Saturday, July 11, 2009

I have a bench!


And here it is! I put a hold on making this post until I had everything for the bench done. It has been only awaiting vise liners for about a week but I finally got them. It measures 80" long, 31" deep and with current feet 35" high. Ash base and hard maple top.


The main difference between this bench and others is the massive dog strip. It's 4" tall which is actually shorter than others out there but as Steve, one of my classmates had suggested, it's as deep as the tail vise. Meaning it's about 6" deep as compared to the "normal" 2 1/2 - 3" deep. This is the most used area of a bench so why not? The nice thing about it is wider use of clams on the edge.


I also got a little "fancy" with the vise liners... Leather heh. I found a small leather supply around the area to get it from. I think it's nice and interesting to get to know what other kinds of craftspeople and supply are around you. Get a feeling for the area/craft community, maybe make some friends, and maybe they will reffur some one to you or you can reffur people to them. I'm not saying one needs a lot of time working on this kind of networking it can just be casual. Just doing a neighborly deed... karma?

Anywho I am well on the way one the rest of the benchroom "furnishings" and am hopeing to start something a little more refined than wafferboard shelves soon!

3 comments:

Nick Brygidyr said...

looking good nick! now build something hah!

johnjoiner said...

Nice bench Nick.

One question - On this bench, how would you hold a largish panel to plane its long edge? Do you use a self-standing dead-man?

Nicholas Nelson said...

Yeah put one end in the front vise and if you have a "slave" it's nice but other wise I have just used an F-clamp across the underside of the dog strip.