Thread: Nicholson knock down build - timber advice needed

Yeah I did some more research on that and confirmed its a bad idea using treated pine for this sort or thing. I've picked out a few of the larger timber suppliers and am going to head in next week to check them out.

Apart from the real & perceived health issues, one of the main objections I'd have to treated pine is that it often comes dripping wet, at my local big green shed. Wet wood isn't a good start, unless you plan to buy the wood now & wait a couple of years.

I'd be looking for recycled hardwood if I were contemplating this bench. That's not a huge structure you're looking at, and the difference in weight between good dense radiata and hardwoods at the less-dense end of the spectrum won't be all that much in individual parts, but probably appreciable (& appreciated!) in the whole unit. As Luke says, for those fleeting times when you are moving, light is great, but for the majority of the time, when you are actually working on it, bulk is better!

Since you're probably not flush with stationary power tools, hardwood may seem a bit more daunting, but if you can find stuff that isn't like iron bars (e.g. old Vic. Ash framing members, etc.) it isn't anywhere near as challenging to work with. Alternatively, a little of what you could save by sourcing sensibly-priced recycled (or better still, scrounged) wood could be spent having the wood machined, to save you the most tedious part of the preparation work.

Now for some unsolicited advice (). The design you are contemplating is fine, but not what I'd suggest for your first 'real' bench. That design is for the enthusiast who wants an interesting talking-point rather than a convenient work-holding device. I would advocate starting with something pretty basic, on which you can mount a front vise. After you've hefted a few heavy boards onto that cleat & holdfast system, you'll realise why screw vises were invented - they're just so much more convenient! They're also more versatile, and give you an extended range of work-holding options.

Another point - while a simple bench-stop as on the one shown is handy, you'll find it very frustrating at times, such as when trying to plane a wide board, or flatten one with a bow that wants to skate over the stop on every plane stroke. Having some simple system of clamping a board when surface-planing is a real boon. So think about how you might add a travelling-dog system down the track, either one of the various 'wagon-vises' or a user-built version - it's not all that difficult to do & I bet you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

While it's much more interesting to make something out of the ordinary, you really don't know what will suit you best 'til you've got a few woodworking miles up. Most of us end up building two or more benches. Your next bench will not only be better-built (because you have a half-decent bench to build it on! ), but it will be much closer to what you really need & want.

Cheers,

Cheers for the advice Ian. I'm still not sold on timber selection, going to wait and see what the timber yards present when I can get some time off work. There's a recycled timber place in Freo I want to check out as well, hopefully they can machine it for me too.

Already got a quick release front vise to replace the cleat, a good vice is actually one of the things I miss most at the moment. And the bench stops I haven't decided on, definitely open to suggestions there. Was just going to make up some square stops to slot into the dog holes on the top.

A couple of years ago I made a demountable bench from plans provided by The Traditional Tools Group (TTTG) and it works really well. I posted an article about it to the HTPSWA website https://sites.google.com/site/handtoolswa/articles
I'm just up the road at Bakers Hill if you want to come out for a look at it sometime just PM me.
Cheers,
Geoff.

the 2016/17 Issue of fine Woodworking's Tools and Shops has a smallish demountable bench.

Cheers gents, I'll check them both out!

Hey mate,

I work in Hope Valley (Kwinana) and am 2 mins from "the Timber Bloke". His new website is cracking and shows a lot of what he has available. Probably worth a look, if not for a buy, for the wood aspect!!!

My first work bench is made from 2x6 roofing timber i got for nothing from finished sites around my suburb. Yes, its rough as guts, and a little small, but it does the job for now. I topped it with Jarrah boards 25x150x Random lengths average 1000mm, from a scrap yard in Port Kennedy. These Jarrah boards were $5 each and seasoned as hell.

Anyway, my two cents worth.

Cheers mate, I've had a number of recommendations to check his place out so I'm looking forward to the visit! Unfortunately I'm probably going to have to put this off till after Christmas, dentists bills have been seriously draining the wallet last few weeks.

Went around to 4 different timber suppliers today. The first two on my list had already closed for Christmas, third only sold treated pine and the fourth was rather pricey compared to the prices I got from the first place.

Dangit. Looks like I'm not building a bench over Christmas! Managed to pick up the M16 bolts today at least.

Wound up spending about $130 on hardware for the bolts, T-nuts and washers but they should be very solid. The M12 ductile mounting plates that the original plans call for seem rather tough to find in Australia too, looked at shipping them and quickly decided against it.

Originally Posted by bueller

.....Wound up spending about $130 on hardware for the bolts, T-nuts and washers .....

Struth, bueller, that's a lot for bench hardware! How many bolts does this bench call for? I usually reckon on well south of $20 for the hardware for a bench (excluding vises, of course)....
Cheers,

Yeah M16 fasteners aren't cheap, the original plans call for 14 mounting plates and bolts and I bought a couple of spares just in case. Probably could have got the bolts and washers about 30% cheaper online but with Christmas delivery times and places shutting down I decided it wasn't worth it.

You can find all the timber you need on Gumtree for very cheap. You just need to look for right search term.
I find looking for non-woodwork terms like "plank" or "beam" reveals material at the right price.
A quick search on Gumtree in Perth for these term shows plenty of suitable timber. Some of it free.

Cheers for the tip hiroller!