There is no doubt about it but to be a cabinetmaker you need to have a cabinetmakers workbench. Now I know there are those of you out there who have made reproduction Canton House desks in the back shed with no more support than something resembling a kitchen chair. Miracles of all shapes and sizes have been made on a Black and Decker Workmate, but really to give yourself a chance at this game, it helps to have a really serious workbench.

You see it's all a question of balance. If you're struggling to hold the job in position with one hand whilst with the other, attacking it with the trusty panel saw, then your chances of splitting the line are slim indeed. This is because you have your body in position to hold the job not cut it with a saw. A good workbench does several jobs for you. The first one is that it is a giant holding device. Most benches have two vices, the first is now usually a conventional metal vice. We have taken to positioning these at the end of the bench so that a job can be sawn through or shortened in length without interference. It also seems fashionable in my workshop to clad the jaws of the metal vice with off cuts from the bench construction. This helps to protect the job from bruising and it also enables the jaws of the vice to be slightly extended to either left or right. It is wise however not to take this too far or distortions can occur within the vice, if a job is put in at the extreme end of these extensions so preventing it from closing parallel to the edge of the bench. We have taken to using the largest but simplest vice available, his has no quick release device, just a simple thread. I am sure the quick release facility is a wonderful invention , but we have found in the past that vices of this type have tended to "quick release" when you least expect them, depositing the job on the floor whilst your back is turned — "Honest I didn't do it Gov, it just dropped out of the vice

The vice at the other end of the bench is usually a much more complex affair, it's called a "tail vice". We put this at the other end of the bench so there is less chance of you getting your tail trapped in it. This vice can be used like a conventional vice and many makers find it more convenient for general work as the size of the jaws can be quite large and there is not the usual clutter of threaded rods below the jaws to obstruct the work. However the main use of the tail vice is to clamp pieces of work to the surface of the bench between the bench dogs. A bench dog is not a slumbering faithful friend curled up on a blanket beneath your bench, Oh no — a bench dog is a much more useful creature. It is a square peg in a square hole mounted in the bench top or in the body of the tail vice itself. The bench dog would be pushed up above the surface of the bench to provide a stop which could be used to grip your job and hold it against the surface of the bench. I have seen metal bench dogs on commercially made benches, but those never appeal to me. Most benches we make have two rows of dogs and each hole will be fitted with its own square peg held in place by a small spring made of yew. The spring is useful because it enables the dog to be slid up and down relatively easily. Without this, the tendancy is to fit the dogs too tightly, indeed it is necessary to fit them rather snuggly otherwise they drop out onto the floor. The next thing that happens is you get a couple of damp days and the craftsman is reduced to beating the dogs into place with his bare hands, resulting in damage to the craftsman.

The second purpose of the bench is to provide a perfectly flat surface upon which to work, this is often used in conjunction with the dogs and the tail vice when surface planing a job. Most components for furniture come into the bench shop having been machined and cut to dimension, the job of the cabinetmaker then is to work on jointing and final fitting of these components. We aim to machine to size, allowing for one or two strokes of the plane for final fitting. This "one or two strokes of the plane" is however when the bench comes most useful. I think it is a poor cabinetmaker that allows machines mark to remain on visible finished components. For example door components that have been through the planer, jointed and assembled need now to be surfaced with a finely set bench plane. If you try to do this on anything but a dead flat surface, what you will find is the job accommodates itself to the dips and hollows of the surface upon which it is being supported. That's when you begin to think there is something wrong with your bench plane. The answer of course is to get yourself a decent bench and to hold the job gently between the bench dogs — note I say gently because if you squeeze the job up too tight — well you can guess what happens.

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CRAFT OF CABINETMAKING NO: 30 first published by David Savage in  The Woodworker Magazine

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