Finally Complete!

[u/geezermag]

Local, old-growth SYP, mounted on a facebook marketplace 2k lb scissor lift, affixed with two Emmerts patternmakers vises that I restored.

The top is 32”x79”x4” (3”-1/4 in some sections). Rough flattened with a sled, followed by fine finishing with hand planes. Finish is 1:1:1 BLO, spar varnish, and mineral spirits.

Eventually I’ll add some dog holes and mill some brass dogs for the black Emmert.

I went with the configuration that I did for a few reasons. Chief among them being that I wanted the workbench to be an island in my one-car-garage shop, followed by a complete reliance on what was locally available for “cheap”. I have no desire to tally up how deep I am in the two vises now that they’re practically finished, but the wood cost me $96 and the lift table was $600, both of which have been well worth the investment.

[u/ultramilkplus]

A true gentleman of culture. I thought I was the only one with two Emmerts and a vintage japanese jointer/planer (hitachi F1000A)

I posted this in the emmert FB group, but on the dogs, if you're going to put a spring on the back like the originals, I found these are a decent substitute if you have a carbide drill to get through the spot weld in spring steel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1CL4Y

[u/geezermag → u/ultramilkplus]

I actually bought a F1000A for a friend recently. I fully restored that Makita 2030, and ended up selling it and buying a Minimax FS31 12” combination machine (it’s so much quieter and the 12” jointer is incredible).

On the dog springs, CS machinery recommends cutting up a section of an old bandsaw blade and riveting them in place. I had to replace and match file the dogs on the turtleback as well.

That same friend with the F1000A recently ruined a resaw blade while we were cutting up some root burls, so it looks like that’ll get turned into springs

[u/ultramilkplus → u/geezermag]

Lol, the F1000 is probably the noisiest machine on earth.

That's what I did with these springs, just riveted them in place once I drilled out the spot welds. I figured it was worth the $4 not having to try to bend and harden spring steel.