company must assume that
these pros know what to do with this vise because it came without any mounting directions or hardware. The only other
disadvan-tage of this vise is that it is about three times the price of the next cheapest model. In spite of the heavy price, the Kindt-Collins vise represents a good value for the user who needs the ultimate in holding power.
An Emmert in the future?
Along with these vises, I also had a chance to try out a new
Em-mert vise, as shown in the top photo on p. 78. That's right, a new Emmert. Back in 1984, Bob Kinslow of Hagerstown, Md., acquired the rights to the Emmert name, as well as remaining inventories, patterns and some production machinery. He has been struggling ever since to combine these ingredients into a going concern and
has managed to put together a few of the vises. But recent health problems have dealt his efforts a serious blow.
If Kinslow can get things up and running, he speculates the sell-ing price for a No. 1 (the only size he'll be producsell-ing) will be about $675. Until then, if you want an Emmert, keep your eyes open at flea markets or used tool shops in your area. One thing is for sure: Anyone who still calls himself a patternmaker is not
like-ly to be selling his vise.
Benjamin Wild worked as a patternmaker for 16 years. He is
cur-rently teaching construction trades for the City School District,
Rochester, N.Y., and is the coordinator of the apprenticeship
pro-gram for Rochester Carpenters Local 85.
Cadillac of vises.
With a price tag of
more than $1,500,the Kindt-Collins vise
isn't for everyone.
Machined,
hand-fit-ted parts explain its
ease of operation,and the vise handles
big, unwieldy objects
(above). A tilt plate
that fits between the
jaws (left) allows the
jaws to hold tapered
y father learned woodworking in Sweden, and when he came to this country, he got a job building reproduction Early American furniture. The shop had been in operation since the late 1700s, and like those who worked before him, my father was assigned a huge bench with many drawers. He stored his tools and ate his lunch at the bench, but much of his actual work took place nearby on a low table he called “the platform.”
When I inherited his big bench, I also found myself doing most of my work at a low platform improvised from sawhorses and planks. I have bad shoulders and the occasional sore back, so using a full-height bench is difficult and unproductive.
I needed a bench that suited the way I really work, so I built a low platform that incorporates some features of a traditional full-sized bench.
A clamping machine
My low platform bench is made for clamping (see the photos on the facing page). The edges overhang enough for clamps to get a good grip anywhere along the length of the bench. A 4-in.-wide space down the middle increases the clamping options.
This platform bench has four tail vises made from Pony No. 53 double-pipe clamps, which can be used by themselves or in combination with a row of dogs on the centerline between the screws, as the drawing shows. Unlike most bench arrangements, with a single row of dogs along one edge, this one doesn’t twist or buckle the piece. I can use each vise singly or with the others because the pipes are pinned into the benchtops at each end with1⁄4-in. by 2-in. roll pins. Without the
pins, the pipes would slide through the bench when tightening one end.
Rather than using traditional square bench dogs, I bored 3⁄4-in. holes for a
variety of manufactured dog fixtures or shopmade dowel dogs (see the drawing).
Building the benchtops
The bench is made from eight straight, clear 8-ft. 2x4s that I had kept in the shop for a few months to dry. I jointed the edges and then ran each of the boards through the planer until the radiused corners were square.
Building the legs and base according to the dimensions on the drawing is straightforward. The only point to note is the dovetail connecting the beams to the legs. Because of the orientation of the beams and legs, the dovetail is only 11⁄2in.
at its widest point, but it’s 31⁄2in. from top
to bottom. I tilted the tablesaw blade to cut the tails on the beam and cut the pins on the legs in the bandsaw. Almost any method would work to join the beam to the leg; my first version of the bench used a bolted slip joint.
The pipes run through the tops—The tops are made in two sections and glued up with the pipes and vises in place. The upper sections are made of three boards and the lower section from two. I edge-glued them with alternating growth rings to eliminate cupping. I cut 7⁄8-in. grooves
lengthwise in the top face of the bottom section to accommodate the pipes.
The tops are held to each beam with a single lag screw, which allows seasonal movement. To lock the tops into the base, I cut dadoes on the lower faces of the bottom sections to fit over the beams. Assembling the double-pipe clamps— The double-pipe clamps are sold with a
42
Fine Woodworking Photos: Aimé Fraser; drawings: Heather LambertM
Low
Assembly
Bench
Versatile platform
puts your work
at the right height
by Bill Nyberg
A low bench made for clamping
This bench is 24 in. high, a convenient height for working on many projects. The benchtops are 421⁄2in. long, which gives more than 4 ft.
between the jaws. At about 70 lbs., the bench is light enough to move around yet heavy enough for stability.
Leg braces are resawn 2x4s, about 11⁄16in. by 33⁄8in.
Roll pin Dowels align top during glue-up. 10 in. Lag screw
tail stop and a screw head. I set aside the tail-stop ends and used only the screw heads. Threading on the vise at one end of the pipe will unscrew the vise at the other end. So I had a plumber cut the threads twice as long on one end of each of the four pipes. I threaded the first vise all the way onto the end with double-long threads so that it was twice as far on the pipe as it needed to go. By the time the
second vise was in place, the first one had unscrewed itself to the correct location. Keep ends flush when gluing—Before the pipes are installed in the grooves, I cut all the bench pieces to length. Once the tops are glued up, the pipes and vises are in the way, so it’s hard to trim up ends that aren’t flush. For flush ends, I aligned the pieces with dowel pins between top and
bottom. I applied the glue and clamped the top and bottom sections together with the dowels in place. After the glue was dry, I drilled for the roll pins from the bottom so they wouldn’t show.
Bill Nyberg is director of ophthalmic photography at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He works wood in his spare time.MAKE CLAMPING EASY
The open space at the center of the bench allows clamping pres-sure to be applied anywhere. Two vises that can be adjusted independently hold even irreg-ular shapes securely.
Glue only bottom of dovetail to allow seasonal movement.
Drill 11⁄8in. holes in cheeks
for loose fit on pipe. Dog holes, 3⁄4in.,
on 4 in. centers Bench Alternating growth rings Four No. 53 Pony clamps Counterbore for
1⁄4in. by 2 in. bolts.
Black iron or galvanized pipe, 1⁄2in. ID by 57 in. long
Top assembly is dadoed
1⁄4in. deep to fit over beam.
Roll pin
Lag screws, 3⁄8in. by 5 in.
through beam A 1⁄4-in. bullet catch keeps the dog in place. Bench dogs are hardwood dowels, 3⁄4in. dia.
and about 41⁄2in.
long, planed flat on one side.
Roll pins,
1⁄4in. by 2 in.,
keep pipe from turning.
Dado for pipe, 7⁄8in.
deep by 7⁄8in. wide
Pipe
Cut off one side of handle. When the vise is open, gravity will keep the remaining portion of the handle below the benchtop.
Rules of Thumb
BY M I C H A E L D U N B A RWoodworking benches
It is almost impossible to work wood without a workbench. It
ranks as one of the most important fixtures in a shop. In fact, the
more extensive your woodworking experience the more likely
you are to have more than one bench. I have always had at least
three benches in my chair-making school's shop—large and
small joiner's benches and an assembly bench.
Different types of woodworkers traditionally have had different
styles of benches that vary according to the needs of their craft.
For example, a joiner's bench is long and narrow with a vise
along the side (known as a side vise) and a vise at one end
(known as a tail vise). Chair makers frequently work on a low
platform called a framing bench because chair assembly is called
framing. All good benches share features you will want to
include in any bench you are making or acquiring.
A bench must be sturdy. You frequently place a lot of weight on
it. Woodworking, especially with hand tools, creates a lot of
force. A bench that wobbles or racks under these forces is
frustrating to work on because you waste a lot of energy moving
the benchtop rather than working wood. Also,
this type of movement is not good for the
bench's joints. They wear more quickly, and you
may need to replace the bench down the road.
All the benches in my shop have 4x4 legs, and
the stretchers are joined with 2-in.-deep
mortise-and-tenon joints. The top is secured to 2x6 cleats
that are mortised to sit on tenons cut into the top
of the legs. We have reinforced all the
multiple-person benches with cross bracing—both end to
end and side to side.
A bench should also be heavy. The forces
exerted upon a bench can not only rack it but
also make it slide around the shop. Chasing your
bench while trying to work wood is very
frustrating. A heavy bench is more likely to stay
put. A thick top is one way to create weight. The
top of my large joiner's bench (see the photo at
left) is in.-thick beech, and all of our
multiple-person benches (see the photo below)
require four people to lift them safely. Storing
some of your tools under the bench is another
good way to add weight. I store my working
Low bench for handwork. Planing moldings, chopping mortises and jointing boards all re-quire lots of upper-body strength. A low bench—the one in the photo is 31 in. high—allows the author to put a lot of muscle into his motions.
High bench for machining. Benchtop machines come with their own horsepower, so the operator's strength is almost superfluous. Slipping battens under the plywood has raised the actual working height of the benchtop to almost 36 in. Adding height is easy; lowering it isn't.
Rules of Thumb
(continued)Get the height just right. To determine the proper workbench height, stand with your arm hanging by your side. Bend your wrist so that your palm is facing down.
handplanes, about 20 of them, on a shelf that
spans the side stretchers.
You can also secure the bench to the floor to
keep it from moving. My small joiner's bench is
lagged to the wooden floor. If you have a
concrete floor, you may need to drill holes in it
and use lag shields. In this case, be sure to
locate the bench in the most desirable location.
Chair making requires a lot of shaping. When a
student would pull the draw knife, the bench
would follow. We corrected this by placing
cleats against the legs and screwing them to the
floor. And the cleats have another advantage. Although low—only
in. thick—they keep a lot of the shavings produced in the shop
from working their way under the bench, making clean up easier.
Your bench should be sized appropriately to your work. A
benchtop has three important dimensions: length, width and
height. If you work with long pieces of wood, you want a long
bench. When I built my joiner's bench, I was doing a lot of house
restoration. As a result, I was making a lot of doors and interior
and exterior trim. The 8-ft.-long top came in handy for this work.
A bench should be wide enough to handle the jobs you
normally do. My joiner's bench is 32 in. wide. This is sufficient for
most of the chairs, tables or carcases I have built.
Bench height is perhaps the most critical dimension. It is one
that is also very personal. It varies depending on your methods
of work and your height. In a production shop where parts are
An immovable beast. To keep his benches from racking, the author uses dovetailed diagonal braces. Cleats screwed to the floor prevent the benches from moving.
mostly machined, benches are generally used for assembly.
These benches tend to have higher working surfaces. However, a
high bench makes working by hand very difficult. For example,
when planing, you use muscles in your legs and back. On a high
bench, you are more limited to your arm and shoulder muscles. I
do a lot of handwork, and for that reason, I prefer a low bench.
My large joiner's bench is only 31 in. high.
To determine bench height, stand erect with your arm hanging
by your side, and bend your wrist so your palm is facing down.
This is a good height for your bench. If you do a lot of work with
benchtop machines, such as a router or a biscuit joiner, you may
want the bench slightly higher. Remember this: It's easy to add
temporary blocks or battens if you want to raise the working
height of a bench for a particular project, but it's awfully hard to
lower it.
Rules of Thumb
BY M I C H A E L D U N B A RVises are a woodworker's third hand
I have watched a lot of frustrated beginning woodworkers
at-tempt to saw a piece of wood while holding it against a
work-bench with their free hand or their knee. I even saw one diligent
guy put a board on a workbench, then sit on the board while he
tried to make a cut. Pity that all of them didn't clamp their work
in a vise.
Vises are indispensable woodworking tools. Through the day, a
woodworker has to hold any number of things, such as parts or
tools, so that he can work on them.
Different styles of vises are made for a variety of different
pur-poses. Thus, the longer you work wood, the more likely you are
to own more than one vise. I started with one and now have six.
Vises are commonly built into woodworkers' workbenches. A
typical joiner's bench has two—a side vise and a tail vise. A side
vise is usually mounted along the length of a bench and is
gener-ally used for holding boards or parts on their edges. Holding a
board for jointing with a handplane is a common job for the side
vise. A tail vise—usually mounted on the end of a bench—holds
boards or parts flat on the benchtop (see the left photo below). It
is generally used in conjunction with benchdogs. Planing or
sanding a board's face and gluing panels are common jobs that
involve the tail vise.
In my chair-making school's shop, we use two other types of
vises on a daily basis. My favorite, the carriage vise, is similar to a
machinist's vise but is made to much more exacting tolerances. It
was manufactured early this century by the Prentise Vise Co. In
the company's catalog, this model is listed as a "woodworker's
vise," but it is intended more specifically for carriage makers.
The jaws are at chest level (see the right photo on p. 108),
mak-ing it easier to work in a standmak-ing position, which is especially
helpful for fine work. The jaws' faces are machined flat so that
they do not mar the work, even when it is held very tightly. The
screw has very little backlash, so I can tighten and loosen the
jaws with a half twist. I have had the Prentise carriage-maker's
vise for 27 years. It serves me as a third hand, and without.it, I
would feel handicapped.
The other type of vise used in our shop is the Record 53E. This
model is so well known and so widely used by woodworkers
A tail vise is for working wood flat on the bench. Chopping mortises, face-planing or sanding is easy with a tail vise mounted so that the screw is parallel to the bench's length. The vise clamps the wood against a benchdog, the movable square peg at the front end of the new wood.
A side vise is used for working the end or edge of a board. The author copied the twin-screw vise—great for gripping long boards while working the ends—from an antique bench. Side vises are mounted so that their screws are parallel to the width of a bench.
Rules of Thumb
(continued)Side vises on the end of a bench. For his Windsor-chair-making class-es, the author mounted two Record 53E vises on the short end of each bench (left), which allows him to work off the corner of the bench. Working the long edge of a board is easy with tandem-mounted vises.
everywhere that it is the standard add-on cast-iron bench vise.
A once-popular type, pattern-maker's vises were made in large
numbers and can still be found (though they're expensive).
Pat-tern makers worked with irregular shapes and frequently needed
to revolve the work to place it in an advantageous position. Their
vises were far more flexible and complicated than those used by
other branches of woodworking. Veritas makes a modern
ver-sion of a pattern-maker's vise called the Tucker Vise.
Use a vise to your advantage
When I visit other shops or watch students at work, I observe
two common problems. Many woodworkers use vises that are
inadequate, or they frequently do not use their vises to their best
advantage. Whatever type of vise or vises are required in your
work, they should all be high quality and strong. (Weak vices are
spelled differently.) It is also usually a good bet to buy a brand
you recognize. You will not be well served by a lightweight or
undersized vise. Acquiring a good vise usually means spending
the long dollar. However, the investment will pay dividends for
as long as you work wood.
Using a vise to its best advantage is a regular part of our
class-room instruction. It is easier to work wood if it is securely held
by the vise. But avoid working in a way that allows the part to
flex. It is usually best to lower the wood you are working on as
far into the vise as possible so that it doesn't project a lot. Try to
keep the area you are working as close to the jaws as possible
to keep the workpiece rigid.
Smooth operator. This antique Prentise vise (right) has smooth faces that won't mar wood.
It doesn't matter whether the waste or the piece you are
keep-ing gets clamped into the vise—whatever holds better is best. For
instance, if you are cutting the waste off the end of a turned
spin-dle, which would be hard to clamp securely because of the
turn-ings, it will be easier to clamp the waste piece in the vise and
hold the spindle in your hand as you saw with your other hand.
And if you have to joint pieces too small to run across a jointer,
clamp a #7 jointer plane upside down in a vise and push the
piece over it.
With a little forethought, vises can be adapted to better suit
your needs. In our school, we cannot provide each student with
several types of vises, so we have mounted Record 53E vises in a
versatile way that allows them to perform all the jobs we require,
such as holding chair seats for planing, turned legs for drilling or
spindles for shaping. Many shops mount a bench vise on the
bench's long edge and set it in from the corner. Ours are located
on the bench's short end and right on the corner, This allows us
to use them as a tail vise for planing. A row of dog holes is
aligned with the vise's dog (which is mounted in the outside
jaw). And when jointing very long pieces, we can clamp the
wood using two vises on the end of a bench.
New-Fangled Workbench
With six pipe clamps and
some dressed framing lumber,
you can make
an inexpensive bench
that's as versatile
as a Swiss Army Knife
B Y J O H N W H I T E
F
or five years I worked as a cabinetmaker in a shop that used
only hand tools for the simple reason that electricity wasn't
available that far back in the woods. One lesson that I came
away with was the importance of a good workbench—and lots of
windows. I now work in a shop that is, if anything, overelectrified,
but a functional workbench is still important. Just because you're
driving a car instead of a buggy doesn't mean you don't need a
good road to get where you're going.
On a perfect bench, the various vises and stops would hold any
size workpiece in the most convenient position for the job at
hand. Traditional workbenches are adequate for clamping
small-er pieces, a table leg or frame rail for instance, but most benches
can't handle wide boards for edge- and face-planing or
frame-and-panel assemblies.
Recently, I moved my shop and needed to build a new bench. I
began by researching traditional American and European designs.
I found that although our predecessors had many clever solutions
to the problems of holding down a piece of wood, no one bench
D O U G L A S FIR WORKBENCH
To minimize costs, the author milled workbench stock from Douglas fir framing lumber, sawing clear sections from the center of 2xlOs and 2xl2s. The bench is fastened with drywall screws and lag bolts. Six pipe clamps in different configurations are used as vises.
Oak blocks span tail-vise clamps. The screw ends of the pipe clamps are screwed to the end of the bench through holes drilled in the clamp faces.
Pipes rest on blocks that turn. Tail-vise pipe clamps are support-ed by blocks fastensupport-ed with one screw. To slide a clamp past, turn the block.
Front clamps are easy to ad-just. The clamps fit in holes in the
bench front and are secured with large washers and speed pins.
Sliding height adjustment. Pipe-clamp tail-pieces slide on cast-iron pipes held captive in the top and bottom of the bench. A T-shaped Douglas fir planing beam rides on the clamps.
solved all or even most of the problems I
had encountered in 25 years of
wood-working. Frustrated, I finally decided to
de-sign a bench from the ground up.
At first I had no success. A design would
address one problem but not another, or it
would be far too complex. I was about to
give up and build a traditional German
bench when I came up with a design that
incorporates pipe clamps into the bench's
top, the front apron and even the legs.
Planing beam slides on pipes
On the front of the bench is an adjustable,
T-shaped planing beam that runs the full
length of the bench. It is supported on both
ends by the sliding tailpieces of Pony pipe
clamps. The -in. cast-iron pipes on which
the clamps slide are incorporated into the
bench's legs. I used Pony clamps
through-out this project because they are well made
and slide and lock very smoothly.
The planing beam continuously supports
the full length of a board standing on edge.
The stock for the planing beam can be as
narrow as 2 in. and as wide as 30 in. The
planing beam can be set to any position in
seconds. Of all of the bench's features, the
planing beam is the most useful. I use it
dozens of times daily when building a
piece of furniture.
You've probably noticed that there is no
front vise to secure the board being
planed. Instead, the force of the plane
pushes the workpiece into a tapered
plan-ing wedge attached to the far left end of the
bench. This is an ancient device, and for
handplaning it is far more practical than
any vise. You can flip the board end for
end or turn the other edge up in an instant
with one hand. You don't even have to put
down your plane.
To make a shoulder vise when needed, I
drilled holes 6 in. on-center along the
bench's front rail to mount pipe clamps
horizontally. I pair up two clamps with a
drop-in vise jaw, which is just a length of
-in. square hardwood. The jaw can be
as short as 8 in. or longer than 6 ft. I have
several jaws of different lengths.
The front vise can be used with the
plan-ing beam supportplan-ing the workpiece from
below. This is useful because some
proce-dures, such as chopping mortises, drive the
work downward through the jaws of a
conventional vise, scarring the wood.
Traditional tail vise
is replaced with pipe clamps
On the bench's top, two pipe-clamp bars
are recessed into a l0-in.-wide well,
re-placing a conventional tail vise and bench
dogs. The clamp-tightening screws project
from the right end of the bench, and the
movable jaws project in. above the top.
Both the fixed and movable jaws have oak
faces. This clamp setup makes it easy to
hold down boards for surface-planing
be-cause nothing projects above the board's
surface to foul the tool. The top clamp bars
have a clamping capacity of just over 7 ft.
Blocks of wood support the pipes. Each
one is screwed to the frame of the bench
Lift-out MDF panels. The panels, cut in differ-ent lengths from MDF scraps, make a durable yet disposable center surface for the bench. The panels get removed when the tail-vise pipe clamps are in use.
with a drywall screw. The single screw
al-lows each block to swing out of the way of
the pipe-clamp tailpieces as they are slid to
accommodate long work.
The top pipe clamps can also be used
to hold panels in place that have other
tools permanently attached, such as a vise
or an electric grinder. I have a tilting
drill-press vise attached to a square of
medium-density fiberboard (MDF) that I clamp to
the bench for metalworking or for holding
a piece of wood to be carved. I plan to
de-sign a drop-in router table for the bench;
there's enough space between the
pipe-clamp bars to fit a small machine.
When the top clamps aren't in use, the
well is covered by several sections of -in.
MDF that simply drop in and lay on top of
the pipes. Because MDF is so inexpensive,
I treat the panels as sacrificial surfaces. I cut
into them, screw jigs to them, whack them
with a hammer, and when they get too
chewed up, I toss them. To save my back, I
buy precut MDF meant for shelving; it
comes either 12 in. or 16 in. wide. This
pre-cut stock is useful for all manner of jigs and
prototypes, and I always have a few
lengths around the shop.
Douglas fir makes a solid bench
The bench, as I built it, is 8 ft. long and was
designed to accommodate fairly large
work, such as doors and other
architectur-al millwork. The design can be shortened
or lengthened, and it could be reversed
end for end if you are left-handed.
I built the bench out of Douglas fir
in-stead of hardwood. Douglas fir at its best is
a dense, stable wood that machines
clean-ly and holds fasteners well, important
at-tributes given the way I wanted to
assemble the bench.
Wide planks—2xl0s and 2xl2s—of
Dou-glas fir framing lumber will often be sawn
right out of the center of the log, and a half
or more of the board will be quartersawn
and knot free, with tight, straight grain.
By carefully choosing and ripping these
planks, you can get some beautiful
materi-al for a lot less than the price of even
mediocre furniture woods. Some of the
trimmed-out wood that isn't good enough
for the bench can still be used for other
projects such as shelves or sawhorses.
If you start with green lumber, sticker it
for a few months to get the moisture
con-tent down. To prevent checking, trim the
ends to get a clean surface and then apply
duct tape over the end grain. Even if you
start with kiln-dried wood, give it a couple
of weeks indoors to stabilize before
start-ing to cut. Use the best wood for the frame,
benchtop and beam, saving lesser quality
stock for the leg assembly.
Screw joinery is fast and strong
My method of assembling the bench with
drywall screws and lag screws (and no
fitted-and-glued joinery) is
unconvention-al, but I've used this style of construction
for years. The finished bench is rock solid,
and the joinery goes quickly.
Most of the screws were counterbored
with a -in. drill, sometimes quite deeply,
to bring the screw heads in. shy of the
edge being joined. On the 3-in.-wide,
edge-jointed benchtop boards, the
coun-terbore is in. deep. The deep bore
min-imizes the amount of wood under the
screw head, which in turn minimizes the
loosening of the joint as the stock shrinks.
After drilling the counterbore, follow up
with a long bit to drill a clearance hole for
the screw shank. Then line up the pieces to
be joined and install the screws a couple of
turns to mark the centers, drill pilot holes at
the marks in the adjoining piece and
as-semble the bench.
One of the advantages of this type of
construction is that if the wood shrinks and
the joints loosen up, you can retighten
everything in a few minutes with a
screw-driver. I did this about a month after
as-sembling the bench, and it has stayed solid
ever since. Don't overtighten the screws.
Excessively crushing the wood under the
screw's head ruins the resilience that
al-lows a joint to flex slightly and remain tight.
The keyhole slots in the legs and
stretch-er are functional; as the boards shrink, they
allow the wood to flex without cracking. In
effect, they are preemptive cracks that look
a lot better than the ones that would form
randomly otherwise. When you install the
lag bolts, drill clearance and pilot holes
and go easy on the torque when you
tight-en them up. The joint will be stronger if
you don't overstress the threads in the
stretcher's end grain.
Horizontal clamps run full length. A pair of pipe clamps, running under the benchtop, hold work in the same way as a traditional tail vise.
The pipes used with the clamps cut
easi-ly with a hacksaw or a small pipe cutter.
For the smoothest operation of the clamps,
clean up any burrs along the length of each
pipe with a file and then smooth it down
with emery paper. This is a messy
opera-tion, creating a staining black dust, so do it
away from your woodworking area. Wipe
down each pipe with a rag and paint
thin-ner when you are done.
John White keeps the Fine Woodworking shop running smoothly.
