(The Bench Top) Split Top Roubo Bench Progress as of March 06, 2015

Hey, just check the date of my last posting and its been 1 day shy of a month.

Well, I have been working on bench top flattening, refining the gap stop. I'm almost there with my Roubo Split Top WorkBench, just a little cosmetic adjustment and the installation of the Benchcrafted tail vise.

Anyways, did some web searching on the availability of Roubo Split Top  WorkBench or just any woodworking bench here in Malaysia. Guess what, none. However, I did got to know Neil Yeager who's residing in Thailand and he is an active woodworker there (also has built several woodworking benches). His blog.

 Below are some pics of my bench outdoor.

Roubo Split Top Workbench sitting on cemented hill slope (foreground), Below hill slope are houses shaded by trees (background)

(The Sliding Deadman) Split Top Roubo Bench Progress as of Feburary 07, 2015

Here's a before and after pic of  a similar  piece of wood which  is carved into a "Sliding Deadman" and holes drilled.

Also some coated screws for the long stretchers to attached to the bench legs.

Left "Sliding Deadman coated with Linseed Oil",  right similar raw wood used for carving out the sliding deadman

 Initial stages of shaping a "Sliding deadman"

Half way through shaping of a "sliding deadman"

Coated screws for the long stretchers and bench legs

Coated washers

(The Dog House) Just a recap on one of my past projects "Log Cabin Dog House"

  A simple review about my log cabin dog house. If I can remember it correctly, I built it in the year 2008 when my miniature schnauzer was just couple months old. And now he's already 7 years older. How time flies.

Anyways, I did post some pics of log cabin dog house on photobucket while I'm still constructing it. Here's the link, http://s388.photobucket.com/user/sam_marine/library/my%20dog%20house%20project?sort=3&page=1

 The dog house is still here after all these years simply because "Pepper" refuse to use it.  :))

Type : Log Cabin Style Dog House
Wood : Nyatoh wood, (tropical climate wood available in south east asian countries),  
Finish : A thin layer of wood shellac
Dimensions:  34"L x 32"W x 28"H outer,  25"L x 22"W x 20"H inner

Update:  Recently this log cabin dog house was featured on  
 Behind the Sawdust #4- Stumpy picks a fight with Glen Huey and a whole lot more! 
fast forward  to 22.00min

(The Leg Vise) Split Top Roubo Bench Progress as of Feburary 03, 2015

I have been pretty busy lately. That can only mean I didn't work on my work bench.  :))

Finally, I have gotten the tail vise done today. Also, more work  still needed to shape the sliding deadman.

Here're some pics so far.....

Wagon Leg Vise

The 1st pic is the completed wagon leg vise (not so Benchcrafted Wagon Leg Vise).  The Wagon wheel has been repainted to red in color since the original yellow/gold color paint didn't stick. previous color of wagon wheel.   This time I use a shellac paint available locally here instead of a canister spray paint. I also painted the nuts and bolts so that it won't get rusted away with the humidity of tropical climate. Brass pins are installed but needed a little trimming just to fit it nicely.

Final piece, "Roubo Split Top Wagon Leg Vise"

Final piece, "Roubo Split Top Wagon Leg Vise"

close up, front of wagon leg vise

close up, back of wagon leg vise

close up, side of wagon leg vise

close up, painted nut and bolts of wagon leg vise for anti rust prevention.

Sliding Deadman

From the pic you may have noticed that the back of the sliding deadman is carved out but the front of the sliding deadman isn't. This is due to my router bit where I use a 1 inch router bit (the only bit I have) and the thickness of the sliding deadman is bout 2 inches thick. So I'll manually carve out the remaining uncut sections.

Sliding Deadman back side, not completed yet.

Sliding Deadman, front side not completed yet.

(The Roller Bracket) Split Top Roubo Bench Progress as of January 20, 2014

Got the roller bracket finished today.  :))

Newly carved out roller brackets.

Roller Bracket with allen screws and p.u rollers attached.

Roller Bracket (coated with linseed oil)  and Parallel Guide assembled to the front left leg of the bench.

Roller Bracket close up.

(The Parallel Guide) Split Top Roubo Bench Progress as of January 16, 2014

 As of today Jan 16, 2014, I pretty much concentrate on carving up the leg vise i.e, the chop, parallel guide, and roller bracket.

The parallel guide is pretty much done with its 3.8 inch holes punched out, tenon cut and so is its end fin.

Ok, got the stencil cut out for the sliding deadman.

As you can see from the wagon wheel the gold/yellow paint is peeling off. Yup, the paint didn't stick to the wheel. I'll remove the paint later on. From this pic, the chop is drilled and attached together with its wheel and front left leg of the bench.

Its quite obvious that the nut is longer than actually needed. A minor  adjustment is required and a 1/2" diameter through hole with 1-1/4 " x 1/2" deep counter bore will be drilled later.

Finally, did some cleaning. A well routed out 1/2" diameter through hole with 1-1/4 " x 1/2" deep counter bore. Also with its protruding nut cut away. BTW, the brown smear on the acme hole is a little  grease from the acme screw.

An overall pic of the wagon leg vise that is yet to be completed.

Now, here is the sticky situation. In order to center the chop with the bench leg and also making it parallel to vertical sides of the bench leg, I made sure that the chop is square between both the leg and the chop so that I can put a mark of the bench leg vertical lines to the chop and carved out the chop later on.

A close up.

The parallel guide of the bench

After making the vertical lines of the bench leg to the chop, I use these marking to carve out the chop.

(The Report) Split Top Roubo Bench Progress as of January 06, 2014

 Parallel Guide of the Wagon Leg Vise

Today, working on the parallel guide. Cutting out its tenon, drilling 3/8 " holes and carving out the pattern. I guess the only thing left to do for the wagon leg vise is crafting out the roller bracket and the chop, yup that's about it.

The tedious part for the wagon leg vise is to drill a hole onto the center of the wagon wheel so that the acme screw can be attached to it. Plus, you have to be dead on precise 90 degrees for it. Also not to mention the welding of the nut to a piece of iron. Well, that's the hard work you've gotta do when you don't wanna spend on Benchcrafted leg vise. :))


Split Top Roubo Bench Legs and Stretchers

All mortises and tenons are carved out for the legs and stretchers. The only thing left to do for the legs are to drill holes for the long stretchers so that they can be attached with nut and bolt. And today I did just that, drilling 1/2" diameter through hole with 1-1/4 " x 1/2" deep counter bore.


Split Top Roubo Bench Top

Now the bench top, 2 out of 4 mortises have been carved out ( to be attached to bench legs). And when that's done I'll begin with carving out the chop and sliding deadman. I'll leave the flattening of the table top to the very end.


Split Top Roubo Bench Gap Stop

Gap Stop completed and only work  that's need to be done is to carved out its mortises when the bench top is ready.


Split Top Roubo Bench Tail Vise

Still thinking.........


Split Top Roubo Bench Sliding Deadman

1" x 1" V bar has been attached to the long stretchers. Next is carving out the desired pattern.

**will post pics later**