Introduction
- This topic has 6 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 10 months ago by Thomas Angle.
-
AuthorPosts
-
Hello,
most people call me “Ecky” as the short form of my real first name Eckart. The “H.” stands for the abbreviated form of my surname.
I was born 1971 in Dresden, Saxony. Sixteen years later I’d like to get an apprenticeship as a joiner, but (fortunately) it didn’t happen. So I had to become an electrician and my interest in wood and woodworking went sleep. After several stations I work as a technical editor for four years now.
My interests are (usually singlespeedy) cycling, vegetarian cooking and eating, photography, astronomy, cats, UNIX/Linux and collecting plushies made by Kösener.
That collection was the reason for looking after an expandable and flexible shelf system. There was (and probably is) no such shelf on the market which suits the plushies needs and my budget. There was only one possible decision: to build that shelf system myself.
The fortune not to become a professional joiner for me is that I can develop that for me as a hobbyist with handtools only just like that singlespeed cycling: because I can. 😉To bring that planned shelf to success, some practise prior to that project is necessary. So I decided to build up a small woodworking workshop from scratch first.
After some crawling on youtube I found the great videos from Mr. Sellers and his team. That was the moment when I got bitten by the handtool bug.The first project was a simple sawbuck, built on a cardbox (filled with other cardboxes – astonishingly stable):
That was the result:
Then it got some holes in the stretchers so that I could “clamp” workpieces with wedges and some kind of bench dogs. I laid the sawbuck on the floor to have a more stable working platform than the previous cardbox. Working around 150mm above the ground is exhausting.
However, the result was mostly satisfying for me:
The sawbuck and the sawbench are now in use in my fathers workshop and he is satisfied with it.
Meanwhile I’ve got the opportunity to build the “Sawbench MkII” on a Bosch PWB600 folding workbench. That was no fun: in particular that model isn’t build to stand the forces of sawing and planing. So it was some kind of misuse.
But this is history. Now Sawbench MkII is ready.
The next project are two modified (“three-legged”) saw bents after “The Minimalist Woodworker” by Vic Tesolin. After that I possibly have enough practise to seriously start buiding a Paul Sellers style workbench. That workbench finally will enable to build the needed shelf system.
I’m glad to have found this place here with friendly and skillful people.
Thanks for reading!
E.
- This topic was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Ecky H. Reason: Changed first image
Welcome Ecky!
That is a really interesting evolution of saw benches and work-holding options! Thanks for sharing. You must have learned a lot from creating and using them!
If you can build those, you definitely have the skills to build a fully functional workbench.
Mike
6 June 2017 at 7:56 pm #312622Since you are German i can highly recommend you buy a Copy of “Fritz Spannagel – Der Möbelbau”, etwas antiquiert aber immer noch excellente Informationen, but back to english.
Depending on your region there probably are some old Workbenches in someones sheds or basements that wait for a new home, refurbishing an old Bench may be very well worth it.
It could turn out alot cheaper too, if you are lucky you might even get one for free, some people are happy to have it out of the basement, shed or whatever for the extra space.Unless you absolutely want to build your own bench, in which case i would highly recommend you look into a Shoulder Vise (Deutsche Vorderzange), the standard vise on a traditional German Bench, makes clamping wider boards so much easier, and you dont need to fiddle around with spacers to apply even pressure.
Take a look at Frank Klausz’s bench for example.Regards Philipp
7 June 2017 at 12:53 am #312625I second that.
Plus it is a work bench, not a piece of furniture. If you make some mistakes, they will be covered up shortly with the dings and dents of working on the bench.
Not saying that you should settle for anything less than your best.
Thank you for the warm welcome and your helpful tips.
That gives confidence that mastering the build of the Paul Sellers style should be possible with the current skill.
@dragon32
Thank you.
The build process of the sawbuck taught that a sober start (“How to build work-holding devices without a workbench”) is possible with nearly everything which raises the work piece above the ground and the great value of a simple cord to tighten things together. And if it is planned as a first workplace: use wider and thicker planks for more height and clamping options.
The sawbenches are based on the Chris Schwarz design with the modifications of one perpendicular leg to allow rip cutting without “skew cutting” a sawbench leg and a wider top to gain more work piece holding capabilities. The dovetail joints are mostly to practise dovetailing. Additionally it improves the solidity of the bench.
Those rectangular “clamping plates” with that off-centered pin in combination with the wedges work astonishingly well. They don’t have the versatility of a real vise and not much clamping force, but in combination with the planing stop at the end of the bench they make squaring stock much easier.
@etmo
Your words improve confidence to have a real chance to get the workbench properly built. Thank you.
@kamikazekrieger
Dankeschön für Deine Tipps.
The public library here owns a copy of the Spannagel book, so I’ll borrow it.
Old specialist books are very interesting – not only for the historical knowledge (eg. Roy Underhill sometimes refers to André Roubo), but also for linguistic reasons.
I definitely will build that workbench myself for several reasons. First of all to gain practise in woodworking, then to match the very limited space in the workshop. Third: the rough sawn lumber for the bench is acclimatising for around a month already.
After considering several different kinds of bench vices, including a wedge driven leg vice, I bought a York HVRQ 802.
The bench of Frank Klausz is a real beauty. Because space is a very important issue in my workshop, that english vice probably suits my situation best.
@tomangle
Thank you.
Probably the dings and dents better will be in the workbench then in the fine work pieces, won’t they? That was the reason to choose pine for the workbench instead of hardwood.…and I beg your pardon for not only muddling wooden projects but the English language as well…
E.
PS: I tried to reply yesterday with a longer post, but apparently nothing happened. So I asked the forum team for help.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Ecky H. Reason: inserting content of a previous try to reply
- This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Mark Hawkins.
9 June 2017 at 4:15 pm #312681There is no need to apologies for your english. To be quite truthful, you communicate it better than a lot of people in the area I live in. I wish I could speak and write a foreign language as well as you do english.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.