Monday, January 21, 2013

Flattening the top of the workbench

Brian kindly let me contribute to this blog. Now please bear with me, if the grammar or the spelling isn't exactly according to rule of the English language, as my mother tongue is Danish.

As you can see on the pictures, I have started on a Roubo workbench. It will feature a wagon vise and a shoulder vise.

The shoulder vise will be mounted on the small protrusion which can be seen on the end of the workbench.
It will be made from an old shoulder vise from a scrapped bench.

The wagon vise will be made from an old book binders press.

The workbench is made from larch which was what I had in stock, so thats why it isn't made out of e.g. beech or oak.

I tried to flatten the bench top on my old bench, but the beech had been glued up so that the grain was reversing, so I couldn't make it work. Besides I hit some buried pins as well..

This benchtop has been glued up so the grain makes it easy to plane.
I used my old wooden jointer, and it was perfect for the job.



I expect that the next step is to mount the shoulder vise.

6 comments:

  1. It looks awesome! I think you have the hard parts done.

    I think you'll like the larch. It should be much easier than oak for boring dog holes and such.

    Do you worry about the wagon vice breaking when you tighten it hard, or do you have some reinforcement underneath?

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    1. I don't know about the wagon vise yet. I still have to install it. I'll try to blog the results.

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    2. I'm sorry, I meant the shoulder vice.

      That plane is cool, it brings back some memories!

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    3. Actually it is not my fathers plane. He once found this one for me. It has got a crack in one side, but it is actually still straight enough for the job.
      At first I wanted to use the Veritas, but somehow I started using a wooden jointer made into a scrub plane, and it was so smooth that I wanted to try this one as well. Just a little lubrication with an old candle and swooosh..
      By the way. Thank you so much for the fence for the Veritas.
      Brgds Jonas

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  2. The bench looks like its coming along - I'm looking forward to see it once you install the vices.

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    Replies
    1. I have decided, that I don't need a fifth leg for the shoulder vise, since the top is 6" thick. So I believe that it will offer enough support as it is. I hope I am correct about it.

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