Thread: WIP - Groggy's Workbench

I've decided on a simple butt joint. As much as some dovetails would look nice, when I walked through the process in my mind I saw a few snags. The main one is the problem of assembly. If there are large, front facing, dovetails the end caps cannot fit on or be removed unless I re-work the mortises in the caps to a slot. The second issue is that corner area would not be quite as usable if I decide I want a dog hole in there. This particularly applies near the leg vise, so it is going to be function over form for this one.

Here you can see (finally) how the end caps are held on. The nut is captured in a hole bored down the cap and the bolt slides through the bench to intersect with the nut.

The end cap is only loosely pulled to the bench. I need to now go through a laborious process of chalking the end cap inner face and sliding it on to check where the high spots are, then chisel them down until it is a snug fit. Once that is done I can fit the wagon vise (yay!) then repeat the process at the other end of the bench.

I still have some minor repairs to do with domino plugs, I'll do that in a few weeks in one big session.

The aim of all this is to hide the hardware from sight and to allow any clamps to be used on the bench without restriction from hardware.

I spent the afternoon getting the end cap to sit flush with the top and bottom of the bench, and square with the back skirt. Not quite as easy as it sounds, or as I had hoped, but it is done.

I put chalk on the cap inner face and did a trial fit to see where it touched. Remove the cap, pare down the high spot, repeat. Once I was close a scraper was used to tidy up the end of the bench and I re-applied chalk to the end cap inner face. Using the scraper so it had a reasonable bow in it I removed about 1mm from the centre and gradually feathered it out to the edges of the cap. This was fairly easy to do as the chalk makes it easy to see how much is removed and where.

The cap is now a good firm fit along its length. I just need to lower it about a mm so there is a small overhang I can plane down flush with the bottom of the bench. I have about 4mm on top of the bench to play with. The three photos show the lower and upper joins. The other photo is from the rear left of the bench - no hardware visible

Very nice work.

It fits! I'll take it!

Thanks gents. I am battling tennis elbow at the moment and the going is very slow indeed.

I reckon with a bench of this shear mass you really don't need to concern yourself with fancy joinery. It's honest and strong, like any good Aussie pictures himself.

However, I must express my concern that all this effort to make the visible surfaces clear of metal-wear will hamper your ability to clamp to this area of the bench. In practice it may matter little, but this was a consideration in my design.

Originally Posted by kman-oz

However, I must express my concern that all this effort to make the visible surfaces clear of metal-wear will hamper your ability to clamp to this area of the bench. In practice it may matter little, but this was a consideration in my design.

How do you mean Dave, I can't see any restrictions?

The small footprint of an F-clamp, for example, might happen to fall over one of the slots making clamping difficult. The reason I bring it up is because I frequently use the corners of my bench for clamping dry assembled joints with F-clamps and there are two position on my current bench which don't have a flat surface underneath to clamps to. It prooves to be a real pain.

This is one item I vowed I wouldn't have to worry about on my next bench. In fact I'm going one further and limiting the metal-wear as much as possible for this very reason.

Again, in practice this may not be an issue for you, but it certainly warrants consideration in my book.

The slots begin 165mm from the end of the bench. My 'F' Clamps extend 120mm from the inner bar so the only risk is the holes in the cap and the single 'L' shaped mortise which is 30mm from the edge.

I can use the wagon vise area as the skirt is over 100mm wide. It is just the handle area I lose, about 150mm. Out of the entire bench surface I will not be able to clamp near the legs (4 x 100mm), the wagon vise handle (150mm) and the 'L' mortise (250mm).

So, out of a potential 6200mm I cannot use 800mm. You've got me thinking now, I might just hot glue a removable plug in the 'L' mortise to make that bit usable

I have to say though, this should be the most clamp/work-holding friendly bench I will ever use. The top will have dog holes in a grid and the skirt will have dog holes also. You can clamp to the sides of the bench, the ends and the top. By using the dog holes in the skirt you can also use the bench as a large press.

Originally Posted by Groggy

So, out of a potential 6200mm I cannot use 800mm. You've got me thinking now, I might just hot glue a removable plug in the 'L' mortise to make that bit usable

See now if it was me I'd just screw on some 1/2" ply to cover the holes.

It has been so long since I worked on some pieces I have forgotten a few critical dimensions

Earlier today I set things together to visualise the next steps. It was then that I realised the front apron is too short to do a butt join. When I was working out the original dimensions I allowed for dovetails which let me have the apron shorter than the overall bench length, so the shortest beam went to the front but I got a longer bench overall. What a dummy.

Soooo, the dovetails are back in business and will face to the front. This also means the front apron will be the last piece glued on to finish the top and the end caps will be permanently affixed. A little bit annoying but functionally it will not affect the use of the bench.

I have started the dovetail for the RH side, it seems silly doing very accurate work on bridge size timbers .

Well, the good news about the dovetails and fixed end caps is that you now have the option to fill in any/all of those slots if you wish. Actually, I'm with Mike, cover them rather than fill them so you can torque them up now and then.

Maybe I'm missing something in your design here, but I don't understand how having a shorter apron facilitates dovetails. I'll wait until the next set of pictures me thinks.

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

See now if it was me I'd just screw on some 1/2" ply to cover the holes.

Heathen! Anyway, 12mm plus 135mm doesn't leave much room for clamps or material...

Originally Posted by kman-oz

Maybe I'm missing something in your design here, but I don't understand how having a shorter apron facilitates dovetails. I'll wait until the next set of pictures me thinks.

Have a peek at the attached pic, if I were to attach the two end caps and push the apron against them, this is the amount of usable length I have. By making dovetails the end caps add the necessary 20-25mm.