I am building a woodworker's bench as part of a class I'm taking through our
local woodworker's guild. The bench has a tail vise and a front vise on it.
I would like to use wooden screw parts on the tail vise, and maybe the front
as well. I am having trouble finding a supplier of wooden screws already
made or the tap and die set to make my own. I do not have a lathe so if I
tap my own, it will have to be from a dowel. This is not ideal as I am
building the bench out of beech and would like beech screws due to the
characteristics of the wood. Or maybe I could find a beech dowel somewhere?
DAGS turned up nothing of value. I know this items are out there. Can
anyone help with a supplier?

Thanks.

Bob

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 22:17:54 -0600, the inscrutable "bob"
spake:

I am building a woodworker's bench as part of a class I'm taking through our
local woodworker's guild. The bench has a tail vise and a front vise on it.
I would like to use wooden screw parts on the tail vise, and maybe the front
as well. I am having trouble finding a supplier of wooden screws already
made or the tap and die set to make my own. I do not have a lathe so if I
tap my own, it will have to be from a dowel. This is not ideal as I am
building the bench out of beech and would like beech screws due to the
characteristics of the wood. Or maybe I could find a beech dowel somewhere?
DAGS turned up nothing of value. I know this items are out there. Can
anyone help with a supplier?

Nobody makes them that large any more. For about $150, you can get the
router-powered (less router) 1-1/2" dowelmaking kit from Beall.
OR
For about $15 at most stores, you can buy a GREAT book and make your
own tap and screwbox:


The Woodwright's Workbook
Further Explorations in Traditional Woodcraft
by Roy Underhill
259 pp., 81/2 x 11, 239 illus.
$18.95 paper ISBN 0-8078-4157-9

Table of Contents for The Woodwright's Workbook

Annotated Text of The Debate of the Carpenter's Tools
Making Workbenches
Making Screwboxes and Taps for Wood Threading
Constructing Springpole and Treadle Lathes
Building a Carpenter's Tool Chest
Rustic Chairs
Hickory-Bark Chair Bottoms
Turned High Chair
Weaving a Cattail Reed Chair Seat
A Loom-Back Chair
Ladders, Folding Bookstands, Eggbeaters, and Music Mills
Making a Rowboat
A Field Guide to American Tool Marks
Building a Colonial Fort, a Barn, and a Blacksmith Shop

Update: http://isbn.nu/0807841579 Used copies from $4!


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