Bench Update

I'm late getting to this thread (GREAT bench, Doug, BTW) and I just wanted to thank you for taking over the "Guy With a Carpeted Shop" duties from me. Since I now have a formerly carpeted shop, I have sensed the void here at Family Woodworking, and have waited eagerly someone to come along and wear the crown.

That said, I'd carpet my shop again if I could have a bench that nice in it. Beautiful work, Doug.

Nice bench, Doug...

Did someone say carpet?

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Vaughn McMillan said:

... and I just wanted to thank you for taking over the "Guy With a Carpeted Shop" duties from me....

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Well as of yesterday I've abdicated and surrendered my crown so we'll have to find a new Guy. Looks like Greg is next in line of succession. I got the indoor "workshop" restored to it's pre-workshop shag glory. Thanks to the Festools, cleanup wasn't much more than what you'd expect to do on any room that hadn't been used (or vac'ed) since the fall. Took me longer to put all my handtools away than it did to dust and vac.

Doug Shepard said:

Things Sam forget to mention though:
1) I make this look easy
2) You're an idiot if you try this without a honkin big vacuum press bag like I have
3) Having a big slider TS sure beats trying to trim that top with a circular saw.
4) I make this look easy

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I also forgot to mention, "Don't try this at home." Because it will take on a life of its own, and as you discovered, require many more hours than you ever anticipated. The thing with my bench is, I never intended it to end up that way, it just happened, but you actually planned it and tried to get it to end up that way. I'm not sure which is crazier.

But super job, Doug. I can tell you that it will be a great bench top, mine is still like hitting an anvil, and it hasn't moved at all. The only maintenance I have done is put a coat of epoxy on the top every year, whether it needs it or not. Makes for an ugly finish, but nothing sticks to it. I also have one bit of advice for you. Before you use it, take a hammer to it and put a big dent in it or something like that, so you won't care anymore if it gets dinged from that point forward.

For those who are banned from SMC, I will re-post a copy of the thread here at a later date, with an update on the benches performance over the years.

The last 1% is done

Finally got my small punchlist of things completed from when I first posted.

-Finish touchup in a couple spots - Done
-Easing the dog hole edges - Used a 1/8" roundover bit from SMC advice. I was originally thinking of a champfer bit and I'm glad I went with the roundover - it worked great
-Drilling dog holes in the Twinscrew jaw - Done
-A tiny bit more shimming underneath for the UHMW rub strips.
Got that all tweaked and the twinscrew turns very smooth now out until the final 3-4" of extension when it wants to sag more and gets a bit stiffer to crank. I think over time once the screws have cut a bit deeper into the UHMW rub strips it's going to be good for the full length.

I had also been planning on a full width bench stop and threw this one together from leftover purpleheart, oak dowel, and some scrap ebony to wedge the dowel. It's 3/8" x 1-3/4" and hangs over the bench edges about 1/2" so there's something to grip and work it up out of the dog holes.


Also decided to put a couple of these in the front edge as well.


Seems a bit absurd that the first real project that's going to come off this is a dog house, but it was also meant as an assembly table as well, so....