The return of retentive man!

[Bob]

Hello,

I am at last about to finish my work bench. It has been a 7 month long process, every night and weekend. I have posted several times in the past about my concerns over the flatness of the top. I bought a 3' Starrett straightedge and got the entire bench very flat. Almost.

However, at the very last minute, when assembling the end vise (twin screw, covers the entire end) I made a major mistake. Although most of the bench was flat, the last 1/16 of an inch of it was sloped down slightly (about three degrees or so) I did not notice this. When I attached the rear jaw of the end vise to this edge, there was of course a small ledge created by this slope butting up against the rear jaw.

Here is where the major mistake comes in- instead of leaving the ledge- I planed the rear jaw flush with the off edge to remove the ledge, and planed the front jaw flush with the rear. The result is that now both 2-inch thick jaws create a sudden slope that ends up being almost 1/8" off! All on what seems to be the most critical part of the bench- the vise jaws.

My two options, before I finish the top with oil are: 1. leave it. 2. take the entire rear jaw assebly apart, redrill all the holes, recut, replane, shim etc., (I have laready done this once before- and am very reluctant to spend another week on this.)

Any ideas on what I should do? Will 1/16-1/8 inch at the edge make a real difference? Thanks for all the help. Ill post some pics when its done.

Bob

[Alan Bierbaum]

Probably will not hurt the use of the bench. If you do run into a problem; just add a 1/8" top cap to the vise jaws (can even use contrasting wood and call it a feature).

[Tom Watson]

Well, I reckon you could take a burnisher to that Starrett and turn it into the Mother Of All Starrett Scrapers (MO-ASS) - then have a go at the whole top...

But I don't guess I'd go that far.

On a functional level I think it will be fine as it is - but if you are anything like me, that "Persian Flaw" is going to annoy you every time you use the bench.

Maybe a halfway house would be to start using the bench as it is. After it sits in the shop for a while it's going to develop some little irregularities of its own and about a year from now you'll prolly want to level things out again, anyways.

So maybe the best course is to save the tuning up for version 1.1, which you will be doing in any case.

My bench is almost old enough to vote and I still true it up from time to time. (enough times that the dogs no longer sit below the level of the top when in the storage position and thus have to be kept in the closet above the bench until needed).

Good Luck.

Regards, Tom.

Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[MikeG]

If you planed the vice jaws I guess I can safely assume they are some for of hard wood. Seems to me you are complicating things a bit more then necessary. Just get the same kind of wood, mill it, then glue it to the top of the jaws. Make it over sized so your can plane it back down to proper size and clean up the joint.

[bridger]

plane the whole top down...

[Bob]

Thanks for the responses guys. I probably will just wait it out to see if there is an effect on use when planing. Mostly, I am just tired of working on this bench. I have put almost 850 hours into this sucker. The last 840 have been the hardest. I have made a ton of mistakes, but that's how we all learn isn't it? I guess. I think once I start on another project, I will be able to "let this one go". The wood is rock maple BTW.

If I do raise up the rear jaw flush with the rest of the bench, I still have the issue of the "lip" created by the small slope on the end of the bench meeting the rear jaw (see below). Would I fill this in with Hot Stuff? I ask because I wonder if this lip will cause snags when sliding a board to the dogs in the front jaw. _________ ______ \| Anyhow, thanks again, Im learning a lot here...

Bob

[Bob]

No thanks, I already did that twice...

Bob

[patriarch]

[e-mail] (Bob) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Bob.

BOB.

BOB!!!

STOP!!!!

It's time to make something else. Go ask the lady in your life if she would like to have anything from your woodshop, and then build it for her. Or surprise one of the family members with something.

The worst that could happen is what happened to Tom Watson:

"Dad, I MIGHT like it if I knew what it was."

Patriarch