Thread: The Bench - finished at last

sigh!

P

Darryl, Very nice, timber???

Fantastic work Darryl.

Dead Sexy!

Exactly where do you live again? Got good locks on the shed? Drive (a)way access? Alarm?

Great Bench Darryl,

How high? (x 2100 x 800.) How did you choose the height? I'm working on a similar design in the Triton project book. After much um'ing & ar'ing I've made the height the same as the neighbouring Triton Workcentre.

What finish have you used on the top? It's grouse!!

What to do with the space under the bench has been bugging me since I started working on the legs. Your idea is great.

Do you have plans for the shooting board yet? Australian Woodsmith 35 (Aug/Sep) p28-9 has a basic plan.

Well done!!

That is one sweet piece of woodwork.
ernknot

That's a seriously nice bench. I'll bet you can't wait to start hammering something on it :eek: Well done.

G'day.

Nice job, only point I'd like to make is that you may find that having the power
points that close to the work surface is going to be a buga when you plug
something in to them & you will have buckley's of ever getting a plug pack for
a battery charger into them.
The panel that they are mounted on looks like it is part of the shelves.
It may be possible to move the whole lot up the wall by 100mm & avoid the problem.

Stunning. You should be proud of yourself. I like the way that you've let the vice in - I think I'll do that too!

That bench is great - a job well done. I hope you actually have a cover that goes over it. Looks too good to use!

I bet a tear gets shed the first time you get a ding in it or a drill goes through a soft bit of wood...

Darryl,

Given that you have just done it - how did you drill the bench dog holes?

Did you use a jig for spacing?

How did you keep the holes at 90 degrees?

About to do this soon myself.

Cheers

Very nice bench but the set of drawers underneath need to better displayed! How about a better photo of them. They look very good.
Cheers

Thanks guys - I love it

The legs are yellow cedar. The rails and skirt are jarrah. The top is rose maple. The drawers are MDF, jarrah veneered MDF and solid jarrah edging.

The finish is Danish oil for the top & frame, Miniwax wipe-on poly for the drawer units.

The height is 870mm. I chose that based on it being around hip height for me, which is the ideal 'power zone' for hand planing, and a good height for assembly & finishing. Works well so far.

Overall size is 2200 x 800mm. The skirt is 50 x 200mm Jarrah and the top is 65mm thick.

It also has a tail vise you can't see in the pic - a Record 52.

I drilled the dog holes mostly with my big Bosch corded drill in a portable drill press attachment from Carbatec. I bought a decent forstener bit for the job. Had to finish them off with another drill. The spacing I worked out by measuring & contemplating, marked with a pencil then lightly centre punched. Worked pretty well. I probably need more, but I'll wait & see - can't un-drill them!

The power points are only there for power tools being used on the bench - have plenty of power elsewhere so they work well.

I've used it to build the drawers - and finish them. I threw a $3 piece of 3mm MDF on top to catch the drips etc. It already has a couple dents - not too worried about it, but I have other benches for dirty work/drilling etc. I'm not going to abuse it, but it's definitely getting used as a workbench

I had some jarrah veneered MDF around, so I used that for the outer sides of the drawer units, and for the drawer fronts, and edged it in solid jarrah strips. The rest is MDF. Looks pretty good, and wasn't overly expensive. I contemplated the full deal - dovetailed solid wood drawers etc - and maybe I'll do that one day, but not right now. A closer pic is below.

Originally Posted by DarrylF

I drilled the dog holes mostly with my big Bosch corded drill in a portable drill press attachment from Carbatec. I bought a decent forstener bit for the job. Had to finish them off with another drill.

Darryl.

Is there much wobble or slop in your "portable drill press attachment"?

What do you mean "had to finish them off with another drill"?


We have established that your bench is very nice, so I won't need to remind you.


Ben.