Tool Request
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- This topic has 60 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 3 months ago by Sven-Olof Jansson.
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18 December 2019 at 12:39 pm #637691
Just check for flat and square on your marker using your square. Then, if you want to check the angle is consistent, take a relatively thin board, mark a square line across one edge, then line your marker up on one side to the line, and draw as long an angled line as your marker allows, then, without rotating anything, move the gauge to the other side of the board and make the same mark. Now measure down those lines a known distance, make a mark, then square that up to the edge. Now, if you put the square across the edge again, you can see if there is any difference between the position of the vertical line on one side vs. the other.
One marker set I made had slightly different angles one side vs. the other. Made no difference when making through dovetails for boxes in terms of assembly, strength etc. It was slightly visible if you were looking for it, but only went to show the handmadedness of the boxes.That being said, if you’d feel more comfortable with a purchased gauge, go right ahead. (I recently purchased a second hand adjustable one, just for curiosity rather than need. I get to pick it up when I am back in the UK for crimbo.)
Thanks for the advice Colin.
One thing I find about learning woodwork, it’s not only about technique, it is also realising you can use tools to check other tools and things! Your example about using a square to test angles/flatness of a dovetail marker, for example.
I guess it’s all to do with experience.
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Whilst I am here, I would like to add a tail vice to my bench at some point. Is fitting it exactly the same procedure as the standard vice? Also, would I use the same kind of vice (an Eclipse 9″) or something different?
19 December 2019 at 5:20 am #637920Paul did a video back when we was at the Castle in which he added a vise as a tail vise. I seem to recall it was an Eclipse as well.
19 December 2019 at 7:43 pm #638121Mark,
Please take this as anecdotal data.
My personal experience from an Eclipse like tail vice (the type unlocking is done by reversing the screw) was less positive than I had hoped for. It was very good as a “second front vice”, particularly for sawing. Pieces to be sawn could be clamped in the vise with the saw line clear of the bench – horisontal and comfortable: with no risk of sawing into the bench.
When it came to clamping boards between the vice and a bench dog, it was less useful. If I used the dog in the centre of the vise, more narrow boards would be too far in from the edge of the bench, adding further strain to the planing. If I used a dog at the end of the wooden fence I screwed into the vice, then there would be a small skewness of the fence when I tightened the jaws. A wedge at the other end of the jaw improved the situation.
The vice could open some 400 mm (a bit less with the wooden fence added), so I didn’t expect there ever to be an issue of finding a suitable dog hole on the bench. However, at times there would be quite long parts of the pieces I was working on that would be in the air between the jaws. When that happened, it wasn’t uncommon for the piece to jump out.
My current vice looks very ugly on my current bench, as it is intended for a bench with a wide front apron. Aesthetics apart, it’s very good. It requires 17″ (402 mm) of the lower face of the bench top be free, measured from the short edge, and that I suppose can make retrofitting complicated.
Veritas Inset Vice can be mounted on any bench. It has received some less favourable comments from Axminster customers, while others, in various media, have been more favourable. In particular, Mr. Peter George, based on experience, gave the vice a favourable comment here (6th Dec 2015).
Please forgive a nasty thought, but could it be that the negative comments on workpieces popping out of the Veritas Inset Vice, were the consequence of benchtops being insufficiently flat or the inset vices not flush and para-planar.
https://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-inset-vice-952803
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You must be logged in to view attached files.Thank you for that reply Sven.
I’m having second thoughts about a tail vice, as I primarily wanted it for the usage of dogs. But now I’m thinking it probably isn’t worth the effort. I know Paul, whilst he doesn’t dislike them, doesn’t feel the need for them.
I use a second face vise at the end of my bench, where a tail vise would be. I wouldn’t be without it for multiple reasons. I often find two things happening at once and want a second vise to keep from disturbing what’s in the first vise, even if it’s as simple as putting a strop in the second vise. Sven-Olof has noted the advantages of having having a different orientation for sawing. I use the second vise for planing *all* the time, but not via dogs. I put a block of wood in the vise and use it as a planing stop. The work rests on the bench top and just pushes into the stop. Since the stop is a foot wide, I don’t need to worry about things torquing around, but at the same time, since the work is not clamped or in a vise, I can flip it around in the blink of an eye or flip it over to test for wind via the bench top. The block of wood that I use as a planing stop is also the block I use for testing and setting my plane. I go to it over and over again during my work.
Here’s a critical thing: I’m left handed. My bench is set up for what most would call a right handed person, i.e., when facing the bench my main vise is to the left of center and the second vise (mounted where a tail vise would be) is to my right. This is why it works as a planing stop, since I’m left handed. So, think carefully about your bench setup because this trick as a planing stop wouldn’t work for a righty. You could put a stop at the end of the bench to the left of the main vise if you’re a righty and mount your vise in the standard position, but you’ll have that vise in your way for most planing. I’m not sure why rightys put the main vise where they do. I think it comes from using a crotch and holdfasts.
I’m tempted to try a real tail vise but so far haven’t remade my bench top and can’t install one in my current junk bench. I’m not sure I’d want to give up the stuff I just described. If the only gain is dogging and the mid-bench vise grip, it wouldn’t be worth it.
I’d post a photo, but my bench is buried under a 7 foot long cabinet at the moment. I can in a day or two, if desired.
21 December 2019 at 10:08 am #638617I’ve a longer thinner workbench, and there is only one vise, and that is on one of the short ends. This can make some clamp ups challenging, but then, I like a challenge. I also use the scrap in the vise as a planing stop, but mine is on the other end to Ed’s, so does work for a righty. I have a few other pieces of scrap with various angles in that I can clamp to the bench to keep smaller parts in place.
I am planning to build a new workbench, that combines the best elements of the benches I have now, but, as they are both perfectly functional, it is not high on the to do list.Here’s the “face vise at the end” being used to fit a door. I could have done this in the main vise, but it’s busy with other stuff. The block of wood on the floor is my planing stop / plane adjustment block 🙂
Again, and super important: It matters whether you’re right or left handed vs. the end where you put this vise and the main vise.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.By the way, if you put your vise in the “normal” place (at the left), are right handed, and want a planing stop sort of like what I do with the vise-at-the-end, you can make a simple appliance. See the photo here:
A copy of the image (not mine, but taken from photobucket) is attached.
Note the brass bench dog that is supporting the stop near the *middle* of the bench. I’ve not made one of these, so I’m not sure if it is absolutely needed. You could also make the stop long enough to reach all the way across the bench and put a clamp at the far edge of the bench. Understand, though, that for thicker stock you tilt this stop in the vise to give more to push against, so the clamp wouldn’t be applied directly to the stop, but just to the bench for the stop to bear against.
I hope it is clear from the photo that this stop is just a big “L” with one leg in the vise and the other on the bench (to serve as the stop).
Bottom line: If you’re right handed, have the main vise toward the left, and want a planing stop to work on the bench top, you can make one very easily.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.I find my eyesight isn’t what it used to be and I’m finding it tough going measuring precisely on a ruler. Currently, my spectacles are not up to it either.
I saw this veritas ruler magnifier and was wondering if anyone has used this or something similar:
Or perhaps this:
http://www.axminster.co.uk/jeweller-s-loupe-10x-doublet-502428
It’s either that or I stop working in millimetres 😀
22 December 2019 at 10:30 pm #639073Mark,
The Veritas Rule Magnifier works very well, in my humble… (Please see attached photo)
Another common approach to what appears to be a very common problem – not solely related to presbyopia – is to use a magnifying lighting, as shown in the attached link
My better half arranged for me to have a pair of bespoke loupe glasses. They are very good.
(The below makes references to Metric and Imperial in a way that hopefully will not elicit another battle on unit of measure)
What makes Imperial attractive, I don’t think is that it makes measuring much easier, but that in woodworking it’s binary: e.g. finding the half 1 3/4″ (7/4″) is nothing more than multiplying the denominator with two and ending up with 7/8″. To accurately measure 7/64″ is probably not very different from measuring 2.5 mmAttachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Thank you Sven for the advice.
Earlier today I added a ruler to my latest Axminster shopping basket and it is the same one you are showing in the above pic; it looks a lot easier to read then anything I have at the moment. I prefer metric, but the more I see/hear Paul Sellers working with imperial, I’m slowly gravitating toward that system.
I also have a similar magnifying lamp (I’d forgotten I’d bought one when I was painting figures for wargaming a few years ago) which I am going to take into the workshop but I think I am going to go with the two separate loupes and use them. Predominantly at least, because they are more accessible.
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