Made a carving bench

[squbrigg]

Last week I dug out a set of plans that some carving school sold my wife at the last woodworking show in November '06. I bought the required wood, Maple instead of the suggested Oak, and went to work.

It took me three days to cut out all the pieces and on the fourth I began assembly. The plans either were off or I am not as good at reading them as I once was, so I had to return to the wood store for replacement wood for the two main side parts. But I figured out how they should be and started again. Several details in the plan were also found to be incorrect or missing, as well as mistakes in hardwear. But.....I persevered and got it assembled, only to find that the design was still somewhat flawed and left a substantial gap for chips to fall into and gather in the tool tray. The solution was easy and gave me an opportunity to make the thing a bit more attractive looking, so I installed and shaped some Lacewood to the drawer front and created a chip deflector at the same time.

The thing works, but I am still trying to work out the best position for me to use it, as it created other difficulties for me and I have been recovering ever since. Figures .....one step forward, two steps back!

Anyone else ever built this thing?


Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Bob, you did a terrific job on that....as usual, you sir are a "craftsman and artist"! I learned years ago when I was in welding fabrication, to take any plans, lay them out on the table and go through them step by step before starting, we had a design engineer that "never" gave us a set of plans that worked! So we would take them apart, discuss them, make the changes and send them back, it was rare then that they didn't work, unfortunately I find that will all plans! But its a challenge LOL. I don't do much relief carving but Lora Irish's Rose and Cross plan...I would have loved to have a setup like you just made! Good onya mate!

[Lightningbolt]

That's a very nice looking carvin' table that you have there and it looks like it would fit well even into a "cozy" space. I like maple too and used it for building a cutting island table in my kitchen which is beautiful.

Sounds too like you made a few adjustments along the way to make it work and to make it uniquely applicable to your own carving situation. I don't think that I've ever built anything exactly to plans either. That's just the practical artist within speaking and I applaud you for that!

Like an old pick-up truck I bet that you will adjust to it well over time. Thank's for sharing this.

[mark yundt]

Yes Bob,,you did a fine job on that bench. Looks just like the one I made for my relief sculptures .One thing I found that was necessary for me anyway,,was to be able to adjust the angle.I'm not sure if yours is able to do that,,but it is something I think is necessary.Also an adjustable height seat is very helpful as well.
The drawer is fine for storage,,but I built trays on the left and right to hold the tools ,,fanned out is easy to choose the one you want and makes for faster easier carving rather than reaching over to the bench to retrieve and replace the tools..

The one thing I found most critical was that the piece was absolutely rigid,,both within itself as well as fastened to the bench.I tend to go after strength and mass,,none of my stuff is pretty looking.
Like anything new it can be hard to anticipate the problems you might run into without seeing some parts and how they interact.Most all plans work just fine on paper,,you just have to build some things to see why and where it doesn't work quite right.In time you get used to looking for the mistakes or anticipating how something will work.Figuring out and solving the problems can be frustrating,,but somehow it's also fun.

[Eddy-Smiles]

Nice work! Almost too pretty to use!

[RUssL.]

Bob,

Your bench is a beauty.

How is it working out, now a month later?
Can you show another image of the side and/or back of it, showing the beach-chair-angle-adjustment feature?

How does it work for holding smaller pieces?

Thanks in advance,

RussL.

[Bartster]

bob,

great looking bench, you did a fine job on it.


bart

[Mark N. Akers]

Bob:
Great job on the bench,please show it when it's completely done.

[squbrigg]

Well folks, I have good news and bad news. First, the good news: It works! Works quite well actually in the raised or lower position. The lowered position would be completely flat, and I can achieve that just with the bench alone, so I wouldn't use this for that! The raised position works great, and with the help of a couple of quick wedges to make the piece more secure in the dogs, I can position the work in just about any position/angle.

The bad news, is personally .... my problem. By carving with my arms unsupported to reach the face of it, my neck gets sore very quickly and I have to stop and rest for a few hours. I'll figure out how to overcome this somehow.

Mark, I have reached the same conclusion as you on the tool holders, and have begun to sketch up a plan for one on each side. I'm always fumbling for tools and was just using the bench top , but that doesnt serve well. I am considering an extention on the top, to offer other angles to carve at, but I haven't deceided on that yet.

I like it!

Bob

[RUssL.]

Thanks Bob.
That's a great little unit!

I hadn't thought about how the unsupported carving position for ones arms might change that whole body-dynamic.

Hmmmm. I may just leave things like they are, flat on my bench.
I already have enough neck, shoulder and back issues.

Thank you again for the response and images.
I still think it's a great unit...maybe for a younger carver. ;-)

RussL.