The other headline I considered for this blog entry was: Fare thee well, pinheads. As I sorted through the box of castings and metal bits in my Benchcrafted Crisscross kit tonight I wondered if this would be the box that finally banishes the pin from my leg vise. Since 2005, I’ve been using a parallel … Read more
Perhaps I should be the last person to buy a Moxon-style vise kit from Benchcrafted. After all, I’ve built six of these highly functional vises for myself and friends – not to mention all the ones I’ve built during classes during 2010. But instead, I was one of the first to line up for the kit … Read more
A few shop-made appliances allow you to add stunning face-grain inlay to your work.
By Jameel Abraham
pages 38-43
From the April 2011 issue #189
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Geometric bandings and inlay patterns, or parquetry, are widely used, from Japan to Egypt to Spain. I developed a method of creating parquetry while learning to build ouds, a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the European lute and modern guitar.
The method can be employed to make bandings and inlays from as little as two species of wood, one at a time, to more detailed patterns using multiple layers to produce several copies of the same pattern. The designs I most frequently use create the illusion of dimension, as if the pattern were a flexible ribbon, folding, twisting and turning along its length. These patterns are fun to design and make, and can richly embellish any project.
Web site: See some of Jameel’s amazing ouds on his web site.
Web site: Visit the Benchcrafted web site.
Article: Read about Jameel’s Jointmaker Pro method for inlay.
To buy: See the Czech Edge chisel Jameel commissioned for this work.
In our store: “Fundamentals of Inlay” DVD, by Steve Latta.
From the April 2011 issue #189
Buy this issue now
Read more
Machined to the nth degree, this leg vise clamps like a champ.
By Megan Fitzpatrick
Page: 16
From the February 2011 issue #188
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The Benchcrafted Glide Leg Vise takes its design cues from a traditional leg vise with a wooden screw, but this contemporary iteration works more smoothly, easily and quickly. And it cinches down hard on a workpiece with little torquing effort by the user. Benchcrafted calls it “effortless workholding” – and that’s true, once you get the Glide properly installed. It’s a little more work than installing a wooden screw but once you’re done, this
vise is a joy to use.
With a traditional screw, you simply cut a through-hole in your bench leg and seat a threaded block in a notch at the back of the leg (and install a garter, if you choose), cut a through-mortise for the parallel guide, then the work on the leg is complete. (With both the Glide and a traditional vise, you also, of course, have to make the chop and parallel guide.)
Blog: Read more about Benchcrafted. Read more
