low tech work-holding methods
#31
Unless you're recycling found material, figure $150 for any fresh built bench that won't wander under exuberant amateurs.

I recommend the Nicholson style bench, with a central batten and a low cleat at either end.

It's not necessary to clamp flat boards down to work the flat faces. With a front 'apron' the board could then be trued to the long faces and trimmed at the ends.

Choose locally available (dry) Pine or Poplar for starters.

Keep someone with you for sharpening student blades.
That's an area of study in itself.

I rocommend teaching how to make a simple shelf with sliding joints to connect stanchions to the two board top.

Your students will appreciate a souvenir.

http://www.handmadewoodworks.com/wall-shelves
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#32
I watched Jay Van Arsdale do some woodworking on a flat beam lying on a table. The beam had a dado for wedged plane-wood stop. Lost the location. Found the following photo's from WIA. Jay is the long hair, long beard guy working on a 2x? sitting on cardboard boxes. 

http://digitalwoodworker.com/2011/10/01/...rica-2011/

Yes, that's Wilbur pulling a dovetail saw.

And, a link to the Van Arsdale video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFqgpGE90jE
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#33
Well this is what I came up with.  It still needs a few finishing touches but... It's based on a picture I saw somewhere along the way while I've been researching. It's about as minimal as you can get but it really only has to serve a single

function: hold a 1x4 well enough to flatten its face and edge.  I played around with it for awhile and it seems to work for the things I do during a class. Hard to say how it will fare against "exuberant amateurs".  Its mounted to

a 3/4in piece of MDF that adds some nice heft and gives a place to clamp it to a table. After building it I've realized that there will also need to be a proper bench to demonstrate more advanced stuff and give students a chance to use

things like a vice and benchdogs or holdfasts. I'll probably make a few changes but I like the folding Nicholson style that Roy Underhill did and is detailed in the closegrain blog that knocknock suggested. I have a face vice lying around that I'll probably put on it.[/color]


   
How do you know you're learning anything if you don't screw up once in awhile?

My blog: http://birdsandboards.blogspot.com/
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#34
Now that's clever.

Kudos
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#35
How about a beak on each end.
Blackhat

Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories. 


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#36
I did consider a beak on both ends but that restricts the length of board you can work with. The truth of the matter is that I'll not likely use a board any longer that the work surface anyways so adding another beak and a stop will help make it more comfortable for both right and left handed students.
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#37
And grain direction.
Blackhat

Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories. 


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#38
   

Here's the finished bench. It follows the plan from Close Grain blog very close except for the omission of a tool well. I made it a full thickness top all the way across to leave open the possibility of having students work on both sides. Right now I just have the planing stop installed but will have a holdfast in the next few days to try out. I've never used one before so I'm looking forward to it. I found another woodworker to collaborate with on some classes so the bench will be seeing use beyond a introductory plane class. We're currently working on a hand tools only class to build a simple end table.  The pic seems to be upside down and HUGE. I'll try to get it fixed. Posting pics has been a real pita for me since the upgrade, espically from a mobile device...
How do you know you're learning anything if you don't screw up once in awhile?

My blog: http://birdsandboards.blogspot.com/
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#39
I'm most impressed as to how you get it to hang from the ceiling like that...

On a more serious note, sometimes sharing a bench works.  Other times not so much.  We've doubled the number of benches we have available in the KCWG shop for that reason.  Problems came because maybe person A was roughing stock during the hand tool class while person B on the other side of the bench was trying to scribe out a tenon or do some precision sawing.  No matter how heavy the bench, things can slip, slide or bounce a bit.

FYI, we found that tossing a square of carpet pad (the cheap stuff that looks like it is random bits of foam trapped between two layers of coarse mesh) works GREAT to both stop a bench from walking on a slick surface and fixes any minor rocking due to imperfect floors.  The floor in the KCWG shop is 12" industrial grade tile and they strip and re-wax every couple of years as a requirement of our lease.  Annoying but does make glue spills easy to clean up.
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. -- G. Carlin
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#40
When it comes to the hand plane intro class I imagine sharing a bench will be fine because everyone will be doing the same thing at the same time. When it comes to the "build class" we'll just have to see how it goes but there is certainly potential for the conflict of layout vs. chopping tasks. I like the idea of a carpet pad. Can probably find some for free so its worth a try. I was thinking about temporarily fastening some pieces of sheet goods to the legs in a way that let the user stand on it while working. It could potentially solve many of the stability problems that a portable bench has. I'm meeting with a collaborator soon and we'll put the thing through its paces and troubleshoot any issues that arise before my it gets used by any students. What I need is a guinea pig with no experience to try it out and see how it fares with a total novice.
How do you know you're learning anything if you don't screw up once in awhile?

My blog: http://birdsandboards.blogspot.com/
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