Workbench - Putting It Together

The final step before gluing the entire bench together was to prepare the front left leg to accept the leg vise.  I had purchased a wooden screw kit from Lake Erie Toolworks that I'm using for this vise, which came with a large wooden nut as seen in the picture below.  I first drilled and a 2-1/2" hole through the leg for the vise screw to pass through.  Then I cut the mortise using a miter saw followed by a chisel to clean out the waste.  This is similar to what I did when I cut the dovetails into the bench top.  I also cut a through mortise towards the bottom of this leg for the parallel guide for the vise (more on this in the next blog).

Before assembly I trimmed the joinery for the legs and bench top quite a bit.  The thought of getting everything glued up and then having the glue set before I could get the legs hammered all the way in didn't excite me.  I also drilled 3/8" holes in all the legs to accept dowels to hold the stretcher tenons good and tight.  When it came time for assembly, I made sure I had everything laid out and ready to go.  I also enlisted the help of my wonderful wife, Janel, to help get everything together as quickly as possible.  To be safe, I bought an epoxy with a 60 minute gel time to make sure I could get everything together before it hardened.  As it turned out, everything went together relatively smoothly, although I did have some trouble getting some of the oak dowels in.  Some of the holes didn't line up as well as they should and the quality of the dowels was a bit questionable. To help get the dowels in, I used a ratchet strap to pull the legs nice and tight .  We then flipped the bench on to the ground and I hammered some maple wedges into the tops of the joints to really tighten them up.  I can't tell you what a relief it is to finally have the legs in this thing and move on to another part.

Right now I'm finishing up the leg vise and will hopefully have a post on that soon.

Henry inspecting my work

Workbench - Stretchers

 In my last blog, I mentioned that I would come to regret forcing the legs into place with a sledge hammer.  For one, the joints didn't fit the way they should in spots and by forcing them, I either split part of the bench or the high spot on the joint pushed the leg off the correct angle.  Also, my intention was only to dry fit the legs because I would still have to remove them to install the stretchers.

I initially flipped the bench upside down and tried knocking the legs upward with a 5lb hammer, but they didn't budge.  Since that didn't work, I flipped the bench back over and then put it up on my tall saw horses so that the legs were dangling up off the ground.  This allowed me to hammer downward and use a lot more force.  In this position I was able to use my sledge and after some good solid blows, I was able to get all four legs out.

Before I knocked the legs out, I used the bench to prepare the stretchers, which will connect the legs down by the floor.  Each stretcher will consist of two 2x6's glued together with one being longer than the other to form a tenon that will go into a leg.  I used standard home center fir 2x6's and after drying in my basement for the last few months they had cupped quite a bit.  To be able to glue them together I had to do a good amount of planing to get them flat and straight.

One 2x6 was a little longer than the other, which when glued together created a natural tenon.

Once again I used the process of using the auger drill bit followed by a mortising chisel to create mortises in the lower part of the legs where the stretchers will be located.  These mortises actually intersect on the inside, allowing the tenons to go as deep into the legs as possible.

Once the mortises were cut, I put a 45 degree cut on the end of the tenons and then trimmed them to match the height of the mortise.

I'm starting to see the daylight at the end of the tunnel on this project and I'm looking forward to actually putting this bench to work.

Workbench - Leg Joinery 2

After cutting the joinery into the ends of the bench legs, I then traced the joints onto the bench top.  Tracing is the only way to do this because each leg ended up being a little bit different.  Next, I used an auger bit to remove as much material from the mortise, which I then cleaned up with a mortise chisel.  Then I flipped the bench top over and repeated this from the other side and cleaned the mortise all the way through.

Next, I flipped the slab up on its side and cut out the dovetails.  I used a miter saw to make the angled cuts and one cut down the middle.  Next, I used my mortise chisel to pop out most of the material and then cleaned up the edges with a paring chisel.

After the joints were cut I tried to dry fit the legs into the bench top.  After a lot more cleaning up with the paring chisel I still had trouble fitting the joints.  Finally got out the sledge hammer and gave the legs a little extra encouragement (A decision I would come to regret).

Workbench - Leg Joinery

I've been running a little behind in both working on the workbench and on posting updates of what I have done.  Lately, I've been working the leg joinery that connects them to the bench top.  Since my last post, I planed all four of the legs square.  Then I traced out the joints for the top of the legs.  The joint is made up of a through dovetail joint in the front and a through tenon in the middle that will go through the entire 5" thick bench top.

Once the joints were drawn out, I sawed all the vertical lines going with the grain.  Then I used a mortise chisel to cut out the material between the two joints.

 Next, I made the diagonal cuts for the dovetails and the the crosscuts to remove the remaining material.  Because the legs were so thick it was tough to get the perfectly straight so I had to do quite a bit of cleanup with a chisel to get the joints good and straight.

I have cut the joinery into all four legs and begun cutting the mating joinery into the bench top.  More on that next time.

Workbench - End Vise Complete

Finally! My workbench is starting to do some work for me instead of me just working on it. Today I made the sliding block for the end and drilled a series of holes along the front edge of the bench top, which will be used to hold stop dogs. I made a couple stop dogs out of 3/4" oak dowell. I was able to clamp one of the leg posts in the vise and hold it securely while I planed it. I got one leg completely squared tonight, so just three to go.

Workbench - Tail Vise Installed

Over the last couple weeks, I've been working towards getting the tail vise put on my bench.  After cutting out the cavity in the bench top, I began working on the end cap.  I glued a couple pieces of maple together to make the end cap about 2-1/2" thick.  I chiseled out the dovetail slots to match up with the dovetails that I cut in the front of the workbench.  Next, using a template that I printed from the website for my vise, I marked the holes where the vise would mount.  I had to make several holes with an auger bit and then clean it up with a chisel to make the large hole for the vise screw.

 To install the end cap, I glued the dovetail joint on the front and fastened the rest with lag screws.  I drilled the pilot holes in the end cap extra wide to allow for movement in the wood due to moisture change.  The next step will be to cut a block that will screw into the vise.  This block will hold a dog, which will be the clamping device.

Workbench - Tail Vise Preparation

Now that I have all four sides pretty flat and parallel my next step was to saw the ends square and to length. This was a good workout, but didn't take too long with my recently sharpened crosscut saw.  Fortunately, I had my son Michael there to give me encouragement.

Benchcrafted Tail Vise

The left end of my bench will have a tail vise that will operate parallel to the benchtop.This vise, which is manufactured by Benchcrafted works by sliding a peg, also called a dog, allowing you clamp a board between a stationary dog.  The advantage to this type of end vise is that because it is integral to the bench top, the area around the clamping point is very strong.  The disadvantage to this vise is that it requires a lot of material to be removed from the underneath side of the benchtop.  This is not a big undertaking if you use an electric router, but it my case it has required time than I would have liked to sped installing the vise.

I began the cutout for the vise by using my rip saw to cut the track where the sliding dog will run.  I finished removing this piece by chopping through the remaining section with my 3/8" mortise chisel.

I then drew out the area that I needed to cut out and went at it with a brace and auger bit.  I followed this up with the mortise chisel again, removing the remaining material and getting all the dimensions to where they need to be for the vise to work properly.  By the time I to the point of the picture below, I felt more like Michelangelo whacking at a piece of marble than a carpenter.