[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Once you go crochet, all else is passe…

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

The l-shaped tail vise benches are classically beautiful, but I found not a single instance where I clamped something with the jaws of the vise that are open to the front of the bench. Instead, it was the 'wagon vise' moveable dog that was always in use (and is what ultimately got me to drill into the Roubo; first for the bench pup, then for use with the end vise).

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

First and foremost, that is an awesome bench Randy!

Second, re: traditional l-shaped tail vises per Al's request… My experience is very limited with workbenches period (three years) and with traditional benches especially (about 8 months). While I was building the roubo cabinet, I had a traditional cabinetmaker's bench in my shop space along with the roubo. Actually, part of the motivation for buiding the roubo cabinet was to get the tools out of the traditional bench and get that bench out of the workspace. Why? The roubo did more, I felt.

I bought the traditional bench at auction, and was in love with the idea of having a l-shaped tail vise in the shop. I mean, a vise that opens to the front of the benchtop just has to be useful, right? Uhm… no. Not for me. Stuff that I wanted to work for dovetails had stress placed on it 'front to back,' as in sawing, so the vise was of little use. In the case of tenon cuts, I used the wood-screw face vise and pitched the work at an angle to cut. Even then, the guide rails of the face vise worked against me, limiting the amount of clamping area available to hold the piece.

Working the long edges of boards wasn't very much fun either, on the traditional bench. Actually, I couldn't do it at all. No sliding deadman, no way to hold the long piece across the front while it was clamped in the face vise. (Again, little clamping area because of said guide rails there, too.)

So once I had dog holes across the front-ish edge of my roubo, it proved to be all the bench I could ask for. Loved the idea of the face vise and l-shaped tail, but I kept turning to the roubo to get work done.

My experience is very limited, again, and there are LJs that would (will?) blow these comments out of the water based on many more years of insight. And they're welcome to. But it's what occurs to me and it's shared for consideration. More than anything, though, is not to deny yourself what you want in a workbench. Because it can always be changed / adapted / rebuilt with what you learn and how your work habits change over time…

That is all.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Jointing the edge of a board.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Looking good, Maur!

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Yep, good point.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

For working narrower stock with fenced planes, a sticking board may be the answer. But Scott's concern is valid. One countermeasure is working edges first on wider stock and then ripping it to size after. Not always a choice though…

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

My planishing hammer…

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Al, I hope to get some pics posted Th evening of the 'traditional tail' vise. Above, below, with stick rule in the pictures for some dimensions…

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Thanks for the input, Andy, wondered how you did yours, too.

I don't have a youtube channel yet… hesitant to learn another app environment if I can find a way to do it within PB.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

First off, Wow! Awesome portable! What keeps the hinged legs apart when set up, or is it not an issue?

For my handtool use, I could easily add dog holes to that top; it's the perfect balance of portability vs. functionality. A row spaced near the front edge that uses the Veritas bench pup, and a couple / three along each side of the split that would use Superdave's nautilis cam bench clamps and it's golden! Thanks, Boatman, for sharing this one. It's defiitely getting built!

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Oh, I've been called worse, trust me! . No harm, no foul! Love the bench, Jim!

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

I like the short taper on the front elevation, but not from the side. Long taper, on the other hand, looks good on the sides but not so much on the front.

'I spy, with my smutty eye, a bench with open legs' in the last SU above.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

I'm still at Titebond vII, haven't done the upgrade to III.

There's nothing compelling me to look at hide glue other than chatter. It can be warmed and reversed, which is cool I guess, but I don't do that kind of stuff. I'm a glue noob.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

^ I love it!

The Hammer-time sentence challenge, that is. Banded chops and sliding deadmen will have to grow on me awhile…

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Whew!!!

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Maur, the direct answer is you can't keep things from falling off the bench. But the cause is having too much crap on the benchtop in the first place, and that happens fairly often. Moving from dovetailing to bench planing, for example. To move from one to the other, the chisels, gauges, saws and mallets have to be put away. Don't know if I'd want them in a tool well, because when one task is done, I won't go back to it in the same session. I would suggest you have a well that is deep enough to hold your smoother (to pick a commonly used bench plane) on it's side, below the bench's surface, otherwise there ain't much hidin' to be done in the well. Shallow is one thing that drove me nuts about the well that's in my cabinetmaker's bench.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

I'm not organized, either. The bench drawers have been a godsend for me in that regard, though, and if I ever get back to it, the wall hung tool cabinet will be, too. Kudos on the plan to go deep. Any part of the bottom removable for clearing the small detrius that will accumulate?

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Veritas brass rounds, yup. And sure, it's pretty easy to get stuff to rise in the middle (steady, Al) when you know there's scrubbing ahead. It's when the battens discussed above come into play. There's a trick to it I'll admit to not having mastered… With a couple pieces of cherry, I worked up one side all nice and pretty, but when I went to flip it, the shape returned and I had dished it out by overplaning the middle that was raised off the bench from a tight hold. Urgh. Now I hold with as little pressure as possible, and use any kind of batten system that will work with the pieces being worked.

Not certain it's something that can be 'cured' during design, but the dogs you've sketched above are very interesting and I'd like to see if they work. Makes sense, anyway.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Mos, I like the slit idea pulling double duty for chisels and detrious. And yes, I like saying detrious.