Beginner Chicken & Egg problem – First projects without a workbench?
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I bought Working Wood 1 & 2 and have been building a basic list of tools.
I wanted to start with the spatula and cutting board projects, but it seems I need a vise for those.
Now it looks like I need to build the workbench first – and it also appears I need a vise for parts of that project.
Help! How do I get started?
Thanks,
David12 January 2017 at 8:55 pm #144152For many jobs, you can simply sit or step on the wood to secure it. Make sure, all cutting and other potentially dangerous actions go right into the wood and away from you. Consider, where a tool might go, when it slips and consider where you might go when you slip.
I am in the silly position of having a vise that is crumbling away and useless, so quite the same siuation, except, I am already used to having a vise. So I am following my own advise until I get a new one.
Dieter
12 January 2017 at 10:53 pm #144155The other possibility is something like a Black and Decker Workmate or one of the clones. I’ve seen quite a few at garage sales for fairly cheap. It gets you started and I find mine really useful both in the shop and for when one needs a portable workbench.
Paul does a cutting board using a Workmate. If you aren’t sure you want to do woodworking or are on a limited budget, buy a sheet of plywood and 7 2×4 studs. (I am in the US) Split the plywood (3/4″ thickness) into two 2’x8′ sheets and laminate with glue. I used scrap wood as battens to sandwich the sheets. Use a 2×4 down each long side to stiffen. I used screws and glue. Draw back is having to remember and not ruin a saw on them. Double the other 2xs and cut to length for your legs. The last 2x is used as diagonals to brace the legs. Poor man’s work bench. I used mine for several years before building a real one. It shakes and moves when planing and you have to chop over the legs but it still gets the job done for approximately 50 bucks. A wooden double screw clamp clamped to the bench can be used as a clamp. I still use a cheap Pony bench clamp. Would love a nice one someday.
Hello Draske,
Paul (and the team?) very helpfully designed his workbench series to be made without a bench or vice and goes ahead and does it. He gives very useful tips on all the work arounds in the videos.
I’m a beginner too and I’ve decided to make a similar bench. I’m looking forward to a solid bench and vice instead of a bolt on vice, workmate, kitchen counter and other not quite right soloutions that limit me.Thank you everyone for all the helpful responses.
I have not yet watched the workbench videos – I only read the book. I’m happy to hear he addresses this issue and that there is a workaround.
I don’t see the workbench videos on this site, but I do see some on Youtube. I’ll get started watching this weekend!
13 January 2017 at 7:31 pm #155244I think, the workbench videos are in the blog of http://www.paulsellers.com
If you like the Chinese woodworker, look for the videos about making a picture frame. Many safe techniques to get along without a vise. By the way, you can switch on subtitles.
By the way, Paul Sellers has a similar stop device for planing boards on his bench. It can be very useful. However, if you don’t pay attention, you might shoot your board away. So, planing with this device needs even more attention.
My advice would be to table the cutting board/spatula projects and build yourself that bench first. Everything will follow. The quality of your work won’t be what you want if you don’t have a good foundation to build on–that being a sturdy bench with a solid vise. Worst case you could even get injured if not working in a proper setting (speaking from the experience of accidentally stabbing myself in the leg with a chisel because I lacked a proper bench).
I thought I would build my bench in a weekend but really it ended up taking me about a month but it is the starting place for everything I build and it is a great project to learn some basic techniques on a large scale (like the big M&T joints you chop for the legs and the big dadoes in the aprons…you’ll get experience using your hand plane, doing large glue-ups, etc. It will help build confidence too.
Anyway, just my 2c.
13 January 2017 at 10:36 pm #158936I don’t completely agree with dbockel2. Of course, having a bench is very good, and generally safe. However, people have worked wood for millenia, and many of them didn’t have a bench. Ok, most of them are dead now, but they probably didn’t die, because they had no bench.
Well, anyway, I would look for a vise first. Making a bench is probably time consuming (I have put together something with existing material only), but finding a good vise is too. My first vise was a cheap model for as little as 30 Euro, still almost as large as the one Paul Sellers uses. In a matter of a few months, the thread of the winding mechanism crumbled away, so it is just a piece of junk metal now. So, buying cheap is definitely buying twice in the case of vises. Buying used though, can save much money, if you know, what you should buy (see Paul Sellers Blog about vises, many entries). I am glad, I found a Record #52 on ebay, and I hope it is as good as it looks on the images.
In the meantime, a strong table, and perhaps a small metal vise to clamp onto it, might help, especially, if your working pieces are too small to step or sit on them. You can also use clamps to clamp something to the table. It is definitely important to secure your work, not only for accuracy, but also for your own safety.
Dieter
@Draske, dont get hung up on not having a vice. The one thing after tools, you really have to have is a solid, abusable work surface, this can be a sturdy low saw horse/bench to nice purpuse built bench, but it needs to be something you can abuse. After that the rest just starts making life nicer, have a vise? You got a third hand. Have plane stop? Now planing got ease. Holdfasts? You can now clamp any where on the bench.
I built a nice Folding Campaign table replica, using nothing put solid bench top I could either screw in to or clamp to the leg of.
But Hugo Notti is right, end of the day you want a solid bench with a good vise.
Now that I have been exploring this forum more, I found an earlier thread on this topic – it may help others who find this thread first.
I got something like a Workmate, a Keter folding work table. It is not expensive and supports a lot of weight. However, it is lightweight itself and thus will not stay put when planing or sawing. But I use it as my workbench!
Over time I have discovered ways to get the most out of the little Keter. I keep it jammed against the wall for sawing and planing. I use a pile of clamps instead of a front vise. Recently my husband found a $20 clamp-on vise at Harbor Freight. It barely fits the edge of the work table but whatever it fits.
I have used it to make small things and now I use it to make the legit PS workbench. I started planing the first apron tonight.
The point is, don’t let the furniture limit you.
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