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Design Snafu – Revisited

You may recall that I lost about ½-5/8″ in the length of my benchtop because the Woodmaster rounded over the edges. Well, the vises would have fit perfectly if not for that. So, I had to modify the trestle base slightly to make it all fit. I used a 3/8″ rabbeting bit on the left side:

… and I used a forstner bit to drill out ¼” on the other side, to clear the twin screws:

I hated to do it… but now it all fits just fine. The walls of the mortises on the top of the trestle are ¾” thick, so I really don’t think the trestle was weakened. I would have had to drill out more if I had used the dimensions called for in the FWW article.

I added a couple of spacers with UHMW plastic on the bottom to help keep the twin screw from sagging when it opens. I got the idea for this from a Woodnet member.

Then, while I had it turned over, I went ahead and applied a finish to the bottom of the benchtop. After all, this was the last time I planned to have it turned over like this!!! I was very careful not to get any finish on the surfaces that would be glued.

Then I turned it back over (for the final time!!!!) and glued it all up. Sorry, no pics of this… just picture an erector set with every Bessey clamp I own that would reach across the benchtop, along with extended pipe clamps, F-clamps, glue, bolts, sweat, adrenaline… well, you get the idea.

Once the skirts were all glued/bolted on, they had to be leveled with the benchtop. This is where the workout comes in. I planned ahead when I was laying out the joinery (the T&G and all the dovetails) so the skirts would be just a little proud of the benchtop surface. So it was just a matter of shaving down about 1/32″ all around… not too much, but still enough to put some heat in the ol’ triceps! I used my No 7 and No 4 bench planes for this. Here’s a before & after:

Then… more workout. I had to level the end grain of the dovetail joints in all four corners. I used my low-angle block planes for this, as well as for chamfering the sharp corners.

I also had to trim each vise to be level with the benchtop surface as well as the end skirt. I used the bench planes (for the top) and LABPs (for the end-grain) for this also.

I added a row of holes along the front, so I can use dowels to function as a sort of bench slave. They’re ¾” diameter, so I can also use a pair of holdfasts to clamp a panel to the front if I ever want to. They were placed so they line up with the supports of the face vise:

The spacing of these holes is the same as the spacing of the square dog holes, but the placement is staggered so I will never have to worry about a holdfast/benchdog collision.
I plugged the bench bolt holes with turned cherry plugs.

I also drilled out the ¾” round dog holes for the front vise. I drilled these using a ¾” brad point bit chucked into my hand-held drill. I used a square to visually guide the bit alignment, and it turned out just fine.

I bolted the bench down to the trestles using a couple of ½” bolts.

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