Andrew's Workbench MkII

andrewr79 · #1 21st Jan 2012, 05:44 PM

I know it was only a few months ago I built my first bench but after working on it for a while I've realised the mistakes I'd made. I've done a fair bit of reading since then and decided to have a go at a Roubo style workbench. 'Style' because I don't think I can do the full design proper justice but I'm giving it the best go I can.

I'm building it all with 90 x 35 and 75 x 35 material glued up, and it's going to need a lot of planing after it's together to get it right, but it seems to be going OK so far. The middle of the top is glued up, then I'll fit the legs in through the top, glue and screw them (or biscuit, haven't quite got that far), then fill the gaps around them and put a final piece on the front and back of the top to lock it all together.

I've got a bench to build this on, plus some sawbenches as well which is a lot easier than working on the floor, so I'm hoping for a better result this time. I'm taking more time to build it but it still seems to be coming together quite quickly, the only thing that has slowed me down so far is running out of glue and clamps!

Christos · #2 21st Jan 2012, 05:57 PM

Cool another one to follow.

Does that mean another one to make after this one is finished?

andrewr79 · #3 21st Jan 2012, 07:37 PM

Third time lucky you mean?

I'm hoping this one will do me for as long as I live here (in a townhouse) but once we sell up and buy a house I'll look at building a hardwood dream bench. I don't want to do that now because I'd have to make it too shallow.

My last build appeared to have disappointed a few people by being too quick - I'm hoping to have the bench standing by itself by the end of next weekend so this one may too, but I'm willing to spend a bit more time on getting it right since most of my other projects are done so will see how good I can get it. I'm interested to see how well construction grade timber can work in this style.

andrewr79 · #4 22nd Jan 2012, 10:26 PM

I got a bit more work done on it, and started trying to flatten the piece of the top that's already glued up. It's going to be tough going as there's a few pieces near 2mm higher than others. I would have knocked them down to the same length before putting them together except they were too long for my bench. I might have to resort to a router sled to do it, unless I can get a jointer working while they are clamped to the sawbenches.

nick_b00 · #5 22nd Jan 2012, 11:14 PM

Andrew,

Well done thus far, any chance you'd be able to run it through a thicknesser to solve your problem? I glued my top in 3 parts, to make a bench about 30" deep. My thicknesser is only capable of 12" wide boards so I ran the top through in 3x10" parts. Then glued them as accurately as I could. Flattening with a handplane thereafter wasn't too bad.

Nick

Virgil · #6 23rd Jan 2012, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewr79

It's going to be tough going as there's a few pieces near 2mm higher than others.

Use the Schwarz, young Jedi....

Go on, get your plane onto it. It's only 2mm. What sort of timber are you using?

Cheers,
Virg.

andrewr79 · #7 23rd Jan 2012, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Virgil

Use the Schwarz, young Jedi....

Go on, get your plane onto it. It's only 2mm. What sort of timber are you using?

Cheers,
Virg.

It's all pine, so really shouldn't be that hard. It just seems difficult at the moment because it's too big to plane on my current bench. I'm thinking the best option is to actually get it together and then worry about the top since it should be easy then. That might leave the underside a bit rough but what difference does that make?

Virgil · #8 23rd Jan 2012, 10:23 PM

Ha! Light dawns.

Yes, flattening your bench should be the last thing you do. Be that as it may it makes sense to have it fairly flat before you stick it all together. After all one surface is your reference, then you work on your edge and then take all your readings form there. The bottom can be rough but it should be level and parallel with the top lest when you bung it on to your legs it goes all wonky.

My current bench is an old solid core door on an ex-high school IA bench carcass. No dogs, dodgy Carter vice and that's about it. I have been planing some great lumps of hardwood (for my saw benches. One down, one to go) and I've been using clamps, and screws and all sorts of bits and bobs to hold things in place while I plane. So far so good.

Go on, sharpen that plane and give it a good run.

Cheers,
Virg.

andrewr79 · #9 23rd Jan 2012, 11:57 PM

My sawbenches are built and you can see them hiding under the benchtop in the first pic - best things I've built in both construction and usefulness.

I think the bottom is actually closer to flat as I used the sawbenches as the reference for gluing it all up and they are near dead flat, so I will do as suggested, get it flat then put the whole thing together and then see to the benchtop. The old #5 does need a sharpen first though!

Pics of your sawbenches once done please

Cheers
Andrew

Sawdust Maker · #10 25th Jan 2012, 09:28 PM

I like the look of your sawhorses

nice and sturdy

can you slow down a bit on the build - you are making some of us look a little pedestrian by comparison

andrewr79 · #11 25th Jan 2012, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

I like the look of your sawhorses

nice and sturdy

can you slow down a bit on the build - you are making some of us look a little pedestrian by comparison

Thanks - I'm quite fond of them already. They hold my weight, so I don't think much is going to bother them!

It's already been a week and all I've got done is 3/4 of the top and two legs. That's incredibly slow for me

. I'm aiming to get the rest of the top glued up tomorrow including the tool rack at the back, and the other two legs built!

Things will slow a little then. I have to mortice the legs for the crossbars, and I want to put dog holes into the right hand front one to support large panels in the front vice.

The front two rails of the bench are going to be interesting to build too - I want dog holes there as well. And I havn't left myself a spot for a planning stop so have to sort that out.

All in all I don't think you have to worry about speed too much

andrewr79 · #12 26th Jan 2012, 11:15 AM

There's a moving van blocking my garage door, and since my car is blocking my workspace there's no movement on this so far...grrrr

I really want to get some done. What could be more Australian than building a French style workbench today?

NCArcher · #13 26th Jan 2012, 01:32 PM

I'm fairly certain Roubo emigrated to Australia and became an Aussie. I may be wrong but what the heck, we'll claim him anyway.

Oh and in case you didn't realise, vehicles can be started and moved.

Sawdust Maker · #14 26th Jan 2012, 02:02 PM

sounds right - came out here with La Pérouse

andrewr79 · #15 26th Jan 2012, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NCArcher

Oh and in case you didn't realise, vehicles can be started and moved.

Well it went not long after the post anyway, and I got some work done on the legs, then I heard the sound of ball on willow in the complex driveway and before you know it I've got a rasp out putting a groove in a couple of 2x4's so we can have bails on the makeshift stumps