11-18-2013, 07:47 PM
Last October you might remember I bought a maple bench at an estate sale.
It had good bones, but it also had numerous issues; one end cap was missing, the other was a thick laminated block of maple attached with two small dowels, the top attachment was wonky , the top was full of blind dog holes, the front vise was totally unusable - but most importantly, it didn't work for my wheelchair.
So repair work was in order, largely by me, but also with great help by Kevin (BaileyNo5) and his huge Laguna bandsaw and my wife and her brother (doing the heavy lifting).
I decided to fill in all of the blind dog holes and half of the through holes, which meant I had to make a little flush-cut saw.
But the main thing I had to do was lower the bench by 5 1/2" (remove top, rock legs over, cut through legs, repeat) - it went from 37" to 31.5". I also attached the new end caps (made from the old one) with bolts (I put on the little 7" Record clone on a whim - it was just sitting on my garage floor, so what the heck - not sure how much it will be used in that position, but that was the only place it would go).
I also had to notch the tops of the rear legs and add two smaller stretchers to replace the ones I had sawn off. I also decided to bolt on the original front stretcher above the back one for added strength and weight.
The remaining dog holes are at the right distance from the edge of the bench for holdfasts.
It's not done yet (I put a wooden jaw on the new vise this afternoon), and I'd like to resurface it at some point, but not bad for 13 months' work.
It had good bones, but it also had numerous issues; one end cap was missing, the other was a thick laminated block of maple attached with two small dowels, the top attachment was wonky , the top was full of blind dog holes, the front vise was totally unusable - but most importantly, it didn't work for my wheelchair.
So repair work was in order, largely by me, but also with great help by Kevin (BaileyNo5) and his huge Laguna bandsaw and my wife and her brother (doing the heavy lifting).
I decided to fill in all of the blind dog holes and half of the through holes, which meant I had to make a little flush-cut saw.
But the main thing I had to do was lower the bench by 5 1/2" (remove top, rock legs over, cut through legs, repeat) - it went from 37" to 31.5". I also attached the new end caps (made from the old one) with bolts (I put on the little 7" Record clone on a whim - it was just sitting on my garage floor, so what the heck - not sure how much it will be used in that position, but that was the only place it would go).
I also had to notch the tops of the rear legs and add two smaller stretchers to replace the ones I had sawn off. I also decided to bolt on the original front stretcher above the back one for added strength and weight.
The remaining dog holes are at the right distance from the edge of the bench for holdfasts.
It's not done yet (I put a wooden jaw on the new vise this afternoon), and I'd like to resurface it at some point, but not bad for 13 months' work.
In Japan, there's probably a WoodNet equivalent where they're debating about Western chisels being a lot like Japanese plumbers. - AHill
