Full Chisel Blog

I have posted pictures of this saw earlier it is the Spears & Jackson Half Rip Saw, with a broken upper horn on the handle.  I did not have a large enough piece of beech to do the repair, so I put it off.  Well last weekend at the local flea market, I came across this saw, I noticed it had a replacement handle (of beech), so I thought it would be good for doing this repair.

And I thought I could make a new handle for the fine little blade.  The blade is old, I don’t know how old, it is 18″ long and is sharpened 16 TPI (PPI) and as a rip saw.  The blade has no markings but was re-punched for the new handle. 

So, I cut off the horn from the replacement handle and prepared it for gluing.  I removed as little of the original as possible to get a flat surface for gluing.  I toothed both surfaces and treated them with garlic.  I was going to clamp the piece on but ended up just leaving it overnight.

The following day the new horn was ready to shape.  I use a #49 & 50 Nicholson rasps to rough shape then went to cabinet files, bastard first then smooth cut.  I used a chisel to shape it near the original wood on the top where it curves down then finished with a card scraper.  (A bit of hot shellac stick for the fine line on one side that wasn’t quite right).

So with this one complete, I still had that little rip saw to handle up, so I chose cherry to match my other saw handles, and I chose the same pattern for this saw handle.

With a little handling the shine should go away.  I matched the color with shellac and burnt umber pigment, it took a couple of thinner applications to get the color without obscuring the grain.  Now it is onto the new handle for the little rip saw.

Now I have used these Duck Bill Spoon Bits before but only in pine, so I thought I would put it to the test on some hard cherry, and to my delight the holes were perfect.

Even the exit holes were perfect, sweet bits, I am impressed.

Now yesterday I felt (and actually looked) like that drawing of the Boutique Saw Handle Maker that was on Joel’s Blog.  (I should do a vignette).  It only took about 10 minutes to cut out the handle and 10 minutes to cut out the hand/grip hole. 

The bow saw is a new reproduction made by Clay and is English.

I used the same rasps and files for shaping the handle.  I then used a scraper to smooth it out.  I cut the slot the the S&J half rip saw (above) as it was the only one I had that was the right thickness for the new blade.

The handle looks big now, some of that is the fact that it is in the ‘white’ and does not have a finish.  It will look smaller when it has a finish.  I did try out the saw cutting dovetails on some 3/4″ pine and it worked just fine, took a bit longer but produced smooth cuts.  I split out the wood to examine the kerf and it was nice and smooth, I can’t wait until I can actually use this fine little saw.  Now all that remains until I can really use the saw are a pair of split saw nuts (I think I am on a famous waiting list).

Stephen

Well I was doing some other things today and only got a bit of work done on the lap desk.  I did fit up the interior pieces that will be the leather covered writing surface.  The leather will act as the hinge for both pieces.  I will of course glue the leather hide down with hide glue, that is simple.

The inner pieces are thin soft maple, I will strengthen them with a couple of battens on the underside.

I also took care of my dovetails, they look great now.  (Plaster of Paris or whiting (calcium carbonate), wood flour, hide glue and water).

Scraping and a bit of sanding, a coat of paint and the exterior is completed.  The interior will require a bit of fetteling to get everything fit up properly.  I need to order a lock to secure the lap desk and I have the accouterments to furnish it properly.

Stephen

These were very common in the nineteenth century, it is in effect a briefcase or laptop of the period.   Most were constructed of common secondary woods, pine, poplar, chestnut, etc and covered with fancy veneer such as rosewood, mahogany, etc. and even stringing, inlays, marquetry and metal mounts. 

When folded up, it had a lock to keep it together and private, and when opened provided a slanted writing surface plus two storage areas for papers, ink, quill, sander or blotter and other accouterments needed for proper correspondence to conduct business in a neat manner.  They were for use in the household, at the shop for business or while traveling.

The construction of the carcase varies from through dovetails to half blind dovetails, like I selected for this example.  Again another one of those items I can cross off my list of things I have always wanted to built.  If that list wasn’t getting bigger when I see new things, it would be getting smaller because I am actually building many projects that I have planned to do sometime in my life.

I will make a variation on this particular one as I will just paint on the veneer and the stringing.  There are painted examples (a few leather covered also exist) but most are veneered.  So don’t say anything about the dovetails, they will be filled with putty and painted and you will never see them.

I started out with the four sides glued together, held with a rope tourniquet and toggle.  I use ropes and toggles for clamping all kinds of objects, especially chairs and for repair work.  A mostly overlooked technique, it is as about as cheap a clamp as can be had.

Here is a view from the side showing the half blind dovetails.

Here is a view on the inside, alright, I did saw past the score line, but it is on the inside, so who cares.

Here is what the box looks like all closed up.  The top and bottom are cut to fit, glued and nailed in place.  Should I worry about cross grain, yes, just as much as the original craftsman did.  And most of the time on old lap desks there are problems caused by this.  Together with the fact that most are only veneered and finished on the outside, but with smaller pieces, this single side treatment isn’t much of a problem.

And this is what it looks like open with the hinges installed.  I made a fundamental mistake when laying out the position of the dovetails, can you spot the glaring mistake?  If not I probably won’t say anything.

Now I thought that the second set of hinges I ordered were like the first set, but oh no, the leaf in between is bigger, so it left a big gap at the back.

This required me to remove the hinges and re-mortise them a bit deeper to remove the gap.  Wow, that nasty mistake rears its ugly head, won’t do that again, and I have another set of hinges so I will build at least one more.  I want to copy the one that is in Baltimore that was used by Edgar Allen Poe.  It is a big one and has a table base for use when not traveling.

I am fashioning the writing surface(s) from some thin soft maple I have, the hinge will be either leather or cloth, depending on what I choose for the writing surface.  If I use cloth, I will paint it to look like leather, with a little glycerin in the paint to keep it flexible.  I will also add a bit to the hide glue for that same purpose.

Stephen

I presume you all know how to use a workbench, so some of this may be old hat, but that is not going to stop me.  A workbench is a bench where you do your woodworking (I love stating the obvious) and it shouldn’t interfere with getting work done.

As I have mentioned before my workbench tops are made of softwood, as I don’t want my workbench to damage that which I am working on.  Now while I mostly use pine for what I make, it is more important to me to have a soft top on the workbench.  People ask if it doesn’t wear out?  Well I am sure that the top of my bench will only last a hundred years or so, I can’t imagine wearing out a bench top.

Probably the most important thing about a workbench is that it should be solid and not move on you when you are using it.  If a bench wobbles, moves, sways or jiggles when you use it makes what you are doing difficult as the work is moving in unwanted ways.  Accuracy diminishes when the work moves when it is not intended.  If it is not stable and moves when you work on it, I am not sure it can be called a workbench.

Nor do I think workbenches should be built like a piece of furniture, while they look wonderful and could be in most peoples living rooms, and are great examples of the fine craftsmanship of the woodworker, I think most will be reluctant to use the bench for fear of damaging its pristine look.  That interferes with getting work done.

The reason I built this type of bench is that I am not sure a vise (permanently) attached to a workbench was not a time-saver and gets in the way.  I have two other benches in my shop with tail vises and face vises, they are identical benches, one has been raised up 5 inches (with a cleat under the trestle feet, the other one is lower for planing and both have the nasty tool tray holes, one has been rehabilitated and the other one is in therapy (its crap tray is going away soon).

I have noticed problems when using the tail vises in conjunction with bench dogs.  The screws on these vises can exert an enormous amount of pressure and it is easy to deform boards, even thick long boards, by over tightening.  When holding thin stock it is almost impossible not to bow the board one way or another with just light pressure.  I did some playing around the other day and it was difficult to get the board solid enough within the dogs to hold it without causing it to bow.

It is also much faster to plane boards against a stop or catch than it is to secure it between dogs.  The wood can be easily turned, flipped and smoothed without the vise causing the boards to bow, and it just takes too long, tightening, loosening, adjusting the dogs, not a labor saving devise.

The jam cleat or arrest is also much faster and using a face vise for edge planing, and a surface V-shaped jam cleat holds boards well for edge planing.  Just push the board in place and work, then pull it out, reverse push it in again and you are back to work.  I guarantee that it is much faster with no fear of distortion.

I also like the feel of the wood when I am planing it against the stops or catches and it requires a different technique, that actually improved my hand planing.  Because the rear end of the board is not supported when using just the catch (planing stop), you must exert more pressure on the rear of the plane, especially when off planing the end of the board.  One difficulty is planing a thin board with a bit of a cup to it or a chip of wood under the wood causes it to come up off the stop.  This can be avoided by having an iron toothed crochet (catch) set in the stop to prevent this from happening.

With the increase in heel pressure on the plane there is less of a tendency to plane more on the near side of the wood.  Free planing (not in a vise) is also much faster as the wood is easily reversed for proper grain orientation for planing, and easily flipped over to finish the reverse side of the board.  And having two stops allow you to use them in conjunction with each other to hold round or oval pieces or a corner into the two stops to plane on a skew angle to the grain.

 I am building a folding lap desk 12″ by 16″ by 6″, half blind dovetailed, nailed in bottom and top.  I prepared all the boards on the bench, did the dovetails using a hold fast to gang saw the front and back and did the half blind pins on a side rest (bench hook).  I planed the top and bottom flat before gluing in the top and bottom, using the two stops set all the way up.  I also used the stops to hold the box when smoothing the tops and edges.  I did use an end vise on another bench to hold the box when I ripped it apart.  I finished up the slopes with a smoother, again free planing against the stops.  I mortised the hinges against the stops.  I will post on this box soon.

I do need a vise for sawing, and it is my intention to build a proper sawing vise, then I will never have need for an end vise, which is just fine with me as the Best Woodworking Workbench in the World doesn’t have one.

I am also well pleased by the with the jam cleat (Not a Crochet) on the left front edge of my workbench.  I am contemplating and making inquiries about Moxon (see the thread at WoodCentral) and would like to figure out how that thing works.  The jam cleat or arrest works well with just one peg to support the height of the board at its proper location.  Push the piece in and start planing.  You can also use the bench as a height reference by allowing your fingers to touch the bench, so you can get a feel for the height as you plane.  Any time I can bring another sense into play, rather than relying on sight to check for smoothness or straightness, the better, especially as one ages.

Who says you can’t teach an old dog, old tricks?  Forcing myself not to use an end vise or face vise has been an interesting experiment and the results of which I will continue to practice.  It has not been difficult to wean myself from using vises, and had I not had this particular notion perhaps I wouldn’t have learned some valuable techniques.

I of course am not claiming authorship to any of this, I just looked at what was available during the early nineteenth century in terms of woodworking technology together with the extant examples we can examine and extrapolate and I put 2 and 2 together and got 22.

Stephen

Well, I decided I couldn’t or shouldn’t make one big post for these bench tools, so here are some more devices that make work easier.  I am always interested in making my work easier, I think all great inventions were intended to reduce work.  Put the laziest person in charge of the most complicated job and they will come up with the easiest solution.

For larger inside miters there is the Mules Ear Shooting Board.   This is also called a Donkey’s Ear miter board, I think because of the long hanging down rest for the work.  The large cleat on the bottom is placed against the edge of the workbench and fastened with a holdfast.  It can also be put in some face vises, it is a traditional design, this one made of mahogany, maple and white oak.  The stop is adjustable as the end gets chewed up, which does happen if you are not careful.  It is important that the stop supports the end of the board to prevent tear-out.

Here is the Miter Box that I currently use.  I have made and owned other types, but this one is the best for me.  I do like the French Miter Box for larger pieces, but I seldom cut miters that big.  this one has a cleat to hold against the top edge of the workbench to keep it secure when sawing.

In conjunction with the miter box is the Miter Jack, a clamp/vise to hold work so it can be touched up with a plane.  Here is an unusual commercially made miter jack, that I got for $15.00 after I beat the guy up on his asking price, and no I can sleep at night.  I think it is German, possibly Ulmia, but it is not marked, it is made of beech.

It appears that the cuts on the bottom (with the screw holes) are factory made, it was attached to a nasty scrap of wood which I removed, and it looks like it has had more than one attached judging from the multiple holes.

Here is the reason I think it is German, note the joint in the jaws.

 Here is one of several miter jacks I made several years ago.

Here it is in use, the photograph was taken in 2002 in a friends shop in Reno, Nevada.

You might also note the bench design, it is of the same type, however you may notice the added molding at the bottom of the apron, it is for a sliding deadman, just barely visible, another useful support for pegs.

Speaking of Jacks, here is a Sawing Jack that I use with my fret saws and coping saw for fine work.  I can adjust it to various heights for comfortable working.

 And here is a Carving Jack, which is intended to elevate work above the workbench.  The stuff being worked on is clamped to the jack, which is also adjustable in height.  I use this often as I do not like to bend over to work, too hard on my old back.  It also brings the work up closer to my old eyes.

 
And last but not least my favorite accessory for a workbench, a Pattern Maker’s Vise.

And it can be turned in any direction.

Or, it can be mounted on the apron to use in a horizontal position.

And most importantly it can be easily removed from the bench when not in use.  So it does take a little time to set it up, less than a minute and the same time to remove it from the bench.  Until I had my epiphany about keeping my bench clean, this was set up all the time, so I really couldn’t use my entire bench, but of course there was all that crap on my bench that prevented me from using the workbench as a workbench.

And when I have to do a little metal work on hardware and such I use this little metal working vise.

I like this new arrangement, the clean bench really does allow me to get more work done.  Clean off your benches if you haven’t already.

Stephen

Now that I have discussed the Best Workbench in the World, here are some accessories used in conjunction with said bench.  Because the bench does not have a permanent vise, it helps to have other equipment to perform various tasks.  These can also be referred to as sawing appliances or planing appliances but they are generally used on the workbench.  And handy they are.

The most common piece of workbench paraphernalia is the Side Rest, sometimes called a bench hook.  It is a simple device, one long wide board with a small cleat on each end.  I have gone through a couple of these handy tools and I currently have two, the shorter pine version and one larger I made of mahogany.

That is not blood, it is shellac.

I use it mainly to hold work while I cross cut off the end.  I also use it for chiseling as you can see the stop on the pine side rest is quite chewed up.  I also use them to hold pieces that I am chopping half blind dovetails, both sawing and chopping out the waste.  I do use an old woman’s tooth router plane to clean the waste out for the tails.

Here are my two side rests, the longer one is of mahogany.

I can also use my side rest as a shooting board in a pinch.

The next most frequently used device is the shooting board.  Most woodworkers make their shooting boards too short and will not work on larger stuff.  I made one that is longer than most so I can actually use it to square the edge of the board.  This is much easier to square a board and get a straight edge than by free hand planing the edge.  Can also be used to plane end grain.

 Another planing appliance is the Miter Shooting Board, this is used like a regular shooting board except the center stop has a 45 degree angle to each face, allowing you to shoot either direction.  With this tool you are planing end grain on fairly small miters.

Well I had every intention of doing this in one post, but apparently I need more space, so more to follow.

Stephen

I just had to say that for some reason.  I feel that this particular bench is the best workbench in the world for me.  It of course will not suit everyone’s needs, but for me it is the last bench I made and the one I currently use, so of course it is the Best Woodworking Workbench in the World.

And the suspense has lasted long enough, and as some of you have guessed it is an English Pattern Jointer’s Bench.  I did not come up with this design, it is several hundred years old, but as I mentioned before, sometimes it is impossible to improve upon the past.

It took me a couple of days to clean off my bench, which I would like to report after several days it is still free from crap.  I have made a vow to use my workbench as a workbench, I clean it off when I am finished with a task and put my tools away.  (Something has come over me, this is not like me at all).  But I like the new arrangement.  I can get more work done when I can actually use my bench.

Now I must put my attention to the lower shelf, I need the shelf to be low so it won’t interfere with the holdfast or any clamps used on the front apron.  I am considering a large shallow wooden box with a slanted lid (slanted so I can’t put anything on top) and to shed sawdust and other debris that falls through the holes on top of the bench.

Why is this the Best Workbench in the World?  Because it is so simple and very easy to make.  It can be as long as you need for your work, as wide as you will need for your purposes and tall enough to be comfortable to work.

This is the side stretcher that is dovetailed into the front and back legs.

This is the top stretcher that is a half dovetail.  I intended on pegging them but haven’t got around to that yet.  The back top stretcher is also half dovetailed to the legs, the front is strengthened by the apron.

This is the front stretcher and there is also one on the back. 

The front apron is ‘dovetailed’ into the leg and secured with pegs.  The apron is pegged to the front legs with no glue, the apron is glued and fastened (pegs or nails) to the edge of the top, but floats free from the base.  The reason for this is that I can easily replace the apron or top if necessary.

I also decided to drill more holes in the legs for pegs and holdfasts.  In order to get the hole perfectly horizontal I use the ‘wedding ring’ trick.  The brass ring will track in the middle of the shank of the blade if it is horizontal and will track to the handle if it is too low, or will track towards the bit if the handle (pad) is too high.

I need to drill a couple more holes down both front legs, I will wait until I can put some visitors to my shop to work, they seem fascinated by the wedding ring trick and using a hand brace to drill a hole.

So, this is the Best Woodworking Workbench in the World, as far as I am concerned.  I will post more on the Workbench Appliances I use in conjunction with this fine design.

Stephen

While I have been keeping the version of The Best Workbench in the World close to my vest, you smart folks are figuring it out quite easily.  But I will still refer to it without saying just what it is right now, so be patient.

That new planing stop was great and if one is good then two is twice as good.  Now I can keep wide boards from twisting without putting a peg in one of the hold fast holes.  This is a good tip as a peg will keep the back end of the board from swinging away from a single planing stop.  The two are real nice.

And two is much better than one.

I also have another type of jam cleat that is mounted on the bench with a wooden bolt when needed, again nothing permanently attached to the bench.  Now I call this a jam cleat others call it other things but it does the same purpose, hole a board on edge for edge planing.

And one might ask why I don’t have a face vise or tail vise to hold my work, because the jam cleats and planing stops are just much faster.  No loosening and tightening the vise, just flip the work and work.  And a problem I have noticed on the other two benches in my shop is that the end vise can easily bow the wood when too much pressure is applied, and this happens with thin pieces but I have even bowed 2 inch thick stuff.  The end vise is a contributor to badly planed boards.

Here is what a typical tool tray looks like, it is on one of the other two benches in my shop (which I did not make).

And working on my Karma, here is an intervention and rehabilitation of a tool tray:

Now isn’t that much better?  I added a piece of wood the size of the tool tray and flush to the top yielding a lot more usable work bench surface.  I have a piece of wood the right size for the other bench and am just waiting to have an opportunity to make it go away.

Here is a problem area, that I have yet to deal with, and I am not sure there is a good solution.  As with all flat surfaces they accumulate crap.  I need some inspiration on this one.

There is at least one thing that is permanently attached to my workbench, my grease cup.

But it is attached to the underside of the workbench.  Made of a scrap of walnut, it is filled with a mixture of 25% tallow (lard) and 75% beeswax.

To give you a size the hole in the grease cup is 1 3/8″ in diameter.

I took some more photographs today and will be using them on an upcoming post.

Stephen

The workbench is the place where you work.  To some a workbench is just a stump, a puncheon table, the kitchen table, a Moxon, Roubo, Holtzapffel or Nicholson workbench, Noah’s bench, a carvers bench or a Joyner’s bench, it is where you get work done.

A workbench is where all of the crap in the shop ends up, it is where you would like to work if you could actually see the surface.  A workbench is like any flat surface, where gravity allows anything to rest.  The Ideal Workbench would be mounted vertically and only became horizontal when in use.  Then nothing could rest on the surface when not in use.

There really shouldn’t be anything that you permanently keep on the top of your workbench, except what you are working on.  Everything should have a proper place and it is NOT on the workbench.  I am even skeptical of tool holders off the back side of benches, where handles protrude above the surface of the bench.  Anything that interferes with the use of the entire workbench is a bad idea.  Like the tool slough (tool gutter, the open tool sewer, festering workbench gash, workbench bar pit, slit trench, the great void, tool abyss, bench privy, the pit, lacuna, &c.) that great waste of valuable workbench top surface area.

And I feel the same way about the front and ends of my bench, I don’t want them permanently encumbered by obstructions like vises.  Vises have there place and I am about to embark on building myself a nice vise for sawing mostly but will be able to use it for other applications.  But it will be free standing and will not interfere with my bench.  Not that there is anything wrong with a vise, they are handy, I have a couple that I can attach to my bench when I need them, other than that they sit on the lower shelf of my bench.  Another flat surface that can accumulate stuff.

The workbench is the most used tool in my shop, have I said that before?  When I use my other tools, it is usually in conjunction with my workbench, so I use it every single day that I am in the shop.  I want my bench there for me when I need it, so I have developed a new outlook and have cleaned and vow to keep clean my workbench.  Having 3 workbenches in my current shop, I can always find a clean one, but my personal bench the Ultimate Bench, the Best Woodworking Workbench in the World, is now the focus of my attention.

If you need a bench with a vise, by all means make one from any of the popular traditional designs, make it the size in terms of work area and the correct height for you.  What is the correct height for you, I have no idea how tall you are so I don’t know.  I make my benches tall, because I am tall and do not like to bend over a lot to do woodwork.  Stand up straight, with your hands down to your side, then gently curl the fingers of your hand and the exact height will be somewhere between the middle of your femur and the rib cage.

Your workbench should be long enough to support the length of stuff that you will normally be working on and deep enough to accommodate at least a chair sitting level on the top.  It really helps if it is flat, and it doesn’t hurt if it is square, I frequently use the ends of my bench as a square, because it is square and no permanent vises to interfere with this.  Also the front apron (oh, I am giving away some secrets too early) is square to the top, so I can use it as a square as well to check my dovetails and mortise and tenons for square (well they are always square, oh my goodness, I am arrogant).

Workbenches need to be sturdy and hold your work still while you whale and thrash about.  It should be heavy enough to not skate across the floor, smaller work benches like those for other trades are meant to sit on so your weight provides the necessary mass.  A large shelf under the bench can be loaded with all kinds of heavy crap to help stabilize the bench, but this should not be counted on all the time, a substantial workbench is probably always a good idea.  Light weight traveling or portable benches are the exception, but should at least be rigid when in use.

I frequently lean on my workbench, and it doesn’t move, now I think that is a good thing as it insures that I don’t tip over.  Some workbenches, smaller ones may not be so supportive, but my main work bench is solid and heavy enough not to slide across the floor.  If that were a problem, I would nail or cleat it down so it doesn’t move and is solid under the tools I am working with.

I also think that a workbench should look good, there is something about the aesthetic aspect of workbenches that are appealing and sometimes misleading, bringing you into the rapture of the design rather than the functionality of the bench.  That lovely ‘carpenter’s bench’ or a modified joiner’s bench may pull you in to the romantic notion that this is what you would like to have in your shop.  But is it the best bench for your needs?  Or you just enamored by the pretty bench? 

If your workbench is a fine piece of furniture you are more reluctant to drill holes into it for more holdfast holes and I never put more than linseed oil on my benches as a finish.  I also don’t make the tops out of hardwood as I don’t want my bench to damage what I am working on, more on this later.

Take a step back, take a deep breath, when you make a bench it is usually a considerable investment in time, money and materials that is going to be around for a long time, unless you are like me and sell my benches out from under myself.  Then you can dispense with the romance and intrigue of these fine old benches and build something you will actually be happy using, rather than talk about all of the things you don’t like about the bench.

Stephen

Well, eventually it was going to come up, so here is my take on Workbenches, I will be breaking old ground here.  Nothing I have to say is new, this dead horse has been kicked plenty of times.  But over the coarse of 36 years I have had a number of workbenches, most of which I have made myself.  As near as I can tell I am on my ninth or tenth bench that I have made plus several others I have used or currently use (I have 3 benches in my current shop).  I have made and tried almost them all and have come to a few conclusions.

I have noticed that it is the most used tool in my shop, I seldom do woodwork without using a bench, if not to just lean on.

Here is a jamb cleat or arrest and one can just put it in place and secure it with a holdfast to keep it in place.

However, I decided that it need a more ‘permanent’ installation, so I drilled a hole and countersunk the hole, selected a nice long wood screw and attached it to my bench.  As a matter of economy, I used a dowel to keep it in alignment.  I drilled the hole for the 3/8″ dowel after I had it attached to the bench with the screw.  (I can remove the jam cleat if necessary).

You can see on the bench top, the planing stop just projecting above the surface of the bench, all nice and shiny new, never planed into, chipped out, it does retract into the top to become flush when not in use.

Here is the cam that holds the planing stop (Catch or Crochet) at a particular height.  I have wanted to make one of these for a long time and finally just made it.  I got the spiral wrong the first time, then used the nail/string/pencil trick to get a proper spiral.  I do like planing into a jam cleat and planing stop as I like the feel of the wood that is not fastened hard down to the bench.  More on this later.

I may add a soft iron hook (crochet) to the top of the planing stop, but it would be removable.  I have used a hook before and like it.  I have also driven a flat heat countersunk screw into the top of my bench to act as a planing catch, move it up or down to the desired height, or flush to the top of the bench when not in use.

The top photograph was taken a day before the lower two, you might notice my workbench is clean, a rare and unusual occurrence.  I am cleaning it up so I can get a photograph of it to post, as it is my last and ultimate bench, the best bench in the world.  It is a traditional design fairly common from the mid nineteenth century and earlier, much earlier.

I have built one workbench with a tool tray, and for that I am forever and eternally sorry, I will NEVER do that again, I apologize and offer myself up for public humiliation for such a transgression.  I have since repented and have filled in a number of ‘crap holes’ on benches of friends, sort of an intervention, working on my Karma.  Oh wait that is just a little too much, tool trays are just a bad idea.  They take up valuable workbench space, fill with crap and saw dust and shavings, you loose tools in them and they interfere with good woodworking.  I will probably have more to say on this issue.

Stephen

Stephen