Working out the shoulder vise arm joinery was fun. Lots of force going to be exerted on this joint and if it's good enough for Frank Klausz. That required doubling up the shoulder vise end cap, and doubling up the piece I'd planned on using for the shoulder vise arm. That made the parts to be dovetailed 3 1/4" thick by al;most 4" tall. And THAT presented some challenges.
The existing shoulder vise end cap already had a dovetail joint on one end and a double mortise in it. Fortunately the tenons were accidentally made 3/8" long so they extend out enough to work in new mortises in the add on part. Sometimes you get lucky and a mistake turns out working for you.
The other challenge was sawing 3 1/4" deep dovetails with the hand saws I have. The Japanese dovetail saw as well as the PAX dovetail saw will only cut to about 2". The Lie Nielsen dovetail saw will only do about 1 1/2" and the PAX tenon saw's max depth of cut is 3 inches. With all these saws I was sure I had all my bases covered - SURPRISE! So here's what I came up with.
And here's the joint that required the deep cut. Naturally, as hardest to cut and the last dovetail joint for this workbench, it's the tightest. Got a blister or two chisel paring this one. Took the better part of the day, what with making the two new needed parts and a lot of time creeping up on the fit - pare a little, test the fit, mark what needs removing, pare some more, test the fit ...
Next up, figuring out how to drill a half inch hole NINTEEN INCHES LONG. It's got to go through the shoulder vise arm ( 3 1/4 inches), the 12" spacer, the 2" thick apron front and then an inch or two into the hard maple top.
This "real" woodworking bench is certainly presenting a lot of opportunities to learn all kinds of joinery - in BIG STUFF. Installing the Veritas Twin Screw end vise is going to be the next "challenge/learning experence.