My Holtzapfel Bench - COMPLETE

[bigcat4t9r]

Finally done and wanted to post a few pics of my first bench - finished a few weeks back. Pretty much followed the Schwarz article - opted not to include the deadman.

Specs:
6' x 24"
3" top - Ash
Base - SYP
Face vise - Veritas Twin Screw w/24" on center, Ash chop w/suede leather face
Tail vise - Jorgensen 12" quick release
Walnut drawbores
Watco Danish Oil finish

Still need to add the shelf on the bottom - will probably use walnut or SYP w/Walnut dowel accents. Here are the pics of the evolution:

Didn't take pics of my original glue-ups but used SYP from the BORG. I planned on using 100% SYP but wasn't able to get the thicknesses of the plies that I wanted so I splurged and got some 12/4 ash. Built using my Bosch 4100, Ridgid 12" Sliding Compund Miter Saw, Ridgid 6" jointer and Dewalt 735 planer coupled with HF DC for good measure.

Here is the glued up top and some of the flattening:

Top glue up had some creep when I was gluing the final sub-assemblies together so I spent more time than I would have liked with flattening but it was good practice. Just a pain because of not having a proper bench, I had to rig up my saw horses with a planing stop/clamp, weigh them down with lumber and still had to chase it around the garage due to rackage. Here I used a late model Stanley #5 fully tuned that I bought on the Bay from the machinist mentioned (after I purchased as he upped his prices) in Schwarz's blog (sopisodd is the user I think).

Then moved to the #8 Type 19 that I've fettled and blinged out with a Hock blade/chipbreaker, brass Norris-type lever cap, and Paduak knob/tote:

 

[froglips]

Wow, thats a beautiful looking top!

Love those shavings too

Congrats and keep those pics coming!

Jim

 

[bigcat4t9r]

This is the pre-flattened glue-up:

Final smoothing w/Veritas #4:

Then moved on the joinery on the base. Here are the legs:

Tenons on the legs and stretchers: PS I love the Shinto saw rasp.

Pretty heft tenons on legs:

To be continued.....

 

[bigcat4t9r]

Wow, thats a beautiful looking top!

Love those shavings too

Congrats and keep those pics coming!

Jim

Gratuitous shavings pile.....

 

[bigcat4t9r]

On to mortising. Drilled waste out and cleaned up with mortise chisel for about half of the mortises. The rest I chopped 100% by hand. Couldn't tell a noticeable difference in speed, just exertion. With the heat/humidity, I really raised the grain with all of the sweat that flew all over my workpieces. I used my Incra rules to mark and then went back with a striking knife.

Drilled holes in mortise for drawbores:

After test fitting, did final smoothing to remove tool marks from base parts. SYP is definitely SOFT - got dents from laying on workbench on top of a woodchip of ash, but it IS a bench i guess....

Shameless plug for the English #4 1/2 with Hock blade/chipbreaker. Tuned/fettled by me and I re-finished the black painted beech handles with ebony stain and rubbed out lacquer. These early English 4 1/2s are very heavily cast, rivalling the 4 1/2H from what I've read, and I prefer this to the WW2 models that I've fettled.

 

[bigcat4t9r]

OK - now the fun part. Drawboring. Used walnut dowel pegs - 3/8" IIRC with a 3/16" offset. Here are the drawbore pegs I made with HF punch set that I've posted previously (used clearance handles that ran me $1-2 each and the HF set was ~$10).

Here's the drilled out tenon:

And the drawbore pins in action. I used a pencil sharpener to taper my pegs and used paste wax to lube them up. Still had one or two bust on me or not fully seat, but was able to drive home using a large punch. I only had to patch one peg that was a little nasty looking for aesthetic reasons.

To be continued.....

 

[bigcat4t9r]

Here's a test fit pre-drawboring (sorry to jump around):

I started by gluing the ends together and then the long stretchers over two nights. Don't know which way is better, but I had to buy a couple of 50" parallel clamps as my 40" and 48" bar/pipe clamps were just a tad short. Note that I used some of my clamps as spreaders to keep the tops of the legs from distorting out of square too much.

Next was mortising the top using the actual base assembly (yes I picked it up and down off of the base on sawhorses - hernia results pending). The mortises were monsters but the stretcher practice paid dividends. Let's see, once up to mark mortises, at least one or two times to check fit, and once to mark for drawbores. Drilled everything and spread the glue and frantically trying to get the base in position. Of course, its about 3 in the morning during the week (mild insomniac) and right as I have picked up the base, the garage door opens and my bleary eyed SWMBO looks at me like the raving lunatic that I am. Get it in place and drove the pegs home.

Starting to be a real bench now. On to vises.....

 

[bigcat4t9r]

To square up the top ends, I tried to use my circular saw guide, but I found that using my router with a pattern cutting bit and straight edge first, followed by a flush trim bit that referenced off the pattern cut face got the best results. Love Whiteside bits and Hartville discounts - super smooth. I'm sure I made it far too difficult but that was the system I devised and it worked in the end.

Used the Jorgensen quick release vise. Mortised into the end with enough offset for the ash chop to be flush with the front edge of the bench.

Note the notch/recess cut to ease access to the dog hole. You can also see the lag bolts that were countersunk into the top.

On to more vises.....

 

[bigcat4t9r]

Now the party gets really started. Somewhat intimidating when on the front of the Veritas Twin Screw instructions, it bears the warning: "If you are the type of person who doesn't look at the instructions until something goes wrong, we ask that you mend your ways and at least read through them once or you WILL have problems." Fortunately, I AM the type who always reads instructions although I loathe poorly written ones. I was super careful in mapping out my marks to ensure everything lined up.

I milled two chops to go under the bench to house the screws....strike that, FOUR chops as I made the first set too, make that WAY too short. Here are the "real" ones:

I forget what size lags I used (big) but needed like 1 5/8" or 1 3/4" forstner to counterbore the the bolts into the top. The Blues Brothers mission from God brought me to the blue BORG, where lo and behold, the Irwin Speedbores were all on uber-clearance - got this $30 bit for like $8.

Here is the chop for the twin screw. Made from a solid piece of ash - had a little end checking caused by the drilling out of the holes for the screws but liked the figure on the end grain (more to come on that) that I pre-emptively put some CA glue on for good measure. A few other details, I roughed the beaded profile radius with a table edge bit to get the face bead and the beginning radius, then scribed and used my jack plane and rasps/files for final shaping. End vise chop got the same treatment. Also, per LV instructions, ran the face of the chop with a spacer on the bottom fixed with double sided tape to create a taper so the top edge of the chop closes first. The Jorgensen is already set up that way from the factory.

Laid the beast on end to install the screws. Here's a peek under the skirt for those so inclined:

And finally, it is good....

The chain drive assembly wasn't as difficult as I feared. I also added some supports under the table to support the screws when I open them up really wide. I used UHMW tape. The vise is pretty awesome. Lubed with lithium spray grease and put the cover and handles on. I only have a little bit friction when I am closing it after I have opened to nearly full capacity. Those instances are rare and I see no need to tweak.

Now I'm ready to let the dawgs out.....

 

[bigcat4t9r]

Used a combo of my Milwaukee V18 and a MF 14" brace and bit (thanks to Sandy Moss) to drill everything out.

Did a final once over with the #8 on the top to clean up my marks. Thought these shavings were pretty neat:

The #8 is pretty diesel and it can pull 0.002 shavings on the ash like its nothing. Could pull thinner if I wanted. Only had a two boards in the top that had reversing grain around some knotty transitions that resulted in tearout.

The grand finale awaits....

 

[bigcat4t9r]

Two coats of Watco Danish Oil Natural and applied some sueded leather using hide glue to the vise faces.

I really wanted to highlight the sapwood/heartwood variations - the finish really set the top off nicely IMHO

Here is the inspiration:

Legal disclaimer: not affiliated with Popular Woodworking or Grammercy Tools (holdfasts).

And last but certainly not least (drum roll)

Lighting is blocking it but you can make out the end grain of the twin screw chop previously mentioned.

You.....complete.....me.....(Jerry Maguire quote for those keeping score at home)


Overall, this took way too long, cost way too much but it was a great learning experience.

Next up, I'm mortising the Mini-Me son of Holtzapfel for my 2 and 3 year old boys who love my tools. In all seriousness, I really am building a 1/2 scale version - I'm still figuring out how I'm going to do the vises - just going to add some spinner handles for them to play with. Top is glued up and flat and hope to be done this weekend.

My oldest came running up to me after work last week to ask if he could "play with my workbench." My youngest can't keep a hammer out of his hands. Please note the blade was removed in the following pics:

Yes - that is a Buck Brothers jack plane from the BORG.....I'm so ashamed. I feel like it is my Scarlet Letter of the Neanderthal world.

In the immortal words of Porky Pig: "That's all folks!!!"

 

[Joe Scharle]

Good looking bench and write-up.

 

[ptt49er]

Dude...that's a bench!! Looks great! Glad to see the lil' man is working too!

 

[Trent Mason]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post the write up and all of the pics. That is one beautiful bench. :notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:

 

[MarkE]

Absolutely great bench. Thanks for sharing all the details with us.

 

[eyekode]

That #8 looks well tuned!

 

[eyekode]

Nice thread and sweeet bench . So you have all those nicely tuned plane and didn't have a workbench?! I bet you are loving them now .

One idea on the mini-me double screw vise: buy/borrow a wood threading kit. I borrowed one to make this: http://ncwoodworker.net/forums/f29/wood-screws-moxon-double-screw-vise-thread-leg-vise-33341/

You should point Chris to your thread!

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Great bench, Randy! :icon_thum I know it will serve you well and last a lifetime.

Bill

 

[Canuck]

WOW and WOWIIIE!!!!:icon_cheers:icon_cheers

What an awesome bench. Sure looks like it will last several lifetimes.

Thanks too for all of the really cool text and pics. This whole thread is definitely an inspiration for many of us, I am sure.

Very nice work...........I'm tired just drooling over the results!

Wayne

 

[jhreed]

Thanks for the step by step. I have a Sjobergs bench. But, you know what, anyone can buy a bench. There is no sense of accomplishment in purchasing something as opposed to creating something with your own hands. I also noticed that you gave credit to each tool and their manufacturer. The one credit you left out, as I could tell from the pictures was that you created it in my garage. I do not mind that you used my garage, I just dont know when you did it or why you could not have cleaned it up some before or after the pictures. It still looks like it did while you were creating your bench. Would you please come back and do some clean up. Just kidding, am glad to see that I am not the only one who does not work in Norm Abrams shop.
Please keep us posted on the bench you make for that handsome young lad in the last pictures.
James