hand plane technique

That's why my bench which is currently under construction will have only one leg and rests on iron angles bolted to the walls of the corner of the workshop which it occupies. That way i do not need to make it infinitely heavy and yet have it immobile, the leg on the free corner allows to hammer down on it also.

Hi Mike,

I've got the opposite problem. My bench (also 3/4 MDF times 2, with 1/4 masonite top) is solid as a rock. The problem is the cheapy ($35) vise that I can't get to hold wood solidly enough. I ended up making maple faces about 3 x 7 and tapered them a bit so that the top was closer together. Even when I reef on the handle (too short in my opinion) as hard as I can I can move a several foot board if I push on it. How do you like the Record vise and what model and cost?

How about putting a couple of sturdy angle iron brackets on the legs and drill holes in the floor for anchoring the bench?

dave

Mike > I just finished building a new workbench - an exact copy of the joiner's

That's push on the unclamped end, i guess. The solution to this problem is having that end of the board supported by either a "bench slave" or a peg protruding from a hole in the benches leg. Clamping so hard that a long board can't be moved is not a good idea since the lever arm provided by the length of the board give so much force that you would seriously dent the board at the vise.

Hi Dave,

I have the Record 52 1/2 quick-release front vise. It has a 9" jaw width and 13" maximum opening. It's pretty solid and works great thus far. The quick-release feature is a great thing. I got mine on a close-out at woodcraft for $85. I don't think you can get them there anymore, but they probably sell some "economy" version. Lee Valley still sells the real thing, but they're $139. If I were you, I'd go for the 53, which has 10.5" wide jaws and a 15" opening for $149.

So, how did you get your bench to be solid as a rock? Is it a free-standing bench or a wall-mounted one? Your idea about bolting it to the floor is an idea, but my shop is in the garage and I'm not sure how long we're going to stay in this house, so putting holes in the garage floor might be a bad idea, although I'm sure I could fill them in easily enough if need be. I might just put a bunch of bags of sand or something on the shelf to weigh it down.

Mike

My bench is attached to the wall, so it's not "movable". I can (and did) stand on it (I'm 216#), or jump up and down on it with nary a noticeable deflection or groan (from the bench, that is!).

Yes, you can easily fill in the holes in the floor with that quick setting cement you buy in a small box (no need to cart home a 60# bag of cement). Anchoring it to the floor should rid it of the heebie jeebies.

Maybe I should drive up 50 miles to Woodcraft today and look at the Record vise. I can always return the POS I bought yesterday and chalk up the time wasted on it to "learning"! At least I passed up the Buck Brothers low angle block plane. I took a look at it while getting the clips at Southern Lumber yesterday. I couldn't even release the movable mouth. I took the knurled knob off completely and tried to rotate the adjuster. It was jammed, so I gave up and made a mental note that cheap is usually crappy. Like the stupid vise I thought I could get away with. sigh.

thanks for the info on the Record.

Could you tell how long the handle is? I hope it's longer than the one I'm thinking of returning. I looked in the Woodcraft catalog. they don't mention handle length. thanks, Mike

dave

Mike > Hi Dave,

I don't think Woodcraft has the Record vises anymore, so you should call before you make the drive.

I think the handle is about the same width as the jaw faces - about 9" in my case. I haven't used it that much, but I have no trouble at all getting the vise tight.

Mike

A couple of thoughts Mike,

Do all four legs rest evenly on the floor? Even though they are touching the floor does not mean they are evenly distributing the weight. That might let the bench skip a bit under a side load.

Second, I think I remember seeing early pics of your bench and it had heavy crossmembers spanning the legs. Load those suckers up with ballast. For me that is usually chocked full of scraps of hardwood and exotics that I don't want, or can't bear to throw away. You could use some bags of sand or redi-mix.

My bench must move occasionally to get projects in or out, so I would not bolt it down or to a wall. Might work for you though. I'd like to suggest something high friction between the legs and the floor, but don't know just what that would be at the moment.

ah, were you thinking of 2 pieces of sandpaper, glued back-to-back?

Bolting to the floor, with brackets would involve removing 2 or 4 bolts on the arguably rare occasion to move the bench. From his posts so far, it seems as a stable bench is his desire, which would necessitate bolting it down. Hell, I can put a half ton of stuff in my truck, but it'll still motorvate down the freeway! :)

dave

Pounds >

As a guess, possible problems...

I've found that when I really have to reef on a plane it's one of the above.

djb

Mike, If your 200+ lb bench is moving around on you, then I can think of two potential problems off the top of my head. The feet of your bench aren't making real good contact with the floor, or perhaps the bench isn't balanced well.

What kind of floor is your bench sitting on? If it's a very smooth concrete garage floor, then the feet are likely to slip around. Been there done that. An easy solution is to glue some thin neoprene to the bottoms of the feet. I actually used neoprene-impregnated cork. Worked great. An even more definitive and still not irreversible solution is to drill a couple holes in the floor, bolt/screw some angle iron to the legs and then drop carriage bolts through the brackets into the holes in the floor. There's no need to bolt the bench to the floor, as there's not a lot of chance you'll be applying much upward force to the bench (and even if you did, at 200lbs, it'd be tough to lift).

Later, if you need to move the bench, simply lift out the carriage bolts and go.

If you're on a wooden floor, just glue some 36 grit sand paper to the bottoms of your bench's feet. It won't go anywhere after that.

As for balance, how wide apart are the legs (of the bench, not you)? If you're planing way out on the corner of your bench (like where that face vise is mounted), then you could have a problem with bench wanter to teeter. And if it's teetering, it's gonna want to scoot around on you.

You mentioned you were applying a lot of lateral force while planing the edge of a board? Why? You can angle the plane as you move along the edge, but this is generally to shorten the effective lenght of the board (and to skew the iron, lowering it's effective cutting angle). One of Ian Kirby's tricks to eschew a face vise alltogether when edge-jointing (not always practical, when jointing a wide board). He just plops the board against a stop. Then if his plane is tilted, or if he's applying any unneeded lateral force, the board will flop over. Talk about an effective feedback system.

As for BAD's problem with his flimsy vise - expensive is once, cheap is forever. Use a board jack to support the end of the board. Better yet, buy any book you can by Frank Klausz, Tage Frid and/or Ian Kirby.

O'Deen

Yes, I do, and yes it would, but the lead found a home in the bottom of my gun safe.

As for the bench, after reflecting on it, I would probably try pads cut from an auto tire. That grips concrete pretty well :-)

I suppose bolting is the best bet, but I just could not bring myself to drill holes in the floor of my brand new gar>>shop. Particularly since the ideal shop layout puts the bench right in the center of the room IMHO, or anywhere not adjacent to a wall.

How much diagonalisation is there ?

My bench is a failure. 2" oak top on a 4"x4" larch frame with 8" deep stretchers and the damn thing racks back and forth like a laundry airer. You just can't use a rectilinear frame to support a big sideways load like planing.

We're both going to have to stick something diagonal up the back.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

I store the heaviest stuff I have, in MDF cabinets, with doors, under my bench. I estimate the cabinets and contents to add 250-300 pounds to the bench.

What's heavy? MDF Scary Sharp panels, a pail of water with waterstones in it, a bench grinder, full bottles of finishing materials and glues, etc...

Barry

Are you just making up words here?

Tack some plywood on it.

-Jack

Yes. There obviously is an appropriate word, but I'm too knackered to think what it is.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

I believe CB Tool in San Jose, CA. had them last time I stopped by.

scott

after your post today, (and Mike's) I tried two simple methods and they work fine. I used a roller stand and then I tried just clamping a piece of wood to the top of the bench so it protrudes out far enough for the work piece to rest on it. Then I pushed down on the more gently clamped workplace; problem solved! The only vises I'd ever used before were metal vises for auto work and everything was always clamped tiiiiight!

The solution is always easy when you know the answer!

dave

Juergen Hannappel wrote:

My bench top is supported by a ledger on the wall and 5 pieces of plywood. The two ends, and 3 pieces for the 2 center sections to hold the drawer slides. At each end is an open area to hold 2 Mac tool cabinets (not chests or roll cabs -- just "extra storage" side mount cabinets made to attach to a roll cab). The top is 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF laminated together, topped with 1/4 Masonite and trimmed in poplar (I was too cheap to use maple). The drawer fronts are Baltic birch, again because I was too cheap to use maple.

All of that sits on a base made of 2x4's covered with plywood. That assembly is anchored to the floor. I love overkill!

dave

Juergen Hannappel wrote: