Vises: Are They Necessary?

If you're an ancient Roman, the answer is "non, nunquam."

Recently I read Old Ways Of Working Wood by Alex Bealer. In it, he mentions the Romans' methods for securing workpieces to their benches without the use of vises.

With all the recent talk about vises—as many woodworkers are in the midst of or have recently finished their bench builds—it's an interesting idea to think that we might not need them.

I omitted an end vise on my new bench because I realized that in 20 years, I have never used the one on my old bench.

We can figure out how the Romans face-planed boards, as many of us use planing stops, but how did they edge join without the use of a vise or crochet?

According to Bealer, they drilled two parallel rows of holes into their benchtops. The workpiece was placed on-edge between the holes, and tall pegs were slipped into the holes. In between the workpiece and pegs, they placed thick wedges.

I had to try it.

The cheapie workbench I've been using for two decades came equipped with board supports, so I dropped two of them into the dog holes on my benchtop, on either side of my workpiece.  Then, I placed one thick wedge in between a peg and the board.

It held fairly well. If the tall pegs were thicker and had longer dowels to drop into the dog holes (mine are only an inch and a half long), and if two wedges were used instead of one, I think it would work better.  In lieu of those things, I put a planing stop in front of the workpiece and then the system worked great.

It's worth considering. Even if your bench is loaded with vises, you never know when a little ancient ingenuity will come in handy.

Roubo: Installing The Leg Vise

Greta's all finished, but there are a couple things I didn't write about in my haste to complete the bench build.

Here is the portion of the construction process that most concerned me (never having installed a leg vise before) and that turned out to be the easiest part of all.

If you've never installed a leg vise, you're in for a pleasant surprise. It's a cake walk.

I bought the hub, handle, screw, nut, and garter from Lake Erie Toolworks. The fit and finish is superb. It's a lovely mechanism and I highly recommend the company.*

Lake Erie has instructions on its site for installing the leg vise and I also referred to Chris Schwarz' second book on workbenches.

Basically, you cut two matching holes—one in the leg and one in the vise chop—for the screw to slide through. The hub comes with a turned recess around which the garter fits like a collar. When you wrap the garter around the recess, then screw it to the vise jaw, it ensures that the screw and jaw move in and out as one unit.

To determine the location of the nut on the back of the leg, just slide the screw through the hole in the leg, then thread the nut onto the screw. Trace the location onto the back of the leg, then cut a mortise however deep you like (mine is an inch deep) in which to secure the nut. I glued the nut in place and trimmed it flush with the sides of the leg.

After that, I cut the mortise for the parallel guide. I did all this before gluing up the end assemblies. It's much easier to handle this operation when the bench is still unassembled.

On another note, I can't tell you how invaluable my little saw bench was in building Greta. It's much easier on your legs and back when you can sit on the workpiece while chopping mortises.  In the photo, I'm not overcome with exhaustion (although this bench build would've liked to kill me), I'm scratching my face.  Or crying.

*I do not work for Lake Erie Toolworks and in no way benefit from mentioning them in this post.

The Spirit of Craft, Personified

Thank you to Robin Wood for posting this video on facebook. 

It's been making the rounds and you'll see why. This man represents the very best of what woodworking means to us. Thinking about our projects keeps us up at night, the pieces we make are an extension of us, and when we are working on a project, we are completely focused.

Roubo: Finished

It's not much different than the last photos I posted, so nothing too exciting. The only difference is there is a finish on the maple and I trimmed the ends of the stretchers. But, she's done. At last.

Somehow, I think my next project will be much more simple. And smaller. And way, way lighter.

I Didn't Faint and No One Fell Asleep

I've spent the last four months building my workbench and getting ready for a presentation that I gave yesterday for the York County Heritage Trust on 18th-century woodworking tools and joinery.

In preparation, I read five books (for the first or second time), studied page after page on the Colonial Williamsburg website and many other sites, and watched the Colonial Williamsburg DVD on cabinetmaking.

I took tons of notes, whittled them down to the most interesting bits, and wrote and refined an outline until it was skeletal.  I practiced my lines, sharpened all my tools, made various joints, and tried not to panic.

My workbench, Greta,
worked splendidly.

And the presentation went surprisingly well.

Did I forget to mention some things? Yep. Was I nervous? Only in the beginning. Did I mess up? You bet. I referred to my plow plane as a grooving plane, and wish I had set some of my planes to take thicker shavings. All of mine, except for the scrub, were set to shave whispers of wood which isn't very impressive to the guys in the back row.

There were 75-80 people in attendance. And for an hour and 20 minutes, everyone seemed genuinely engaged.

What I took away from all this is that working with hand tools is extremely interesting to many folks—both woodworkers and non-woodworkers—and it's our responsibility, even if it's outside our comfort zone, to be open to opportunities to share what we know.

I demonstrated the difference between
a plastic-handled "saw" from the home
center and a well-sharpened antique saw.

It was exciting to see a few young people in the audience. One 14-year-old boy stuck around for quite awhile afterwards to listen to the other woodworkers in attendance talk about the craft.

What I hope people took away with them was how easy, fast, and fun it is to use these tools, how the tools are simple yet refined (not crude implements), and how closely connected we are to early woodworkers.

There was one other book I read a few months ago: Kruschev's Shoe, by Roy Underhill—a fascinating book that offers ways to captivate an audience and become an engaging speaker.  It was enormously helpful.

One powerful phrase that stuck with me was the very last line in the book: Taking your turn to lead is part of becoming fully human, as beneath your feet you feel the planet tilting in its path, shifted just a bit in its course by your courage and skill.

Thanks for the shot of confidence, Roy.

WIA: Registration is Open!

Registration is now open for both Woodworking in America Conferences.

It's a tough choice. They have awesome speakers and topics at both, but I am going to the conference in Cincinnati as I will not get on a plane unless threatened with bodily harm. 

Or I'm offered a bunch of Lie-Nielsen tools.

I'm especially looking forward to classes by Mary May (carving) and Paul Schurch (inlay).

This going to be a long seven months...

Roubo: Almost Done

 Four months later, and I'm almost finished with this workbench.

I added a sliding deadman even though the span between the legs is only 27".

The top of the deadman has a 3/8" x 3/8" tongue that fits into a matching groove on the underside of the bench. The bottom skate of the deadman has a V-groove that slides along a V-shaped track that's glued to the front stretcher.

I shaped the wedges for the tusk tenons to match the wedge in one of my antique moulding planes. I still need to figure out what shape to make the ends of the long stretchers.

I may add holes to the front right leg, but will wait to see if I need them. I ran holes along the front edge of the benchtop in between the legs and added only one more opposite the front left leg.  I use that for a planing stop.

I'm finding all sorts of benefits to having a removable split top. For one, I can remove the back half of the benchtop if I need to clamp a board on both sides of the bench.  It's similar to a thinner, Japanese-style bench.

Also, I only need to lift it about 5/8" in order to remove the sliding deadman.

I still need to add a removable shelf, sand the base and apply finish, in addition to shaping the ends of the long stretchers, but that's nothing compared to the work that's behind me.

Oh, and the parallel guide works now without having to enlarge the mortise. I slathered it with wax and no longer jams.

Planing stop uses only one hole.

Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton

The second edition of the book The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton is available for pre-order from the Astragal Press. 

Did I order my copy before posting this? You bet I did. :o)

This is a reproduction of the Seaton chest built by
the cabinetmakers at Colonial Williamsburg.