# The Construction of a Cabinet Maker's Workbench



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Free Wood, 

I got given a pile of wood, the owner was going to put in out in the street for any passerby who may want to take it away so I said to him "Are you Mad? Put it into my station wagon" so we did, but what do you do with a pile of rough looking wood?

This Photo Collection is the story of, What happened to the Free Wood.

I think I need a bigger tool box.

1,2,3 

The Free wood looks better once it has been faced and squared and its had a trip past my bandsaw blade and through the thickness planer, I always have bags of shavings to get rid of

4,5,6,7,8,9.

A lot of deep mortises need a jig, sure is a lot of waste to get rid of so the mortise gets fully blocked up with messy shavings so I did the same thing that the constipated mathematician did, I worked it out with a pencil.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

*Whats the best wood*

4,5,6,7,8,9.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

10,11,12,13.

Far too many Tennons to do so I used my small tennon saw, it's in the Festool router


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

14,15,16.

Ok the sides are together and there are more mortise and tennons to do, as I don't want any dust in the tool box so it will get closed in


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

17,18,19.

When I do any cutting then if there are many cuts the same, then I set up a stop and cut them all one at a time, a perfect way to cut dozens of tenon shoulders


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

20,21,22,23.

Cutting the cheeks of the tenons is easy on my bandsaw, and I have the internal frames together.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

This thread will go on for a while, the Tool Box has still got a lot more work so I will post it as it gets done. N


----------



## Ratbob (Apr 6, 2015)

You had me at "Free" Neville, what a score for someone who clearly knows what to do with it! Can't wait to see more.


----------



## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Hey I like free wood! :surprise::grin::grin::grin:

I have said it enough that now my wife will call it when she sees stuff along our travels!


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Michelangelo was once told that the statue of the 'David' was more beautiful than could be imagined, he was asked how he did it? He said that the David was in the block of Marble the whole time and all he did was cut away everything that was not part of David, Me, all I am doing here is chucking out any bit of wood or shaving from the pile of Free Wood that's not part of the 'Tool Box'. N


----------



## PaulH (May 30, 2012)

MT Stringer said:


> Hey I like free wood! :surprise::grin::grin::grin:
> 
> I have said it enough that now my wife will call it when she sees stuff along our travels!


Mike mine also...it all comes down to training!


----------



## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

Free is always a good thing.


----------



## Bodger96 (Mar 18, 2014)

I agree Neville. The best wood is free, I have made many projects with free wood. Some of those projects I made some 40 years ago and the people that bought them from me still cherish them today. Some of them have passed them on to their children. Taking recycling to the next level. Great stuff Neville!

Regards Bob


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Bodger96 said:


> I agree Neville. The best wood is free, I have made many projects with free wood. Some of those projects I made some 40 years ago and the people that bought them from me still cherish them today. Some of them have passed them on to their children. Taking recycling to the next level. Great stuff Neville!
> 
> Regards Bob


Bob, this wood looked so rough it could have finished up as Fire Wood, all that was needed was 'Imagination' N


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Good use of "free" wood, Neville...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

24,25,26,27.

For some time I have been renovating a 1 and 3/4 size car garage into a workshop, I have a lot to fit into it and the 'tool box concept' is a key part still, over time the room has been lined and had several shelving areas built, so far not finished and the big steel bench was remade into a timber rack with front work top and heavy vise, there is over $12K of furniture quality timber in this rack including large amounts of Aust Silver Ash, Aust Cedar, Am Cherry, Am Walnut, Am White Ash, Aust Black Bean, Sycamore, a lot of other wood so as time has passed then the 'Big Tool Box' has become the priority, so just now everything is just piled up to get it out of the way, but at least for now the space where the tool box will sit is clear.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

28, 29.

The internal Frames and the outside ends


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

30,31,32,33

All the big tenons will be wedged and to make the assembly easier, all the joints get tested first.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

34

More free wood. I saved these off cuts a while ago, good as I will need a lot of corner blocks as the frame needs to be very strong.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

35,36,37

Ok the cats out of the bag, this tool box is far bigger than you think, 900mm high x 2100mm wide and 800mm deep, I need it as I have a lot of tools and there are also other things it will be used for, besides, I want to use every square inch of this free wood N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

The cost so far, $30.00 au. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I just bought one of these lathes, so it will sit and run on top of the tool Box, OK who am I kidding? "This is a Cabinetmakers Workbench" Just the way I like them. But it is also a "Tool Box" N

Custom Cue Lathes


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

38, Good the wedges in, my bad as the wedges go in after the tenon is inserted. 
39, Good the wedges are now in. 

You can see uncut wood on the end of the front rail in photo 39, This Workbench is as long as the free wood let me make it N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

40,41

The other photos show it laying on various faces but before I put the outside ends on the I put it upside down, I knew I had to work on the underside and I only wanted to turn it once. As it will be sitting on the concrete floor then I have painted the bottom of the legs with Bitumen paint, I have also screwed corner blocks in all of the lower corners and cleated the underside so the lower dust cover can be attached, I like my tools so I don't want any critters living in the Big Tool Box, I don't like dust in there either and I can make quite a lot of Dust.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

42.

The lower dust cover is on and as this is only light 3 ply and to keep dust and insects out, and mice, then I also got to use two of the original off cuts from when the boards went past the bandsaw and got rough cut to width, the ply will sag over time so its there to stiffen it. I also took the opportunity to trim the horns of the rear tenons as doing that later would be harder. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

43.

So its on its face now with the legs to the rear, I have used up nearly all of the old saved corner blocks I was keeping, the thing about saving wood for future use is that it is similar to saving your virginity, "There's no point in saving it forever and at some point of time when a worthy use comes along then use it up" The sad thing is that you can only use it once. Nearly all of the block wood is now used and I also trimmed the available wedged tenons. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

44.

This is taken as an inside view, should be very clean when the tools are in it. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

45.

Its on its feet now and will sit about here, there is still more work to do, the very front two wedged tenons have to be trimmed and I will fill and sand it's seen areas, As this is a Cabinets Makers Work Bench, and I am one, then I don't want it to look crappy, This Work Bench. Tool Box, Lathe Stand, will get stained and polished so if anyone wants to suggest a colour then do say what you think. For anyone who has noticed that the 1/2 inch thick ply end inserts are still not in then there a reason for that, I did think that I would want to be able to get my arms through those openings while it was not on its feet and that did turn out to be true and I did crawl through the opening once myself, there is also the staining to consider, whenever an inserted panel is going to be stained, then do that and stain the panel, also stain the frame before you finally attached the panel as its a lot easier. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

The cost has gone up by anouther $44.00au as I had to buy the ply as well as more glue, lets say the cost has gone up by $31.00au as I will not use much of the new glue on this so the new total cost is $61.00au, Damn, I am fast running out of the free wood. N


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I don't normally use the word, Neville, but that creation is awesome! You could ship three baby pachyderms in it...
I sure hope you never need to modify it 'cause it ain't _never_ coming apart!!! :0


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

DaninVan said:


> I don't normally use the word, Neville, but that creation is awesome! You could ship three baby pachyderms in it...
> I sure hope you never need to modify it 'cause it ain't _never_ coming apart!!! :0


Its a work bench, there will be 10 drawers in it, plus other stuff, wait and see. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

46, 47.

Ok now its costing me money, the low profile Face Vise and the End Vise. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

48.

I did say that there are going to be 10 drawers, the drawer depth will be 690mm however these 600mm full extension slides will come out enough. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

49.

It seems that I can still not be trusted to go shopping alone, I go for something and come back with something unexpected, still I like this plane and the tool box does have the space for it. If you look into the shinny brass plane then you can see me taking a snap of my new block plane. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

50.

I did say that if you have an inserted panel that's going to be stained, then stain it and the frame before you fit it in. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

51, 52.

Drawer runners going in as the whole frame is now stained. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

53.

The wedged tenons and end with the ply insert fitted. The stained colour is just a variation of cedar, I have the stain so I'm using it, finished it will look good. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I have said that I am renovating the entire area and fitting shelves, this whole space will be a workshop where several machines will run, including 3 wood lathes, bandsaw, table saw, thicknesser planer, The Makata compound saw, I had thought about doing an entire thread about the workshop fit out but there would be hundreds of photos to show it all, these are just a few I have taken along the way, plus one other job that I got distracted with last month, I did everything that you see in the kitchen photo, it was just walls when I started. N


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Neville your killing me here . I almost want to take my work bench and toss it and start over after seeing your work .
Well maybe after I insulate first


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I have other responsibilities so it will be a few days before I can get back to this project, pity as its moving along. N


----------



## Ratbob (Apr 6, 2015)

neville9999 said:


> I have other responsibilities so it will be a few days before I can get back to this project, pity as its moving along. N


Thanks for the heads-up Neville, I could have gone into withdrawals. I've been enjoying seeing the box take shape, and learning a lot from your craftsmanship. Great thread, and super results!


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

DaninVan said:


> I don't normally use the word, Neville, but that creation is awesome! You could ship three baby pachyderms in it...
> I sure hope you never need to modify it 'cause it ain't _never_ coming apart!!! :0


Dan it would be poor design work, indeed a pathetic plan if any professional cabinetmaker had to change his design, so that will never happen with me, still there was that one time, OK a few times but not often, OK few times but not very often, damn, Dan's correct as this will be hard to get apart if I have to modify it. N


----------



## Belg (Nov 2, 2011)

Just getting caught up on this project and really like how you're taken such care to get it right. If I can ask one question, I was taught to drill a relief hole at the bottom of the wedge slots as to not have the member split past the desired mortise and tenon section. Is there any reason you didn't incorporate this? FREE IS GREAT, and my favorite as well. I do alot of reclaimed type projects and have just scored a bunch of teak from a hot tub surround that I think will clean up very nicely.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Belg said:


> Just getting caught up on this project and really like how you're taken such care to get it right. If I can ask one question, I was taught to drill a relief hole at the bottom of the wedge slots as to not have the member split past the desired mortise and tenon section. Is there any reason you didn't incorporate this? FREE IS GREAT, and my favorite as well. I do alot of reclaimed type projects and have just scored a bunch of teak from a hot tub surround that I think will clean up very nicely.


There is a lot that I want to say about this Work Bench, why this way and not that way, there are a lot of those questions to answer and I will get to that last, one thing is that it would be far easier to make this Work Bench if I had a big bench to work on as I handle the parts, as I do this then my planner/thicknesser is outside under a tarp so go back to the photo of the internal frames and the outside ends as they are leaning on the machine which is under that blue cover, I want to get better organized and have all the boxed tools on the shelves with all the small tools in the drawers and then get the thickness planer back inside as well as have some floor space to swing the cat, I also want to get on with projects that are unfinished, you all will know how hard life is in a small work space so with limited space and time then there are so many things that could be done differently, and you all may not know but I am not just a Cabinetmaker, I am an award winning one and I do try to follow the rules, many times in the past then I have been asked about cutting lists, could I send a copy of the cutting list and I have refused. The thing is that there is no cutting list that applies to all projects and when you set out to make some item then you fall back on what it is, and maybe you consider what you can sell it for and does that price justify all the time. I had a pile of free wood and I have been trying to solve my storage problem as well as create that perfect work top to make my life easier, how wide and how high, that always comes down to the space it will fit in and what material you have to use for the project, how much more money you are prepared to spend. The methods used, I don't think that I am doing that much wrong as this is a workbench for myself, the long rails have been hard to handle in the space I have so I was just happy to cut the wedge slots on the bandsaw so what you see is what I got, I feel a large need to get on with it so it is as pure as I can do it and I think that the finished product will store all my tools and give me the work space for future projects. I made the central space wider as I need a place for my 24inch Leigh Dovetail jig. I like hand dovetails yet I also have this Leigh Jig. I would have liked to use it to do the drawers for the Workbench yet life is hard without it to use so the drawers will use the 600mm long full extension slides, they be will be made next and they could be a whole new thread of their own. I have two router lathes that I am making, one you all can see the full construction but one is so commercially sensitive that I may never show it, I will record the construction and show it sometime but I can't see how I can show that one anytime soon. There are some very cool projects that I want to get on with and I never seem to have the time that I do need. Why did I not drill holes at the very inside of the wedges? Lazy I guess. N as a PS then I should add that I have said many times that throwing out wood because it has been used before or it looks rough is pathetic and lacks imagination, I am very happy with the fact that I have given this wood a new life when under other circumstances it could have been burned, the fact that you have saved this Teak is perfect, look at what you have and decide what can be made from it then create your own cutting list. Some of the wood in my rack is very neat stuff and the previous owner did make a big deal about how good it was, I pointed out that it was only so useful as there was no way to get anymore of it including any large pieces that some project would need, this pile of free wood and your reclaimed teak, they can only be used to make some item that can be cut from what you do have. I am very happy that this pile will be used for something that I need so it will be far more useful than its ever been, and not burned, you will need to think about what you do/can use your Teak for.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

60, 61.

There are three spaces in the workbench and the left hand one will have two top drawers and the balance will be open as I have two small carryall bags so they will sit in this space and I will stop filling them with saw dust, maybe, this area has now been lined with a bottom and a back as well as being stained to matched the rest of the exterior and I prepared for this bottom to go in by running a rebate in the lower front rail before the frame was assembled, the rebate does not show in any of the photos but it is there. All the drawer runners are now in except one, I will use that one to pre-drill holes in the drawer sides to make fitting them easier, then it and the 10 drawers will go in. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

way to go Neville...

how in the world did I miss this great thread....


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

You were off fishing...


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

oh...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

62, 63, 64.

The workbench always was going to have crossbars at the top as it needs the strength for the top that will sit on it, the cross bars will get housed in as that adds a lot of strength and is easy to do I have made a simple jig that uses the base of one of my Makita Trimmers as the guide, this jig is a brutal as it gets but its job is to make 6 trenches and then go in the bin. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

65, 66.

You can see that I like to add blocks so I cut them this way and I get no waste. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

67. 

The End Vise is going in, I have to get the two vises set in place and the top on before I can put the drawers in, I just don't have the time to put them in and then take them out again and put them back in again, as much as I would like to put things into the drawers then I just have to wait. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

68.

Even though I can't work on it as much as I would like to then I do still feel that I am making progress and I wonder if you all see the direction I am going, I had to lift it to get the shaft of the End Vise into the end top rail hole so you can see house bricks that I propped it up with, this is getting seriously heavy. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

That is some nicely thought out and executed work Neville...


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

"...this is getting seriously heavy. N"
No kidding!!! :0


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> "...this is getting seriously heavy. N"
> No kidding!!! :0


you don't think he's gonna move it for any reason do ya...
heavy is good...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick I am a bit annoyed about my VL175 and you can see glimpses of it beside the work bench, at the moment I cant use it, its still on a rolling platform, that is because I knew that I would have to roll it away down the room so that this work bench can also be rolled down to the left about two feet, then I can get full access to the very right hand end and I can finish that the way I want to do it, there is no way I will be able to move this when there are tools in it and the top on it, so I have to move it soon, I think if I put one more part on it then it would get far to heavy to do this, the plan for now is that I am going to use a hand winch to lift it high enough at each ens to slip a rolling platform under it then and then it can be moved. I was thinking about making the bench a foot shorter so that there would not be a blind corner into the end bench and shelves but in the end I decided to make this bench as long as the free wood would let me make it as the benefits of that far out weight the blind corner problem. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@neville9999...
you do need to move it... ugh...

lever and pry/scoot it to where you need it to be...
use levers to lift it and put your casters under it...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick its 7.08am Sunday Morning in Australia and I am thinking about the bench, how boring is that?, I did use levers to get it up on the bricks but I will need the hand winch to get it onto a rolling platform, there is one other thing and this one is one of my favorite things about working with wood, this work bench will be around for a very long time, it will get used by others for years after I am gone, I like the idea that it may well still be being used in 100 years or more and other than some vandal breaking it up in the future then it will survive, I want those persons who come to own it to be as impressed with the work bench as I am, I never like the idea that anyone will look at something that I make and think that I am not as brilliant as I know I am. There is no time in my life to make anything that I would not want people to know that I made it. Anyone who works with wood should keep that in mind, never use short cuts and any compromises, when you do that then you can't put your name on it. N


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Great philosophy, Neville!
When I picked a name for my construction co. I just used my own full name; no problem finding me in the ph. book.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Great philosophy, Neville!


indeed....


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

This project is now moving along, from now on the top is being done so I'm holding the photos back for a few days, get your seat belts on as the top is going to be impressive. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

71,72.

The face vise is going in and there are a few stages and I did get to use the rough jig 4 more times, its now in the bin, its a low profile vise and I was going to fix it directly to the underside of the top, problem is that there will not be that much 'vise depth' down to the bars so I have done all of this to drop it 50mm, in the end when I am using the vise I will be thrilled that I did this, just now I am not that happy. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

72.

I thought a lot about the material for the top, I wanted a hardwood and 'flat' there is no real way for me to buy hardwood boards and dress and join them, I can do all that but its time consuming and the cost of the wood itself is high, for $30.00au more then I bought these finger-jointed hardwood panels, they are already flat and fully seasoned, as long as I seal all this up properly then this top made this way should be very stable and last for many years, the only down side is that its only 26mm or I inch thick, I am a cabinetmaker so I can deal with that. Best thing and what tipped me over the top to use them is that they come 2200mm long and that's is what my top will be as its finished length, only 600mm deep so I had to buy two of them, The way I am cutting and using these panels will mean that there will be only a very few small pieces left over, I worked it out before I bought them that I would be using it all. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

73, 74, 75.

I cut one of the panels into 5 pieces 1x80 off the front, the front of these panels is 1/2 rounded so this piece will be fixed under the front edge of the main top with its 1/2 round down and double the top thickness to 52mm. next I cut a 155, then a 138, this 138 is the balance so I will most likely use it as a rear panel fixed vertically to the bench of the main top and it will stop dust/shavings going down the back, I'm thinking about how much I would like to do that however I have also to use some of this 138 materiel for the sliding plate for the end vise so some of this will get used for that and the balance will get split down the middle and then end joined to give me over 2200 and then joined edge wise to any old scrap of wood that I have that's 2200 long and 20 thick, the 20 thick will widen it and give me a piece for the rear that will stick up over 150mm at the rear so that will also work as a rear panel, you can see an Australian power point on the rear wall so that will be brought forward into this panel and then more power points will be in the middle of the front main rail of the work bench as I don't like walking too far to plug in, the last piece was 220 and it will be joined to the rear of the main top to extend the top out to a finished width of 810mm, this project is hotting up. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

76.

I did say that these boards are finger jointed, they are also laminated at 45mm increments so they look 'butcher block. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

77.

I have cut the 155 into 5 piece's length wise and they sit on the uncut panel which will be the main top, [email protected] [email protected], and the last got split length wise into [email protected], these first three are for the front face vise and I had to get them to finish fitting it so that's next, work with these three pieces and get the front vise finished, the two at 815x75 are the same width as the first piece with the round that is 80mm, these two will get used to thicken the underside of the ends on the main top, I have to build it all up underneath to 52mm to the first long piece at 80mm and these two will do the front and the ends.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

outstanding build Neville...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stay in your chair Stick, the action is just beginning. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

78, 79,80.

I took the one cut at 485 and squared/edged the two long edges then I cut it into three and then biscuit joined it back together, then I face glued it to one of the 445 pieces so the two of them are now one piece not yet cut to the finished size but about 445x155x52 and this will be the front of the face vise, the thing is that this material will look great as the timber for the vise but being laminated length wise and as I dropped the vise lower then the timber in the vise will stick up above the steel bar at the front of the vise so if the vise is overly tightened then the whole top may break off, so by reversing one of the lamination's to vertical and it is a right angles to the other piece then the front of the vise will be a lot stronger, I have the heavy vise and heavy top on the steel bench so this vise is for working with wood and will not ever be that tight, still I don't want it to break so the time to do this was worth it. Photo 80 shows the three pieces of the vise, the the other one cut at 445 will get fixed directly on the front of the bench so that will be strong and the two joined together will be attached top the front of the vise, done this way then I doubt the timber will ever break. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

81.

I don't have a 2200mm long perfectly straight edge and this 50x50 aluminum square box bar did do a join that is OK, not perfect but as good as I can get. At the rear right hand side of this photo then you can see the 220 wide piece that will get used to extend the top out to 810, it's just leaning on the wall. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

82.

So now the top is glued up and extended to 810mm, that's the finished size and I won't touch this now until tomorrow, there's a anouther thread at the moment that asked if there are ever too many clamps, the answer is no, I don't ever have enough. no body should say that I don't have a block of wood under the clamp foot at the front, I know that it should be there but these clamps are the longest I have and they only just fit onto the top, so no room for a block, I would have gone 820 with the top but I knew that I did not have any bar clamps that big so I may have to trim 2mm off the front to clean up any clamp damage to the front edge and that will bring it down to 808mm. N.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Stay in your chair Stick, the action is just beginning. N


I will...


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Damn...
this looks good...


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

neville9999 said:


> 82.
> 
> these clamps are the longest I have and they only just fit onto the top, so no room for a block, I would have gone 820 with the top but I knew that I did not have any bar clamps that big so I may have to trim 2mm off the front to clean up any clamp damage to the front edge and that will bring it down to 808mm. N.


That's one of the reasons I like to have a few pipe clamps around N. With a few pipe couplings you can extend them quite a distance. I've had mine out to about 12' / 3.5m or so.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> That's one of the reasons I like to have a few pipe clamps around N. With a few pipe couplings you can extend them quite a distance. I've had mine out to about 12' / 3.5m or so.


With all the tools I have then pipe clamps are not among them, I have to get some . N


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Neville you sure take things to the next level . Love your threads


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

RainMan1 said:


> Neville you sure take things to the next level . Love your threads


Rick thanks for the comment, this has not gone perfectly and I have made a few mistooks, I should say that with any project that it is very important to set out a working 'Rod', Whats a 'Rod' I hear many of you say, A 'Rod' is s stick or a piece of ply that has a full sized 1/1 set out of the item on it with all the important way points marked along it and I would normally do the height on one side and the width on the other, normally I don't need a depth rod but there are times and projects where it would help, and then you can directly transfer the dimensions to your parts by laying the rod on the part and just transferring the line across and thereby you get the exact size or joint point straight off the rod so no need to keep measuring it and marking it. A working Rod is normally kept so it could be used to make the exact same project again in the future. This entire project is being made without a 'Rod', in fact there is no real plan other than some scribble on a piece of a4 copy paper and I have the notes of the sizes and way points written there. The lack of a Rod and me being so sure of myself has resulted in one size error being made and some other little things that I see in the photos but none of you will ever pick them, Were I less sure of myself then a working Rod would have prevented the errors. The value of something can be set by what anouther person will pay for it, this is for me and not for sale so its value will not be known. the cost will be around and just under $800.00au and the free wood sure did help, this workbench and tool box is important to me and part of a future plan that I have for a viable home workshop business so I am putting in a lot of effort to get it correct, I said that there will be two lathes that sit on this bench when they run, one is coming from the USA, the items the laths will make is Billiard and Snooker Cues. Not unlike Pool Cues but they are different, the other lathe is being made by me as they cannot be bought and this new 'Router Cue Lathe' as I said, Sorry, but I may never show it as it is far too commercially sensitive and that's a shame as this is a Router Forum and I first came here to look and learn about 'Router Lathes' so I owe a debt to the site, but I will still be reluctant to show this lathe, but there is some good news as I will own two router lathes and the construction of the other one can go ahead in the next few months so I will show that one in full on its own thread when it gets advanced enough however this other new Router Cue Lathe is a key part of making Cues so you won't be seeing that one anytime soon. The thing is that these Billiards and Snooker cues will be hand made by me, on a Lathe that was also hand made by me, and all that will be done on a work bench also hand made by me, Soon I will buy a Lie Nielsen Jack plane, and most likely this one,

No. 5 Jack Plane & Accessories

maybe the 5 1/2 will be better, I always wanted one of the worlds best hand planes so I will own one and use it on the hand made work bench, tool box, lathe stand, so there is no way that I want that plane or the Cue Lathes to sit in photos on a bench that is less than worthy of it. I also own a Stanley 50 plane ans a 51 shooting board featured in my thread 'My Favorite Tool' and you can Google that if you want to know its value, I need a safe place for it to live, and a place where I can get it out any time I want to use it. N


----------



## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Outstanding, Neville. Like Stick, I'm hanging onto my chair. I can't wait for the next installment. I love watching someone bring things like this to life.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

83,84. So the top looks good without the clamps on it and I went out an bought an 8ft 8x3 board and broke some of it up on the bandsaw into 3x1 sawn, then I put it through the planer to 26mm so you can see the 6 rips on the top, they will get used to fill in the underside up to the 52mm target, there won't be any of the bench top material left over and I am still thinking about using the whole of the 138 rip as a rear panel. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

88, 86,87.

I was not going to show the photos of the rough cut vise parts, the first shows the three pieces standing on their edge together but I also wanted to show clearly that the two lamination's for the front of the vise run in different directions, that was what all the cutting and joining for one of them was all about before the two parts were glued together, its for strength, I will have the vertical side to the inside, I don't think it is any stronger either way as it is what it is but I like the look of the wood going the same direction as the top when the vise is closed. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

88.

The 80mm x 2200 strip that I took of the front of the other sheet is now glued and screwed to the underside of the front edge of the top, the good news is that the clamps did not leave a mark on the front edge so I will not have to do a skim clean up. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

89, 90.

As I will now fix the 2200x138 to the rear of the top as a dust/shavings panel, and there will be four power points fitted into it as well with four more in the front rail of the main frame, then I am now trying to save some of the bench top material, so I have cut one of the 800x80 strips in half and the two 800x40's are now fixed to the underside of the ends at 720x40, backed up by a 75x26 build up strip this will be fine, later when the glue is dry then I will do a 1mm clean up cut of the two outside ends with a 60mm router cutter. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

91.

The whole of the underside of the top is now built up with the 75x26 material and as you see the front edge and both the seen ends are built up with bench top material with the balance cut from the cheap wood, I have placed them so that they sit onto the cross rails of the main frame. The whole of the underside of the top will get fully sealed with a mineral turps based lacquer and then oiled, this will not get finished with any type of shine as this is a sealing up process and not a polishing process, this type of material, in fact any timber that is under a table or cabinet with a full timber top has to be fully sealed to protect it from attacks by varying humidity, sealed up then I am confident this top will survive decades. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

92.

As the 139 rip will now be screwed at the rear I have widened it up by 40mm, the top is 52mm so getting it 40mm higher is worth the messing around. I have also used a small off cut of the bench material at the very end as it's seen. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

93, 94.

While glue dries then I am playing around with the front vise. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

95.

Oops, this should not be here, looks like two drive shafts from a Router Lathe. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

96, 97.

Watching Glue dry is like watching paint dry. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

98.

I did have to work hard to get these off cuts, this is all that is left from the 2x 2200x600x26 sheets of material I used to make the top. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

99.

I often use the entire base of a router as the pilot guide as I like the full router base to sit flat on the work piece as the cut is made, this jig is being made to cut the recess into the top for the sliding plate from the end vise and it will only do this one job before I discard it, one cut half way in and all the way around and then with the help of two spacers then I will use the same jig without moving it and with a different cutter, to cut the slot fully through the top so as the router will be trapped in the jig then the cuts will be prefect, the small piece of material sitting on it is that slider and I cut it from the other 800x80, the one I saved, the rest of it I split in two, as I had it and it was just larger than the top of the face vise, then I have cut and glued that onto the tops of the two parts of the face vise's timber jaws, the tops of the vise will be flat with the top of the bench top. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Popular Woodworking has a promotion at the moment about a 'Joiners Work Bench' That's a nice bench and the top is very neat with the large end vise, I did think about laminating up a top like that for this bench. I also follow Mike Dunbar's Windsor Institute, I have made hundreds of chairs and if I ever get to the USA then doing some of his courses would be one of the things on my to do list however he has a neat 'school room' thing going there and the benches he has reflect that, perfect for what he is doing. Me I have images of many work bench's made by varied tradesmen, Moxon Vises, great looking Leg Vises, many different end vises. The thing with these benches is that they are mostly open underneath so for me were I to do a bench that way then it would just fill up with wood off cuts, get dusty, what 'I needed' was the prime factor in this bench's design, a long timber top with face and end vise, a place for the lathes to sit when they run, what I really needed was tool storage where they are clean and readily assessable, my needs were what decided the design of the bench and that is why it will have ten drawers under the top. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

100.

The box jig worked as it should. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

101, 102.

The inserted slide for the end vise is flat with the top and moves 70mm, I have it set up so that dust cannot get into the drawers this way. The brass Bench Dog will get fitted later and there will be 2 or 3 holes for it, the holes down the top for the end dog will be every 150mm so with 3 holes in the sliding plate then all objects will fit between the two dogs. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

103, 104, 105, 106.

A tale of three router trimmers, lets call them Huey, Dewy and Louie. Huey is set up to do a 3mm 1/4 round over, Dewy is set up to do a groove and Louie has a rebating cutter with a change of bearing to give me the rebate I wanted. As I said before I do have a Leigh 24inch dovetail jig and if I had the time them I would have been happy to make all the drawers out of timber and do the dovetail's on the Leigh Jig, they could still be on roller runners and be dovetailed however this is still a work bench/tool box so I am doing it the groove and rebate way, grooving and rebating is a very cool way to make anything, you can join like to like or anything to timber, I use to join timber desk legs to the side panels this way and it works very well and gives a strong easy to make joint. I would do this before I used Lammello Biscuits, and before I ever bought a Domino Joiner. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

107, 108.

This is not hard to do and you don't need three trimmers to do it, I have four of them so I would set three of them up and it makes making the drawer parts easy as pie, The trick to do this is that the groove has to be set away from the edge the exact thickness of the material, the rebating cutter has to be dropped down far enough to leave a tenon the same thickness as the groove that the grooving cutter makes so this grooving cutter can be any size, I normally use one about 1/3 of the materiel thickness but it could be 2/3'rds and still work as you would only drop down the rebating cutter far enough to give you the tenon you need for what ever grooving cutter you grab, I would not do that and I would go with the 1/3 cutter as anything bigger would leave a very weak join so I am just making the point that this method to do joins is very easy and you do not require any special cutter, I do have several bearings that I can swap over on the rebate cutters to give me the tenon length I want, Oh and the grooving cutter has also got to be dropped down far enough so that it gives a groove depth to suit the tenon length made by what ever bearing is on the rebate cutter. OK, one more every important thing, with the length of the fronts and backs and that is the same size by the way as the width of the bottom, then this is it - "Its the shoulder size that's is important" - and not the length of the part as the shoulder size is what sets the finished size of the drawer when it meets the part it meets, the tenon should in fact not reach the bottom of the groove as there should be a small gap for glue so I will cut these parts so then the shoulder of the bottom that will be made by the rebate cutter is then smaller than 2x the thickness of the material used for the sides, two sides plus the size between the two shoulders is what determines the size of the finished drawer, I won't fill up the groove with glue as it is just wasteful to do that and the tenon will nearly make it to the bottom of the groove. Easy. All the talk I read about 'Jigs to do Dadoes of an exact size" That really bores me as you can in fact run a dado any size smaller than the thickness of the material to be inserted, say the dado cutter was 2mm smaller than the thickness of the inserted shelf, then I run it 2mm smaller and then I do a small 2mm rebate on the under side of the shelf to give me a small shoulder and the exact tenon thickness I want, again the shelf should not reach the bottom of the dado groove and it does not have to as the shoulder will set the size of the finished contribution. "Groove and Tenon" is a perfect way to make anything. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@neville9999....

excellent tutorial... KUDOS...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Anyway I have a few issues with the vises so I can't push on with the top until those are solved so I am making the drawers, I won't assemble them yet as they are easier to store flat and would take up far too much space were they together, I won't put them together until I am ready to put them in, space is always at a premium here, How do you all like my new clamp rack? It seems to work and my only worry is that one will fall down on my head, as long as it hits me between the eyes then I should be OK. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Something Else that will get used on the Work Bench, my new Lie-Nielsen 5 1/2 Jack Plane. It's heavy so I will have to build my strength up. N


----------



## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

First of all, let me say that I have been following the construction of your bench, outstanding work and very well documented.

Dedicating a couple of small routers for drawer construction is a really great idea, the minimal investment would be more than offset by the time saved in not having to set up the equipment every time. If I made more drawers, this would definitely be something that I would look very closely at copying, although setting up a router table to cut the same joint in 1/2" Baltic birch is not that time consuming, other than needing two different set-ups.

You mention that the tongue on the front/back is 6mm, and that the tongue is 1/3 of the stock thickness so I'm guessing 18mm material - the depth of the tongue though looks to be longer than 6mm, is this correct?

I'm getting ready to build a storage bench, won't be doing any heavy work on it so construction won't be as sturdy as yours but it's going to have a bunch of drawers. Most of the drawers will be relatively shallow (trying to keep the contents to a single layer to make things easier to find) so thinking 1/2" BB for them, but there will be some deeper ones for larger/heavier items. I have a couple of (spare) routers and could dedicate them to drawer construction for the length of the project, and hopefully save myself time and aggravation. I've even considered making the boxes using mm dimensions to make things easier - the 3/4" ply I buy is pretty consistently 18 mm, the 1/2" BB is 12 mm and the 1/2" + 1/32" space for the drawer slides can be established at 13 mm so the calculation of box and drawer component dimensions becomes almost trivial.

Thanks for sharing your method.

Tom


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

tomp913 said:


> First of all, let me say that I have been following the construction of your bench, outstanding work and very well documented.
> 
> Dedicating a couple of small routers for drawer construction is a really great idea, the minimal investment would be more than offset by the time saved in not having to set up the equipment every time. If I made more drawers, this would definitely be something that I would look very closely at copying, although setting up a router table to cut the same joint in 1/2" Baltic birch is not that time consuming, other than needing two different set-ups.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your kind words, when I set out to make the bench then I soon saw that it would be a way for the Router Forum Community to see inside my mind so I hope that you all are enjoying the ride and the whole thing has been inside my head from the second I picked up the free wood, and I am happy for the thread to stay on the Forum for as long as persons want to read it, its a permanent record of me. The material is 16mm, the cutter for the grooves was just the first one I picked up that looked like it was 1/3 of the materiel thickness, The depth of the groove is set by the bearing on the rebate cutter as it cuts the tenon length so I have no say on that other than to use a different bearing, I use the small routers for many things so they are often set up together so that I don't have to change cutters. Grooves and Tenons done this way can be used to join anything. The Bench is not done yet so stay seated, It will be afew more weeks until I have the time to finish it fully. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

110.

All the drawer sides get rounded on both of the outside long edges and the inside top edge with the 3mm 1/4 Cutter. Radius cutting thes edges make it look very smooth. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

110.

The bottoms get rebated on all 4 of the underside edges and the fronts and backs get rebated on the outside faces so they can join to the sides. I also have to admit that I stuffed up 3 sides when I picked them up and rebated them by accident, I was looking for Dewy and I picked up Hewie, the sides don't get rebated so I had to make these three sides again, also this is the last photo of this bearing with it dust cover still on, some short time after this photo was shot then the dust cover flew away, guess it was far too dizzy to stay. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

112. The sides get grooved on one long edge and two short edges, the fronts and backs only get one long edge grooved. The fronts and backs get grooved on the other side to the rebated edge. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

113.

They fit, I will sand these parts and use up some more of the cedar stain, they will all get stained before they get put together, I have all the bits and piece's now to finish the vises so after all the drawers are stained and ready to assemble then I can get back to finishing the main top. here's a pop quiz, on page 10 there is photo 100 and it shows the recessed ledge I cut for the vise slide and the internal corners are square as that was what the straight cutter did cut, square corners, photo 101 and 102 show the slide in but they also show that the inside corner of the recessed ledge now has a 3mm radius, now that ledge is 11mm down from the main top's surface and the my 3mm 1/4 radius cutter is 13mm from the start of the cove down to the lowest point, so 13 does not fit into 11, how did I do that? N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

114, 115.

Hewy, Dewy and Lewie are back in their boxes but I have left them set up, it's anouther advantage in having the four timmer's, there are a lot of small parts and I did make sure that they are the correct size but stuff does happen so I can still make a new piece if I have to, I won't take the cutters out until I am sure all the parts are correct so I still have one free trimmer to use if I want to do a small cut. There are shavings everywhere, that's the real reason why the workbench has all closed in drawers, I just don't want to spend the rest of my life keeping the tools clean. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

most excellent tutorial Nevelle...
thanks...


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Hang On a Second...*

How do you all like my new clamp rack? It seems to work and* my only worry is that one will fall down on my head, as long as it hits me between the eyes then I should be OK. N[/QUOTE]*


On N.'s epitaph.
:crying:


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

DaninVan said:


> How do you all like my new clamp rack? It seems to work and* my only worry is that one will fall down on my head, as long as it hits me between the eyes then I should be OK. N*





On N.'s epitaph.
:crying:[/QUOTE]

Dan I can't leave them there, one did fall down, missed me by that much. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

116.

They don't look that big a pile of pieces when they are stacked there with all the cuts done and each piece stained, not much when you think how long it took to get them all ready to assemble. N


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Neville you sure you don't want me to change the name of this thread? I've never thought the name fit very well. I'm going to recommend that this be a featured article and I would like to see the name reflect the content better.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Neville you sure you don't want me to change the name of this thread? I've never thought the name fit very well. I'm going to recommend that this be a featured article and I would like to see the name reflect the content better.


you have my vote....


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Neville you sure you don't want me to change the name of this thread? I've never thought the name fit very well. I'm going to recommend that this be a featured article and I would like to see the name reflect the content better.


Chuck I would be happy to have the name changed to "Construction of A Cabinetmakers Workbench" you can do that anytime you want, as I said I was not happy myself as the topic needs to be in the header, the action is going to hot up now that I am back on the top. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

117, 118, 119.

Even though this top is made up out of seasoned and joined timber the underside can be attacked by humidity and years of that will damage to top so the entire area of the underside of the top is sealed up including the inside of the end vise slide plate recess and I will also seal up all the drawers parts with this mix as well, I mixed equal amounts of Raw Linseed Oil, Mineral Turpentine and a turps based lacquer, that was a tin of high gloss I had that was getting a bit old, the turps and oil really soaks in as it's thin and the lacquer acts as an hardener, when this dries then it can be oiled again with fine steel wool soaked in oil, I wont do that on the underside but this thin mix of oil and turps is a good base coat when you mix the lacquer in with it and you just have to have the time to let it go hard, that is if you want an oiled finish. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

47, 120.

The next step in getting the end vise finished, I wanted to have no seen bolt heads at the top but that would have required a glued join to this connector plate and glue would not do, I may in the end have to replace the inserted timber sliding plate, it may turn out to be not strong enough but visually I wanted it out of the same material as the top, and I don't intend to ever have this end vise that tight, time will tell how it performs, so I have made this plate to sit between the end vise and the top sliding plate, the vise has 6 holes as you see in photo 47 so I have drilled the timber plate and fitted tee nuts to connect the vise's metal top to this connector plate with bolts from below, I also have to make a full sized 4mm ply washer to sit between this plate and the vise as the flat vise plate with the 6 holes is 4mm down from the side bars. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

121.

I set out the six holes in the sliding timber plate and then drilled 5mm holes on my drill press so that they would be very straight, then with the main top back in place, I put the whole thing together and then drilled the holes down into the connector plate with the same drill bit in a battery drill and locked inside the previously drilled holes then I went straight into the connector plate, it is just too hard to set all this out and to get the holes to line up, this way works and is easy. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

122, 123.

Now all the holes are enlarged and the connector plate is finished, I coated it with the same mix as its also wood. The large recess you see in photo 122 drops over the bolt head you see in photo 47. This stuff is time consuming but it will work. I wanted to have three holes for the bench dog but there will only be two, they will be in the middle of the countersunk bolt heads, two should be enough. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

you will be a tough act to follow...


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*!*



neville9999 said:


> [/B]
> 
> 
> On N.'s epitaph.
> :crying:


Dan I can't leave them there, one did fall down, missed me by that much. N[/QUOTE]

I'm like a jinx or sumthin' >


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Dan I can't leave them there, one did fall down, missed me by that much. N


I'm like a jinx or sumthin' >[/QUOTE]

and the light has come on....

.


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@neville9999...

I hope you are cooking up another project for us...
This tutorial is finest kind which begs another..


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> @neville9999...
> 
> I hope you are cooking up another project for us...
> This tutorial is finest kind which begs another..


Stick I have a thread that I called 'A Different Router Lathe or a Router Standardizer" Its basically an Indexed a Router Box that I used to make a pile of table columns, with this type of column then you need certain points to be all the same so I used this box to get those details correct, I made heaps of those small Tea Tables and I never recorded the assembly of one of them, I still have more to do, I still have about 20 tables that are not together yet so I have not posted a photo of a finished table but when I get around to doing the rest of them then I will, that indexed Router Box is a very big deal and the idea can be used to make any number of items and get them the same, I don't think that that thread was ever fully understood and I am not done with it yet. Part of me renovating the workshop is to make it easier for me to do these projects, I have been working on getting this stuff fixed so I can press on with several other projects but I was not that well, these days my health is much better so I am pressing on, I am making some Jewelry Boxes but again it been far too hard without a dedicated working area. I have a half built replacement made for that Indexed Router box, its a better design but I have not been able to find the time to finish that. I have plenty on the cooker, I just have to get this bench and Workshop area finished first. N


----------



## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

another vote for "Featured Article" status!!!

excellent job Neville99999999999999999999999999


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> another vote for "Featured Article" status!!!
> 
> excellent job Neville99999999999999999999999999


I think that your 9 key is getting stuck, lever a pencil under it. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

thanks...
look forward to your threads...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

125,125.

All the drawers will get an oil finish, its only rotary peeled ply that they are made from and its not expensive ply so there are some defects in it but they are still only work bench drawers, but I still want them to look OK, so they got stained, that gets left to dry as its a thinners stain, then they got the sealer and that's an oil lacquer mixed with turps and linseed oil and I am very happy with the way that they have dried so finished they will look quite OK, normally I would only use materiel mixed with the same reducer, turps or thinners but as long as they are allowed to thoroughly dry between coats then this is OK, that totally dry, anyway you can see how the sealer mix brings out the colour, after all this is dry then I will give them a very light cut back with 320grit paper and then steel wool and oil them, then they can be put together, the thing is that there are going to get finished and its just a lot easier to do that when they are still in pieces. So while I do other things then these also will get finished so all the drawer parts are now sealed up. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

126.

I still have one problem with the end vise, A and A sit against each other and need to slide loosely or the vise will be tight and hard to use. However B1 and B2 will get hard bolted together and also because B1 is a small amount below the main top then this will not work. the B1 bsurface on the slide has been sanded back. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

127.

My solution is to glue some timber onto the face of B1, this is why I sanded it back, now B1 is lower down than it needs to be and when the whole top and vise are together then I will sand this back again to allow B1 and B2 to be hard bolted and still let the two "A" slip past each other, later when the glue is dry then I will cut the overhang away with a flush trim bearing cutter. Later when it is fitted then this small extension will not hang down by that much, it will hang down just enough so the two B's can be hard bolted. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Back to work on this soon. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Back to work on this soon. N


please hurry...

or take your time but hurry just the same....

.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> please hurry...
> 
> or take your time but hurry just the same....
> 
> .


Stick I always have other work to do, I will get back to this soon, N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Stick I always have other work to do, I will get back to this soon, N


just kidding...
enjoy your postings and workmanship... look forward to it...

got an idea....
work at this full time and the other part time...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

128. 

Seeing this is a Router Forum and I did have to Router this recess so the new Security Door Handle will clear the new door jam, and it was done free hand, no point in making a jig to do one cut when I do have a steady hand, anyway with all the tools in the workshop then I was fretting about the old door, me I do have a lot to do but the thought of the door being pushed in and my tools going to a new home was keeping me awake at night, that and one other thing, she keeps me awake. anyway, I have bitten the bullet and done the doors, the new main door cost me $20 bucks and the new security door cost me $30.00au, everyone will know how I like to use things again instead of turfing them out so both these doors were second hand still I knew they would fit. I am busy until Monday, then back to the work bench. If anyone wants to see the photos of the old door then, you can ask but good luck seeing that one N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

131, 132.

I hate to look for power outlets so the bench will have 4 doubles and 8 outlets are a lot but I will only be using one of them at a time and some things will be permanently plugged in to the rear points, the two at the front will be the main ones I will use, two at the rear and two more in the front rail, I like to use Forstner Bits to hog out waste, it easy so I have a lot of these bits, here I used three different ones to get the housing I wanted. I have been busy but I will be working on the bench more now as I have to get it finished. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

My other new Lie-Nielsen Plane, this one is the Low Angle Jack Plane. It's nice. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

133.

I did say that there are two power outlets in the rear raised panel, this is it from the back with the cables set into grooves. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

134, 135.

I wanted the inside face of the front vise to be flat with the front edge of the worktop, so that when I have a long object in the vise then it is also hard on the front edge of the top as it goes down the work top. Now I have not made that many mistakes in doing this, there was a small set out issue that amounted to nothing but now I have destroyed one of my best router cutters, my 16mm double fluted long cutter. I did double up the worktop thickness with that 80mm strip and half of 80 is 40, so there is a row of screws along the underside that adds strength to the join and you would think that as half 80 is 40 then no screw would be within the 26mm thickness of the vise front, anyway when you stop and start a job then you can forget things, especially as this is complicated so unless you have the mind of an elephant and you never forget anything then I did forget about these screws, had I remembered then I would likely have not even worried that one could be in that 26mm range, so I set up this straight edge to cut out a 26mm deep recess for the vise front to fit into and as I was going down 52mm then I used the long 16mm cutter. These two photos show the set up and the front sitting loosely in its place N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

136, 137, 138.

Here the vise front is upside down and against the top, it will get glued and biscuit joined into place so you can see the joining slots and the hole where the screw used to be as well as the damage to the cutter, also the front back in it's place, I will get this cutter shortened by about 15mm and sharpened again, when it is then it won't be 16mm anymore but I will still be able to use it, just not for deep cuts, these things happen from time to time, its just too hard to keep my mind on everything I am doing so this cutter is not as good as it was. I could have kept this disaster to myself but I am telling you all so you can see that even a professional can get into trouble, it's why I have said more times than I can remember, keep you mind on the job, keep your work space clean, use hearing and eye protection, keep your cutters sharp, well this one will be sharp again, this type of thing can happen so be prepared for it by keeping a good firm grip on your router. I did not get hurt, just my pride so I wanted to add that I don't mind the loss of face if it helps all the amateurs to remember to be careful, I am careful yet this still happened. N


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I can't tell you how many times I've taken my Lee Valley 3/16" brad pont bits and tried to drill through a brad or screw that was put in on the opposite face Neville. It happens. "Full speed ahead" starts taking precedence over "I should check that first" and the pictured results take place. 

On another note, as much as I wanted to see this thread become a featured article, Cricket says that the elasped time will make that very nearly impossible. As best as I understand it, I think we are using Google's Cloud to store the posts on and the elasped time is in conflict with that. I had also suggested that we take Two Skies' "Maloof Inspired Rocking Chair" build as one at some date but it had the same problem. I guess this is a lesson that we should do it, record it, and then post it in it's entirety.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Charles I knew that this was a big build and I did think about waiting until it was all done and that I would then post it all in one go, I decided to do it this way as I thought that some persons may like to come along for the ride, and my object was to still show you all a look inside my mind so I thought that there was benefits in me having an on going conversation about the build, today I'm limping badly again, years ago I flipped a Yamaha XT500 up in the air and it landed on my foot, I drove the toe peg through my left ankle, a 'Potts Fracture' my foot was hanging on by a thread so it was as bad a break as you can get and still have the foot attached. I healed and it does still work, hinged that is, still in cold weather I limp and I also turned the ankle, twisted it a few weeks ago so I have been hobbling after that and for a week I could not put any weight at all on it, me working on this bad foot can be hard so this is the main new delay, I have other work I have to do so I have found it hard to also work on this project while my foot could not take that much of my weight, finally its better, good enough to get back to this. I follow that Maloof Build, anyone who follows me will know that I talk about Sam Maloof, I hope to have the time to make a few of his chairs myself. I hit a hardened steel wood screw at 30,000 RPM so I'm surprised the cutter looks as good as it does. N


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

It's still an excellent post N. I'm surprised you can still walk. You must have had a talented surgeon. With many accidents like that they have to amputate to keep gangrene from setting in and possibly killing you.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Charles I kid you not, the scars on my left foot are impressive, after all the toe peg of a heavy dirt bike went through my ankle so over all I am happy to still have it, it still bends as I walk however it does get sore and stiff, in the cold its worse, I felt like a fool to have twisted it so bad and its taken weeks to be able to walk, just now I am doing all the prep work to fix the top on so I'm fixing cleats all the way around as a fixing point for the top, getting the final details of the vises finished as the top cannot go finally on, until these details are all set up correctly then the top can't go on and I still have to move it down the floor and then back, so I have to rig a hoist to take up some of its weight as there is no chance now to just slide it down the floor, once all this is done and the top is finally fixed on, then things can happen, the drawers can go in. My mess can get better. maybe. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

139, 140.

I have cut a rebate on my table saw along both the edges on the underside of the connector plate and made a spacer plate out of 3mm ply that will go between the two, this connector plate has to slide freely so the rebate will make sure that it does not catch on the bench frame or any part of the vise so the lower part of the end vise is now ready. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

141, 142.

Fitting the face vise has taken more time than I thought it would, I think its OK now. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

143.

There is no picking it up anymore but where there's a will then there's a way so I have moved it and done the two things I could not do where it was, I have bolted the vise end in place and given that outside end a coat of my sealing fluid, that done then I have finally dropped it into it's final position, I won't be moving it again. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

144, 145.

I have given the whole top a clean up with my hand plane, not either of the Lie-Nielsens, just the ordinary One. I also put the connector plate through my planer and I took a millimeter of it's thickness as I don't want it rubbing on the underside of the top, so with the top in place then it looks good through the hole. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

147.

I have covered the wiring at the rear of the back panel with a cover plate cut from off-cuts from the dust cover materiel as I would not leave wiring uncovered. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

148.

When ever I do any wiring then I make sure that I get it all correct as there could be a fire if the connections are wrong., this looks OK. N


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Neville that vise looks like a RPITA to install . I was kicking myself for not having one but now I'm not so sure .
Wish there was an easier system as I'd like one in a future work station someday


----------



## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

neville9999 said:


> 131, 132.
> 
> I hate to look for power outlets so the bench will have 4 doubles and 8 outlets are a lot but I will only be using one of them at a time and some things will be permanently plugged in to the rear points, the two at the front will be the main ones I will use, two at the rear and two more in the front rail, I like to use Forstner Bits to hog out waste, it easy so I have a lot of these bits, here I used three different ones to get the housing I wanted. I have been busy but I will be working on the bench more now as I have to get it finished. N


Looking at your recent post reminded me that I had a question about this earlier one. From the photo, it appears that the wooden member is routed out to accept the receptacle, but with no housing around the wiring. Is there not a concern that any arcing could cause a fire? - we would be required to have a non-combustible housing (box) in an application like this.


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

RainMan1 said:


> Neville that vise looks like a RPITA to install . I was kicking myself for not having one but now I'm not so sure .
> Wish there was an easier system as I'd like one in a future work station someday


For me this is as good as it gets. A little pricey but worth every penny. Veritas® Twin-Screw Vise - Lee Valley Tools

Add some bench dogs and Wonder dogs to that and you can clamp anything I've ever come across.Veritas® Round Bench Dogs & Muzzles - 

Lee Valley Tools Veritas® Wonder Dog® & Wonder Pup® - Lee Valley Tools

There are some pictures in my uploads of those in use on my bench.


----------



## pal (Feb 13, 2008)

Neville are you sure that the wiring is correct, only asking as the colour coding is all mixed up yellow/green earth, red active and black negative.

Harold


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

RainMan1 said:


> Neville that vise looks like a RPITA to install . I was kicking myself for not having one but now I'm not so sure .
> Wish there was an easier system as I'd like one in a future work station someday


I have a use for both the vises so no amount of effort is too much, I need them so they have to be there and the fact is that I always find it easier the second time I fit anything as the first time then there are always surprises, the end vise could easily be fixed several ways, it could have had a face block with the vise on its side but I liked the idea of the sliding plate in the work top itself, I did it this way as I wanted the plate to sit flat with the main top and that no work dust could get into the drawer under the plate so I like the way its turned out and there will be some dust that could get into the drawer through the row of holes along the work top so I have finally proved that there is no making any omelet without breaking some eggs, the main front vise also had issues, I can see how hard it would be to fit either of these vises into a pre-existing bench, its been far easier to get this done as the whole thing is an original build, several times in the time I have been on this forum, and this also is 'unless the concept is to reproduce an exact copy of an item' then I have said that there are no plans to build any item and the maker has to sit down and work out the way he will do it, this does not meant that any method is the only way as its just the design selected, how high, how wide, what material and hardware is used and the methods, this is all up to the maker so this is the way I planned it even though the only plans are just pencil scribble on copy paper and I may in the end post a photo of the plans. I wanted the top on by now and the drawers in but the delay, other than me hurting my foot again, has been me having the time to get these vises set up correctly so as they are now OK then I can get on with it, I am sure in the future that I will be thrilled to have the two of them. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

tomp913 said:


> Looking at your recent post reminded me that I had a question about this earlier one. From the photo, it appears that the wooden member is routed out to accept the receptacle, but with no housing around the wiring. Is there not a concern that any arcing could cause a fire? - we would be required to have a non-combustible housing (box) in an application like this.


Tom I used Forstner bits to make these holes not a router, if you look at the recess I made in the door jam to allow the screen door handle to close then I used a router for that so I could have done the recess the same way but the Forsten bits were easier and yes there is no housing to hold the body of the point and I am not worried at all about fire, this wire used is double insulated and is rated to be buried in soil without being in conduit, I would never do that, put it into the ground but the wire is rated to do that, I make damn sure that when I attach the wires to the point then, there are never any loose ends just hanging around to arc against each other, the outlets are good quality so I am very sure that there will never be any arcing inside this recess, the big user of power will be my Festool Router, I also have a Makita Router that draws 2000+watts so Routers up to over 3hp do draw a lot of watts but these wires will be fine. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> For me this is as good as it gets. A little pricey but worth every penny. Veritas® Twin-Screw Vise - Lee Valley Tools
> 
> Add some bench dogs and Wonder dogs to that and you can clamp anything I've ever come across.Veritas® Round Bench Dogs & Muzzles -
> 
> ...


Charles you and I are on the same page and I like that twin screw vise so it could easily have been used here, the main reason why I did the end vise the way I have is so that I can use bench dogs all the way down the work top, there is a plethora of very neat clamps that can be had so I will not be drilling the holes until I decide which ones will get used. So far I have not contacted Veritas but I will ask them if they will post to Australia, so much of their hardware is not available here with some outlets just carrying a few of the range, I also want to buy some PM-V11 plane blades for my new sweet Lie-Nielsen planes, there is quite a bit of Veritas hardware I would buy. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

pal said:


> Neville are you sure that the wiring is correct, only asking as the colour coding is all mixed up yellow/green earth, red active and black negative.
> 
> Harold


Harold I think you are correct, its a good thing that these wires are not live, yet, red goes with red, black with black and the green wire with the yellow line, the earth wire, it would not be any good to have that connected to the main feed, I think they will be right before the power does get into that circuit. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

148, 149, 150, 151, 152.

I was joking around and joining the wrong coloured wires in photo 148 so I feel that I have to say that Electricity is not for joking around and it should never be touched by anyone who does not totally understand what they are doing, in Australia then the red is the Active feed and the Black is the Neutral link with the Green Yellow as the Earth, and these joins are now done with Connectors and added tape and the whole thing is now inside Junction Boxes that are rated to 40amps and 500volts, we have 240 volt power here and the connections used are correct, these junction boxes can be accessed if they need to be serviced, if they could not be accessed then I would have also soldered the wires as well as done all the rest. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

153.

There is a guide plate for the front vise and these are between the vise front and the workbench. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

154, 155, 156, 157.

As the Rear panel with the power outlets in now attached and the top is finally in it place then the front vise can go together and I used the vise itself to clamp the inside front into place, the inside front has been recessed and biscuit joined so that it is flush at both the top and with the front edge on the worktop as I want to be able to slide items around the worktop without them catching on vise jaws that were sticking up and I also want any item in the vise to also be hard on the front edge. I also have to do a small fix on the left hand side but I do have a small offcut to use to do that. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

158.

I tested the points and then I plugged Dewy in and all the power works, that is nice as these outlets will help a lot, no more extension lead laying on the floor. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

159.

There is no longer any reason not to assemble drawers, so one by one then they will get put together and then into their place. I will be happy then as there will not be tools laying around anymore, maybe a few of them, keeping the tools in the drawers will be a work in progress for me, I will have to take baby steps. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@neville9999...

thanks again...


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

neville9999 said:


> 159.
> 
> There is no longer any reason not to assemble drawers, so one by one then they will get put together and then into their place. I will be happy then as there will not be tools laying around anymore, maybe a few of them, keeping the tools in the drawers will be a work in progress for me, I will have to take baby steps. N


I love drawers . Only wish I had room for a hundred of them.
Since I made some drawers for my work bench , I swear it's the first time I've ever been organized


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

RainMan1 said:


> I love drawers . Only wish I had room for a hundred of them.
> Since I made some drawers for my work bench , I swear it's the first time I've ever been organized


Rick me too, and seeing you have brought them up then I also love drawers as the contents can be kept clean as well as out of the way as well as, I can get them any time I want, all these drawers are different sizes, all different heights with the three at the top the most shallow as these are just 95mm internally deep all across the front, as the drawers go down then they get deeper, the two banks on each side are 470mm wide inside, that size was just what was left over as the one key thing with all the drawers was that the lowest middle drawer had to be deep enough and wide enough for my 24inch Leigh DR4 Dovetail Jig, I am fully sick of that laying around. As much as there is a lot of mess on the floor, that does not mean that I am happy with that and my long term goal is for all the tools and hardware as well as all my other stock can be either in drawers or behind doors, then I can try to keep the floor clean. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> @neville9999...
> 
> thanks again...


You're welcome Stick, I hope that everyone who has followed the build and will view it in the future have been entertained, I hope that some of what I have done will help others in their own projects, this has not just been about building this workbench, I wanted you all to know how I think, this is just one solution to building a work bench, they can be built any way the maker wants them to be and have any type of vise or storage, what you do with your own work is fully up to you but what I do and my methods can be applied to anything. N


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Neville it's kind of funny as a year ago I wanted to make a computer desk and really wanted drawers in it , but was very concerned it was going to be to difficult and intimidating to implement for me . 
Turn the clock ahead to now and I shake my head wondering what I thought was so difficult lol.
It's really paid off getting to know you guys and the great knowledge you provide


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

neville9999 said:


> Charles you and I are on the same page and I like that twin screw vise so it could easily have been used here, the main reason why I did the end vise the way I have is so that I can use bench dogs all the way down the work top, there is a plethora of very neat clamps that can be had so I will not be drilling the holes until I decide which ones will get used. So far I have not contacted Veritas but I will ask them if they will post to Australia, so much of their hardware is not available here with some outlets just carrying a few of the range, I also want to buy some PM-V11 plane blades for my new sweet Lie-Nielsen planes, there is quite a bit of Veritas hardware I would buy. N


I was checking their shipping out earlier today or yesterday and they show international shipping N. If you have several rows of holes you can even clamp circles with the Wonder dogs. The cost adds up but I know you will agree that a good bench, vise, and bench dogs are one of the best investments in time and money you can make.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

My main computer is having a fix, it has top buttons and some coffee was spilled into the button, it all works ok but the dried sugar has made the button stiff, I built this I7 computer so I am taking it apart to give the button a clean and I will give it all a clean at the same time, anyway I modify the resolution of all the photos with photoshop so they are easier to up load, my laptop does not have photoshop so the photos will be a few days, when the computer is up again then there will be a pile of them in one go. If your start to hyperventilate Stick then try breathing into a brown paper bag. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

brown paper bag...

check....

try Irfanview....
pretty good stuff...
IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> brown paper bag...
> 
> check....
> 
> ...



I've got drawers in and the face vise is finished so Stick so its coming along, as soon as my main computer is fixed then I will post 30 more photos. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

await w/ baited breath...


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*He'll Try Anything*



Stick486 said:


> await w/ baited breath...


Well, the flies weren't working... 
:no:


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Well, the flies weren't working...
> :no:


the bait isn't either...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I follow a few web sites including 'Woodsmith' anyway their latest video features the same joint I used to make my drawers, they just are using a different method, also easy, so I thought that I would post a link. One point I will make is that this dado saw method also does not require you to use any set thickness of dado, any thickness is OK and I said the same regarding the cutter used if you run the groove with a small router cutter so anywhere around 1/3rd material thickness is ok as the trick is to then cut the tenon to suit the groove or dado. This is a dead easy method to make drawers, all mine are now in. N

Woodsmith Tips | Woodsmith Tips


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

160, 161.

My main computer being unusable has made it hard to post new photos, I did build this computer, well I assembled it so I have not been that worried about taking it apart again. I honestly expected that I would have to buy a new case as there is no way I could ever get dried coffee and sugar out of the USB connectors but I was dead lucky with that as the guy I got it from had a case he could not sell as it had a crush injury so I was able to get a new USB cable set from it, the one on the left is the old one and the one on the right came from that damaged case so I was able to swap the USB control cables with an entirely new one that had not had coffee spilled into it, I am not a computer expert but I do know a few things about them and now I can add to the list of what I know about computers-

Its bad for sensitive electronic equipment to have coffee spilled into their guts! I am happy to have it working again and there seems to be no residual issue, it back like new and as it was apart then it got a clean out, I took out a bucket of dust. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

162, 163.

I did say that I kept the three trimmers set up, even though I was careful then the bottoms for the middle drawers were somehow 2mm too deep so I was able to clamp them one at a time to the bench and then plane the tenon back and then run the new rebate without any trouble at all, so that fix was easy. I have to say that it was a pleasure to push against the bottom with the normal Jack Plane and skim back the tenon, this bench is now so heavy that it did not move a fraction. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170.

These drawers are easy to assemble, the large ones I held together with a band clamp, I have a few ratchet hold down straps and they are normally used to hold down wood on the trailer but they are also handy band clamps so everyone should have some of these. I also had to put a few small brads in, I have good fitting tenons but not enough clamps so a few brads held in the bottoms where they needed to be held in. N


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Neville I like you band clamping idea . Does it help with squaring them too , or do you kinda tap them here and there to get them square after there under pressure ?


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

171, 172, 173, 174, 175.

More drawer photos, making drawers this way is dead easy. And about the finish, all did was sand them and then wash them with the cedar stain that I have however any colour works fine then I washed them with the the sealing mix I described earlier, then I let them dry fully, then I cut them back with steel wool that was wet with a mix of 50% linseed oil and 50% mineral turpentine, these drawers look great and this Oil finish can come up even better if you rub them again with finer steel wool and the oil/turps mix, then rub in more oil, all I will do with them in the future would be to wipe them with an oily rag from time to time, these are only drawers an all I wanted with the finish was to seal them up and that they did not look crappy, I think I have achieved that. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

RainMan1 said:


> Neville I like you band clamping idea . Does it help with squaring them too , or do you kinda tap them here and there to get them square after there under pressure ?


Rick these drawers have a 12mm ply bottom that is tenoned into the sides and the fronts and backs so there is no way I can change the square shape, I made damn sure that the bottoms were cut square, then its just assembly. N


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

They look really good with that stain Neville 

Or sorry I guess that's an oil finish ? I have so much to learn


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

176.

The face vise from underneath. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

177, 178, 179.

The inside face of the front vise was set into the bench top for reasons discussed earlier, this is what it looks like with the clamps off and as it's face was not quite square with the top then being wood, I planed it until it was square, seen in these photos is also a mistake I made, I drilled the hole for the vise screw on the wrong line, I'm never a millimeter out unless I go for the wrong line so here I did, no real harm dome and even a professional does this from time to time so I don't mind confessing that it does happen to me, once or twice a decade. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

180.

One more drawer photo, before I fitted them then I did drill and screw a runner to each drawer side and then I took it off, these runners work great however they are a total pain to get straight unless the holes are pre-drilled and pre-screwed, so here is a photo of a drawer with the runner screwed on to make that easy later, doing this makes it far easier to get them correctly aligned so time well spent. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

181.

Fitting any construction up makes you feel you are getting close to being finished, and I am. Well close-ish as there is still a lot to do. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

182.

The photos got a bit mixed up, after I squared the inside face of the front vise then it also got finished with stain and oil. N


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

It's coming along well . This is going to be an epic bench! 

I love the part when the drawers start going in . Kinda gives me a warm fuzzy feeling lol


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

183, 184.

I did say in the past that all timber tops have to be sealed up underneath, that must happen or the top will get attacked by moisture variations and that will kill it over many years, anyone who has an old or any timber top that's not sealed up underneath, then it should get oiled and sealed with some method, I want this work bench to be here after I'm gone so I have sealed it all up, no steel wool and just the sealer mix, it there is a top that is not sealed and it has been OK then that top would likely have never been moved around that much and lived it's life in an area of uniform humidity, timber takes up moisture from the air when the humidity is high and then sheds it when the air dries out and this cycle of moisture in and out will kill the top over a long time, or a short time if the local variation is significant. I'm very pleased with the way it all looks inside, the dust covers will keep it ll clean. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

185.

I did show a image of the underside of the face vise, here a shot of the end vise. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

RainMan1 said:


> They look really good with that stain Neville
> 
> Or sorry I guess that's an oil finish ? I have so much to learn


Correct Rick, there are so many ways to finish any item and this is just a stained and oiled finish, read all the posts to see how I did it. I am very happy by the way as they are only made from rotary peeled ply sheets and they look far from crappy. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

186.

I did say that I checked all my power, this tester says it's all good, Green and Red showing that way is perfect. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

187, 188. 

The left hand bank of drawers has two top drawers and a space underneath for two carry bags to sit. The last thing I will have to do is make the outside drawer fronts so they are not done yet. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

189, 190, 191, 192.

The Middle Bank has four drawers with the top one the shallowest, two under are deeper and the lowest one is the deepest so it has my Leigh DR4 Dovetail Jig and my Stanley 50 Shooting Plane and the 51 Shooting Board in it, just as a bit of useless information, the Stanley Shooting Board and Plane cost me twice the money to buy compared to what the bench has cost to build. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

193, 194, 195.

Just a few more photos of the drawers, all the top drawers are shallow and the same depth across the three banks, the right hand bank is now in so the three lower ones are all the same depth and this will mean that the ten drawers over all will keep everything tidy and speaking of tidy, now that most of the mess making is done then I am going to tidy up, I am also going to fit a 3 bar florescent light over the bench so I will not be working in so much dark after the lights goes up, along this side is also the VL175 Vicmark Lathe so I will fit a second light over that at the same time, there are going to be 6x1200mm long 3 bar florescent lights in the workshop and they will all be on different switches as I don't want all the lights on if I don't need them on. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

thanks Neville...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

196.

Just looking at this small sub board and the reds and blacks that are now together, correctly together, reminded me that power wires can be confusing as here the red and the black do go together. There is the second large white 3 core wire down from the top and on the left that's marked 'feed', this is the supply to this small sub board so that goes back to the 'lights breaker' on the workshop sub board, the black from this feed goes onto the small neutral link hidden at the back on the right of this small enclosure I am using as the workshop 'lights sub board', the green earth wire from the 'feed' goes onto the earth link that just now is still hanging loosely by itself, now the active from the feed goes onto a small 'common active link' that's hidden behind all the wires on the left, from this common active link, then 6 pairs of wires go to the 6 light switches and the twin core wire used is black and red but as there was not enough black and red twin core then one of the 6 is white and red but these 6 twin core wires are 'switch wires' so all the 'reds' (which you cannot see) are going down from the live active link are they 'live all the time' and the five blacks and one white coming back from the switches are only active, live, when the switch is thrown to 'closed' so the light will then come on. the reds they are connected to are the active feed from the switches to the lights themselves and with this '3 core feed wire' then there's a black that's the 'neutral return from the lights', so that goes onto the neutral link, likewise the green earth as that is the earth that earths the light fitting and comes back to the main earth link, I hope that this sounds confusing as its meant to be, so if anyone got the idea that power was for fun and easy then 'power is not for playing around with. 

With four lights working then its hard for me to understand how I got by with none working, I just did not want any lights up until I knew where I wanted them, the two spare blacks just hanging are the other two lights not yet connected. This is starting to feel like a new workshop, new work bench and lights that work. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

197, 198, 199.

I am very happy with the way the face vise has finished and really pleased with the idea of making the vise's timber parts out of the same material as the worktop as it looks great, I just hope it turns out to be strong enough to last the test of time. The idea was to have the top of the vise flat and level with the surface of the work top so long items could slide around and not catch on a vise front sticking up so that has worked out the way I wanted it. The small repair has come up fine so I have to now find some dark stain to redo a few small places on the top. I also have to make a bar for the vise and I have some very hard hard wood to use for that but I still can't run my lathe. Oh and about all the mess, I have had a busy weekend so that is still on the must do today list, just further down. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

I have a new project to do, I have had the Vicmark VL175 for a long time now and it is still on rolling platforms so I have only run it a few times and that annoys me as I have things to turn, I won't be making the fronts for the workbench drawers just now as I intend to close in the entire Vicmark base, it is upon a very neat steel base but there are no doors and cleaning up the mess that would get trapped behind it would really be annoying so it will have doors, so the drawer fronts for the workbench and the doors for the lathe stand will be made at the same time, next week I hope, the idea with the lathe stand is to have doors so items on the lathe stand shelves are mostly kept clean also, to build into the rear of the stand a trap for the shavings so they can be pushed straight out and into a bag, now that the place for the lathe is decided then I will rework the stand, drop it down in place, and get to use it. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

200,201.

I am still working on too many things so I get torn away from the bench, this is my new distraction, I have said I am building a new router lathe and it is happening and it will sit on the workbench when I run it, I am very happy with my design for the lathe so now I can press one with that too so this finger jointed wood will get laminated up and be the main beam of the lathe, I am going to record the construction of the lathe so I will post some of the images. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

202, 203, 204, 205.

I have to get the main beam for the lathe glued up so it's being done, I have a 50x50 aluminum box bar and as it is so straight then it will sit at the rear of the fabrication as the back caul, paper down as I don't want it stick to the worktop and I brush the glue on when I do a large area and I want an even coat. There are seven lamination's to the bar and as there is a riser at each end for the head and tail stocks then to make it easy I am going to attach them with finger box joints, just big ones, so I building into the bar the mortises for these to be attached as there is no point in cutting them out later and I am not going to be quick enough to do all seven lamination's together so I will do three first and the other four in an hour and a half.. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

The fabrication of the lathe will be on its own thread.

http://www.routerforums.com/jigs-fixtures/81169-neville9999s-router-lathe.html


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Just so you all know, I have a task to do with my VL175 Lathe and I can't do any more with this project until I do that, next week, when I get it advanced enough to know the door size's then I can make the drawer fronts for the work bench, the two sit beside each other and I want the drawers and doors to be the same, making them all together will also save time for both jobs. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

206, 207.

I love flee markets, I saw this hand scrapper in a pile of junk and I thought two things, should I buy it for my new tool box? Hmmm... Of Course as its bronze and could be a hundred years old so it will fit in fine and I always wanted a hand scrapper, The other thought, Damn he may want $50.00 so should I pay that? Hmmm... Damn, what will he ask for it? He asked $10.00au and I gave him my stony stare so without a word from me then he said $5.00, so I said OK. Bwahahahahahaha. N


----------



## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Nice find, N. Sharpen up the blade, put a nice hook on the edge and it'll do a bunch of work for you. Much better then sandpaper, sometimes.


----------



## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

you're quite the negotiator... 

You must follow the "he who speaks first, loses" method...


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

schnewj said:


> Nice find, N. Sharpen up the blade, put a nice hook on the edge and it'll do a bunch of work for you. Much better then sandpaper, sometimes.


Yes Buddy, I know how to sharpen a scraper, best thing about this is that I wont get burned fingers as they get hot with use, This was a great find and I am chuffed to have it. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Nickp said:


> you're quite the negotiator...
> 
> You must follow the "he who speaks first, loses" method...


Correct, its the hard sell, well the hard silent buy anyway. $5.00, I should get locked up. He just did not know what it was, he could have sold it on ebay for a lot more but was just too lazy to even try, he probably did not know how to list it. His ad may have been 'Brown Funny looking thing my dad had' with a start $0.50c. I think that his dad, had he known, then he would be happy it came to a real Cabinetmaker and he would not care about the price. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Yes Buddy, I know how to sharpen a scraper, best thing about this is that I wont get burned fingers as they get hot with use, This was a great find and I am chuffed to have it. N


yur scrapers get hot...
WOW!!!
you must work at a break neck pace...


----------



## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

neville9999 said:


> Correct, its the hard sell, well the hard silent buy anyway. $5.00, I should get locked up.* He just did not know what it was, he could have sold it on ebay for a lot more *but was just too lazy to even try, he probably did not know how to list it. His ad may have been 'Brown Funny looking thing my dad had' with a start $0.50c. I think that his dad, had he known, then he would be happy it came to a real Cabinetmaker and he would not care about the price. N


Just the opposite of what I see in the tool section of Kijiji (a used goods selling site if you haven't heard of it)

Too many times I see people put up ads saying "Don't know what it is but it MUST be a collector's item" or "It's vintage".

Problem is, some people think if it's over 10 years old it's "vintage"

I want to write back and say, "Nope, all you've got is (fill in the blanks) such and such a tool that was only worth a few bucks to begin with"


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

vchiarelli said:


> Just the opposite of what I see in the tool section of Kijiji (a used goods selling site if you haven't heard of it)
> 
> Too many times I see people put up ads saying "Don't know what it is but it MUST be a collector's item" or "It's vintage".
> 
> ...


Anyway whatever it was worth when it was new, whenever that was, then I am happy to have it a it suits me and had he asked then I would have paid more for it, if anyone has any idea or comment about how old they think it is then do say. It looks old to me. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

if you don't want it...
I'll take it...


----------



## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

neville9999 said:


> Anyway whatever it was worth when it was new, whenever that was, then I am happy to have it a it suits me and had he asked then I would have paid more for it, if anyone has any idea or comment about how old they think it is then do say. It looks old to me. N


Any markings, Neville? Looks like a Stanley #80 or a similar "knock off". These were made up until, I believe, the '60's, and then reintroduced, but from the looks of the screws I would put it some were before the '20's or '30's.


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

schnewj said:


> Any markings, Neville? Looks like a Stanley #80 or a similar "knock off". These were made up until, I believe, the '60's, and then reintroduced, but from the looks of the screws I would put it some were before the '20's or '30's.


No markings or name, it definitely a copy of the Stanley 80 but cast bronze and not cast steel, I never thought it had a high value, just that it would be a useful tool to have and its in perfect condition, Veratas have replacement 80 blades and my guess is that it would fit, next year I will buy 2xPM-V11 blades for my Lie-Neilsen 5 1/2 Jack plane plus a few other things in the same parcel so I will get a new blade for this as well. I hope talking about this amuse's you all as I prepare to make the drawer fronts for the workbench. N


----------



## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

To reduce confusion, do like electricians do and tape several inches of the ends so it's obvious, for example, a white wire is a side of a 240 circuit. You see this in electric panels all the time.




neville9999 said:


> 196.
> 
> Just looking at this small sub board and the reds and blacks that are now together, correctly together, reminded me that power wires can be confusing as here the red and the black do go together. There is the second large white 3 core wire down from the top and on the left that's marked 'feed', this is the supply to this small sub board so that goes back to the 'lights breaker' on the workshop sub board, the black from this feed goes onto the small neutral link hidden at the back on the right of this small enclosure I am using as the workshop 'lights sub board', the green earth wire from the 'feed' goes onto the earth link that just now is still hanging loosely by itself, now the active from the feed goes onto a small 'common active link' that's hidden behind all the wires on the left, from this common active link, then 6 pairs of wires go to the 6 light switches and the twin core wire used is black and red but as there was not enough black and red twin core then one of the 6 is white and red but these 6 twin core wires are 'switch wires' so all the 'reds' (which you cannot see) are going down from the live active link are they 'live all the time' and the five blacks and one white coming back from the switches are only active, live, when the switch is thrown to 'closed' so the light will then come on. the reds they are connected to are the active feed from the switches to the lights themselves and with this '3 core feed wire' then there's a black that's the 'neutral return from the lights', so that goes onto the neutral link, likewise the green earth as that is the earth that earths the light fitting and comes back to the main earth link, I hope that this sounds confusing as its meant to be, so if anyone got the idea that power was for fun and easy then 'power is not for playing around with.
> 
> With four lights working then its hard for me to understand how I got by with none working, I just did not want any lights up until I knew where I wanted them, the two spare blacks just hanging are the other two lights not yet connected. This is starting to feel like a new workshop, new work bench and lights that work. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Dejure said:


> To reduce confusion, do like electricians do and tape several inches of the ends so it's obvious, for example, a white wire is a side of a 240 circuit. You see this in electric panels all the time.


Kelly its not really confusing once you understand it, all yellows go together to create one large link so if you look at any board then the yellow earth feed comes in and goes onto the earth link, all wires that go to anything, a light or a power outlet, all of them have a yellow as it is the wire that earths that item and the yellow is actually an earth return. 

And with the main feeds comes a black so it goes onto the Neutral links and like the 'earth yellows which are returns' then it is also a 'return coming back from items like lights or outlets so all yellows and Blacks do join but to only yellows and black links, so then they all do join on each of their links, all the yellows in any circuit do join and you can see that on these two boards, the larger one is the 'house board' and the smaller one is the workshop board. The very 'left hand breaker on the house board' is the main house breaker and that comes from the main fuse box.

The 'feed in' also has a 'Red' and in many places 'reds' are 'live all the time' and the red coming in with the feed is live all the time and it goes to the main on/off switch at the top, below the main switch it comes out as a red that is only 'on' when the main switch is 'on' and all the reds at the bottom of these breakers are 'live all the time that the main switch is on' above the breakers then the reds are only 'on' when the 'breaker is on' so those reds at the top of the breaker are part of three core wires' with a 'yellow earth return that goes to the Earth link' and a 'black neutral return' that goes to the 'Neutral link' so the 'red away wire' is then the feed to that item and it may also go through a switch, so in that instance it will come out of the switch as maybe a different colour to red, but it is still an active wire that is 'live when that switch is on' Red active wires' can go through many switches before they get to their final destination where they run that item and then become a black return.

Power is not for messing around with and only to be touched by persons who know what wire is what wire, you can be killed if you don't know what wire it is and if it is live or not live, plenty of persons including electricians die each year when they get that wrong.

The problem then becomes, which away wire is what wire and is the load correct for the breaker? So they get named with black texta pen as to what they are, so that they don't get mixed up, you have to know what away wire is what away wire but what yellow is what yellow and what black is what black does not matter.

With the 6 light switch wires then they were all numbered. 

The very right hand breaker on the main board is the feed for the main switch in the workshop board. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

So now that my Christmas visitors are gone then I will be back working on both the projects, they both need to get finished, not really that much to do with the bench now, make the drawer fronts is next. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

So I am making the Drawer fronts and will post the pics soon, over the Christmas break this is being finished. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

210, 211.

Seeing I can't do anything now on the Lathe then I am making the Drawer Fronts for the workbench, the Bench is not that far away from being finished. I did think a bit about the fronts and I was tempted to just use solid pieces of wood with rounded edges, that would have looked OK but I am going to frame up the fronts, the fronts will be made the same way as the ends for the workbench, so with this grooving and rebate construction then only two thing matter, the groove depth must be the same as the size from the edge of the rebate cutter to the bearing and I vary that size by changing the bearing if I have to, so I ran a small rebate in this scrap with the rebate router on the edge of the wood and then dropped the grooving cutter down from the face until it was just a bit beeper than what the rebate cutter's bearing gave me, its the size from the edge of the rebate cutter to the bearing. As I wanted the ply insert to be in a small amount from the back of the frame then the outside of the groove is just a bit further away from the edge than the thickness of the ply. So the groove is not in the middle of the wood and as I am working on the thin edge then I hold a few of them together to give the trimmer more width to sit on. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

212, 213.

All the pieces get grooved, sides to the drawers as well as the top and bottoms, so I do all the grooving in one go. The material I have dressed down for the drawer front frames is not that wide, with banks of drawers then if you use larger wood then when the fronts are all together then it looks too thick. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

214, 215.

With the groove done then I can see that the insert panel has to be 61mm smaller than the finished size, and as soon as I run some of them then I check to see that my sums are correct. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

216, 217.

The inserted center panel gets rebated on all 4 sides, as its ply then I am gluing it in so there is no gap at all at the bottom of the groove, if it were solid timber then I would not glue it in and there would be a small gap to allow for movement of the wood, if it were timber being inserted then I would also make the tenon a very little bit thinner to allow a small amount of expansion. In the photo 217 then the top rail is not yet tenoned. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

218.

I wiped on the stain to the face of the panel before it gets glued in. N


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

did you bleed all over your ruler???


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

219. 220.

The panel is just loose here for the photo but when its together then it will be hard in the groove. So as there was not a lot of tenons to do then I used the rebate cutter, doing the end grain then I can see that the cutter has to be sharpened, the cutter has done a lot of work over that last few months so I can see its time. That will cost me $8.00au to get this $40.00au cutter sharp again, I have said many times that when a cutter is blunt then pay to get it sharpened, only buy good quality cutters and when they need to be sharper then get that done. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

221.

These two fronts are for the left hand pair of drawers, whenever I glue up frames like this then I leave the horns long, I like to cut them off still a bit long and then plane them flat, that plane cut will just be a thin skim. The drawer fronts look OK with a good space for the handle. After I dressed all the timber then I wished that I had of made all the style timber a bit wider, the rails look OK together as pairs but if I had of thought of it quicker then the styles would have been 40/50% wider than they are. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> did you bleed all over your ruler???


No Stick, it's stain I spilled on it a while back, that was the first ruler I grabbed for the photo and I did see that stain and even though I have a few other rulers that don't have stain on them then I was too lazy to look for one, sorry but there is no blood, I like my fingers so I'm keeping them. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

222, 223.

A pile of Drawer fronts being made, at least they are finally being made. N


----------



## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

224.

I am doing a small construction to the rear my VL175 and the photos are on my Router Lathe post, however as the VL175 is out of the way then I got to steel wool oil into the LH end of the Work Bench, this is the final finish and all I will do from now on is rub some more oil into it with a cloth, that is how I will clean it, rub it down with an oily rag, it looks good. N


----------

