SawDustB Posted October 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 I've milled more pieces so I now have enough for the initial slab laminations. I'll decide what I'm doing about the dog strip and front laminate later. After looking at my clamps, I decided to deviate from the plans and go with a 2 inch gap, instead of the 1 7/8 in the plans since that wouldn't fit the Besseys (thanks@Brendon_t for bringing that up). Lots of trips through the planer, but I eventually got 11 inches exactly. Next up, I arranged my boards and marked for dowels. No domino here, unfortunately. I used the Jessem jig, seemed to work well. I went with 4 dowels per joint. Finally, I did a dry fit before quitting for the night. Pre glue up, my worst offset on the bottom is about 1/32. Not too bad. I'm hoping to glue this slab sometime tomorrow, if I can steal a half hour away from the kids. The front slab will get tackled later. I think I will get a 4/4 board to go in there, but that'll have to wait until later in the week when I can get over to the dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 16, 2016 Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Sounds like a solid plan. Did you measure the head of your clamps? What did they come in at? I think your 4/4 addition will work out well for you. If you have enough, try to plane away dome of your twisted boards. The more you can stack in your favor, the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Sounds like a solid plan. Did you measure the head of your clamps? What did they come in at? I think your 4/4 addition will work out well for you. If you have enough, try to plane away dome of your twisted boards. The more you can stack in your favor, the better. The clamps were about 1 15/16. Looks like a 2 inch gap should be perfect. I am planning to remove more of the twisted boards. I took more from the bowed boards in the back slab, and I'm not using the most twisted boards at all. I figure they can be cut up for shorter parts or dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SawDustB Posted October 16, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Glued and clamped! That went quick, but it went together perfectly. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted October 16, 2016 Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 That's quite a clamp collection on there! Looking good! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 That's quite a clamp collection on there! Looking good! Well, since I've only got a few quality clamps, may as well make up the difference with quantity... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted October 16, 2016 Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Coming along nicely, Brian ! How you liking those bessey k bodies? Things of beauty huh?! Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Coming along nicely, Brian ! How you liking those bessey k bodies? Things of beauty huh?! Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Thanks Shane! The k bodies are great, way more clamping power than anything else I've got. I didn't know what I was missing before, though. Now i want about 12 more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 16, 2016 Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 After taking the slab out of the clamps, I did a bit of cleanup last night on the bottom side. My initial check seems to show that it is essentially flat, at least after I did a couple of very light passes with my jointer plane. Once I check for twist, I'll need to recruit help to clean it up in the thickness planer. Currently, I'm hoping to keep it a bit over 4 inches, but we'll see where I am after flattening. I suspect that the best I would get is 4 1/8. Until I manage to get more wood, I'm stuck on the front slab. Maybe I can sneak over later today or tomorrow. For the accent wood, I've been looking over my options. How is sapele to work by hand? It's the same price as the cherry, with the advantage that it would be similar hardness to the maple. If I stuck with the cherry, I had also considered laminating the front chop from maple and cherry, with the maple (4/4) being used as the inside face of the vise and laminated to the cherry (8/4). Would that present problems with bowing or cupping? The idea appeals to me, since then both faces of the vise would be maple, and maybe a bit more durable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 19, 2016 Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 Generally sapele is a very agreeable species to work although it can have some interlinked grain. I don't think you would have any warping issues laminating the two for a chop. My chop is an ash and walnut lamination Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post pkinneb Posted October 19, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 I found Sapele worked well I used it for my accents in my bench 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 I found Sapele worked well I used it for my accents in my bench Looks good! That's more or less what I was thinking of doing with it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted October 19, 2016 Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 My original chop was Sapele and it worked awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I managed to go by the lumber dealer yesterday and grab a 4/4 board for the front slab. That just seemed like the easiest solution without wasting a whole lot of wood. I planed the boards for the front slab. 2 of them had some twist (1/8"-1/4" over the 6 foot length) so I decided to take it out. I had one board that was perfectly flat and straight, so I basically used it as a planer sled. I double stick taped the twisted boards on top, with a bit of shimming so they wouldn't move. Worked great! As it stands, my boards are at exactly 7 3/4 and need to be arranged in gluing order and have dowel holes drilled for alignment. I'm trying to decide whether the 4/4 piece belongs in the middle of the glued up piece in this step, in the middle of the final slab after dog strip and laminate piece, or against the gap. Right now I'm leaning towards the middle of this glue up, but I would welcome any thoughts. I really hope to get this glued up by later tomorrow, if I can get the doweling done early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 23, 2016 Report Share Posted October 23, 2016 I don't think it will really make a difference structurally or asthethically. I'd say fit it in wherever looks right to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2016 I don't think it will really make a difference structurally or asthethically. I'd say fit it in wherever looks right to you. Yeah, that's probably true. I may stick it in the middle of this glue up, since that might be easiest for getting it assembled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 I glued up the front slab yesterday and the results were less than ideal. I started by drilling the dowel holes. I put in 5 dowels per joint, because the boards weren't fitting perfectly. I think they warped a little after milling on Saturday. I didn't dry fit the whole thing after doweling, which was a mistake. I think in the back slab that the dry fit helped any tiny misalignment to get dealt with. There were a couple of things that were less than ideal: 1. I didn't dry fit 2. I put in 5 dowels, increasing the chance of it jamming 3. The boards warped a little 4. It was colder, so the glue wasn't flowing easily Anyway, I clamped everything up. I had a couple of small hairline gaps that wouldn't close. I'm sure it'll still be strong enough, but I wasn't happy. And to top it all off, one of the new clamps snapped when I tightened everything down. I need to go look at it tonight with everything dry. Not an ideal day in the workshop. I need to see if there's any kind of warranty on the clamp, because breaking in my second glue up with it isn't OK. I should add that while I had the clamp tight, I wouldn't have expected it to be breaking strength - the other clamps had just as much pressure on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 Those hairline cracks will be fine but bummer on the Bessey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 You snapped a bessey??? There had to have been a defect with that thing. They are pretty indestructible. I'd bring that right back to where you bought it and get it exchanged. Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 11 minutes ago, estesbubba said: Those hairline cracks will be fine but bummer on the Bessey. Thanks Mike. Just now, shaneymack said: You snapped a bessey??? There had to have been a defect with that thing. They are pretty indestructible. I'd bring that right back to where you bought it and get it exchanged. Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk I was pretty surprised, to say the least. If my daughter hadn't been watching I would have had some choice words to say about it. Anyway, I'm still within 30 days so I'm going to see if I can get them to do anything about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helimd Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 Bench is looking good, brother. I'm with shaneymack on the Bessey situation. The clamp looks new. From what I see in the picture, abuse is out of the question. Take it back and I'd bet they'll give you a new one. I've been using K-bodies for 30 years, or so, and never had one break. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 I don't know if this is what happened but I've seen 1 other clamp break on this site and it makes me wonder. Are you tightening the clamp too far and having the little internal beam contact the pins that hold the clamp together? I've noticed on my Jorgies that the screw is love enough and it would take very little pressure to break that bar if it was forced up against that beam. Bold circle below. I drew a picture (it's a trend for today i guess) to illustrate what i mean because I'm terrible at explaining things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted October 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 2 hours ago, Chestnut said: I don't know if this is what happened but I've seen 1 other clamp break on this site and it makes me wonder. Are you tightening the clamp too far and having the little internal beam contact the pins that hold the clamp together? I've noticed on my Jorgies that the screw is love enough and it would take very little pressure to break that bar if it was forced up against that beam. Not a bad thought, but I don't think it's what happened here. There was still plenty of thread on the handle side, so it shouldn't have been contacting. I just heard a snap and then the handle tilted at an awful angle (but was still kind of holding pressure). I'm leaning towards it having just been a defective clamp from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 4 minutes ago, SawDustB said: Not a bad thought, but I don't think it's what happened here. There was still plenty of thread on the handle side, so it shouldn't have been contacting. I just heard a snap and then the handle tilted at an awful angle (but was still kind of holding pressure). I'm leaning towards it having just been a defective clamp from the start. The amount of thread left is bad indicator. Mine have half left and bottom out on that pin. I'm not saying that's what broke this one. Pin contact or not that part shouldn't break it's what gives the clamp all of it's clamping pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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