Thread: Help me please, I'm new...

Hi Steve, welcome.

There have been some threads recently about workbenches, if you do a search you will find a lot of information that will allow you to ask more specific questions.

Keep in mind that a "very basic" workbench is just a strong table. For years I have abused the solid pine kitchen table, braving my wife's lashings, and now that we have retired it it's being reborn as the base for my workbench.
Cheers

Good day SteveAdelaide

As F & E implyed "google is your friend..."

try this:

http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/z_pdf/sh...apBench-ne.pdf

Looks like a good place to start. to me...in fact, I'm gathering materials for an 'againstthegrain' version of this design as we speak.

I just put together a "table" to use in the shed to placate SWMBO's needs before building "The Woodworking Bench"

Lots of benches on the net.

G'day Steve and welcome to the madhouse.
As previously noted there are threads here re workbenches.
A few Tips:
a) No need to buy new timber. Everything in my shed is recycled or built from 2nd hand material.Hardwood is good because it is tough and heavy.
b) Make sure the top of the bench is large enough for all your needs.
c) Make sure it is sturdy
d) Build it with a vice from the outset.
e) My bench top has several strategically placed holes in it so that I can use F clamps for holdowns. I ground the little knobs off the end of the bar on the clamps. that way you can pull it apart and slip the bar through the hole and use it that way.
f) I have stored many of my tools by hanging the around the carcase of the bench. Mind you my top is a piece of 1800x 1200 x30 melamine coated particle board tha5t I picked up for next to ziltch from a renovation yard. I deliberately placed it so that it overhangs both ends and one side. This way I get plenty of clamping and jigging optios and thj tools a protected from being jnocked off as I walk around the bench.
Happy bech building!

Originally Posted by SteveAdelaide

Am planning a basic workbench (very basic) and wondering if there are any tips/traps for young players etc.
So if anyone can help me, I'd much appreciate it!!
Thanks for reading,
Steve

ha ha ha sucked in mate you'll build a basic workbench then not be happy and build another then another all with better timber and better vices (man is woodworking a vise[vice]) then you'll want better tools and more room soon the kids will be out of the cubby house ...your've taken that over as well and you want to know if theres any traps..............ha ha ha Noooooooooooooo ??

welcome anyway.

What they said.

A basic bench is a good place to start. Don't waste pennies buying new timber, you'll learn more (and save pennies) by using salvage.

There's only two requirements a good workbench has to have: stability and a flat top. Almost everything else is optional extra. Until you have some experience under your belt and have developed your own style of workmanship, you won't know which "optional extras" you'll use and which will be space wasters.

So you're better off forgetting about 'em... at least until Workbench Mark 2 or 3. (Tony has that spot on... )

You'll notice I've ignored the vice. A vice is a "should have" and not a "must have" but you will regret it if you don't plan for one now. The problem is knowing which type to get and where to position it. My advice is to get the best you can afford... and mount it where you think you'll want it. Odds are that later on you'll wish that you'd mounted it somewhere else, but the plain fact of the matter is you'll be wishing this no matter where you mount it now.

There is a good article in the current edition of the US Woodsmith. by current edition I mean the one in the Australian shops as of 20th November 07. It has pictures, plans and construction notes.

There are also about seven plans and articles here
http://absolutelyfreeplans.com/WORKS...p_projects.htm ranging from ply wood ones to a full cabnet makers bench with tail vice.

Thanks for all the tips, much obliged...
Hopefully I don't ask too many stupid questions from here on, but no guarantees!!!
Cheers
Steve

I built two work benches in the family workshop out of recycled pallets. They are half a pallet deep, and 1m high. With one being 3m and the other 6m long.
With bench grinders, lathe, drill press and all sorts of other goodies attached. I store wood for future use under the benches to ensure there is a low CoG.

However my favourite workbench, which gets by far the most use, is basically a pallet on 4 x 1m legs, 2 of these incorporating wheels. It gives all sorts of clamp spots, is extremely rigid, and being somewhat mobile is great.

Good: The benches are extremely sound, and remain 100% sqaure and true, even with high loads. While being bolted together in moveable sections.
Fast: The 3 benches took me about a day to make. Most of it was spent nailing the boards onto the top, and punching below wood surface.
Cheap: The only cost was the nails, bolts, and two wheels.

Hi Steve

Welcome to the nut house.

If you build the bench from old pallets or second hand timber, make sure its good solid timer, not the rubbish that some pallets are built from. You can clean up some old pallet timber nicely with basic hand tools and a bit of elbow grease.

Make sure the bench is strong and solid, my bench has a 50mm thick top and a 200mm deep front for the vice on it, with 100mm square legs. I treat it as a workhorse not like some of the show piece benches in magazines.

I've probably got some plans laying around somewhere that I can share with you if you like.

Cheers

Rob

I read in another thread, but can't remember which one, that an old door makes for a good bench top. you could buy on cheaply from a salvage yard. Might be worth thinking about.

Quick and Dirty.

A first bench will almost always be wrong, so don't waste heaps of time and money on it. My first wood working bench was a second hand chipboard dining table that I bolstered with second hand construction pine, later it morphed into a table saw. The only reason it was retired was because I couldn't make it rigid or straight enough for presice work.

The first woodworking bench I built has a basic pine carcass with a 50mm thick MDF top. Still cheap, still simple. I find it really hard to justify the expense of building a full-on woodworking bench.

yep, welcome Steve.

A vice is a "Must have" I don't care what they say above. Or at least something to hold stuff while you bang it and plane it and drill it and so on.

Your first bench should be free.

Build it of whatever you can find, use it, and work out what you need in a full time bench.

Mine's really simple, it's got a solid top but it's oregon because that was free, and I only have one vice a patternmaker's vice.

Actually I have three simple benches... and three vices.

Build your first one out of pallets or whatever else you can find, use it, and work it out later.... that's just your first lesson.

If you get carried away by all the flash pics and the "must haves" you'll never get there.

Go to the library and borrow Taunton Press "The Workbench Book" for a look at a wide variety of benches and how to use them, then if you really need plans, there's a simple one in the back - build that!

Cheers,

P

Talking of vices, I have several. One is a Zyliss. It was pricey but there are now less expensive Chinese copies. The things I really appreciate about this vice is its versatility and the fact that it can be removed from the bench top veryy easily and stored away. I also use mine as a drill press.
Another of my vices is an ordinary quick release woodworking vice.

You really don't want to know about my other vices.