The advantage to putting this bench together with dovetails, mortise
and tenon, splines AND "all thread" is that it leaves you options as
you go. You can put the thing together, look at it and, if you want
to add something or change something you just disassemble and make
the change(s).
In this case, because the front apron is a smidge over 2 inches thick I
could router 3/4" deep "square" dogholes in the inside face and still
have some meat left on the apron. A template, router bit and template
guide and a boatload of chips later - SQUARE dogholes. Of course,
after the glue had dried on the template and I'd done a bunch of test
cuts on scrap to get the depth right - THEN I discocvered that my
template "faced the wrong way". The angle on the holes would be
AWAY from the vise jaw rather than leaning towards it. OOPS!
Cutting the dogholes went well - on the apron. Now I have to figure
out how to do the opposite leaning doghole in the end vise outer jaw.
Anyway - here's yesterday's dust making. (all one line)
http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/BenchFinishing/CBbench30.html
This bench top's been tricky. Most furniture's joinery doesn't
need to allow for tension AND compression. The bench "top",
in addition to acting as a table, also acts as a small or huge clamp,
in several planes. Making accessories for it, wooden dogs,
shooting boards, moter board etc. is going to be fun, fun, fun.
And that's one of the reasons I like woodworking - doing this
leads to that and, along the way, plenty of opportunities to solve
problems and learn something new.
charlie b
(BTW - the right sawdust is easily mistake for dandruff)
Alan Bierbaum wrote:
> I am confused by your statement above about the angle. You want the
> angle such that the distance on top of the bench (where the wood is
> held) is shorter than the distance at the bottom of the dog holes.
> The dogs lean into the wood being held. Is this what you mean?
>
> I used the Veritas retangular (square) dogs and cut the dog holes with
> a dado sled.
> Alan Bierbaum
>
> web site: http://www.calanb.com
The front and rear "walls" of the dogholes, while parallel to
each other, are at about a 2 degree angle to the top of the apron
and the top of the vise jaw. Maybe this will help. Note the
step below the dog face into the shank of the dog.
Apron Dog Vise Dog
+-+ +-+
/ | | \
/ ++ ++ \
/ / \ \
/ / \ \
What messed me up when doing the template for the apron dogholes
was that I was "seeing things" from the outside face of the apron
where the dogholes "lean" to theRIGHT towards the vise end. But
when you're routing the holes on the inside face of the apron the
template must "lean to the left - still towards the vise end but
that's easy to forget when you're focusing on lines and offsets for
the template collar.
The doghole in the vise jaw is getting interesting. The jaw is
2 1/2" thick and 6 inches tall. Cutting a 6 inch deep stepped
mortise, at an angle, ain't something I can do with chisels or
even with my tilting head mortiser (ok maybe I could've used
the tilting head mortising machine).
Here's what I've done so far ( all one line - watch line wrap)
http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/BenchFinishing/CBbench31.html
Lot's of winging it on this bench project.
As for making a fancy smancy bench - the first one, now an
assembly bench, was anything but fancy - 2x4s, ply and nuts
and bolts, along with a ton of screws. One little vise and three
round dogholes for dowel dogs with rubber crutch caps on the
ends.
Here's the bench I've been using for three plus years
http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/LayoutAssemblyBench.html
charlie b
Hey Charlie,
You're almost there. Looking at your efforts really does make me think my
pine based hardboard/MDF top bench is really lame. The thing is, I can
still do everything with my bench that you will be able to do with yours,
just not so pretty. Someday.......
Anyway, on your webpage regarding the dog holes you mention trying to put
square dog holes in the twin-screw vise jaws. I suppose you can chop out
mortises by hand, which I won't be surprised if you do, but why don't you
just use round dogs for the vise? The Veritas dogs are very precise and
they really are 3/4" in diameter (so you won't have to worry about having
the clamping force only being applied to two points of the dog hole
perimeter). Just a thought that might save you some headaches.
Mike
On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 10:25:17 -0700, charlie b <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
>cuts on scrap to get the depth right - THEN I discocvered that my
>template "faced the wrong way". The angle on the holes would be
>AWAY from the vise jaw rather than leaning towards it. OOPS!
>
>Cutting the dogholes went well - on the apron. Now I have to figure
>out how to do the opposite leaning doghole in the end vise outer jaw.
>
>Anyway - here's yesterday's dust making. (all one line)
>
>http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/BenchFinishing/CBbench30.html
>
I am confused by your statement above about the angle. You want the
angle such that the distance on top of the bench (where the wood is
held) is shorter than the distance at the bottom of the dog holes.
The dogs lean into the wood being held. Is this what you mean?
I used the Veritas retangular (square) dogs and cut the dog holes with
a dado sled.
Alan Bierbaum
web site: http://www.calanb.com