More Awesome Workbenches From Great Britain

Richard Maguire's Modern Workhorse Bench

Richard Maguire emailed me recently with some pictures of his latest workbench which he calls The Modern Workhorse. For those unaware of Richard's work, he makes incredibly beefy traditional workbenches in the finest British tradition. When I say "finest British tradition" I don't necessarily mean traditional English-style benches, but rather benches that reflect the fine tradition of British woodcraft. Although I haven't seen one of Richard's benches in person, I think they look totally awesome.



Richard is now offering 3 distinct styles of bench. The Dominy and the Roubo in English Beech, and now a bench of his own design called the Modern Workhorse, built of English Ash. I'm also happy to announce Richard is now offering his Roubo bench outfitted with the Benchcrafted Tail Vise.



The Modern Workhorse bench (above, and at the top) shares some similartities with Chris Schwarz's version of Charles Holtzapfel's bench, but includes several improvements of Richard's own design, including a clever arragement incorporating a wooden parallel guide into the iron face vise used in the tail vise position, and dog holes offset from the vise screw which improves access to the dogs.



The tool tray (Richard calls it a tool well, which sounds much more sophisticated than "tray" which reminds me of a school cafeteria) positioned at the left end of the bench is also an interesting idea. I'm not a big fan of tool trays though, so I'd have to try one out for a while to be convinced.





Richard's website is http://www.rm-workbenches.co.uk/default.htm

Woodworking Fantasy Camp

What am I doing for summer vacation? Well, so far it looks like I'll be working. But that doesn't mean I won't be enjoying myself.

The weekend of August 14-16 I'll be in St. Charles, IL for the Woodworking in America Furniture Construction and Design Conference.

The Benchcrafted booth will be set up with our bench (and maybe two!) outfitted with all three vises we sell, a Mag-Blok display, plus we're hoping to unveil a new hand tool at this event. No, it's not an acme-screw and handwheel outfitted paring chisel, but we think it's a unique and useful tool will find lots of use in many woodworker's shops. The exciting part is it will cost about as much as a dinner for two at a decent restaurant. Around these parts that usually means Arby's or McDonald's, so you'll have to compensate for your particular locale. You get the drift.

Okay, back to fantasy camp. WIA (Woodworking in America) is a unique event. It combines three days of lectures and classes from among the country's best furniture makers and designers with three days of hands-on tool demos from the best manufacturers in America. And it's not just demos. At the marketplace (the room where the manufacturers are set up) there will be numerous benches set up at each of the vendor's booths so you can test drive the tools at your leisure. The best part is, the designer and manufacturer of the tools is usually at the booth as well, and they are more than happy to show how the tool works, and in most cases you can even get personal instructions on various woodworking techniques just by asking. A small crowd usually gathers around, and you end up with a very personal and intimate "mini-class". You could spend an entire day in just the marketplace and learn more than you can imagine. At the last WIA I got a personal one-on-one hand-dovetailing lesson from Kevin Glen-Drake of Glen-Drake Toolworks. Now, I'm not sure if that possibility will exist in August, but you never know.

And here's what makes WIA in August so great. The combination of a marketplace full of the best hand tools and hand tool experts, and three days of lectures from some of the best furniture makers and designers in the country.

I think the event in August is going be a ton of fun. Just rubbing elbows with fellow enthusiasts and the camaraderie that one gleans from such events is worth it to me. I not only came home from last year's WIA event with a renewed enthusiasm and inspiration for fine woodworking, but also with several new friends as well.

If you're wondering about the picture above, that's a desk I built for my father in 2006. One of my interests is designing and building simplified Federal style furniture with modern, clean lines. This was the second experimental piece I've attempted. I won't torture you with the first trial. In hopes of furthering this style, I'm hoping to catch some design classes at this year's WIA if I can squeeze them in. I can't wait!

A New Blog Worth Watching

Rob Giovannetti has started an interesting new blog that I'll be subscribing to. That's Rob's right arm above. And yes, it's a real tattoo.

Rob's a hand-tool enthusiast and his new blog is already packed with great info and videos on hand tool use. But he's a blended woodworker, so he uses both power and hand tools. The difference is, he's going to show when each type of tool is most efficiently. Rob's also done a great interview recently with Tom Lie-Nielsen of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and Ron Hock of Hock Tools.

Thanks Rob for adding another great resource for hand-tool enthusiasts.

Sam, Sam, Sam, and Sam

A very well-known and successful woodworker passed away last week. His name was Sam Maloof. Regrettably, I never got the chance to meet him or visit his shop, although I came close once. A friend in Southern California, who was rather close to Sam, invited me to meet Maloof one weekend. Unfortunately it didn't work out, and I flew home a bit disappointed. Maloof reached the point in his woodworking that a lot of woodworkers only dream about. And he was a great inspiration to woodworkers everywhere. Rest in Peace, Sam Maloof.



Maloof was the son of Lebanese immigrants, as was my paternal grandfather, so meeting Maloof held some special significance for me. Both of my grandfathers were casual woodworkers. My paternal grandfather's middle name was Sam. That's him above, sitting below a carved and gilded frame he made (this is probably from the late 50's) to hold an icon of the Virgin Mary. A large portion of my grandfather's work had a religious theme and he built many pieces specifically for his church, free of charge in most cases. His father was also named Sam (that's him and my great-grandmother in the first photo--a stylish fellow if I do say so myself!)



My maternal grandfather was also named Sam. And he was the son of German immigrants. Sam fought in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge, and spent several months in a German POW camp. Although he returned home safely from the War, I'm thinking about his service this Memorial Day. And since he was also an avid woodworker, I thought I'd share some nice woodworking related items about Sam. That's grandpa above, sitting on his tractor. He farmed and raised cattle after the War.

A few years ago I came into possession of Sam's war memorabilia. Like many veterans and POW's, grandpa didn't talk about the war. I didn't know much about his service until after he passed away. Among the items that I received were Sam's medals, including two purple hearts and several medals for service in the European theatre, his recognition as a POW, a Western Union telegram announcing his liberation, his dog tag and POW identification badge marked "Stalag IVB". But the most interesting were the personal items that he brought back from his time as a POW in Nazi Germany. A small, aluminum cigarette case held some fascinating items. Aside from the case itself, which Sam engraved with the names of his close fellow soliders (which he dubbed "The Mighty Hungry Seven"--Sam weighed about 90 pounds when his POW camp was liberated by Russian soliders), his itinerary from Iowa to German captivity (including a train Sam was being transported in that was bombed by Allied forces) and an image of a dove with an olive branch in its mouth, the case contained German postcards with lists of sandwiches and recipes, and cigarette paper inscribed with names of dozens of ice cream Sundaes and other treats. It's quite obvious what was on Sam's mind during his months in German captivity.



A couple years ago I decided to build a small wall cabinet to display these items. I had the top rail laser engraved with Sam's rank and name. The walnut case is outfitted with Brusso hinges. It was a very enjoyable project to build.



A German post card with Sam's sandwich list. The peanut butter and bacon sounds interesting.



Recipes written on a cigarette paper wrapper.



Sam's progress from the States to POW camp, written in pencil on cigarette paper.



Around the same time I received these items, my uncle (Sam's son) gave me grandpa's old jack plane. Not grandpa Sam's, but great-great-grandpa Peter's jack plane. Peter came to America in
1870 on the steamer ship Hammonia.



Peter was a stone mason and in the 16 years he spent in northern Iowa (he died of cancer at the age of 40) managed to raise a family of seven, and build a stone church which unfortunately stands in ruins some 120 years later. I'm not sure how much woodworking Peter did, but I bet he purchased this Sandusky Tool Co. jack plane brand new. Perhaps he used it to build forms of some sort for his masonry work, or to do some of the trim work once the church was finished? Needless to say, its a piece of family history that I'll always treasure.



My grandmother wrote down the names of the last 4 generations on the sole, just behind the mouth. I suppose I'll add my name at some point.

New Lie-Nielsen Tail Vise Hardware

Rob Giovannetti has just posted a video on his new blog The Tattooed Woodworker showcasing the new Lie-Nielsen tail vise hardware.

My own frustration with typical tail vise hardware led me last year to reevaluate the traditional moving-block tail vise. It was during this quest that I decided to a try a wagon vise. The result was the Benchcrafted Tail Vise.

But my old bench was built with a traditional tail vise. And it desperately needs new "moving block" tail vise hardware (the old hardware is worn, sagging, and a major nag), and I've been patiently waiting several months for Lie-Nielsen to begin offering this hardware. Needless to say, the vise is incredibly beefy and offers some fantastic features that should make it run smoothly for quite some time. I can't wait to get my hands on one.

Check The Videos

I've added a list of videos (to the right) to make them easily accessible. These are videos that I've posted here in the past, and from the Khalaf Oud Luthiery website.

The New Czeck Edge/Benchcrafted Chisel

I'm proud to announce the final version of the new chisel designed for fine work from Czeck Edge Hand Tool. This tool is a design collaboration between Robert Zajicek and myself. I was looking for a small, well-balanced tool for fine work like dovetails and inlay. This tool fills the bill.

But don't be alarmed by the diminutive size of this chisel. It's a burly brute in a petite package. Bob's aerospace engineering background enabled him to pack some punch into this sweet little cutting tool. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say it's nearly indestructible. In fact, this past weekend the very chisel pictured above was tested for durability by driving it almost completely through a 3/4" thick walnut board. The tool's handle (which is made from acrylic-impregnated curly maple) not only showed no signs of damage, it showed no signs of any contact at all. And the mallet that did the driving was also an acrylic-impregnated wood. It showed no signs of wear either.

Czeck Edge will have the first batch of chisels (in various widths) at the upcoming Lie-Nielsen show in Cincinnati, OH, the weekend of May 16-17. See this link for more details.