Monday, January 31, 2011

Cold Feet

For best effect, this post should really be viewed in black and white...

The longer-term reader may have been wondering to themselves "My, my, but Alf's been very quiet on the progress of her workbench build. She must have practically finished it by now..."

The really long-term reader will be laughing at the idea and just assumed nothing's happened.

Go on, guess who's right.

The vice still waits, the wood is getting really well seasoned, and your less-than-intrepid blogger has got seriously cold feet about the whole thing. In fact I've been thinking more and more that the Emmert would be just the thing to replace the front vice on my existing bench, which is starting to annoy me more and more (now I'm actually using it occasionally...) I have the beech, could do with a little less tool tray to fill with clutter; it's practically destiny.

But this is pathetic behaviour, so I bit the bullet, threw a gift card at that well-known river in South America, and joined the rest of the woodworking world in reading The Schwarz on workbenches.


If that doesn't get me wanting to make a workbench, then it's on to book two. And if that doesn't work, well someone pop over and check my pulse 'cos I might actually be dead.

Of course the real danger is I'll end up wanting to build an entirely unsuitable bench for the Emmert, and then where shall I be? Oh well, at the very least Chris writes well, so it'll all go horribly wrong but with good dialogue... ;)

6 comments:

  1. Maybe the real question, Alf, is do you need the complexity of the Emmert for anything you are planning to make in the future? Unless the answer to that is yes, it might be better to fit something else.

    Just thought I'd ask.......

    Cheers ;-)

    Paul Chapman

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  2. Need? Need?! Wash your mouth out, Paul...

    In all honesty, part of me does quietly wonder that. But on the other hand I've never heard of anyone who's had an Emmert ever saying they never wanted one again, so I have a feeling it's a pretty safe bet.

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  3. I must admit I was searching though your archives the other day, thinking I must of missed it. I've made literally tons of furniture, but the first piece I ever made was my workbench, and as such I love a workbench build. So get a crack on please.

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  4. So that's what a brand new copy looks like. Shiny. I'd forgotten. My copy still has saw dust between the pages from when I built my bench.

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  5. Of course you need an Emmert Vice and a bench to hold it.

    Stuff you have done in the past has been quite varied in form and an Emmert would have made it so much easier..

    Besides, you will enjoy the challenge!

    Chris Knight

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  6. I agree with Mark. After making my workbench, enjoyment of woodworking notched up a magnitude.

    Heck, I know I'm going to make another one. I think somewhere along the lines of the one Robert W. Lang of "Popular Woodworking" has built. The central flippable tool tray is a feature worth giving a go.

    So, with an all dancing and all singing Emmert vise you'd be remiss in not giving it a worthy home to earn its keep.

    Plus, we'd all benefit from reading (in your inimitable way) how it's going.

    Stephen Ruddock
    NZ land

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