My obligatory workbench build thread

[michael_m]

Apparently we are contractually obligated to post a thread here when we build a workbench. It's in the fine print somewhere .

I've been the past year and a half without a workbench since I started re-doing the interior of the garage. The old bench was made from angle iron and old doors and was cemented into a moving slab and bolted on to a shifting wall and was about as far from a flat, useable surface as it is possible to get. So I pulled it out and turned it into shelves, which are much more useful (and full).

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Anyway, after over a year of using the top of the table saw and a piece of plywood on sawhorses, I started building the bench in January. I had meant to start a lot earlier (I had got the vice hardware in Christmas 2012), but stuff and available time had gotten in the way. After a year of thinking and planning and some serious thinking about what sort of things I was likely to build, I decided on the following features I wanted/needed:

• made of either cheap recycled timber, or construction pine. In the end I went for construction pine, not only because it was about $50 cheaper, but I am making the bench with mostly hand-tools. I don't have a jointer or thicknesser, so it is all being done with handplanes. Also, I like the idea of the bench being made of more forgiving wood that gets dinged, rather than the piece I'm working on.
• A thick (80-100mm) top.
• legs flush with the front of the bench and the stretchers as well
• an l-shaped end vise
• a leg vise
• I was agnostic about whether to go for a split-top or a solid top, but decided on a solid top as I saw a split top adding an extra layer of complexity and cost (for the filler wood to make the saw/chisel till/planing stop)
• make it left-handed. This was actually really hard for me to picture as I had seen thousands of images of RHS benches, but only a handful of LHS ones. I'm ok now, but at the start I had to keep double-checking I had everything in the correct orientation.
• needs to be able to hold wood up to 2m long. I'm sort of hoping it can do that. I made it with a 1.9m top, but with the L-vise extended I'll be theoretically able to hold up to 2.4 m between dogs. (we'll see. I haven't built the vise yet)
• round dog holes. I'm planning on using holdfasts as well and using the dog holes for things other than just pinching boards, so round is more versatile (and a lot easier to make or add later)
• about 90 cm high. I've read Chris Schwartz, I've read Paul Sellers, I've read pretty much every opinion there is on bench height, and in the end I chose a height I've used before for planing, that feels good and doesn't hurt my back when not planing. If I want to have a lower bench, I'll stand on something.

My main sources of inspiration (apart from looking at all the other builds on this forum) came from Chris Schwartz's The Workbench Design Book, Jord's Woodshop Roubo Build series of videos (I also bought his sketchup plans for the princely sum of $5 - They particularly helped crystallize how to put together the base) and the 100th issue of Australian Woodsmith which had a bench build that had a lot of the features I wanted (but I'm doing the l-vise totally differently - more like the tail vise by Mr. Carter on youtube.).

[michael_m]

Just after Christmas I spent a solid 2 hours in Bunnings sorting through their 2.7m lengths of 90x45 pine, looking for straight, not bowed, bent or twisted lengths; trying to find ones with as close to quarter-sawn (hah!) as possible, without too many dead knots or wane in them. I only wanted 17 of them, but I needed to move about 200 pieces of wood to find them. Still, it was worth the effort, I guess.

Then, they sat in my garage for just under a month, being baked by the loverly warm summer we had.

Mid-January, I started flattening and removing the rounded edges on the wood. I set up the lengths on a couple of saw-horses and had at it. Before too long I was swimming in a sea of pine shavings.

wb3.JPG

In all, by the time I finished planing down the top pieces, the leg pieces and the stretchers, I reckon I planed close to 150m of board surface. Perhaps surprisingly, I still enjoy planing. I've also gotten a lot quicker at planing. The first length I planed took me almost an hour to get the two faces flat and parallel, the last one I did took about 10 minutes (20 minutes to get all 4 faces square).

These are the two planes I used to do the entire flattening job, a Woden #5 1/2 and an Anchor #7. I keep meaning to clean them up properly; all I have done to them since buying them ($100 combined cost) is sharpen the blades, reseat the frogs, flatten the sole and tune the chipbreaker. The Anchor in particular, has the grime on it that it had the day I bought it off ebay. I had the 5 1/2 set with a wide open mouth and aggressive cut, and the #7 with a very fine mouth to finish.
planes.JPG

I was originally planning to make the bench 2m in length, but after measuring the wood (all about 7cm over the advertised 2.7m length), I hit on the cunning plan of cutting to 1.9m and using the offcuts to make the legs, saving on a couple of lengths of wood. The plan is to use those to build a new lathe stand, as my current stand is a bit too low.

Here's the first glue-up of the part of the top.

wb2.JPG

It was about now that I hit a bit of a snag. While I had thought that it might be good to have a single top, I had planned in the back of my head to maybe make my own sash clamps as I don't actually own any. I hadn't made any, and didn't have the available cash to buy enough to do the job. So, the single top is now a split top! Of course, from now on, I will extol the virtues of split tops and point out their superiority to all and sundry, because I meant to build it that way all along. The back slab is below with the front slab being laminated next to it. Each slab is around 30cm wide (29 back slab, 32.5 front).

wb1.JPG

[orraloon]

michael_m
I think you will find the split top to be a good choice. It makes for a very versitile bench. The build will be easier too as the top will be heavy. I found the pine halves manageable on my own but would have needed help with a whole top.
The clamping options with a split top are endless and I constantly finding more things to do with it. The center board gives you a plane stop down the center of the bench also. A great bench for hand tool work.
Regards
John

[michael_m]

Hi John,
I've noticed the ease with which I can move the tops around already! And in hindsight I am glad I've gone for a split top - the more I think about it, all I can see are the advantages of it. It has also lead to me putting another tail vise on the back slab - an old Dawn No.7 I have lying around, which I'll set up with double dogs for clamping round objects. It will reach from side to side of the slab, which has other advantages in box and drawer making too.

Cheers, Mike

[Christos]

Another work bench build to follow.

[michael_m]

I had both slabs glued up, when I thought to check for the size of the screw I had for the L-vise. On checking, the gap I had left was too narrow. My choices were to either saw and plane away some of the slab to increase the width, or glue on another piece of wood to the front (which would involve more planing). I chose the latter. Now, having used the top for the last month to construct the base, I'm glad I did. That extra bit of width has come in very handy indeed.

Then, I flattened the undersides of the two slabs, getting the area where the legs will go flat and coplanar. While I had a go at the rest of the underside, I wasn't as anal about those bits where nothing will attach to. I'll see if that comes back to bite me later down the track.

And now for the base! The legs are made from 3 lengths of 90x45 glued together to give 120x90 legs. To do this, I planed on top of the underside of one of the slabs, with a piece of wood clamped across as a planing stop. Oh the luxury, after having to plane just on top of shifting, rickety sawhorses. The top, at 84mm is plenty thick enough and has been solid and stiff throughout. I've been surprised how little movement I've had when planing, even though it's just sitting on top of pine offcuts which are sitting on top of sawhorses.

Here are the legs all laminated and squared off sitting in their rough positions on top of the slabs, so I can measure them for the stretchers.

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Then, I squared off the bottoms of the legs, cut tenons into the tops for later attachment to the base and started on measuring for the mortices for the stretchers.

[michael_m]

Two new tools I got for this project and I now love are: my marking knife and mortise gauge. Just basic ones from McJing, but they made the task of marking out the mortises on the legs really straightforward. The other tool I now love is the good old brace. I have my grandfather's old Stanley 83 ratcheting brace, which after a 6 hour soak in vinegar and a go-over with a scouring pad ratchets and turns like a dream.

The legs were mortised by drilling out the waste with the brace and a 3/4 bit, then cleaning up with a chisel. Again, practice paid off. It took me about 40 minutes to do the first mortise, but by the end of the last leg, I was down to around 15 minutes.

wb6.JPG

I finished the mortising about a fortnight ago. But now it's holidays for the next couple of weeks, so things have started moving a bit quicker.

The main stretchers are made from 140x45 pine. It was an exciting time, making my first ever tenon! Fortunately, all went well and it fits fine. In fact, here it is:

wb7.JPG

I finished cutting all the tenons for the stretchers on Monday. I cut them with an Irwin hardpoint backsaw (which cut ok, but makes me want a proper tenon saw sometime in the near future), then used a 78 plane to clean up the cheeks and chisels for the shoulders. Then, the dry fitup. Everything went together with a little bit of persuasion here and nudging there, but it all fitted together.

wb8.JPG

After cleaning up some of the cheeks and undercutting the shoulders a little more, it is all square and snug. So now, on to the preparation for drawboring.

Yesterday, I drilled 50 holes. Most of them were with a 5/16 bit, so took no effort. But the two for the leg vise were a bit trickier. The smaller hole was 22mm, and took a bit of effort with the 10" brace, but the larger hole was 35mm. I couldn't actually turn the brace full circle, so had to ratchet it back and forth (the push was easier to do, so that was my power stroke). Still, it only took 2 or 3 minutes to drill. The power drill with a forstner bit barely managed to get through the surface, so it needed to be done by hand anyway.

Here is the bit in action,
brace.JPG
and here is my helper for the day, who brushed away the shavings (dust?/bits of wood?) as they came out
brace and helper.JPG

And finally, the finished leg vise leg.
leg vise leg.JPG

Today, if I get a chance, I'll add battens to the stretchers to take a shelf, then glue and drawbore the base together. Otherwise it will have to wait for a week as I'm heading down to my parents in South Gippy for a few days from tomorrow.

Cheers, Mike

[code4pay]

Great build mike, really enjoying it

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[michael_m]

I had a couple of hours this morning and another this afternoon in the shed with my no.2 helper, who takes great delight in hitting things with hammers and gluing stuff together. Today was right up her alley.

I started by cutting the drawbore pegs from some tassie oak dowels. I had bought the dowels from another forum member a few years ago, and only have another 80 or so to use.

wb9 making pegs.JPGwb10 pegs.JPG

After trimming them down, it was time to join it all together! I've never drawbored anything before (drawn yes, bored yes, drawbored no), so I wasn't sure how well it would work. Plenty of glue and a firm, nerveless grip on the mallet saw tenon seated home and the first peg in with ease. It was a bit weird putting the peg in straight, seeing it anle as it entered into the offset tenon whole, then a couple of whacks later straightening up again, but it worked, and worked well. The results can be seen below, with perfect right angles in both planes, and a rock-solid join.

wb11.JPGwb12.JPGwb13 dbore joint.JPG

Funnily enough, the square is also one I bought from the forums, part of a set of laser-cut squares and angles that have come in very handy over the last few years.

Then I remembered I needed to put battens on for the shelf to attach to, which would be much easier to do if the base wasn't joined together. So I ripped a bit of 90x45 offcut on the bandsaw into some 25x25 battens, planed them flat on two faces (below) and glue and nailed them to the backs of the stretchers.

wb14 battens.JPG

30 seconds a side - easy peasy. Then, it was back to pegging and gluing the base together. I did the two long sides first, then put the side stretchers in. Almost there...

wb15.JPG

And with a ease on three of the stretchers and a little "gentle" persuasion on the fourth, it was all done! Hurrah! It's all square, all sides equal and level and as solid as the proverbial.

wb16 base.JPG

Next week, time and the wife permitting, It'll be time to add the top to it.

[jcge]

This is a great thread....a few things I really like....

Old saw horses and shavings everywhere, and a "workmate" used to build a real bench.
Using construction pine to make something significant (other than a house)
Good photos, very well written and great workmanship

Regards
John

[michael_m]

And did work in my parent's shed instead. However, their shed is about 5 times the size of mine. Their lower platform had a broken joist (or bearer? I'm never sure which is which) as well as 40+ years of accumulated junk and miscellania.
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There were also several stacks of wood that dad has collected over the years which have taken over one of the car spaces, that needed moving on to the platform.
wbg 5.JPGwbg 6.JPG.

The first day was a full 8 hours of moving, chucking, moving to the bonfire, sorting and shifting to get to this stage:

wbg 9.JPG

That meant the next day we could repair the joist. Which we did. It was easier than we anticipated and only took a couple of hours. Which left us time to clean out the storage cupboard at the back of the platform (harder than fixing the platform).

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The third day was moving everything we were keeping back on to the platform and shifting the wood on to the platform. There's some lovely woods there too, mostly local species such as myrtle beech and blackwood, but also miscellaneous planted species such as apple, almond, melaleuca, several allocasuarina species and some others dad has located over the years like lancewood. And now, the car fits and there's space on the platform for the first time in decades. Mum was very happy .

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So, I came back home for a rest from my rest. On Tuesday I only had less than an hour to work on the bench, and found that my #2 helper was there ahead of me, clamping up some wood, ready to make something herself.

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She wanted to make saw cuts. While she was doing that vital work, I set up the base over the inverted base and marked out and started chopping mortises to join the two together.
wb18a.JPGwb21 mortises.JPG

And that was it for the day. I only got 2 and a bit done, so sleep that night was filled with dreams of finishing the mortises and attaching the top (I'm serious; every night before going out to work in the shed, my dreams were basically planning how to go about doing the job. It's made it a lot easier the next day).

[Poppa]

Great thread, enjoying this. You write well enough to write books! And the work is enjoyable to watch. I've not made my "proper" bench yet, so watching with much interest. I have made 3 big benches/storage cupboards/work platforms out of construction pine, ply and mdf, which is where I plan to keep my tools, locate my sharpening station and position the lathe. But I also would like a big "proper" bench. I've been saving aged recycled hardwood for years to make it. Your build is giving me lots of food for thought.

[michael_m]

Thank you to everyone who has read, liked or commented on this build so far. I'm glad others are enjoying it too (although not as much as me; I can tell you now, I'm real enjoying the building of this bench. I even did a little dance yesterday at one point around it).

Yesterday was a big day of work on the bench. The kids were playing around in the back yard all day, we had nowhere to be, and lots got done. I firstly finished the mortises in the underside of the top pieces, which only took about half an hour. Then, it was time to put the top on the bench.

Except it wasn't. It had come to me in a dream the night before that I should put the shelf in before I put the top on, because that would be a lot easier all round. I made the shelf from some 12mm ply I had lying around, and screwed it into place only, in case I want to replace it with something a bit more high class later down the track. My #2 helper made herself indispensable by handing me the screws.

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Then she and #1 helper tested the shelf for strength by using it as a trampoline, then a car, then a boat.

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So finally, the moment of truth - would the top fit? First, I put the back piece on. A little push here, a little thump there, and presto! - one snugly fitting (half) top.

wb21.JPG

Then, the front piece. A little shaving off one of the tenons, a little nudge here and the whole top went together as though it were destined to be.

wb22.JPG wb23.JPG wb24.JPG

Now, some people have shed-dogs, others have shed-cats that keep them company while they work. Me, I have shed-chooks who delight in turning over the shavings in search of food, and have no fear of the noise or movement.

wb26 chooks.JPG

After lunch, and after my little dance of joy I set about flattening the top. Not too flat, because there's still a bit of other stuff to do (vises to add, cleats to fasten, screws to lag). #2 helper helped out some more and took some photos of me planing down the top. Not bad for a four year old.

wb27.JPG

And that was it for the day.

[artme]

Great thread Michael!!!

Your writing, photography and sense of humour are well worth the read.

Apart from those three things your bench is looking as if it will be a cracker!!!

[orraloon]

Going to be a good solid bench.
I think pine gets overlooked as a bench wood as we mostly dream of nice hardwood creations. I went for pine as I had some for free and soon found it was easy to work. Dont think I would have liked to hand plane an ironbark or blue gum top. In the year I have been using mine it has picked up the odd mark but will be good and solid for a lifetime of work.
Regards
John