Hello all, need to know, can anyone name for me the best site at which to purchase really heavy duty knock-down hardware?
I will need to easily disassemble my (future) woodworking bench sometimes, to make space, or when moving to a new residents and so forth, it won't be a standard or classic design, all vises on the front mounted with nuts and bolts, easy to take apart. 62"x24"x34" to 36" high (I am 6'5" tall)...
Top needs to be removeable from the trestle, and the trestle frames separable into pieces, any good sites? Or should I just go with N's&B's all the way?
For a quick knock down bench, you might consider cast iron legs and a simple maple surface. With the addition of a stretcher (shown in the illustration) it's easily disassembled. Lee Valley Tools has legs of the type I'm talking about.
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you want to save money and roll your own design, then Lee Valley also sells bench bolts which make for quick assembly and disassembly.
If you want to save money and roll your own design, then Lee Valley also
Thanks much, have seen all that, but I am much-not the wealthy man by any means (maybe distantly, just a touch... heh heh...). Maybe I should copy the idea and buy barrel nuts from
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they have them in all sizes. Then some higher grade bolts. These nuts are replacement parts for their handscrew clamps. But, my ideas of construction and complete design have not come together fully, for my needs. Also I am very inexperienced.
a regular nut in that hole with it's edges going against the wood so it eventually cracks. No point in doing the mortising work to square the hole unless it's to save money by buying regular nuts either. But thanks much for the interjection. Just need to build on ideas here... it gave this thinking.
I see... now, what exactly do those threads screw into? And, how do I drive the rod, on it's own, into those threads? And, how does that idea serve the idea of easy knock-down joinery?
The threaded rods run the full length of the stretcher plus enough to extend through the trestle. As I said a channel can be routed in the bottom of the stretchers to hide the rod or the stretchers can be laminated from two boards with a channel in the center. A nut and washer on each end secure the assembly. To knock down the bench remove the nuts.
-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)
Take a look at my workbench on : I used through mortise & tenons along with M&T's on the tops to hold the bench together. The drawers underneath have stopped any racking. The bench itself was assembled with no metal.
That makes more sense from you, and very descriptive too I might add. I think the other idea is better, no long threaded rods to juggle but I'm sure it would work well.
I think Douglas Fir is too too soft for that, supremely the budget here. It can't go that far with a big classic "to do" for all the technical reasons of assembly based on both experience (de nada) and budget.
I want to use a leg vise because it is simple and strong. I have a 7x4" classic woodworking vise but that won't hold a board in which to cut dovetails. So the idea is to buy another of the same only a 10" one, Asian or antique, with both mounted on the front. This way a full length wooden jaw of maple (or whatever hard wood) can be placed between the two vises, thusly allowing holding a wider board for dovetail cutting. Something like a twin screw.
At a total of 62" side to side there is no room for the end vise like you have there, nor a shoulder vise (tail vise? it sticks out in order to clamp inwards to the bench) because of the work area to my left. Small space, my sharpening and fettling space is next to my computer monitor. I imagine a leg vise will do the same job as the description in parentheses above, only it can't be of a "straight board" design I think... maybe a compound angle for the jaw part, maybe a moving swivel jaw attached through the top of it towards the front of the bench top. Then there is the hinge down below to think about, might it be a sliding devise?
I should really have said all this detail in the OP... and I must say, your bench is is entirely AWESOME, and it'll be a few years before I can do that myself.
settled trestles with stretchers attached via the LV bench bolts. All spruce to start with. The only remaining problem... attaching the top.
I'd like to be able to attach and detach the top multiple times, and a lag bolt seems like it will chew up the wood it screws into after a few mating cycles. I'd like something like 1/4-20 quick-connect hardware
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1/4 is thin compared to the size of lag bolt I'd use for bolting the top. Is there some other larger size quick-connect (3/8 inch?) that is commonly available?
I don't see it cracking - you're mashing end grain over a small area. The wood just compresses down. I've done it this way on other applications and its held up just fine - provided you have a washer under the nut to prevent torqueing the wood.
Squaring out one side of the hole is quick. But I must admit I am highly influenced by the price of bench bolts. I don't see paying $22.50 for barrel nuts and bolts for a set of four (Lee Valley). That's a value judgement, I admit - just wanted to offer alternatives to someone who might be watching the cost. If I were building my ultimate bench, I would buy the barrel nuts. If its Bob Key's budget bench of pine, I'll use the low cost alternative.
No right or wrong here - thanks for the stimulation.
Veritas Wonder Dog is a poor man's substitute for the tail vice functionality with bench dogs. It would do the trick where space is limited as you described.
The weight of the top will keep it front floating up off the base so you only need to keep it from moving fore/aft and left/right. A big domed top dowel and a hole will work just fine. If it's good enough for Frank Klausz ...
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Now I'm not good enough to drill four holes, one in the center of each end of the base, and one on each end of the underside of the top so I cheated.
A really great book is Landis' "The Workbench Book" -- you can probably get it from your local library or by interlibrary loan. There are lots of options for the base as well as vises, etc in there.
Good luck with building your workbench. I am a newcomer too, and I can tell you it's not that hard. Just roll your sleeves up and have at it -- you can do it.
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