The Benchcrafted Bench plans

We've been getting lots of requests for a full set of plans and construction notes for both our travel bench and our latest bench.

Apart from our own vises and a couple small details, this bench can be built using several sources, all of which are readily available, and in some cases, free.

If you're interested in building a version of our "split-top" bench, please follow along here as we outline the resources for building this bench, along with our own construction details over the next few blog posts.

Resources:

1. Workbenches by Christopher Schwarz $34

If you're about to build a bench, this is the one book you shouldn't be without. It's the best book out there for designing and building benches, hands down. You don't necessarily need this book to build our bench, but it will help you decide on many aspects of your build.

2. Issue 8 of Woodworking Magazine $6 download

This issue features Schwarz's Holtzapffel workbench, which served as a basis for building the base of our own workbench. Chris has chosen very robust dimensions and construction methods for the undercarriage of his bench. Both vises on this bench simply bolt on, so it's easy to build the bench and disregard the vise elements of the plan. This bench features a 3" thick top, but we recommend a 4" top for easier installation of our vises, although tops less than 4" thick will work fine.

3. Holtzapffel bench extras. Free

Info and drawings about building a knockdown version of the base, plus other links to construction notes and info from a class Schwarz held on building the bench.

4. Travel bench blog posts. Free

Follow along as I built our travel bench. This is simply a smaller version of our latest bench with a couple small changes.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

Next we'll post construction details and dimensions for the 7' version of the bench.

Roubo Bench--For Sale

We've just completed a massive bench to display our vises at the Woodworking In America Conference in St. Charles, IL next month.

This bench will be used lightly over the course of the weekend, and Sunday afternoon when the conference ends, the bench will be available for pick up (or possible local delivery--drop us an email if you're interested).

The top sections, base and shelf are of soft maple. The top measures 7' 3" long x 24" wide and is 4" thick. The height is 35". The top joins to the base on 1" tenons at the top of each leg, plus 4 Spaz

The bench is outfitted with both our Glide Leg Vise and Benchcrafted Tail Vise.

The Glide features a hard maple chop that is over 2-1/2" thick. The vise chop is 9" wide and opens to a maximum capacity of 9".

The Benchcrafted Tail Vise is installed for maximum capacity of 11-1/4" between the jaws. Maximum holding capacity between dogs is 75". All vise jaws and dog faces are lined with perforated suede leather for fantastic grip.

The 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" base legs are drawbored mortise and tenon to the short stretchers and complete the base with two long rails through knockdown fasteners: 1/2" bolts and 1"dia. custom steel barrel nuts.

The shelf in the base is 21" x 49" ship lapped curly maple.

The sliding deadman/board jack is hard maple and is outfitted with a Veritas Surface Clamp. The right leg and tops are drilled for Gramercy holdfasts (two included) or other accessories that fit 3/4" holes.

The bench weighs 285 lbs.











The gap between the tops is wide enough to accomodate a K-Body clamp. The bench features an accessory strip that fits between the tops that can serve multiple functions. In it's flush position (below) it seals the gap and prevents all but small tools from falling through. The slot in the strip can be used for storing tools (see below).



Flip the strip over and it protrudes above the bench about 1/2", serving as a planing stop or sawing stop when slid to one end of the bench. The strip simply rests on the top rails of the base in both configurations and can be removed instantly if desired.















If you're interested in purchasing this bench at the WIA show in Chicago, please drop us a line. The price is $3195.

Thread Inserts for The Glide

We've sourced some excellent thread inserts for installing The Glide in softwoods. Threading woods such as Southern Yellow Pine or Douglas Fir does not provide enough strength for the machine screws that hold the roller guides to the bench.

We've tested these inserts in Yellow pine with a roller bracket and the strength is impressive. We couldn't get the insert to budge.

To use the insert, mark the holes for the screws using the templates and drill the pilot hole for the insert. The manufacturer recommends 31/64", but we went ahead and tested them with a 1/2" pilot hole, since most will already have this bit. It worked fine. Just drill accurately and smoothly. You don't want to make the hole any larger than 1/2". If you have a 31/64" bit, use it.

The insert can be driven home with 10mm hex drive tool. Dig around your Allen wrench stash and chances are you already have one.

And here's the good news. The inserts are free. If you're purchasing a Glide intended for a softwood bench, just request the inserts and we'll include them with your vise. You can also use these in hardwood if you'd rather not hassle with tapping. If you've already purchased a Glide intended for softwood, drop us a line and we'll send you some inserts.

Installing the Glide in Softwood Benches

A customer recently wrote us about installing the Glide Leg Vise in a bench made of Southern Yellow Pine (SYP). This material is a common bench wood in the South, and a popular choice because of its low cost. It makes a fine bench, but there is an issue with mounting the roller brackets with the included machine screws, since SYP does not have sufficient holding power when tapping the wood for machine screws. Woods such as ash and maple have no problem with this, but the SYP does not have the shear strength to maintain the integrity of the 3/8-16 threads. Douglas fir is also a popular softwood used for benches, and suffers from the same weakness as SYP in this regard. You can strip out the threads if you overtighten the screw. The fix is to reinforce the SYP (or other softwood) with metal thread inserts, providing the machine screws with a better grip. We're sourcing appropriate inserts for this application, and will have them available in the next week or so.

Glide Pre-Order Last Chance

Today is the last chance to get our new Glide Leg Vise for $299. After tomorrow it goes up to $325, that is if we remember to reconfigure our shopping cart!

Thanks to all the customers who have purchased the Glide during the pre-order period. We're still shipping vises daily, and more are in the queue.

Bench For Sale

When we built the above bench for showcasing our vises at various events, we never thought we'd get so much interest in the bench itself. In fact, at the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event we participated in in Chicago last month, we had nearly as much interest in the bench as in the vises themselves!

We anticipate a similar response at the Woodworking in America event in St. Charles, IL in August.

So we are in the process of building a larger, second bench to meet some of the needs of this larger event. The bench will be for sale at the show.

The bench will be outfitted with our Benchcrafted Tail Vise and our new Glide Leg Vise. The top will be split down the middle like our travel bench (this offers numerous workholding advantages) and will feature square dog holes with wood dogs, various holdfast holes in the top and legs (two Gramercy holdfasts included) sliding deadman and shelf. The top dimensions will be approximately 24" x 84"x 4" thick. The bench will be available for pick-up at the end of the show.

The bench will be set up for right-handed woodworkers. That is, unless you are a left-hander and are particularly eager to get your hands on this bench (drop us a line, we haven't cut any wood yet).

Glide Pre-Order Pricing Ending Soon

Next Tuesday is the last day to get our new Glide Leg Vise for the pre-order price of $299. After Tuesday, the price will be $325.

We've shipped the first batch of vises this past week, and more go out every day. We're looking forward to seeing the Glide appear in benches all over the country (not to mention a few international customers as well!) in the coming weeks and months.

Once again, the next chance to see a Glide in the flesh will be at Woodworking in America in Chicago, IL August 14-16. We'll have two benches outfitted with our vises at the show, with an assortment of fine hand tools to try the vises with. We will also have an assortment of Mag-Bloks available.

Plus, we're using the WIA event to debut our next product. It's a small, inexpensive tool that we think will be a welcome addition to any fine woodworker's arsenal. We hope you'll stop by if you're in the area.

Glide Leg Vise Now Shipping!

As of yesterday, the first batches of Glide Leg Vises shipped. For those of you who took advantage of our pre-order price (and there's still a little over a week left for those who haven't) at the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Cincinnati, your vise is either on it's way, or is scheduled to ship within the next few days. We're pleased that we're about a week ahead of our initial goal of shipping the first Glides by July 1!

For those who have a vise on the way, or would like a closer look at how the Glide might work in their bench, we've just uploaded the complete installation instructions for the Glide, along with a series of templates. You can download those from the Glide page, or directly here:

Glide Installation Instructions

Glide Templates

If you're still on the fence about purchasing a Glide, you still have about a week and a half before the pre-order pricing expires.

If you'd like to see the Glide in person, the next chance will be at the Woodworking In America Conference in St. Charles, IL August 14,15, and 16. If you're in the area, please stop by and say hello and give our vises a test drive. The conference marketplace, where all the vendors will be set up, will be open to the general public. This is the best place in the country to try out and purchase the finest hand-woodworking tools that we know of. Well, other than the next WIA in October, which we're also attending.

Left-hand vs. Right-hand Wagon Vises

We get a lot of questions about which Benchcrafted Tail Vise to purchase, left-hand or the right-hand model.

There is some confusion about the differences between the two. This should clear it up.

First of all, the screw in both vises is identical. They both turn the same way to adjust the vise. Clockwise to advance the dog block, counterclockwise to open the vise. Typical righty-tighty stuff. The sliding plate assembly is the part of the vise which determines the handedness. The right-hand and left-hand versions are simply mirror images.



Here you can see the difference. This is a right-hand vise.



And this is a left-hand vise.

Either vise can be used in either end of your bench.

Two factors determine which vise to choose:

1. Obviously the first is your dominant hand--in other words, which end of the bench you'll install the vise. If you're left handed, you'll install the vise at the left end of the bench, and vice versa.

2. Dog-hole placement in your bench, that is, how far back from the front edge the holes fall.

We'll focus on the second factor, since the first one is a given.

We recommend that when building a new bench you place your row of dog holes as close to the front of the bench as possible. This makes working narrow boards more convenient. But with benches with flush-to-the-front and thick legs, this usually places a dog hole right over a leg.



The solution is to drill a cross hole through the leg directly below that dog hole so you can access the dog (see above). You'll also need to continue the dog hole down through the leg so it meets the cross hole.

If you don't want to hassle with this step, or you're retrofitting a vise to a bench that already has dog holes far into the bench top (past the leg), you'll want to choose the opposite-handed vise for your installation. Using the "wrong" vise in this situation will place the handwheel closer to the front edge of the bench than if you had used the "correct" vise.

Let's look at some pictures to illustrate.



This is a right-handed vise installed in a right-handed bench. Notice that the handwheel (and screw) fall behind the dog holes.



This is a left-handed vise installed in a left-handed bench. The handwheel and screw again fall behind the dog holes.



Here's a classic example of using the "wrong" vise because of dog-hole placement. This is Christopher Schwarz's Roubo bench. He installed the vise as a retrofit. His dog holes are positioned far from the front edge of the bench, about 6" back so they clear the legs. He installed a left-handed vise in a right-handed bench. This places the handwheel and screw in front of the dog holes. This makes the vise more convenient to use since the handwheel is closer to the front of the bench.



This is what it looks like from the underside.



Using a mirror image of Chris' bench, we can see what the same arrangement looks like in a left-handed bench. This is a right-handed vise installed in a left-handed bench. Again, the handwheel is positioned closer to the front of the bench for convenience.



From the underside.

For some more info on Chris' installation and templates click here.

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion about which vise to get. If you have any questions, please leave it in the comment section.

Sneak Peek....

It's been a LONG time since the last batch of custom One-of-a-Kind Mag-Bloks. Monday morning at 8am CST a large batch of 30, including Cocobolo, Zebrawood and some Morado, will be going up on the website.

Don't miss out, these usually only last a few days and you never know when we'll do more. It's been many months coming.