Jim's Bench

This past summer I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Tolpin at the Woodworking In America Design Conference in St. Charles, Il.

Wait, let me back up a decade or so. I'm mostly a self-taught woodworker. Just after high-school, and a short stint at a local University (where I studied Russian, High-school algebra and Mortal Kombat--no, not the Asian martial art--the video game) I started getting seriously into woodworking, and with the help of the local public library, I started reading everything I could on the subject. My favorite's were by far the "Techniques" books by Taunton. Essentially back issues of Fine Woodworking arranged by subject and bound into a hardcover book. But it was Jim's approach to cabinetmaking that eventually led to me building two complete kitchens, one for for my own home, and another for my brother and his family. Jim's "Toolboxes" was on the bench when I built my first wall hung tool cabinet.

So when I met Jim it was a bit of a strange experience. Almost like meeting a celebrity (I met Jerry Lewis in a Las Vegas health club once, and that was not as much fun as meeting Jim) But as soon as I shook Jim's hand all the awkwardness went away. Jim's soft-spoken style and mellow demeanor appealed to me immediately, and we had a great conversation during a short lull in his busy schedule that weekend.



It turns out that the author of "Table Saw Magic" has taken a decidedly non-powered turn in his woodworking the past few years. As a co-founder of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington State, Jim teaches hand-tool centric woodworking, focusing on the joy and practicality of using hand tools for the home shop furniture maker. His approach makes a lot of sense, especially nowadays. I'm referring here to the blossoming of top-notch hand-tool manufacturers in the past decade or so. For the first time since well before World War II, fine hand tools are being manufactured once again and made available to the general public. This presents an excellent opportunity for woodworking enthusiasts to set up shops void of the majority of noisy, dusty, dangerous and expensive machines. Replacing them instead with hand tools produced with modern technology and processes that in most cases render them far superior to even the finest tools produced during the height of hand tool production of the past. Tools which give the traditional experience of woodworking and connect the woodworker with the material in a way which far surpasses the experience of simply running wood through a machine. Surface finish, joint quality and the overall aesthetic produced by hand tools can surpass those produced by a machine. I would challenge anyone to disagree that a few passes of a razor-sharp hand plane, accompanied with that satisfying sound and shimmering, slick surface is a far better experience than donning the dust mask and ear-muffs and firing up the vacuum and random-orbit sander.

In fact, Jim told me at WIA that he's sold off most of his stationary machinery and portable power tools and set up a hand-tool centric shop instead. And this is where Benchcrafted came into the conversation. As Jim analyzed our Split-Top Roubo he came to the conclusion that this would be the bench for his home shop. So he and I developed a collaborative plan where Benchcrafted would supply the two finished tops complete with the Benchcrafted Tail Vise and he would build the base in Port Townsend, installing the Glide as he finished the base. As work progressed, I couldn't help but be reminded of the work on the International Space Station, where different elements were manufactured in various countries then assembled in space for the first time. Okay, we're talking some slightly looser tolerances here. It made sense though, especially since hard maple is quite expensive in the northwest (Jim wanted hard maple tops) and as such, Jim has easy access to massive Douglas Fir timbers, with which he is building the base. The base parts on Jim's bench are not laminated. They are all cut from solid timbers and will be joined with drawbored mortise and tenons. With the hard maple Glide chop and deadman contrasting with the warm glow of the fir, this is going to be a gorgeous bench. Not that we care about the looks of a bench, we're all about the function (yeah, right!)

Jim tells me he has some pretty exciting things planned for this bench and the shop it will reside in. I for one will be eagerly awaiting what develops from Jim's endeavors. Being one of the most successful woodworking authors, I don't think he's going to disappoint.

Waterdog

In the process of sending our bench specs to Louis Bois, the draftsman preparing our bench plans, I made a quick drawing of the bench dog, specifying ash be used for the spring portion of the dog. I neglected to specify the species for the dog itself (not that it matters), so Louis took some liberty and chose a material for the dog on his own. I couldn't help but chuckle when I opened his email. Louis is a whiz with CAD software, and this quick image is basic stuff, but for a CAD dummy like me, I can't help but me impressed.

Win Win

This week marks two exciting events here at Benchcrafted.

In the December issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine we've been chosen by the magazine editors as recipients of the 2009 Best New Tool for our Benchcrafted Tail Vise, along with 11 other winners. Thanks to the folks at PopWW for selecting us, we consider it a great honor to be among the other winners. We recommend picking up a copy of the magazine at your local outlet to read about the other winners, plus two special articles about two woodworking giants who passed away this year, Sam Maloof and James Krenov. It's a great issue.




The other bit of exciting news? Our bench plans are finally nearing completion. These plans have been in the works for several months and we couldn't be more pleased with how the plans are shaping up.



These plans are very comprehensive and will include every detail required for a smooth "effortless" build. So far the plans are over 9 pages! This is not a complex bench, but we thought it prudent to include all the nitty-gritty to make the project as fun and rewarding as possible.

If you'd like to receive an email when the plans are ready, please drop us a line at info@benchcrafted.com.

We may also have our new knockdown bench hardware ready by Christmastime. Stay tuned.

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event: Indianapolis

Angie and Alex (back turned) of Lie-Nielsen setting up.

Well, as usual we had a great time last weekend at the Indianapolis Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event. We're always happy to meet new people. But were mostly grateful to the L-N team for hosting these events. These are real grass roots type shows with no pressure but lots of potential for learning and talking woodworking and tools.

Every show we've been to has been a positive experience and we look forward to many years of doing these if possible. The turn out at this show wasn't as large as some we've been to but then again Indianapolis was the smallest metro area by a long shot we've attended. That doesn't mean it wasn't as much fun or as beneficial as the others though.


Crowded house.


Andrew Lunn of Eccentric Toolworks. He's telling this potential customer how he likes to be called Andy but no one will listen.


Thin crosscut competition. Chris Schwarz, Megan Fitzpatrick, Andy Lunn, Joshua VanderPlaats, John Hoffman & John Abraham.


Kevin Glen-Drake of Glen-Drake Toolworks.

Benchcrafted in Indiana

Next weekend we're joining Lie-Nielsen for one of their Hand Tool Events in Indianapolis. Details can be found at the Lie-Nielsen website. Click this link for times and address.

There are some great presenters at this particular event. We've had the pleasure of spending time with the following folks.

Chris Schwarz, in addition to being editor of two of the best woodworking magazines in print, is also extremely well-versed in the foundations of hand-tool woodworking. Crowds always gather around Chris at these events, not only because of his knowledge, but also because he's a great teacher and just plain fun to watch. His enthusiasm will get in your veins.

George Walker specializes in furniture design. The interesting thing about Walker is that he won't show you how to design in a particular style, although he can do that. George shows you how every piece of good furniture is based on the classical Greek orders. His video produced by Lie-Nielsen is fascinating. I highly recommend it.

Kevin Glen-Drake. Kevin has a great article in the November issue of Popular Woodworking magazine. He's an authority on woodturning and he also makes the best wheel marking gauge on the market, right here in the U.S. of A. We first met Kevin at Woodworking in America last year.

Eccentric Toolworks. Check out Andrew Lunn's incredible handsaws. Ever wished you could get the thin-kerf performance of a Japanese saw in a western saw format? I have a Lunn saw on order.

Folks from the Marc Adams school will also be present. Marc Adams is the largest woodworking school in the country, and located just south of Indianapolis.

For more info see Chris Schwarz's blog post here and here.

Unfortunately, we sold out of Skrapers at Woodworking in America. But we will have one to try in Indianapolis, and we will be taking orders.

We'll also have a sign-up sheet for our new bench plans, featuring both of our vises. The plans are done, and should be available very soon.

We'll be bringing our travel bench outfitted with three Benchcrafted vises for folks to try. We'll also be bringing our backup travel bench, pictured above.

WIA Philadelphia Wrap-up

The Benchcrafted crew has returned after a whirlwind tour of Pennsylvania! 6 days and 2350 miles later we're beat, but happy. We have to say that the show was rewarding in multiple ways. As usual, we were fortunate to see many old friends and also make some new ones. Just a short journal here to document some of the happenings.

We started out from Eastern Iowa mid-morning Tuesday September 29th. Our first hurdle was loading our 15 passenger van. It was a daunting task to load everything, most notably our 8 ft. 500 lb. Ash Roubo with dual Glides. What a bear! We also brought our 6 ft. Travel Roubo, various display tables and other accouterments. It was a load. Finally we put about 12 lbs. of chips and nuts in to accompany the beer (this we put in a VERY accessible location, after all we'd be picking up Bob Zajicek the next day). We drove 7.5 hours to Toledo, OH the first day without a hitch.

The next day, Wednesday, we drove approximately 10 hours to arrive at the Philadelphia airport in time to pick up Ron Brese of Brese Planes and Bob Zajicek of Czeck Edge, our partners in crime. We packed em' in and headed for the Valley Forge Convention Center. The hotel was nice, but doubly so because we scored the rooms at the venue for half the going rate thanks to Hotwire. It also afforded us the convenience of being able to attend the show each day without driving anywhere. It's hard to beat staying at the venue.

Thursday morning we were the first ones on the show floor to set up. We knew ahead of time that Andrew Lunn of Eccentric Toolworks was right next to our double wide booth. Luckily Andrew wasn't there yet which opened an opportunity for a practical joke. Andrew's a great guy but a bit slow on the uptake. We quickly removed the provided venue sign from his booth and replaced it with this one.



We got quite a chuckle out of it but no so much as we did after we found out from Andrew that he thought it was a legitimate mistake on the hotel's part and proceeded to take it to the front desk to sort it all out! There weren't many people at the show that weren't talking about the Harbor Freight booth.

After setting up we jumped in the van for a day trip to the Winterthur DuPont estate. The estate was impressive to say the least, covering over 1000 acres, down from it's original 2500. It was at one time a full working, self-sustaining farm estate providing for all it's own needs with the exception of sugar and tobacco. The main building houses room after room of authentic period furniture, each room encompassing a specific period or style.



Bob Z. meditating on the natural beauty at Winterthur estate.



90 year old Redwood, already over 100 ft. tall!



Much of the estate contained vast amounts of hand laid rock walls. Very impressive and beautiful.



Vintage Shaker sideboard.



One of the many themed rooms. This was an 18th Century room containing several period pieces from the Federal style. Much of the china was owned and used by George Washington. Ron Brese & Jameel Abraham admiring on the right.



Steins designed and made by none other than Paul Revere!



Oriental room. Chock full of Chippendale.



Three-story spiral staircase.



Atrium. Bob Z., John (jr.), Ron B., Jameel A., guide.



Family room. Despite the sheer vastitude (yes, that is a word...) of this place, most of the rooms were meant as mere "walk throughs" simply for looking. This is one of the rooms that was actually used by the family. We were told they had some ripping good times in here. Certainly looks warm, cozy and inviting...not stiff or formal at all. This room just screams "Pinata"!

The show. We were happy as usual to be across from the Lie-Nielsen booth. We're huge LN fans, not just because of the tools but because of the people. They run a tight ship, treat people right and everyone walks away from that booth with a positive experience.



Thomas Lie-Nielsen giving a look at our new bench Skraper.

Being next to Andrew Lunn from Eccentric Toolworks was also a great boon. Andrew is an extremely affable fellow, someone we had corresponded with, but never met. He's also a VERY funny guy. We can say that we'd be dissapointed to not have the opportunity to share space with Andrew again.



Jameel, Roy Underhill & Andrew Lunn. Photo thanks to JoeMac.



Roy giving Andrew's dovetail saw a try on our 500 lb. Roubo. He liked them both!
Photo thanks to JoeMac.

A quick shot of the new Brese Panel Plane.

Another great bunch of guys were Dan and Kyle of DL Barrett & sons & Ed Paik of Medallion Toolworks. Fantastic products, the Barretts make world class plow planes and Ed makes beautiful saws. The best part is they are a bunch of good-natured cut-ups, even for a group from the great white North, eh'.



Ed Paik, Jameel, Dan Barrett, Kyle Barrett, Raney Nelson.



A stunning Barrett plow plane.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention some others at the show. We didn't take as many pics as we would have liked but we were really happy to see our friends Ron Hock & his wife Linda Rosengarten of Hock Tools. They are simply great people and we always look forward to seeing them. Unfortunately we missed getting some good shots of Konrad Sauer's infills.


L-R: Andrew Lunn, Ed Paik, Bob Zajicek, Jameel Abraham, Kyle Barrett, Gary Blum, Ron Hock, Dave Jeske, Dan Barrett, John Economaki, John Abraham (jr.), Ron Brese, Fr. John Abraham. Photo courtesy of Tony Augruso.

In fact it's too bad we have to rely on these shows for everyone to get together, being separated as we are by typically great distances. People like George Walker, Christopher Schwarz, Megan Fitzpatrick, Angie Kopacek, Alex and the whole L-N crew and many others we are pleased to see.

Special thanks to the entire staff of Popular Woodworking Magazine for putting so much effort into making WIA the special event that it has turned out to be. We look forward to the next WIA and hope to participate in it.

See us in Philadelphia October 2-4

October 2-4 we will be exhibiting our products at the Woodworking in America Hand Tools Conference at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA.

Here's what we have lined up for the show.

Benchcrafted Vises

See both the new Glide leg vise and our popular Tail (wagon) vise. We'll have vises on display (out on tables) so you can see just how robustly and precisely they are built. We'll have 6 vises (3 Glides and 3 Tail Vises) in different benches to try out. We'll also have an assortment of the finest hand tools for you to try the vises with from fettled vintage Stanley planes to Lie-Nielsen Bedrocks, as well as infill planes from Brese Plane. We'll also have a couple high-end hand saws to try our vises with. You can practice cutting dovetails with the Tail Vise, or try your hand at cutting tenon cheeks with a Bad Axe Toolworks tenon saw and our Glide Leg Vise.







The Benchcrafted Skraper

Our newest tool is the Skraper. It's a multipurpose scraping tool that shines for all sorts of miscellaneous shop tasks. Scroll down for a previous blog post about the Skraper. Recently, Popular Woodworking Magazine editor Megan Fitzpatrick had some good things to say about her Skraper she picked up at WIA in Chicago last month. Take a look at Megans' comments at the Popular Woodworking Blog. We'll be offering online ordering soon, but for now the Skraper is available only at WIA.




8' Ash Roubo bench outfitted with Benchcrafted Glides and Tail Vise.

I'll be bringing the Ash Roubo bench I built last year. This is the bench that I used to prototype our vises, and which currently features both vises. I've also added a sliding deadman to the bench which I'll be bringing along. The bench will be outfitted with an assortment of hand tools so you can test drive the vises and bench. Additionally, I've added a Glide Leg Vise to the right rear leg of this bench for the show. The entire vise will be for sale at the show. This will include not only the Glide hardware, but also all the wood components-a massive 9" wide, 2-3/4" thick ash chop along with quartersawn white oak parallel guide drawbored to the chop, roller guide brackets also in ash, and ash-handled steel adustment pin. It would make an ideal vise suite along with our Tail Vise for those looking to build a bench in the near future.





Mag-Bloks

As usual we'll be bringing along a variety of our Mag-Blok knife and tool holders in various species and sizes. These are the best racks for storing chisels, edge tools, and especially kitchen knives. They also make a great inexpensive gift. Christmas is just around the corner, and any foodie in your circle of friends and family would love one of these. They are also great for storing files and rasps. We're bringing along a special bench accessory for the Mag-Blok that we're pretty excited about. It's a trestle-style mount for an 18" Mag-Blok. It allows you to place a Mag-Blok right on your bench for storing tools off the surface, but at the ready. Its massive base allows it to stay put without it being attached to the bench, which also allows it to be moved around quickly when needed. We got this idea from our good friends at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, where we saw a similar holder on their bench (holding a series of their floats) at the last WIA in Chicago. Lie-Nielsen is a Mag-Blok retailer and they use Mag-Bloks regularly at the showroom and factory.






Bench Plans for the Benchcrafted Split-Top Roubo

Unfortunately, we won't have the actual plans ready for WIA. But we will have a poster on display advertising the plans, along with a form where you can be added to our mailing list to be notified when the plans are ready. The plans are in fact virtually complete, we just didn't get a chance to present them in a proper format in time for WIA. The good news is, these plans are being drawn up by Louis Bois, a professional draftsman who does work for Woodworking Magazine and Lost Art Press. So those of you familiar with the bench designs of Christopher Schwarz will recognize Louis' work in our plans. The complete plans will also include a 3d rendering of the bench, including vises, that you can rotate and disassemble on your computer screen. It's the next best thing to seeing our vises in person since you can see just exactly how they mount to the bench. We also have some extras in store on the DVD. Also, keep an eye out at our booth for a prototype of our new knockdown bench hardware.







T-Shirts

We had plenty of opportunities to come up with witty phrases for our T-Shirts, but in the end we decided to keep it simple. We figured nobody outside the woodworking world would get it anyway, and it's not very clever if you have to explain your T-shirt to a passerby! Stop by the booth and check out our new "Effortless Workholding" T-Shirts. You pay us for the T-shirt, you get cheap clothing with a cool logo that looks like Space Invaders and we get free advertising. What's not to love?

See you in Valley Forge.

European Woodworking show in Essex, England

This upcoming weekend is the first European Woodworking Show in Essex, England.

Since we can't make it to the show (as much as we'd like to spend the weekend at what looks to be a fantastic event for traditional tools, chock full of incredible demonstrators and tool makers) please stop by bench maker Richard Maguire's booth to see our vises, which Richard is now incorporating into his line of benches. See his latest Roubo bench above (which will be for sale at the show), featuring the Benchcrafted Tail Vise.

Richard's benches are some of the most incredible looking pieces of work I've ever seen. These are serious benches for serious woodwork. We wish Richard and the other participants the best of success this weekend.

Bench Plans In The Works

We've had lots of requests for plans for our Roubo-style, split-top bench featuring both of our vises.

I'm glad to announce that complete plans, as well as construction notes and a 3-d model are in the works and will be available soon. Although our instructions cover the installation process, these plans will allow vise users and bench builders to see the vises in three dimensions and even "disassemble" the bench to see exactly how the bench is put together around the Glide and Tail (wagon) Vise. The drawings are being prepared by draftsman Louis Bois. Louis did the bench drawings for Christopher Schwarz's Workbenches book, as well as the plans for the Holtzapffel bench from Woodworking Magazine.

We'd hoped to have these plans ready for the Woodworking In America Hand Tools conference next month, but that's not going to happen. However, if you're interested in receiving an email when they are ready, please drop us a line at info@benchcrafted.com. We'll also have a sign-up sheet at the show for those attending.

The Benchcrafted "Skraper"

At this year's Woodworking in American Furniture Design and Construction conference we unveiled a new tool, the "Skraper".

The Skraper is a utilitarian tool that is intended for tasks such as glue squeeze-out removal to refining surfaces and joinery, and everything in between. Honestly, it's a bit difficult to pin down just exactly what I use the Skraper for, since I use it for so many things. It's not like a smoothing plane that has basically one purpose--to take a fine shaving. The Skraper can do that too, by the way, in addition to strategically removing glue squeeze-out.

The business-end of the Skraper is a solid carbide bar honed on three sides and ends. All 8 edges are razor sharp and capable of taking fine shavings. And since its carbide, the edge lasts a long time. The Skraper can be resharpened with diamond abrasives.

Instead of trying to list everything I use the Skraper for (not that I could even remember), I'll point of a few of my favorite uses.



Glue squeeze-out. The obvious one.

We all know that scraping glue while its still rubbery is a good technique, but oft times the glue can pull out wood fibers along with it, especially when using a card scraper to remove the glue. Here's where the Skraper shines. The 90 degree cutting angle , coupled with the thick carbide edge helps prevent grain tearing, especially when the tool is used at a skew to the grain.



Skewing the tool helps keep the grain in place while the scraper can do its job of shearing off the glue. The angled handle allows a zero degree approach, allowing space to get your fingers around the handle.



The Skraper also really shines for cleaning glue out of corners. After removing the glue, the Skraper can be used to take fine shavings from the surrounding area. See the video below for the technique.



I also like to use the Skraper to refine small areas while keeping them dead flat. A card scraper will hollow an area, while the Skraper will not. This is especially handy for maintaining the fit of some joints or the flatness of a surface. I like to think of the Skraper as a sort of one-tooth float. Holding the Skraper at a low angle and taking short strokes at a bias to the grain makes nice wispy shavings.







The Skraper is incredible on exotic oily woods like this cocobolo. Holding the scraper upright with a rearward tilt (I'm pulling the Skraper toward my body here) produces beautiful shavings. I can make dead flat scraped surfaces with no tearout.



These are just a few uses for the Skraper. I find myself reaching for mine several times during a project. And they are not just for woodworking, the Skraper is also great around the house and shed for miscellaneous tasks.

Right now the Skraper is not available through the website. If you are attending the Woodworking in America conference in Valley Forge, PA October 2-4 you can buy a Skraper at the Benchcrafted booth. After the show, online ordering will be available. If you'd like to be notified when they are available, please drop us an email.