WIP Workbench

[chrisp]

After being inspired by NewLou and his workbench (and others recently on this forum), I've finally got around to making a start on my workbench.

The design isn't completely finalised yet but it was originally going to be a cross between the Triton "Intermediate Projects #10" as published in "The Triton Project Book" (1993) and the "Kirby bench" in "The Workbench Book" by Scott Landis, The Taunton Press, 1998. I later discovered a design which combines the elements of these two designs that I like call "The Essential Workbench" as published in FWW Tools & Shops Winter 2003/2004. I've decided to go with this design but with dimensions to fit the material I have on hand and to use "Record" style vises instead.

The timber I'm using is either odds-and-ends, left-overs or second hand building material. Most of the timber has come from my FIL's property where he has a timber heap of old building material. It is a mixture of 4"x2", 3"x1.5", 4"x3" and some 6"x1.5". I've been fortunate in the regard that I haven't had to buy any timber espically for this project. I suspect the timber the timber will yield a moderately rustic finish.

I've spent a few weekends sorting the timber and trying to determine how to best utilise each piece timber. While I intend to construct the base of the bench first, I had to ensure I had enough timber for the top before using the rest for the base. The moisture content has been checked and seems to be okay for this application at about 10%. I've initially straightened and jointed a face and an edge of each piece and ran each piece through my thicknesser. The results are more pleasing than I expected. I can make a top about 1800 x 700 x 65 of solid timber. Having allocated the timber of the top, I could freely use the remaining timber to make the base.

I decide to make the feet for the trestle base first. Four short 4"x2"s were dressed and mortises cut using a dado blade. The piece were then glued to make two feet. The feet have been roughed out to the required shape.

Photos:
Photo 1 and 2 show the timber. Some has been dressed and some hasn't. The dressed timber is for the top.
Photo 3 show the trestle feet roughed out
Photo 4 shows the "bad side" of the timber used in the feet - note nails holes.Thanks for looking. More installments later...

[boban]

Any progress mate?

[chrisp]

Boban,

I've made a bit of progress and now have the legs dry fitted together. I'll post some more pictures soon.

I've had a run of "bad" weekends where I haven't been able to get out into the workshop - you know, family business and that other sort of stuff.

Chris

[chrisp]

After several weekends without "shed time", I've managed to find the odd day or two here and there to continue on with the workbench construction.

The timber I'm using is all secondhand or left-overs from other jobs. I had a surprisingly good run selecting, and cleaning up, timber for the bench top. However, the "good run" quickly came to an end when selecting timber for the base. A lot of the timber had extensive borer damage or a fair bit of rot. After going through a whole pile I managed to find enough timber to make the base, abet with some laminating required.

Anyway, enough with the words and on with the pictures:

Picture 5 shows the underside of the foot to the trestle leg having just been cleaned up with a router. You can see evidence of the timbers former life probably as a floor joist.

Picture 6 is a close up of picture 5 showing the mortice. This has cut using a dado blade before laminating the two piece together. Dado blades are a great way of cutting mortices:2tsup:

Picture 7 is a "warts and all" picture of the undersides of the foot and some of the stretchers. I've been attempting to keep the worst edges and faces out of view in the final assembly.

Picture 8 shows the base dry assembled to check the fit of the mortices and tenons. It this stage a bit of adjusting was still required.

[sCORCH]

Looks like it's starting to shape up. I love the fact that it's all second hand timber - should make for a really interesting look as you get to the end of the project.

Keep those pictures comin!

[sundancewfs]

Thats a mighty fine looking bench chrisp!

[munruben]

Coming along nicely, keep us updated please.:2tsup:

[Wongo]

"The Essential Workbench" as published in FWW Tools & Shops Winter 2003/2004.

:yes: I made mine from it too.



Chris,

I really like what you’ve done so far. Good use of recycled timber too. It is going to be a beautiful workbench.

One question, why do you route the bottom side of the bottom rails?

I will keep the greenie for now. So hurry up if you want one. :D

[chrisp]

One question, why do you route the bottom side of the bottom rails?

Wongo,

It was a last minute design change. From memory the original plans suggested 4" wide timber for both the top and bottom rails, however I didn't have enough timber to make all the rails 4" but I did have enough to make ~3" and ~5" rails. I decided to put the wider rail on the bottom (where I figure it will provide more bracing).

When I first put the base together, the bottom rail looked a little too "heavy", so though I'd reduce it to the suggested 4" wide. It also provides a little more toe-room under the rails - not that it probably matters.

[silentC]

Looks like a good solid base. Nice one :)

[chrisp]

I've started gluing up the base.

Machining the secondhand timber is a good way of blunting jointer knives:(, so part of the delay in this project has been replacing the knives in my jointer. As the jointer is now cutting beautifully, I decided to take a light cut from the leg pieces to give them a clean-up before gluing. I also gave them a sand as well for good measure - I hate sanding but it is much easier to do it now.

The mortises/tenons were trimmed to get a "not too tight" fit and the glue-up started.

A few more pictures of the progress to date:
Picture 9 Dry assembly from the other side.

Picture 10 Glue-up for the first leg. This one was about half a mm out of square when I initially clamped it up. I let the clamps off and used some other clamps to pull it back to square before re-tightening the main clamps.

Picture 11 Glue up of the other leg. This one pulled up dead square - lucky this time!

Picture 12 The first leg glued up. It still needs a bit of cleaning up of the glue squeeze-out.
I'm still to finalise some of the details of the design. I'm uncertain as to whether to use round or square dog holes on the bench top. At this stage I'm favouring the round dog holes. The only dog holes I experienced firsthand are in our back yard produced by our dog (Picture 13):).

[Wongo]

Chris, I think it would look better if you removed the sharp corner.

[chrisp]

Wongo,

Which sharp corner are you referring to?

[Wongo]

Sorry :U

[chrisp]

Wongo,

Thanks for that - I was wondering if I should extend to round-over to an ogee like shape as you have suggested. I think I will:)

BTW, have you got dog holes in your bench top? If so, did you go with round or square?

[Wongo]

Here you go mate.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=14267&d=1129426140

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=14270&d=1129426413

[missionaryman]

I'm going to be building a similar type of bench soon and wanted to use those Veritas round dogs too but can you tell me how you get the holes perfectly straight? Do you use one of those jigs that turns your hand drill into a drill press?

[Pusser]

Good question Missionaryman, I am about to do the same job and would like to know.

As a comment related, it is amazing how imperial auger sets always have a 3/4 auger but metric ones rarely have a 19mm!

Pusser

[Scally]

The easiest way that I found was to rout the holes with a 19mm straight bit.

I made a frame to square the router base off the side of the bench and put a dog in the frame into the previous hole, to get an even spacing.

[missionaryman]

The easiest way that I found was to rout the holes with a 19mm straight bit.

I made a frame to square the router base off the side of the bench and put a dog in the frame into the previous hole, to get an even spacing.

of course - what a great idea! I might just try the factory supplied fence and clamp it to the side of the top at each position.

Thanks heaps.

[Wongo]

In my opinion the best way is to cut the holes before the lamination.


http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=14051&d=1128997948

[missionaryman]

Yes that's a good point too - now I just need a drill press...

[markharrison]

Another option would be to use one a drill guide attachment like this (or something like it) with a hand held drill.

http://www.timbecon.com.au/assets/images/products/lugd-35-al.jpg

[underused]

Mark, thats what I used when I made my bench and it worked really well:)
I glued the top up, made it flat, fitted the vise and made the dogholes last.

[missionaryman]

where do you get one of those from?

[markharrison]

where do you get one of those from?

Carbatec, Timbecon and (probably) even Bunnings.

[Afro Boy]

This thread has been incredibly informative. I'm just starting to make my first workbench and have learnt heaps from this.

Any chance of an update?

[chrisp]

Wow, it has been along time...

After the usual, and unusual, interruptions of Christmas, holidays and the like I have been able to get back on the making my work bench.

When I last left it I was partway through assembling the base. I have since finished assembly of the base but I don't have pictures at the moment. I've also been slowly gluing up the laminations for the bench top. This process has taken me ages as I've only had a bit of time here and there and I've been gluing only one piece at a time. I ended up with two sub-tops of just under 15" as my thicknesser is 15". These two sub tops have been glued together and a couple of extra pieces added to increase the width of the bench top to about 800mm. (Sorry, no pictures of this happening).

The underside of the bench top can be seen in photos 1 and 2. It is easy to see some of the timber had a former life as floor joist (note the black nail holes).

The vice arrangement for the bench is two 7" cast iron vices to be used as a tail vices and a secondhand "Dawn 250" to be used as the front vice. The vices are going to be mounted set-in to the main bench top and the skirts of the bench will form the rear jaw liners.

I also wanted to install "breadboard ends" or caps to the end of the bench to help keep it from warping and to provide a better look to the end-grain look. The problem was how to mount the end vices to the main bench and still allow for movement between the end cap and the main bench. The solution I've came up with was to make a very large end cap that can hold the end vices and a attachment arrangement that bolts the vices to the main top. Photos 3 and 4 show the end cap with the main mortise/groove and one recess already cut out for one of the end vices. The timber for the end cap was laminated from scraps of off cuts.

Photo 5 shows the rear jaw recess being made for the second tail vice.
Photo 6 shows the length of the recess being checked with the vice and the profile of the base being marked onto the end cap.
Photo 7 shows the finished recess for the tail vice.
Photo 8 shows the end cap fitted to the bench top and the two tail vices sitting in their recesses.
Photo 9 shows the bolt arrangement used to attach the end vices to the main top.
Photo 10 shows a tail vice bolted to the bench. It isn't shown, but the holes through the end cap and bench were "ovalised" to allow for movement between the main bench top and the end cap.

The skirt arrangement is being designed on the fly so I'm uncertain as to how the skirts will be attached or joined at this stage. Hence, the tail vice end cap hasn't been trimmed to length yet.

More shortly...

[chrisp]

A bit more progress to report. The front vice is a secondhand Dawn 250 that I picked up at a trash-and-treasure. As this is mounted on the front of the bench the mounting is somewhat simpler than the tail vice mounting arrangement.

Photo 1 shows the body of the Dawn vice. One thing that I noticed was different on this vice to the smaller Jet vices on the end is the webs used to reinforce the rear jaw.

Photo 2 shows the body of the vice again with the spacer block. Note the cutouts for the webs. The bench also needed cutouts of the remaining part of the webs.

I got caught with this vice. It is secondhand and has a quick release (Yes, I now know, this is asking for trouble:-). I was wondering if it might have been worn out. When I disassembled it to make the mounting easier, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the internals, i.e. the split-nut, seemed to be in very good condition. However, after it was mounted and tried out the vice would slip when tightened - a dud vice:(

Photo 3 shows a side view of the bench. You can see the body of the Dawn vice mounted on the front.

The slipping vice had me in a bit muddle - the bench has been recessed to suit that vice; the vice doesn't work; and the vice is obsolete and no longer available in a quick-release version.

I tried to work out why the vice was slipping. The internals looked okay but obviously there was something wrong. I removed the covers from the vice and reassembled it so I could see what was happening when it slipped. The split-nut was tilting when the vice was tightened. The front part of the split-nut was moving down and coming away from the screw as the vice was tightened firmly. It took me a little while to work out why this was happening, but it seems that the front surface of the split-nut was not flat but rather it was slightly angled such that when it pressed against the main vice casting it would tilt and start to move away from the screw.

I took the split-nut out and filed the end of the nut flat and tried again. Surprisingly it seems to have worked! The vice now seems to be holding. I say "seems" as I've only managed to test it unmounted. The real test will be when I have it back on the bench and I can try tightening it up very firmly and see if it holds.

Photos 4 and 5 show the top side of the bench top and the end vice arrangement. There is the odd black nail holes to be seen. I'm not sure if to route out the nail holes and plug them or just fill them with epoxy and retain the rustic look?

So far, all the timber used is secondhand (~90%) or leftovers or scraps from other jobs (~10%). No timber has actually been explicitly purchased for this bench so far but I might have to buy some timber for the skirts (that also form the rear jaw liners).

[Waldo]

There's something about benches, I like to see how others go about it. :2tsup:

[Wild Dingo]

Great stuff mate... she will be a bloody beauty! :2tsup:

[artme]

Going to be a pleasure for you to use. :2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[Poppa]

Yeah, nice job Chris. I'd fill the nail holes with dyed epoxy, but I always use recycled timber when I can and I do like that look of old timber made into something else. I hope the vice works when you get it all together...

[chrisp]

Great stuff mate... she will be a bloody beauty! :2tsup:

Dingo,

It is good to see that your back. Sorry to read of your troubles (in another thread) - I hope you are coping.


Yeah, nice job Chris. I'd fill the nail holes with dyed epoxy, but I always use recycled timber when I can and I do like that look of old timber made into something else. I hope the vice works when you get it all together...

Poppa,

I'm pleased to report the the idea of filing the end of the split-nut square seems to have cured the slipping problem in the vice. I remounted the vice is back on the bench today and it seems to working fine.

[Shannon Nash]

I'd be interested in the dimensions of peoples benches (top and height) Wongo yours looks a beauty. The WIP looks great so far too.

I will hopefully get stuck into making my first bench in the next month or so. Recycled timber. I have just built some wall racks so have good access to timber so can find what I need now and can see what I have.

Cheers
Shannon

[chrisp]

A bit more progress on the workbench.

Photo 1 Shows the end apron on the bench with some of the holes drilled for the vice. Part of the side apron can also been seen. The side apron is dovetailed to the end apron.

Photo 2 Shows the initial fit of the end apron to check the hole alignment and to check the general attachment arrangement.

Photo 3 Shows the end apron with slots cut out for the quick-release bars of the vices.

Photo 4 Shows the cutouts of the vice in greater detail.

Photo 5 Shows the end apron fitted to the bench. This is held on by the four bolts into the rear jaw of the vices.


Photo 6 shows the vice reassembled through the end apron.

Photo 7 Shows the "breadboard" end used on the other end of the bench.

Photo 8 shows the breadboard end fitted.

Photo 9 shows the bench with the aprons fitted.

Photo 10 shows a side of the bench showing the front apron.

The blobs on the surface of the bench is the epoxy being used to fill some of the defects in the timber - mostly nail holes and the odd sap vein/pocket.

[manoftalent]

looks too bleeden good to be a work bench mate :2tsup:nice job I like the dovetailed apron :U

[chrisp]

I'd be interested in the dimensions of peoples benches (top and height)

Shannon,

The dimensions of the top of my workbench (the WIP) are 1940 long by 820 wide. I'll have to check the height and get back to you, but it is about 10mm shorter than a Unisaw.

[Groggy]

Looking good Chris! I like a bench that looks like it is here to stay.

[Waldo]

:tongueroll:


:2tsup:

[artme]

:brava:brava:cheers::clap::clap:

Pity it has ta get dinged and stained!

[chrisp]

A little more progress on the weekend.

I've planed the aprons down the the same height as the bench top (they were sitting slightly proud).

I've given the top a sand and a coat of oil. I've also oiled the underside of the top, but I haven't oiled the base yet as it requires quite a bit of sanding and scraping to remove the glue squeeze out.

I haven't drilled holes in the top of the dogs yet.

[Wongo]

Are you there yet, are we there yet? :D

I like it.:cool:

[chrisp]

Are you there yet, are we there yet? :D
"All good things take time"

"Rome wasn't built in a day"

"Haste makes waste"

"The hurrier I am the behinder I get"
Everything I do takes along time. Besides, someone has been setting very high standards for me to aspire to :)