Bench Hook for Holding things in Place.

   Newman specials wood work posted a Youtube 

 shorthttps://www.youtube.com/@NewmanSpecialsWoodwork/shorts on a clever type of bench hook.  There are other short videos on the page but the bench hook is one that caught my eye.

  

  My square, at this time does not have a track in which to run but that may well be next.  I like the idea of this bench hook for planing and certain types of assembly.  I made my hook/square from elm as it is strong and I have a bunch of short boards handy.  The thick cross piece is pine instead of elm.  Elm as well is being strong is heavy and when the thick rail was elm the jig needed to be held down or is would tip off the bench.

  In making the jig I cut a dado for the right angle piece first.  I then used glue and dowels to hold it in place.  My rule with jigs and fixtures is no metal fasteners when they can come into contact with blades of any type.  The angled cross piece is held in place by pocket screws but they are on the back, well out of the way.

At this time I will just clamp the jig to the bench.  This will let me see if it works as well as I think it shall.

cheers ianw

Where I Work

My first woodworking space was the furnace room in our previous house. There was a chest freezer, a water treatment set up, a furnace, a sump pump and a variety of shelves with everything for camping gear to gardening tools.  The space was not large or well lit.  Having said that, I was glad for the space and made some things that have stood the test of time.  I got my first scroll saw while in that shop.

Fifteen years ago we moved here.  The space is much larger even though I still share the space with the furnace. I brought from my old shop my work table/bench, if you search work table you can see various blogs on different aspects of building this work table.

I thought I would do a small review because I wanted to show work holding aspects of this  bench/table.

The top is 40 inches square and 1 1/2 inch thick plywood. The bench stands on two very stout legs and two heavy duty locking casters.  It is very heavy and so quite stable and the casters allow one side to be lifted and the bench to be pushed around.(with some effort).  It therefore gives me a slightly flexible work space. The structure is 3/4 plywood boxes with hardwood framing and supports. The bottom section is divided in half with 3/4 ply and the second section is turned 90 degrees from the lower one. This way there is no racking and I have two through storage sections on each level. The 1 1/2 top sits on two inch rails making the top replaceable without affecting the structure of the boxes. This is the second or third top. 

To make the bench useful I have added dog holes and Kreg Clamps. The dogs are 3/4 and I have a variety of commercial and homemade.  This lets me hold most work pieces for sawing, sanding etc.

On one corner is my "jaw horse" vise.  I don't know it the company that made my vise still exists, but there are a number of companies that make this sort of foot activated vise, usually they have their own legs. I like this one that attaches to the bench.  It can be removed without much trouble if needed.

When I am working of something smaller I can used this clamp table that aligns via dogs on the bench top.

I don't remember what I was doing that I wanted this separate work top, but I is now available for use.

When I was having particular troubles with my back I made a larger raised version to clamp onto the bench and raise my work height a further 8 inches.

This is high enough for me to sit on a shop stool and hold work close for fine repairs, or carving. I to stand without being too hunched over. Usually I clamp the raised section with C clamps.  I like C clamps, they are slow but strong.

For edge planing I set up a system to hold pipe clamps on the raised bench.

Since I have been working on, sanding, painting etc the boards for the patio bench the raised bench has been leaning in the corner of the shop.

Why my thoughts turned to my bench are two fold.  I saw an interested video about bench clamping and I am moving into another work shop soon. 

Next time I will share the video and talk about the shop.

cheers ianw

 

 

  

Make a Leg

 Last blog I said I would share the method I used to make the legs for the recent table.  I made the legs with mostly hand tools.

  First I glued elm boards together to give me approximately 1 5/8 squares. Making sure the boards were flat and the glue joint was perfect probably  took more time than making each leg.

  I like elm, it is tough, a bit stringy and  has interesting grain patterns.  The leg is 13 inches long and 1 5/8 square.  I am planning to put a 1 3/8 tenon on one end.

  I drilled out a board to give me a jig for both marking and size testing.

  I've made tenons this size before so I kept the jig from making small tables and stools.

I used the hole to mark the end of the leg blank.

  I marked the tenon to be 1 1/2 inches, then cut into the blank's corners with a fine toothed saw .

  Using a chisel, draw knife and rasp I rounded the tenon until it fit tightly into the hole in the jig.  After the tenon was right I clamped the leg into the vise and planed off the four corners to give a rustic hexagon shape. 

  To do this job the tools I used were a saw, a plane, draw knife (just 'cause I've got one), a rasp and vise to hold the work in place. I used my favourite home made wood rasp.

  If you are ever someplace that is selling hacksaw blades by the bundle cheap, go for it. I can't remember what I paid for this bunch of blades but it was pocket change cheap, and I use it all the time.

  A decent drill with a bit of power will drill the holes in the top/seat and the legs can be made to be sturdy and attractive.  A lathe is nice to have, but not all shops have the space or budget, You can make acceptable legs without a lathe.

cheers ianw