Thread: Workbench attempt

Dan,
There are many woods that will do and pine is an option also. For the legs something at least 75x75mm. if you have to laminate 2 bits to get this thats ok too. A solid core door makes a good top as do ply, particle board or mdf if wood is too expensive. A cost saveing top can be layers of particle board flooringCheck out recycled timber from demolition wards. Sometimes real good finds are made there.
Free Woodworking Plans, Projects and Patterns Sitemap. Some bench plans as well as other stuff to check out.
Regards
John

Thanks John,

That's a great resource, thanks for sharing it.

Strydr,

Another avenue you might want to look at is Sketchup 3D Wharehouse where you also find plans of benches - from the simple to complex.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...&styp=m&reps=2

Originally Posted by Strydr

Any reasonable lumber yards in Melb's Sth East suburbs ?
Can they dress and joint the wood ?
(i have no means to do that.)

Thanks
Dan

Heaps.

Mathews Timber, Rooks rd Nuna'
Is that redgum place still in Kilsyth?
Bower Bird, 3045 WARBURTON HWY
MILLGROVE.
Upper Yarra Valley
PH: 03 5966 5966

Another good one a bit further away is Shiver me Timbers in Williamstown.

Others may be able to add more.

Very good idea for learners to get their timber flatened and dressed if they can afford it. So much easier to start with flat, straight timber.

My work bench may take longer, at least it has for me.

Originally Posted by Ben from Vic.

Very good idea for learners to get their timber flattened and dressed if they can afford it. So much easier to start with flat, straight timber.

Is it expensive to get timber dressed / jointed / flattened ?

Do they charge per l/m or by time taken for someone to do it ?

I notice at Bunnings they sell dressed timber.

Am I correct is saying that dressed timber has been sanded down ? To remove saw marks ?

And jointed timber has been made square ?

Sorry mate, been a while, can't remember how much to get your timber dressed.
Give Matthews a call, and ask them. Price is per mtr, and dressed is not sanded, but machined, taking the timber from rough sawn to the same as you see at Bunnings, but will still need sanding.
Yeah jointed timber should be square, make sure your specific about what you want on the phone (better still drop in) as I'm not sure what normal industry standard is.

I dont know the cost of dressing and jointing and suspect it varies from place to place and the cost of the timber you get from the place may also be a factor. You will have to ask the dealer. Dressed timber is not sanded just been through the planer. Remenber timber moves so it may not remain square under humidity changes. for edge gluing it is best to joint edges shortly before glue up.
Regards
John

So gluing would be enough to hold together hardwood for the bench top, provided is is dressed ( to the same thickness ) and jointed ( made square ) prior to gluing.

I'm slowly starting to get my head around it.

I think the the woodwork bug may have bitten, and hard..

Edited: the not-so-short shorter version.

Strydr, the woodwork bug bit me hard some time ago too... however i am only just getting my bench together now, and it certainly isn't something i'll be carrying around with me for too long! It has taken me more than a year trying to get started with a bench, mainly because i was wanting to build a 'proper' bench. I was wanting to use plans similar to the ones you've been looking at and realise now that many of those plans actually require a lot of joinery skills, particularly when you don’t have machinery. Of course, having a joinery do some of this may help significantly.

I recently came across a post from a year or two ago about a newbie who tried to do the same... everything went wrong for him and he was going to throw in the towel, and i'm sure i could have been in the same situation. Many of the experienced forum members said that building a great bench is actually quite a difficult project in itself. Their advice was to shelve the bench plans and just build a bench... any bench, just so that he can get started making things and developing his skills. I realised that i was on the same path and a couple of weeks ago i shelved my bench plans and started making one with ply wood and a crappy (but VERY solid) steel workbench frame that i had available to me. Even this has been a fair project in itself and i have learnt plenty along the way. Been doing plenty on weekends and half an hour or so each night after work and finally hoping to finish it up by this weekend... just it time to play with it over Chrissy!

Anyway, my point is that there MAY be a huge learning curve to make a proper workbench and if you just throw together a bench that has a surface and a vice you can start making projects and developing your skills etc. If you’re determined to make a proper work bench, i would first make a bench like i am just so that you can use it to make a proper work bench.

Cheers
Ryan

You can do a lot of woodwork with a simple knock-up bench. I did 12 years before I built the dream bench.

Couple of links which are good, one simple, one more ambitious.

http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/z_pdf/sh...apBench-ne.pdf

http://pages.friendlycity.net/~krucker/Bench/index.htm

Thanks guys for your helpful and realistic advice, I appreciate it.

I too have been wondering, if "my bench" is beyond my skill level at the moment. I have a nice large space to place a bench, and really only want the bench to start some other projects. It seems the more I research and look into it, the more I realise I will not be able to build my "dream" bench in a couple of weeks I have off after Christmas.

I will now make a "workshop table".

A practical first project, so I can sink my teeth into other projects to develop my abilities so I CAN eventually make a "workbench" to be proud of.

No worries - hopefully i haven't deterred you from getting into it all.

I reckon the first link of Alastair's is a good one, but i would change the rails between the legs so that they are screwed/bolted to the legs rather than a mortise/tenon join. And i'd also use two sheets, one on top of the other to make a thickness of say 30+mm of ply/mdf as the bench top with a couple of rails underneath to support the sheets (between the X's below). If you have or can borrow a circular saw then you can cut the sheets yourself using a guide... just put it all together so that the edges that you cut are at the back of the table or a side you are going to use so that it won't matter if they aren't perfectly even/straight.

Top down view (lay the sheets of ply on this):
(ignore the full stops... they are just to make it line up properly)
..........X......... X
_____________________
| ........|......... | ..........|
| ........| .........| ..........|
|______|______|_______|
...........X........ X

That's what i'd do at first glance anyway, i'm sure others will have much better suggestions...

Ryan

Dan,
My first bench, which is still in a corner of the workshop was the crudist thing you could imagine. Frame was rough sawn oregan with half lap joints just screwed together. The top was rough pine salvaged from some old boxes and the whole top was then covered with a piece of hardboard. It worked.

My present bench is a continental bench to a Frank Klause design and is perfect for what I do.

My point is "What is the bench for?" Someone who uses power tools for practically everything can get way with a very crude bench. Someone who uses a high proportion of hand tools sees the bench as another vital tool that must be flat and true.

Many woodworkers have gone through more than one design before they knew what worked for them. So bash together a rough bench and use it. Your ideas and your skill will grow from that beginning.

Jerry

No Ryan, you haven't deterred me at all, and the plan Alastair suggested is a good one.

I was planning on using bolts anyway, as I have never made a mortise/tenon join before.


Jerry, my bench will primarily be used for basic projects, for things around the house. I have always had an interest in woodwork, never had the space or finances to do anything about it. I have built a few arcade machines, as in my intro post, but they are made of MDF just screwed together, the electronics side of arcade cabinets is more demanding and technical than the woodwork side.

Once I have sourced some lumber, I can't wait to get stuck into it.