Popular Post Art Posted December 4, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 I actually bought the guild plans for the Roubo well over a year ago, and have been slowly getting to work on it. I picked up a bunch of 8/4 soft maple several months ago when it was on sale and rough milled it, then stickered it. In the last few weeks I got around to getting the slabs milled and glued up, and today brought them down to final thickness, which a right about 4 1/16". I'm lucky in that I can run them straight through my planer, so they are perfectly flat at this stage: I'll be buying the Benchcrafted vise hardware in the next few days, and plan on getting to the tail vise installation at some point this month. As may be evident, this will be a slow build as I pick away at it. In all honesty, I'm hoping to have this thing done by next summer. I'll update this thread as I make progress. I've really enjoyed following other builds on this forum, and certainly would like to thanks those that have done such a great job documenting their builds, as it makes it much easier for those of us that follow. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 Are you planning on using holdfasts? If you are you might want to take the thickness down to under 4" while it's still easy. I can't remember how think mine is but it is too think to work properly. It's a PITA to have to widen out the bottom of the hole to get the holdfast to work properly. If you aren't sure consider it. If you aren't planing on using a traditional holdfast ignore this. http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/blog/251/title/Some Tips on Using Our Gramercy Holdfasts Link to holdfasts at the top that are inexpensive and awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted December 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 19 minutes ago, Chestnut said: Are you planning on using holdfasts? If you are you might want to take the thickness down to under 4" while it's still easy. I can't remember how think mine is but it is too think to work properly. It's a PITA to have to widen out the bottom of the hole to get the holdfast to work properly. If you aren't sure consider it. If you aren't planing on using a traditional holdfast ignore this. http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/blog/251/title/Some Tips on Using Our Gramercy Holdfasts Link to holdfasts at the top that are inexpensive and awesome. Yeah, I thought about that as I was posting. I think I will take them down a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 I want to say shannon rodgers posted about it as well and 4" is that point where it starts to get iffy. My bench is almost 4.5" and i back bored 3/4" and the worked great but i don' t think i needed to go that far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 I look forward to following along! I don't use my hold fasts a ton but when I do they work fine my bench after final flattening is a bout 3 7/8" thick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chet Posted December 4, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 I think Gramercy are some of the nicest holdfasts out there. I had some leather pockets made for the ends of my holdfasts, that way you don't have to use a scrap piece to keep from marring your work piece. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted December 5, 2018 Report Share Posted December 5, 2018 Another one for Gramercy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted December 5, 2018 Report Share Posted December 5, 2018 Yep.. Like my Gramercy hold fasts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted December 5, 2018 Report Share Posted December 5, 2018 The Gramercy hold fasts are great. I just used hide glue to stick on some leather to the pad, and haven't had any issues with it falling off. I wouldn't go thinning down your slabs, though. Mine is 4" and I don't have any issues with the hold fasts (hard maple). It's also possible that at a later step you might want to plane it down again, or that you'll lose some thickness in the final bench flattening. It's kind of hard to add it back on. Even if you need to lose some thickness for the hold fasts, if it's only a little that should be pretty easy to make them work. You could just put a really heavy chamfer on the holes from the underside, and that would do what was required. Like I said though, I doubt you'll have an issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted December 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2018 2 hours ago, SawDustB said: The Gramercy hold fasts are great. I just used hide glue to stick on some leather to the pad, and haven't had any issues with it falling off. I wouldn't go thinning down your slabs, though. Mine is 4" and I don't have any issues with the hold fasts (hard maple). It's also possible that at a later step you might want to plane it down again, or that you'll lose some thickness in the final bench flattening. It's kind of hard to add it back on. Even if you need to lose some thickness for the hold fasts, if it's only a little that should be pretty easy to make them work. You could just put a really heavy chamfer on the holes from the underside, and that would do what was required. Like I said though, I doubt you'll have an issue. That's good to hear. I do think, however, that I'll take them down to an even 4", just because I like round numbers. That extra 1/16 was bugging me... And for the record, the plan is to use the Gramercy holdfasts, mainly because they're easy for me to get at Lee Valley, and the fact I've heard nothing but good things about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted December 5, 2018 Report Share Posted December 5, 2018 4 hours ago, Art said: That's good to hear. I do think, however, that I'll take them down to an even 4", just because I like round numbers. That extra 1/16 was bugging me... And for the record, the plan is to use the Gramercy holdfasts, mainly because they're easy for me to get at Lee Valley, and the fact I've heard nothing but good things about them. Knowing that you are planning to final flatten it, are you going hand tools or router? If router, I would plan to take the final thickness then. Never know what happens between now and then. Would suck to get bad tear out or deep snipe at 4" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 3 hours ago, Brendon_t said: Knowing that you are planning to final flatten it, are you going hand tools or router? If router, I would plan to take the final thickness then. Never know what happens between now and then. Would suck to get bad tear out or deep snipe at 4" Any final flattening will be done with hand tools. I'm hoping that there isn't to much to do. Once the laminations are done and perfectly flat, how much should I expect it to move? My planer (Hammer A3-31) has a spiral cutterhead so there hasn't been any tear out, and as far as I can tell, there is no snipe. Having said that, I still haven't taken them to final length, so any snipe will get chopped off anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 1 hour ago, Art said: Any final flattening will be done with hand tools. I'm hoping that there isn't to much to do. Once the laminations are done and perfectly flat, how much should I expect it to move Being hand flattening, disregard all else. How much you should expect it to move? Even if everything is dead balls on, I have seen quite a few people find some warpage after securing the slabs to the base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 I saw a good 1/4" of movement on my rear slab. The front slab was a bit over 1/8". I also flattened by hand, since I was scared of taking a chunk out with the router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 Thanks for the info. I'll look at it as a good workout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny4 Posted December 18, 2018 Report Share Posted December 18, 2018 Keep on it! The forum is great for keeping you motivated. The project teaches really valuable lessons as you go along. You get the skill through repetition...there are a lot of repetitive tasks on this bench. Keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Art Posted January 9, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Time for an update... I finally got a new bandsaw, which makes life a bit easier: This allowed me to cut my leg blanks down to a reasonable size: As far as actual work on the bench, I got the slab tenon and cavity finished. They came out ok, but when I was just touching up the cavity, I got careless with my router and took out a pretty good gouge out of the the front slab. Luckily it is on the bottom, so although it will bother me to know it is there, it won't be seen, and will have no functional effect: Today, I got going on the end cap, got it fitted to the slab, and I will continue work on it over the next few days. I picked up the end vise just before Christmas, so I hope to have the whole front slab completed in the next week or so. I had a few issues getting a good fit of the end cap onto the slab, but a bit of fiddling with a block plane and chisel, and it is looking pretty good. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Man these roubo builds are really giving me the itch to build a better bench. Did you get the 2.5 HP 14BX? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
procell40 Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 looking good! Good call on the bandsaw , i have the 14/12 and Love it , but wish i got the BX instead , that foot break is handy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Nice fit achieved! Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 2 hours ago, Chestnut said: Man these roubo builds are really giving me the itch to build a better bench. Did you get the 2.5 HP 14BX? Yeah, I got the 2.5 hp. I already had 220 in the shop, and it was only $100 more for the bigger motor. I'm not sure it's worth it to upgrade your electrical to go from 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hp on a 14" BS, but since it was already there, I figured why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 52 minutes ago, procell40 said: looking good! Good call on the bandsaw , i have the 14/12 and Love it , but wish i got the BX instead , that foot break is handy!! The brake was what made the decision for me. My 11 yr old daughter and my wife are both getting more interested in working in the shop, so everything we get has safety in mind. 45 minutes ago, pkinneb said: Nice fit achieved! Looks great! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 7 minutes ago, Art said: Yeah, I got the 2.5 hp. I already had 220 in the shop, and it was only $100 more for the bigger motor. I'm not sure it's worth it to upgrade your electrical to go from 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hp on a 14" BS, but since it was already there, I figured why not? I like the extra power. I've bogged mine a few times doing things i probably shouldn't. The brake is nice as an off switch when your holding 2 long heavy pieces and just want to shut the saw off. I use it the most for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 1 minute ago, Chestnut said: I like the extra power. I've bogged mine a few times doing things i probably shouldn't. The brake is nice as an off switch when your holding 2 long heavy pieces and just want to shut the saw off. I use it the most for that. A couple of months ago I came across some oak logs that I roughly milled with a chainsaw. They're now waiting to be resawn into useable boards. Most of them are close to 12", so I'll certainly by putting the full resaw capacity of the saw to the test. Once I get them all cut, I'll post a review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondhockey Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 Nice to see someone else with hockey sticks (and tree branches) in their shop! Nice bandsaw, too. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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