Thanks again to everyone for your eagle-eyed edits to “The Anarchist’s Workbench” pdf – most of which made book files before it went to press (and the few that didn’t will be included in the second press run). So, I’ve uploaded a new…and I hope perfect…pdf of the book for download. To get it – free – just click on download links in the store description in the penultimate paragraph. (Note: The print book should be in before the end of August.)
Bench cat replacing bench dog?
Bench cats are more fickle than bench dogs. They don’t stay when you tell them to stay, hold and release the work whenever the heck they feel like it, and alternate between being surprisingly soft and snugly with your work and scratching the heck out of it. However, there is nothing to replace the purring sound when you are using a handplane with a bench cat.
Ha! You just try getting a cat to do what you want it to do, and not the other way around.
Can you say a few words about a wooden clamp on the wall to the left of the bookcase? It’s clearly not the usual woodworker’s clamp – the spindles are at the ends of the jaws, the handles of the two spindles are on the same side of the jaws, etc. It looks like a bookbinders clamp – can you confirm?
Many thanks.
Yup. It’s a bookbinder’s clamp that someone gave me.
Awkward question of the day. Assuming this was built for the user, where does the bench top align to the user? Knuckles? Wrist? It would be helpful to see a picture of this. Thanks for all the excellent information! My knockdown Nicholson is about worn out and I would like to build one of these next.
TL;DR: it matters sweet få. Plus or minus a few cm (that’s +-5cm, or 2″ looking at my arm) are irrelevant. (read the book!).
You have the advantage you already have a bench. Use that height. Unless you perceive it should be higher or lower. And it depends on your work. In Germanic languages it is a planing bench, which is lower than if you want to cut lots of dovetails…
It’s page 124-128 of the free book!
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Beautiful elegant bench. Well done.
Thank you.
if we ordered a hardcopy, should we have received an email acknowledgment?
“Second press run”? Does that mean the hard copy book is a best seller?
Hi Paul. The book has broken even and is now making us a few dollars. It’s no bestseller, but it wasn’t intended to be. Thanks to everyone who has supported us.
It’s a thing of great beauty to behold. And the bench too!
Best chapter in the book for me: Chapter X. Well done, well said, and powerful food for thought, especially so these days.
A big thank you from me