Tail Vise

Of all the tasks I had to do for this bench, I think this was the most frustrating. The folks at Benchcrafted created a wonderful product. The issue was the tight tolerances that had to be adhered to when the vise is installed. I just did not have the right skill with a chisel when I tried to waste the rail locations. I really did not want to use a router to do this, because I wanted to use only hand tools. It took me a great deal of time to fit the rails and ensure that everything was perfect (or at least as close as I could get it). But there was a great deal of rejoicing when I finally managed to get it working. This thing spins too easy. I had to shim up the rails, check for level and then the fit of the plate. I did run into some issues after I installed the dog block.

I had a little bit of binding that I thought was the fault of the dog block, but it turned out that once I screwed down the rails, I was off just enough that it did not work. I will need to install another dog block someday, but this will work for now. I am really impressed at the holding power with no leather facing, I can imagine the holding power once I install a leather face on it. Wow, does not describe it adequately.

But for those of you who are going to install this vise. My advice - use a router.

Dog Block

I found a cut off that I bought from the scrap bin at a local Woodcraft store, and decided to use it. I have no idea what kind of wood it is, but it gives a nice accent. I had to plane it down a bit to fit in the slot, but this job was pretty straight forward. I also recessed it slightly, because I was unsure how much planning I would have to do when I flatten the top and did not want to run into it.

That really does not take away from the functionality of the dog block. I am going to have to replace it someday, but for what I need, it’s not a big deal. I did cheat here. I used a cordless drill and a ¾” Forstner bit to make the hole for the bench dog.

Chamfering the legs

Once I had the legs installed, the fit was tight enough that I could use a rasp to chamfer the bottoms. That task went pretty quickly. This item was suggested in Chris’s book, to prevent blowout from moving the bench. Seemed like a good idea, so why not.

Planning stop

Chris suggested the planning stop should be chamfered because the mallet blows will beat up the ends. I found a piece of wood from my acquisitions and put it in its slot, took out my rasp and a few minutes later I was finished. I used some paste wax on the sides to make it easier to slide up and down, and this part is complete. The friction fit is still tight enough that it won’t slip on its own.

Stretchers

I deviated a little bit on the stretchers. The main reason is that I anticipate the shelf I will install will hold some heavy stuff. That being said, I had a lot of 2 x 4 material left over and decided to use that as the stretchers. I would glue and dowel the outside 2 x 6’s to it for use as the sliding dead man rail and back rail.

I had to do some clean up on some of the mortises in the legs. This is where my not paying attention came into play. I chopped the mortise, but on the wrong side of the leg I should have chopped it on the back. Oh, well at least it was pretty easy to fix.

I had an oak tree fall down in my back yard and salvaged some of it before it was used for (sigh) firewood. I spent about an hour or so splitting some oak for the pins for stretchers. I took some wedges and split it into usable pieces and then used my Lie-Nielsen dowel plate to make them into pins. I started with the bigger holes and gradually moved to the 3/8” size I wanted to use.

I split a few extras, because I know I will probably need them for something else, and to save time. I might even use them in the side stretchers. I have not decided yet.

I made a guide to help the lay out of the holes. I wanted to try and achieve some uniformity in this one. I drilled a hole in the side of the legs with a scrap piece of wood to help prevent blowout, and then inserted the stretchers and drilled the hole. Using my Lie-Nielsen draw bore pins to assist; I inserted and then drove home the pins. I used a regular saw to cut off the excess, and the back legs were finished.