AMarshall Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 The design is shamelessly stolen from the Benchcrafted prototype design. Same cheap Lee Valley screw plus a couple skateboard wheels. Very nice homebuilt leg vise! Can you tell us how smoothly it moves, possibly compared to the Benchcrafted stuff if you have any experience? I've wondered how much of the 'effortless' action can be attributed to the roller supports, versus the high quality of the screw hardware itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 I would say take it easy on yourself and just use SYP throughout. Lots of folks use the stuff on their benches with great success. Laminating another species on top of a SYP base just sounds like a problem waiting to happen, and a lot of extra work. I have yet to hear from someone who regrets using SYP for their bench so I say dive in head first and enjoy the process. I'd have to concur on this. I built my bench several years ago out of SYP and it's held up quite well. It doesn't really do what I want now, but that was a limitation of the design and my skills when I built it than the lumber. It's nice and cheap it's hard enough and is stiffer and heavier than hard maple iirc correctly. It also ages to a decently neutral colour, and if it's flattened properly it'll stay pretty flat for a long time. I haven't had many dent issues or anything like that in the few years since I'd built it. Initial flatness on the other hand, well you can read how big a pain it is if you didn't do it right the first time here* *yea it ain't pretty but it works and it's flat now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdbuilder Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 Very nice homebuilt leg vise! Can you tell us how smoothly it moves, possibly compared to the Benchcrafted stuff if you have any experience? I've wondered how much of the 'effortless' action can be attributed to the roller supports, versus the high quality of the screw hardware itself. It moves quite smoothly, I've not experienced the Benchcrafted hardware myself. I think with the real one you can flick the handle and it glides in a few turns on momentum alone. Mine doesn't do that but it is very smooth so I would imagine the screw and round handle have something to do with it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdbuilder Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Here are the first three, steel plates on the bottom close up a rabbit in which the T shaped block slides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdbuilder Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Another shot of the underside, there is a groove reinforced with angle iron to accept the sliding leg vise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMarshall Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Another shot of the underside, there is a groove reinforced with angle iron to accept the sliding leg vise. Great shots of an alternative to the Benchcrafted tail vise! However, I am distracted by the wreckage of your RC fleet in the background of that wide shot. My stepdad's garage looks like a hangar for RC planes, so I've been trained well. I enjoy describing the time that my wife flew (while on a trainer setup) a small electric foamie directly into the flight path of a large gas powered B-52 replica. Less than a second later, it looked like it was snowing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afro Boy Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Thought this thread might be the place for this question ... quarter-sawn or not? I have access to some Victorian Ash which is quarter sawn and wondering if it's worth acquiring it for certain parts of my bench. It's a little more expensive so couldn't do the entire bench with it, but are there any particular parts people feel it might be more useful for? Or it is really an expense not worth bothering about? Thanks, Af. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewoodwhisperer Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 I wouldn't bother. The only reason would be increased stability and the only place we might benefit from that is the top. But in the construction of the top, standard flat sawn lumber is turned 90 degrees, effectively creating something that looks and acts like quartersawn wood. So id say save the money and get flatsawn. (null) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afro Boy Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 I thought as much. Thanks for the confirmation Marc. Can't wait to get started on this build, but I might be a little behind the others - gotta save a bit more for the timber first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cts1085 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Guildies, I felt I should post this since I started the thread. For better or worse i ended up with all Soft Maple FWL, 8/4 (~150bf) and 4/4 (~30bf) it is now sitting in my shop and waiting for milling. I used the cutlist to make sure that for the widest parts (Leg vise chop, dead man) i had boards wide enough. This is a LOT of wood! Time to make some dust... Thanks for all of your comments, ideas, suggestions and guidance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiser Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Well I too finally dropped some coin on lumber for the build. Douglas Fir (DF) kiln dried to about 7% moisture the same as everything sitting in my shopfor over a year. not a single knot and it is nice and true. now I do have to mill it but I expect it will remain straight, QUESTION: any experence with dogs in Walnut? I may highlight the DF benchtop with Walnut and was thinking about having my dog holes in the strip that would be walnut. Any wood properties that raise a concern that I should be aware of? not at all...I had a concern about this being that walnut is harder than DF or soft maple which I am using. I ws worried about the walnut beating on my doghole strip, but when I thought about it the walnut's long grain is contacting the soft maple or DF end grain...end grain is harder than long grain so I equated that the dogs will take the beating before the end grain of the dog hole strip does and how do I equate this. Sinple: Take the walnut's long grain and put a block of df end grain against it (same width and height) and smash the end grain of the df, with a hammer, into the walnut long grain and see what dents greater. 99 percent sure the walnut's long grain is going to give more. The KAISER OUT!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idbill Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 Thought I'd just chime in... Here are some prices per bf in Seattle for 8/4: (as of January 2012) Cherry - $10.50 Walnut - $9.50 White Oak - $6.95 Soft Maple - $6.65 Birch - $6.50 (small selection) Red Oak - $4.65 Alder - $3.95 (small selection) Eastern Ash - $3.95 I've used a lot of the Maple in the past, but only 4/4 stock. I've also had the (un)pleasure of using real Hard Maple. But it was my understanding that the Maple comes from Canada, and from the name... Ash comes from back east!? So I went with Ash. This was at: http://crosscuthardwoods.com/ The guys there are really helpful, and if you purchase $500+ shipping is free in Seattle. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daneger Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 I'm planning to construct my top from soft maple,and the base from some old red oak I reclaimed. But I just realized while watching the Leg Vise that I might run into a potential problem with wood modulus. I'm concerned about the top potentially compressing more than the leg over time, resulting in the leg protruding past the top and denting workpieces. Does anyone think that's a real concern, or am I just crazy? Would it make a difference if I attached using a double through tennon (a la Schwarz)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexPeel Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 I would think that you would never be clamping something down with so much force that you would compress the wood. I mean if you were doing that you would likely also be damaging the wood that you are working on. As far as I can tell from the benchcrafted videos it looks like you just need to tighten the vise till its snug. Never have used a leg vise myself so take it for what its worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewoodwhisperer Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Agreed. I doubt compression will ever be a factor with that vise's holding power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daneger Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Awesome, thanks guys! I thought so but am very glad you agree. That just saved me several hundred bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Lyde Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I bought my soft maple one week ago today for $3.30/bf. My supplier only had 8/4 in 14' lengths and 6 to 7 inch widths so I have some scrap but maybe I will use the small cut offs for something sometime. Out of that I got a couple of pieces with really nice tiger stripe so that is going on the front of the top and the front stretcher. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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