I am thinking about building a proper workbench. I see all kinds of ready made tops available but I could spend the time to make one from scratch. The other question is do I go for round or square bench dogs or do both?
What to do? Buy or build? If I build the top then what kind of wood do I use? Maple? Beech? Something else? I am not in any particular rush but would like to see it done by years end.
If you build square holes you can plane a face without clamping. Just rest the end against the dog, directly behind the direction of planing. I will post a pic of this on alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking.
You could also do this with a drop-down stop but then you would have to stand to the side of the work instead of directly behind it.
"R. Pierce Butler" wrote in news:Xns9820AD616C410mc2500183316chgoill@10.232.1.1:
Greetings....
Building your bench is part of the hobby IMHO, you can make it any shape or size you desire, and you can suit it to your particular area of interest...
I read a book, called " The Workbench Book " to see what worked for other folks, and built mine using various ideas from a few different benches...you can see my bench here:
As far as the dog holes go...mine are round, I would make them square if I had to do it over again, round holes quickly become oval...
hope this helps.....
DCH
I think the oval dog holes might be the downside of making the top from pine.
My first bench was based on Tage Frids design & has square dogs. The vices are really handy & the bench gets used a lot. The square dogs work great, but even though the bench is maple, and has three drawers in the base filled with tools, it's too light and will move when used to hold maple for hand planing.
So, I made a bigger heavier bench with a thicker maple top. This one has round dog holes on the top, vices, and aprons. The round dogs work as well as the square ones, plus they can be turned to hold odd shaped work. Also holdfasts fit in the dog holes, and holdfasts are super handy. Use 'em every day. And my handy carver's screw fits in the same holes. As do dowels. And I think Veritas makes other devices that fit into the holes.
All in all, the round dogs are more versatile, and if you make the benchtop of maple or beech, the holes should hold up just fine. Mine is just fine after 15 years of commercial use.
The big bench, BTW, has a Veritas twin screw vice on one end & a typical woodworkers vice on the front. The twin screw is really nice and I'd recommend it. The smaller Frid design bench has the shoulder and tail vices. They are both very handy; the shoulder vice is fairly easy to make, but the tail vice is complicated. Real strong handy vice, though.
-- Timothy Juvenal
The latest ShopNotes covers building a relative HD one for about $100. They claim it is a weekend project.
I made square ones for my bench (birch top). I found I can use round or square hold downs in the holes. If I made another bench it too would have square holes.
Dave
I will be using both on the workbench I am now in the process of making.
I will use square holes along the length for use with my tail vise, and pairs of round holes across the width of the table for my front vise.
I feel this will give me the best of both worlds.
Gary
Go square.
Go hard maple. Do you live in DFW?, if so, hardwood lumber co can plane the top and send it through the wide production sander to make it ready to go.
Take your time and build a nice one. You won't regret it.
Where is hardwood lumber company?
Gary
brian_j snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com:
I have used Central Hardwoods on Rodney Lane in the past. I was very happy with the quality of their stock.
snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
I built a traditional European workbench last year and use it all the time. Couldn't get along without it. I made the top from beech - good, straight grain, hard, yet easier to work with than maple. My dogs are round, but I put a bronze bushing in each so they will never wear out or get oval.
My workbench has round dog holes and I can do this too.
I built one using 4x2 pine glued together butcher block style. Works great.
I use 16mm round dog holes, but with "square-headed" steel dogs. I turned up a 16mm round section on 20 x 20 square section bar stock. The most used (abused?) dog holes are getting a little oval with 3 years of use. My plan is to maybe drill new holes in that area, and epoxy in a brass bush, one day. For the moment the oval ones still work fine.
Barry Lennox
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