High Vise

 "When my grandfather brought us home,  I could still hear her voice down the corridor, the tail end of a whisper"

Akil Kumarasamy, Half Gods

Here is the latest addition to my ongoing vise collection (which brings the total to 5).  I usually use a mechanics vise to elevate the work and while it worked it was far from ideal so when I saw this idea I decided to build one. 

Benchcrafted makes a beautiful one with all the bells and whistles but I didn't want to spend much on it not being sure how much I'd use it. Also it's a pretty simple project requiring not much skill or wood. 

There are many ways to mount it to the bench (clamps, shoulder vise etc) but I decided to use ⅝ bolts to hold it down and ⅜ thru bolts to hold the inside upright to the clamp bar. This one is red oak with some chamfers to ease edges and add a bit of craftsmanship.  I thought layer a lambs tongue would have looked nice maybe someday. 

The screw is from Lee Valley. I also decided to keep it simple and use a spacer bar that is held in place with oak dowels which keeps it from wracking. The leather pad helps with grip. 

While I haven't carved anything yet I do have a couple chairs with knuckles coming so I'll keep you posted on how it works. 

 

Fixing a hole

 That's the power of literature,  you know, it can act like little love letters between two people who can only explain their feelings by pointing at other people's 

Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

So Anxious People was the best book I read (I try to read one book a week) in 2022. Just amazing and I have to say the Netflix adaptation was amazing. 

So I was building a so called high vise (see last picture) for carving and I drilled the hole for the threaded rod the wrong size, namely I drilled the thru hole too small which of course didn't give the larger counter bore hole anything to center on. 

I knew I could cut a 1 inch diameter plug to center the plug but that wouldn't allow me to actually drill it. So in a moment of inspiration I stuck a couple ear plugs in to push the plug up enough to engage the center but then allow the plug to get pushed down and cut the counter bore. 

And here's the hole and vise. I'll post on this next week but I do find it quite handy; more than I thought. 

Two Benches

"Oh you old woman. She said it again,  oh you old woman"

Stuart Maclean,  Rock of Ages

from his Vinyl Cafe Stories

So I finally finished my seat carving bench. I'm my old shop at my old house during my old life I had a pretty rough but effective small bench that I used to carve seats. What's so ideal about it is the small size allows me to carve all the way around the seat without having to unclamp the seat. Because as you carve a seat the grain is constantly changing so must your approach to the seat. 

My new shop is a converted one car garage so every foot counts and I made a couple chairs with my big bench and while it's possible clamping and unclamping turned into a pain. So while watching Curtis' YouTube videos I saw this bench and built one with his plans. To be honest I totally messed up and somehow put the vise on the wrong leg but it's fine. Who knows it may be better this way.  The plywood box is filled with old nuts and bolts and such from my new job and weighs around 200 lbs. 

Here is my other new bench.  A fair bit different to say the least. The legs I welded up from old box tube and the top and shelf are ⅜ plate which will withstand years and years of millwright and welding abuse. I like welding tables (oddly in fab and machine shops they are called tables not benches)  tall around 42 to 44 inches for welding.  I may paint the legs and shelf but maybe not. The shelf holds all the various tools for welding and wheels work really well to move heavy equipment around. 

So yeah. Didn't think I'd ever be welding again but life is nothing if not ever changing. 

Trimming tenons

 

In our eternal migrations as humans, we leave our histories behind, so a human yearning to know what came before us is as fixed as the nose on our face

     Kerri Arsenault, Mill Town 

Above are a couple recent chairs. The close one is my design (based at least the bottom off Pete Galberts rocker that appeared in FWW) the farther one is Curtis Buchanan's birdcage rocker. One of these chairs almost put itself together.  The drilled angles were perfect all the measures spot on just easy going. The other one had an extra set of legs made, 3 crests (one drilled acutely not obtuse one broke) 2 sets of arms ( bandsawed them before turning the tenon) and a weird 1" error in the back posts that I only partially fixed. 

My point is that, after paint and finishing, they both look fine and 5 years from now (maybe less) I couldn't tell you which was which. My further point is often just keep going. Because often in chairs are small errors all that noticeable and besides you always need a chair for the neighbor.

So onto the post. One thing that has always vexed me was the little shoulder that forms on the end of the stretcher tenons. I turn my tenons on the lathe with a Veritas tenon cutter ⅝ and because they are green when I turn them initially I have to make them oversize then spin them once dry. This invariably leaves a slight (or not so slight) shoulder which bugs me. 

So I was watching a video with Elia Bizzari and he mentioned how the inside of a steb center is ⅝ and thus will seat the end of the tenon so I can turn and sand it off. 

The problem was the spring loaded spike that comes in the steb center. It made it hard to center the tenon which is kind of the whole point. But a few minutes and a long punch (actually a 4mm Allen wrench) removed the center and now the tenon seats perfectly.  Turn the tenon even little sandpaper and its perfect.  Or as seen in the first picture close enough to perfect. 

Rocker Blade Jig

 

If you can't change it, you got to stand it

Ennis Delmar, BrokeBack Mountain, Annie Proulx

So I come from a casework background and as such I try to use that knowledge and those tools to simplify or at least speed up certain aspects of chair making. 

A good example is how I make my rocker blades. Years ago I made this jig to cut some large circles out of plywood for some project and I altered the dimensions to work with cutting the rocker blades. 

The base for the jig is this 12 by 52 inch piece of ¾ plywood.  Its fastened to the bandsaw table with a couple bolts drilled thru the table. 

The hole that the rocker pin goes in is 46 inches from the blade. As you have probably guessed the bottom of the blade is a section of a circle which seems to work fine and 46 does give a nice steady rocking motion.  

 

I built this one with looks like mostly pocket screws but anything will work provided the bottom stays flat and free from obstructions.  

Below you can see the top side. Its just a big T shaped piece that measures 52 on both axis.  The pin hole is 46 away from the blade and a couple toggle clamps hold it firmly in place. I figure out the angle of the front legs where they meet the floor (which is the same angle as the stretcher) and set the bandsaw table to that angle.  Then clamp it in place and cut it. The typical size of the blank is ½ x 6 x 42 which seems to work well. Also please note that there is a left and right. 

Further note the blade pattern I use is from Pete Galberts rocker plan found in FWW. I use the same pattern on all my chairs the only difference is on smaller chairs I shorten the length a little.