Started my bench on bench project today.

[Rick Barton]

I've been wanting to build one of these ever since I first saw Steve Latta's. Its basically going to be the same configuration as his. I have some 8/4 red oak that should work nicely for this little project.

As I mentioned in the other thread I've procured an inexpensive Record type vise with a dog and will be mounting it on one end. Its a 7" model.



I decided in lieu of wood jaws I'd use some heavy leather as jaw pads. The material I bought is advertised as "tooling leather." Its 3.6mm thick and has a smooth face and a suede side. I put the suede side out. I've stuck this with good old 3M Spray-90.  



Messy.




And done.




Now I can start on the actual wood part of this thing.


Thanks for looking.

[Skip J.]

Nice job there Rick! Looking forward to seeing the build...

[Rick Barton]

Nice job there Rick! Looking forward to seeing the build...

Thanks, Skip.

I guess the next step is fashioning dog holes and of course dogs. My red oak board is only 9" wide, so I'm going to basically rip it in half (with allowance for dog width) mill the dog holes on my table saw with a dado set and then glue it back together. I'll angle the dog holes at about 3 degrees I think.

[Skip J.]

I guess the next step is fashioning dog holes and of course dogs. My red oak board is only 9" wide, so I'm going to basically rip it in half (with allowance for dog width) mill the dog holes on my table saw with a dado set and then glue it back together. I'll angle the dog holes at about 3 degrees I think.

Hmmm, well the red oak may only be 9" wide, but I do envy you that.  Mine is all 2 x 4 grade SYP about 30 years old and hard as a rock, with lots of knots.  It eats plane blades whenever I flatten it.  Great for pounding on tho...  I would love to have a red oak top... Sooo, what's the rest of the top gonna be???

[Rick Barton]

Skip, I probably wasn't very clear earlier. This is just a narrow bench that will sit on top of my regular bench to get table legs and the like up to a more comfortable height. Being hunched over for a few hours on a conventional height bench just kills my back these days.

I'm basically replicating the bench on bench that Steve Latta uses in his inlay videos.



I decided not to go with the square bench dogs. That just seems like to much bother for such a simple project. So, I ordered some round aluminum dogs that will fit in 3/4" holes. I got them in this morning and put some leather pads on the faces like I did the Yost vise.



This is the red oak board I'll make the top from and some mystery material I'll make the leg structure from. I think the mystery wood might be khaya but that's just a guess.



I'd of been further along on this but I let myself get sidetracked on machine maintenance and some other stuff. Perhaps I'll get this pounded together this weekend.

[Rick Barton]

Well I did get a few things done on this project today. I dimensioned the top, jointed it and ran it through the planner to remove saw marks from the mill, then smoothed the work surface and front edge with my #3.



Then I drilled all of the 3/4" dog holes. I thought momentarily about drilling these, 10 in total, with a brace and bit, but in 8/4 oak that didn't sound like much fun so I chucked up a brad point bit in my drill press.




Now I'm mounting the vise on the end. It requires a 9/16" spacer.



Now I can mount the vise and once I make the simple support structure it'll be ready for a few coats of BLO and some actual use.

As always, thanks for looking.

[Rick Barton]

Okay, I got the vise mounted and I'm happy to report it will indeed, in conjunction with the dogs, hold a table leg or what have you.





I'll finish up the under supports today and get them attached.

[BaileyNo5]

Nice progress! It looks like it will be a very useful accessory. I would build one, but already have a Moxon, and don't really have storage room.

[Rick Barton]

Thanks, Bailey.

Well, I finished hacking out the legs and got them attached. I used 2 1/2" x 3/8" lag screws so they aren't going anywhere. Good thing I used plenty of wax on that left one.




I might end up putting an outrigger on the left back leg, this is way heavy on the vise end. Tho once its clamped down it shouldn't really matter.

 

As for a Moxon vise, I have a shoulder vise on the other bench, so I've not felt compelled to make one. But that doesn't mean I never will.