Bench #3 -- vise chops

I cut the slot for the parallel guide on the bandsaw, then popped out the waste with a chisel.



The slot is 5/8" wide.



And so are the tenons of the parallel guide that fit into it.





The other ends of the the parallel guides. Yes, I know it's just a bench, but it's got to have a little charm of its own too.



In one of the vise chops. The chops are just over 3" thick. I may thin them to around 2" for some weight savings.



The chop hanging from the parallel guide.



The handles that come with the screws from Big Wood Vise are quite nice, with large, turned wooden balls of maple, and oak for the handles. Even though I'm no fan of the lathe, I just couldn't resist making some handles of my own. And now these Ash handles match the screws.



After turning the handles I cut one end off on the bandsaw, leaving the stub tenon for chucking the knob.



While the knob was chucked I drilled it out for the handle.





Getting the leg vises to function properly is the next step. But first I'll build the bench top so I'll have a final reference for the height of the chops.

Making Bone Rosettes

I thought it would be interesting to show the process of making blanks for bone rosettes, also called roses, or, in Arabic, shamsa.



I use white bone, sold as knife scales, in five pieces for a typical main rosette. This is my setup for jointing the edges of the scales. I use a granite surface plate as a flat sanding platen. 100 grit sandpaper is clamped under a fence board with a 90 degree edge, forming a shooting board.



I rub both edges of each piece until I have a perfectly flat edge. I sand only on the push stroke. This lessens the likelihood of sanding more material from the ends of the edge, creating a crowned shaped.



The edges are all jointed.



And come together with no gaps. Incidentally, I've stained this bone with chamomile tea in order to match the other roses of the vintage oud this rose is destined for.



The fifth piece is arranged along the ends of the other four. So I tape the four together for jointing their ends.



Jointing the ends of the four pieces. I tape them all together well after the edges mate perfectly.



The bone is glued with epoxy to a wood substrate. I use a dark wood like walnut so it will be less visible in the finished instrument. This is three alternating layers of .5mm walnut glued with epoxy. Yes, it's homemade hardwood plywood on a tiny scale.



I place some wax paper under the walnut to protect the granite and prevent adhesion. I apply a thin layer of epoxy to the walnut with a palette knife.



I make sure it covers the entire surface.



With the bone flipped upside down (the tape is on the other side) I run some glue over the joints, then I open up the cracks slightly and let the glue run in a little.



Then I place the bone onto the walnut substrate.



Followed by more wax paper...



And a layer of cork to distribute the pressure from the press.



I then place a square of particle board over the cork (and sometimes an extra later of plywood over that) and slide the whole works into the press, where it stays under pressure for at least 24 hours.



After I remove it from the press I apply the pattern with spray adhesive, drill holes in the voids and proceed with carefully cutting out the pattern.



This is a finished shamsa. Shamsa in Arabic means "sun".



Detail. Some of the lines in the center calligraphy (which is, incidentally, my name) are only a few thousandths wide. It's the walnut ply backing that makes this possible. Very fine jeweler's saw blades are also necessary.

Say hello to The Barnacle

I originally designed the Mag-Blok for kitchen use. I was tired of storing my quality knives on cheap steel-and-rubber strips that seem specifically designed to knick and scratch fine kitchen cutlery. So it seemed only natural that the same solution for my kitchen knives should find its way into my tool cabinet. It's quite obvious that most woodworking hand tools are tailor made for the Mag-Blok. Chisels, marking knives, carving tools, they all find a nice home on a Mag-Blok. But what about those tools that don't contain iron? In other words, that don't stick?

Say hello to the Barnacle.



The Barnacle is a new Mag-Blok accessory for non-magnetic tools (such as this Glen-Drake Tite-Mark gauge) or tools that you may not want to use in direct contact with a Mag-Blok. The Barnacle adheres tenaciously to any Mag-Blok, due to the large chunk of steel that's embedded along the back edge, and invisibly at that, so when it's hanging out on a Blok, all you see is wood, just like a Mag-Blok. I haven't tested exactly how much weight it will hold, but I'm pretty confident it will support just about anything that will fit in the hole. I'm also pretty excited about the modular potential of using a number of Barnacles. It allows for quick rearranging for future tool purchases. The Barnacle will be available in different woods and configurations to suit different tools and applications. Stay tuned to the Benchcrafted Blog for updates on The Barnacle.

Bench #3 - Leg details and vises

I didnt follow the Schwarz "automatic tenon" technique on the legs since I wasn't starting with blanks of equal thickness. These tenons are 2-1/2" wide, by 2" long.



I cut the shoulders on the table saw with a sled. I butted the bottoms of the legs to the saw's fence for length registration.



I set the fence on the bandsaw to leave the tenon a few thousandths over 2-1/2" for final fitting with a shoulder plane.






I drilled holes in the legs for Gramercy holdfasts with a 3/4" bit. I used the locations from the Schwarz book.



One thing I'm concerned with is the ability of the Gramercy holdfasts working properly in such a thick leg. In the Schwarz book (or perhaps his blog, I don't recall) there was some talk that the only holdfasts that work in 5" thick legs are the Veritas Hold Downs. I want to be able to use my Gramercy holdfasts in these legs. My solution is, in effect, to reduce the thickness of the legs in the location of the holdfast holes. I accomplish this by simply drilling a 1" hole from the back of the leg, to within 3" of the front of the leg. The rest of the hole (3" long) is the typical 3/4" that the holdfast requires.



Here's a shot from the back of the leg with the holdfast shank poking through. I tested a 1" hole to see if it would allow enough clearance for the shank once the holdfast was tightened down. It's perfect. The holdfast doesn't contact any part of the 1" hole.



A couple whacks and it's holding fast, like a holdfast should.



I'm using wood vise screws from Big Wood Vise. Joe Comunale started making these screws late in 2007. Correction: Joe reports he's actually been making these screws for over a decade. He started selling them last year. I heard about him through a post at one of the woodworking forums in January. Joe's workmanship is excellent. The threads are flawless, and the heads are very smooth. I couldn't detect any sanding scratches in the two screws I bought. The nuts are also very robust, and Joe leaves plenty of extra length to accommodate different setups.



One thing that is intriguing about these screws is their rapid movement. One revolution yields a full 1/2" of travel. My Record iron vise is exactly half that. I suppose that sacrifices some fine control, but I doubt I'll care. I have other vises for fine work, and I can always slide over to the Record on the old bench.



I had Joe mill a garter slot into the shaft of my screws for the garter design in the sketch above. It's right behind the hub. At Joe's suggestion, I also had him mill his standard slot in case I want to use a different garter system in the future. (see the previous pic)



The Schwarz plan calls for placing the leg vise screw 9" down from the bench top. Roubo's drawing (pl. 279) shows the screw a bit lower. Here I've placed the screw at 12" from where the bench top will be. It's not bad, but it felt a little low to me. I think I'd rather trade a little depth for less bending.



I moved the screw up to 9" (on center) from the bench top. That's more like it. Not so much bending. Besides, I've already gained almost two times as much capacity versus my Record 52 1/2. Its metal guide rods are about 4-1/2" from the top of bench #2.



Simply bolting the nut to the back of the leg would seriously reduce the capacity of the bench screw. I suppose the most economical route would be to inlay the nut into the front of the leg, bolting it to the leg itself. But that would rely completely on the strength of the bolts opposing the vise's clamping action. If the mortise in the back of the leg would be two inches deep, plus the thickness of the vise chop, I'd end up with about 10" of vise capacity. That's plenty for my work. I decided to mortise to block into the back of the leg, the strongest method I could come up with. I also considered cutting a dovetail socket into the back of the leg, but this would remove material completely across the width of the leg, effectively making the entire leg that thickness. The mortise leaves a lot of material in place. Locating the screw at 9" from the top, the nut is a little long for this application. I didn't want to mortise the leg any closer to the tenon's shoulder than necessary, since this area will get some serious chopping and pounding stress.



So I cut the nut a bit shorter to leave the leg as robust as possible. Here I'm marking for the mortise with a pair of skew chisels.



I used a router and fence with a straight bit to cut the perimeter of the mortise about half way down. This would establish a nice registration surface for paring the mortise.



Back to the drill press to get rid of most of the waste.



After paring the waste and squaring the corners, I was ready for a test fit. The mortise is 2" deep.



The fit is a little tight, as planned. I was diligent to make sure the end grain surfaces were as close to a piston fit as I could manage, since a tight fit here would reestablish the vertical strength of the leg. I fit a little at a time, then pared the burnished areas from the nut instead of touching the mortise.



After a few minutes and some light mallet taps, I had the fit I wanted.





The screw is 2" in diameter, so I bored a 2 1/8" clearance hole through the mortise to the front of the leg and chamfered the opening.





This an 8" wide beam of 16/4 Ash that will become the vise chops and the back half of the sliding vise.



The beam yielded three nice pieces for the vises.



I suppose some would enjoy flattening boards like this just for the fun. I had my fill of it about 12 years ago. But when you only have a 6" jointer, those old-school skills sure come in handy.