Mike Siemsen's blog

After jointing the top of the side boards straight with a #8 plane we applied glue to the edge and about 6 inches in on the transverse bearers keeping glue well away from the openings for the planing stops. With the planing stops installed in the tops we set the tops in place using the planing stops to align themselves to their openings. We then clamped the top in place and installed screws through the transverse bearers. We cleaned up the shop and ate some lunch while the glue set for 2 1/2 hours.

Once we had all of the holes bored in the side boards we attached them to the legs with glue and screws. Then we fitted the vise nut and guide tube assembly to the bench using the planing stops as spacers. We also installed a block between the planing stops to aid as a guide and we installed the transverse bearers. We are now ready to chop the mortises for the guide bar in the side boards and the planing stops in the top.

With the base and check glued up I was ready to make the vise guide tube. Using the drawing I had made on the face of the check I made up the tube with the nuts attached. I designed it so the nuts acted as guides for the planing stops and the top board gave me the right distance down from the bench top. I drilled pilot holes in the nuts and top board so I could attach them to the side boards and the top.Now that I have the vise parts and planing stops ready I cut 1/4 inch deep dadoes in the side boards for the legs to fit in. I did this to keep the bench from racking.

I measured my van and I had length enough for an 88 inch long bench so I cut four 88 inch lengths from my planks, two for the top and two for the side boards. The balance was cut up to make legs, stretchers, and cross bearers. I have a mortiser and a tenoner so I made 2 inch by 1/2 inch tenons on my stretchers. The leg to stretcher joints could just as well be half laps, the notches in the legs created during glue up.

I am planning to build a workbench so I created a list of features I wanted. I needed a bench that was portable and fit in my van to take to demonstrations. I wanted it to be an inexpensive example of a workbench for people getting into woodworking without a large outlay of cash. I wanted a bench that could be easily switched from right handed to left handed use. I wanted to build my own wooden vises. It needed to be stout.

In a Project Gutenberg book, Woodworking Tools 1600–1900. I found a plate #44 with an illustration of a brace, this is the authors note on that brace " *The complete break with the medieval, however, is seen in a drawing submitted to the Commissioner of Patents in 1865 (pat. 51,660) by Milton V. Nobles of Rochester, New York. Nobles' creation was of thoroughly modern design and appearance in which, unlike earlier types, the bit was held in place by a solid socket, split sleeve, and a tightening ring (fig.