Portable Workbench Build Process
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Posted 29th March 2021
Earlier in the day, while I was having a break from touching any real parts in case I did anything stupid again, I decided to make up a few jaw test pieces to help me choose a finish for the bench.
Two of them are going to be left as-is, two will get coated with boiled linseed oil, one will get some leather stuck to it and one will be a spare. The holes are counterbored for M8 cap screws for attachment to my bench vice - the current jaws are attached with countersunk screws but I've got a LOT more cap screws than countersunk screws, so this gives me more options for length (and they're only for testing). The plan is to attach these to the bench vice and do some strength testing comparing:
- Unfinished jaws
- Jaws coated in boiled linseed oil
- Fixed jaw unfinished and moving jaw covered in leather
- Fixed jaw coated in boiled linseed oil and moving jaw covered in leather
The instructions on my internet-bought bottle of boiled linseed oil are a little opaque for someone linguistically challenged like me:
So I just daubed it on with a paintbrush and kept adding more over about half-an-hour wherever there were bits looking dry.
I then wiped off the excess and I'll leave that until tomorrow. Hopefully one coat will be enough for the purposes of this test.
For the leather coated jaw, I hand-stretched the leather along the bench, using some offcuts of wood and some clamps to hold it in place. I then slid a bit of greaseproof paper underneath to protect the bench:
After applying contact adhesive with a filling knife over both pieces and leaving for five minutes or so, I pressed the beech jaw onto the leather and then transferred it to the vice for an extra squeeze.
After a couple of minutes of squeezing, it came out of the vice.
A bit of the contact adhesive has bled around the edges, so I'll have to be more careful on the final piece if I go this way.
I trimmed the edge off (which got rid of most, but not all, of the contact adhesive that had bled round) and opened up the holes.
I'll do some (probably not very scientific) tests with these bits tomorrow once the linseed oil has had time to dry.
Page 52 of 67
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