small space woodworking

New Face Vise

The one thing I’ve been without since I switched away from my Milkman’s Workbench is a true face vise. A Moxon Vise is great for dovetailing and tenons, but it’s no good for everyday edge planing. And while I prefer the tactile feedback of edge planing against a planing stop, it’s not feasible all the time. I had planned on a simple crochet for my new workbench, but I remembered my threading kit and I figured I’d go for something a bit more elaborate. Even if it is just a glorified crochet.

Not yet completed, but you get the idea.

My face vise consists of four main parts: (i) an 8/4 maple nut, bored with one threaded hole and one clean hole; (ii) a 14″ long wooden screw, threaded from a 1.25″ hard maple dowel with a Beall Tool Company threading kit, which grabs the threaded hole; (iii) an 12″ long, 1.25″ hard maple dowel (unthreaded), which acts as a parallel guide in the clean hole in the nut; and (iv) an 8/4 ash jaw, bored with two clean holes, at 18.25″ overall. The vise works on the same principle as a shoulder vise: the clean dowel, which is glued into the jaw, keeps the jaw from spinning freely while the screw clamps down.

One, two, three, four.

Or, rather, it will work once I add the hub to the screw. I don’t have a lathe, so I’m not sure yet what the hub will look like yet. Part of me wants to make a simple octagonal hub (not unlike a Lake Erie Tool Works Moxon Vise). Another part of me wants to go whole hog and make a circular hub with a garter and a handle passing through it (like a proper twin screw face vise). You guys know me pretty well and can probably guess which way I’ll go.

I’ve been saving this piece of ash for a proverbial rainy day.

Aside from the hub, the other process I haven’t worked out yet is how to attach it to the bench. My strong inclination is to hide glue the nut to the underside (flush to the edge of the benchtop) and reinforce it with some angle iron. I may one day replace this with a proper twin screw face vise, and I like the idea of being able to remove the nut without damaging it. And there is still some assembly to do (I don’t have any epoxy, right now).

All of that will have to wait, though. There is an American Football game to watch.

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After Further Review

A funny thing happened today when I woke up and went into the shop. Calipers in hand, ready to measure for the plug I was going to make, I decided to give it one more shot. I positioned the holdfast to the left over a scrap of wood, and whacked it with a sledge. Nothing.

Undeterred, I gave it another whack, this time holding the shaft steady as I drove it in. It felt like it seated a bit. After a third whack, it felt like it was grabbing. The fourth whack, it set tightly. Hmm.

It’s a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

And it works pointed right as well.

This is not a political metaphor (yet).

I guess the trick is to hold the shaft steady as you drive it in. So, much less sad than yesterday, I bought a corded drill and made a plumb jig to bore the remaining holes (seen above).

Much like ‘Murica itself, this drill was assembled here with foreign components.

It’s always good to sleep on it.

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Putting On a Brave Face

It only took me a week to ruin my new workbench. I’m trying to put on a brave face, but it’s no use. I can’t even look myself in the mirror, I’m so ashamed. I drilled the first holdfast hole in the bench, and it’s not plumb. And it’s the hole farthest to the left. The one for mortising over the leg. I’ve got woe.

It’s entirely my fault, too. Instead of reading the directions for my Crucible Holdfast, I chucked the recommended 1″ WoodOwl augur bit in a modern, three-jawed hand brace. I was blown away by how easily the WoodOwl powered through the wood. So much that I lost focus and canted the hole back to front. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t over 2° off plumb back to front (although negligibly canted left to right).

The directions recommend a corded drill and jig to keep the bit plumb. Corded (I think) because (in my experience) the wobble of a brace and bit always results in an overlarge hole as it reams itself with every sweep of the brace. Jig because it’s difficult to keep a bit that large from going out of plumb, no matter how little wobble you impart. I utilized neither.

I took a vanity picture during the process and can see the cant in the shot.

The result: the holdfast only holds in a 60° sweep pointed at the front edge of the bench. It won’t grab at all when oriented lengthwise, either left or right. It could be worse, but it still makes me sad.

I’m debating plugging the hole with epoxy and a 1″ oak dowel (plus an ash dutchman on the show face). But that feels like a temper tantrum. I should probably sleep on it another day.

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Something Old, Something New

The point at which you first install workholding on a workbench is a bit thrilling. The bench transforms from furniture to functioning tool. Even if the workholding is just an aluminum planing stop.

Final flattening of the bench only took about 30 minutes.

I have been enamored with these Lee Valley-Veritas planing stops for some time. I tried a toothed planing stop on my previous workbench, but I never really liked it. Unless I needed the extra 6 inches or so of benchtop, I always went back to these aluminum stops. They are low profile and easy to install (requiring only two 3/4″ dog holes). And they can be cut to perfect length.

This time, I even remembered to space the holes so they’d line up with a row of tail vise dog holes, if I ever install a metal front vise as a tail vise. I mean to, eventually, but I only have 12″ from the end of the benchtop to the top stretchers, so I’d need a pretty compact front vise. Before I do, though, I’m going to try working with just holdfasts and does’ feet. I hear it works pretty well.

My first project on the new workbench will be that plant stand I was making last year, which is very similar to a previous prototype. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: working home center spruce is such a joy.

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Ain’t She a Beaute?

So I have a new workbench. It’s really pretty, if I do say so myself. With any luck, it will be the last workbench I ever make.

Soft focus like a Barbara Walters interview.

Made of air-dried ash, it’s a monster, even without the shelf and the benchtop extension (both to come soon). The slab is 92″ x 15″ x 4″, the legs and top stretchers are 3″ x 4″, and the lower stretchers are 1.5″ x 4″. Why only 1.5″ thick? Because the lower shelf will be supported by some 1″ x full-length brackets glued and screwed to the inside faces of the stretchers. And it’s all I had leftover on the pile.

It’s important to me to show how the slab and the frame are held together. There are two blind mortises on the underside of the slab, to match two stub tenons on the front legs. The top stretchers form the inside shoulder of the tenon and support the slab (which, when put into place, went “thunk” and has stayed put). Much like the subconscious inspiration.

I did use a door shim to wedge the right-hand tenon.

I would be remiss not to note that the tenons for the long stretchers are only about 1.5″ long, but they are both glued and drawbored. I feel confident that is sufficient for the heaviest planing strain.

The last tenon, cut at my Stent Panel Workbench.

I’m very pleased with how the bench came out, but I will admit one complaint: how the long stretcher shoulders look. I rounded over the corners of the legs, and the long stretchers are in plane with that. You can see the problem. I will probably get over it. Probably.

There are a few crimes to hide, but this isn’t supposed to be fine furniture.

I haven’t decided on what type of planing stop to use, but I’m leaning toward a Veritas aluminum stop like I use on my current bench. It will span the entire width of the slab and doesn’t mar the work like a toothed stop would. But it uses a different-sized hole than my Crucible holdfast.

More in a few days when I square the ends of the benchtop and attach the bottom shelf.

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Of Proverbial Lights and Tunnels

On every new project, there is a point at which the project passes from being a pile of boards to an actual thing. It’s a magic moment that never fails to make me smile. I hit one of those points over the weekend, while transferring the length measurements for one of the long stretchers on my new workbench.

For the first time, to me anyway, it looks like an actual workbench.

There is one more long stretcher to surface, and four mortises and tenons to cut, but with any luck, the bench will be functional by Sunday. Then it will just be a question of boring holes in the legs (for Gramercy Holdfasts) and in the benchtop (for bench dogs and my Crucible Tools Holdfast).

I’ve never made my own bench dogs before, so I’ll be excited to try it out.

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Impulse Shopping

Every time I stop by the lumberyard, I find something I didn’t know I was looking for. This time, it was 31 linear feet of 12 x 5/4 eastern white pine, with very few knots. On sale. So for about US$60, I now have the boards for a carcase, lid and probably floor of an English floor chest. If I ever get around to building one. And if not, I’m sure I’ll find some other use.

My car smells amazing, right now.

I went to the lumber yard, btw, for a scrap of quarter-sawn white oak (seen in the middle).

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I Guess It Works

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I made a box. A simple thing, really. Four sides, with through dovetails at the corners and a bottom that is glued on. All out of leftover, bone dry EWP from the home center. For me, none of that is out of the ordinary. What is, however, is that it has a lid. And what a glorious lid!

Okay, maybe not so glorious from the outside.

Both the bottom and the lid are single boards, rounded over on all four sides on both faces. The lid, however, is not attached by hinges. Instead, a batten and some buttons on the underside of the lid it keep it from sliding around. Each is rounded over at the edges to help the lid slide into place. It seems to work pretty well.

All leftover Douglas Fir, which I hear is harder and more rigid than EWP.

I am certain that someone will tell me I did this all wrong, and it’s not a sound way affix a lid. I’m willing to bet I won’t care, especially if I end up nailing on the buttons.

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Merry Christmas and Whatnot (2016)

It’s Christmas, again. Happens every year, just about this time.

Here at The Apartment Woodworker, I’m excited for my next mini project: another interlocking plant stand to match the original.

Solid as a rock.

They are fun to make and involve two of the three basic joints (mortise and tenon; lap joint [a form of housing joint]). Best of all, they make use of some extra whitewood stud offcuts.

The best use of a leftover 45″ offcut I can find.

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday.

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I Think I Figured It Out (Thank You!)

Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions about why a leg wasn’t seated squarely in its joint. After quadruple checking my combination square for squareness (it is), it turns out the culprit was human error.

First, the shoulder isn’t perfectly seated after all. The mortise canted ever so slightly inward, but the toothed underside of the benchtop hid the minute gap between the slab and the shoulder of the mortise. I corrected this (with a bit of paring inside the mortise) and the joint still (thankfully) fits very snugly. The canted mortise was about 75% of the problem.

Second, there is a very slight hollow where I was resting my square. It must be left over from traversing the underside of the benchtop. It runs down a couple thou toward the mortise, which doesn’t really show with a long straightedge across the whole width. But with a small machinist’s square, it’s plain as day. Not worth fussing over, I think.

Oh well. At least I got blog two posts out of it.

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