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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Dandenong Ranges
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    816

    Default My year of the workbench

    After a year of travelling through Europe, spending a little time in Devon training at David Savage's workshop, and a long time sitting with the Benchcrafted vises and plans, I'm ready to build me a Roubo workbench.

    First step - select my timber.
    My local timber merchant has a ready supply of kiln dried Vic Ash. Wondering if people think this would be a suitable timber for my build. Or, should I look elsewhere for another option?

    Cheers,
    Af.
    ___________________________________________________________
    "The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me."

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Dundowran Beach
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    19,922

    Thumbs up

    So that's where you have been!!!

    Vic Ash should be fine, but why not try recycling some other timber?

    Do you want a work of art or a good, solid, no nonsense workbench
    that will get a bit battered no matter what?

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Albury Well Just Outside
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    13,315

    Default

    I would be keeping an eye out for timber on the side of the road or a recycle center.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Dandenong Ranges
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    Default

    Thanks folks. Have certainly been looking out for recycled/reclaimed timber and will keep looking for another few weeks yet until I bite the bullet. So something of the hardness of Vic Ash / Messmate would be ideal.

    Want the workbench to look nice, but it's going to be used so it's not for eating dinner off.
    ___________________________________________________________
    "The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me."

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Dandenong Ranges
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    Default

    So, my "year of the workbench" hasn't been progressing so well! Back on track now and finally about the bite the bullet and purchase that timber.

    Spent a good few weeks checking out various places for timber, incl. the recycled non-specific 'hardwood' variety. Have opted to go for Vic Ash. It's readily available for me and at a good price. It's not the prettiest timber, but I think it would do nicely. Will use some other timber (perhaps Spotted Gum) as highlights.

    Anyone else built their bench using Vic Ash? How have you found it? Does it plane well when flattening? Much difference between the Kiln Dried and Air Dried variety (I can pretty much only find Kiln Dried at a reasonable price).

    Cheers,
    Af.
    ___________________________________________________________
    "The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me."

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Dandenong Ranges
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    47
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    816

    Default

    I got wood!

    24 lengths of sawn kiln dried Vic Ash, 125 x 50 / 2.4m. It'll sit in the garage (where the bench will eventually be) for a week before I dress the pieces for the top. My QA supervisor has inspected the timber and they are all quite straight and show no huge twists. Hopefully they stay that way after dressing.

    photo 2 (4).jpg

    Now that I have the timber, my next step was to disassemble (i.e. smash apart) my old bench to make room for this project. The workshop is a total mess at the moment. Need to get rid of some old broken equipment and bring it all to some level of organisation. Should have it all in order over the weekend. Hopefully will be back in a week to report on progress with the bench.

    photo 1 (4).jpg

    Cheers,
    Af.
    ___________________________________________________________
    "The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me."

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Brisbane - Southside
    Posts
    273

    Default

    Watching and waiting for the next installment.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Newcastle, NSW, Australia
    Posts
    2

    Default

    I'll be interested to see how this turns out as I'm in a similar situation. Keep the photos coming.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Albury Well Just Outside
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    13,315

    Default

    I don't think your garage is all that messy.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Dandenong Ranges
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    Default

    After some relaxing (for me and the timber) I got started on the workbench this weekend.

    First step is to get the timber for the top jointed and dressed. Skip planed the pieces (quicker than jointing all the faces!) and started jointing one edge. Got part way through in an afternoon before I needed to stop making noise. Planning to get these all dressed and the top glued up this week.

    Rough in one side, pretty out the other. Pity all these faces will be hidden!
    photo 2.jpg

    All the faces are dressed, but only got to joint 5 edges yesterday before needing to close up.
    photo 4.jpg

    One of the sawdust bags from this job. All in all, the top will create 0.03 cubic metres of sawdust. That's around $55 of waste so far!
    photo 5.jpg

    Cheers,
    Af.
    ___________________________________________________________
    "The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me."

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Katoomba NSW
    Posts
    4,770

    Default

    Pulling up a chair to watch.
    Those were the droids I was looking for.
    https://autoblastgates.com.au

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Dandenong Ranges
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    47
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    816

    Default

    Glue up of the bench top

    There is the front and the back piece. The front one is slightly narrower for now but will come up to full width later on when I add the dog hold strip and face piece. I used a few dominos in each piece just to help with alignment and save me from heaps of hand planing later. These two parts took almost 1litre of glue!

    photo 2.jpgphoto 1.jpgphoto 3.jpg

    Once these come out of the clamps I'll need to flatten/joint one face then pass it through the thicknesser to bring them down to 4".
    ___________________________________________________________
    "The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me."

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    blue mountains
    Posts
    4,882

    Default

    You are right about the glue. Anyone thinking of building a bench better just get a 4 ltr bottle to start with.
    Regards
    John

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Dandenong Ranges
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    47
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    816

    Default

    Spent the weekend jointing and thicknessing the front and back slabs for the benchtop. Had a friend over to help because these pieces are damn heavy! Here's a little vid of us doing the back piece which is ~100mm x 280mm x 2.4m (I'm the one in the green t-shirt). Also exposed a large tenon in the front piece which will go into the end cap. This took me some time to get right. Used the track saw to cut the shoulder lines and remove most of the waste. Then a handsaw, chisel, and block plane to get it all cleaned up.



    This evening I excavated the gap for the Benchcrafted tail vice. Required a jointed and square sacrificial piece to rest the router fence against and lots and lots and lots of small passes.

    IMG_0506.jpg


    Up next is the end cap. It's currently sitting in clamps ready to be cleaned up. It'll receive a huge mortise and a hole for the vice screw.

    Cheers,
    Af.
    ___________________________________________________________
    "The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me."

  16. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Katoomba NSW
    Posts
    4,770

    Default

    Wow. 100mm thick bench top. I think that might be a forum record for top thickness. And weight. Looking good.
    Those were the droids I was looking for.
    https://autoblastgates.com.au

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