Thread: My Moravian workbench build

Looking forward to following your build. Re height (and everyone has a different opinion) - my bench is 970mm and I’m 5’10. Might pay to to make your bench taller as you can always cut some off later.

Originally Posted by Jaded62

Being 6'3" with a crook back I've gone higher than normal at 920mm figuring I can shorten the bench if it's too high. I'd welcome opinions on this from anyone my height or taller as I've yet to cut the bottom of the legs and so have the capacity for a taller bench.

i'm 6'2, and my back is fine so far but really doesn't like stooping, and i want to get my work up close to my face because my vision isn't great. i used a 975mm bench at a class i took last year, and spent the whole week feeling like i wanted another inch of height. i'm shooting for ~1020mm initial height on my own bench build, so that i've still got some wiggle room to even up the legs if needed

but my temporary bench (top slabs clamped onto some saw horses, until i get around to making the legs) is 875mm, and it's aggravatingly low for detail work, but it's quite nice for heavy hand planing. so there's 100mm of "your mileage may vary" even just in my own experience. i think people also like a lower bench for assembly, but i have no direct experience of that yet

so depending on the kinds of woodworking you end up doing (which, i think, you might not really know until you're doing it), you might find 920mm too low, too high, both, or just right...

regardless, you can always lower the bench by trimming the legs, or raise your work up higher with something like a moxon vice (or just improvised jigs) -- and since you can adapt in either direction later, i guess don't sweat the height too much now (i say, as someone who has definitely spent much too long sweating the height of my own)

I built the Moravian Bench s couple of years ago, still going strong.

Rather than build a tool well i went for a second bench top. This gives the bench extra weight which helps when planing.

I also tend not to leave tools out as they would surface rust so removing this avoids temptation.

Welcome to the workbench builder's club. If it makes you feel any better I reckon there's $1800 worth of wood in my current build, all purchased rough sawn. I shudder to think what it may have cost DAR. Anyway, will be watching with much interest, good luck with the build. Can't help much with the bench height, I'm 5'10" and mine is 900mm, which is good for planing and general work but way too short for dovetailing work. For that I have a moxon vise I made with hardware from McJings which makes dovetailing a breeze and lifts the work about 6" (150mm) higher than the bench.

Perhaps have a look at this video by Terry Gordon, "What height should my workbench be?"------> What Height Should My Work Bench Be? - YouTube

I reckon he has a fair idea of what he's talking about.

Cutting the tenons and morticing the legs was straightforward although I admit to measuring 10 times and cutting once. No serious mistakes made thus far. Another change I made was to the design of the centre stretcher mortice and tenon. Will has a through mortice but I had doubts as to how my effort would look so I did a blind mortice, 70mm deep in the 90mm leg. This joint (and the top stretcher joint) will be pegged with 22mm tassie oak dowel so I think it'll be strong enough.

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The bottom stretcher dove tail (19mm Tassie Oak) turned to be much easier than I expected and I'm happy with the result, although I did manage to chip out a corner in the leg which I'll fill when finishing.

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When attempting the long stretcher I realised I'd misread Will's dimensions. I'd allowed to use 45 x 90 DAR pine but later realised that using 12mm tassie oak keys would leave very little side wall in the tenon. I had two spare lengths left from my timber "scrounge and buy" which were the least straight I had. I laminated two 45 x 90 and cut the tenon 40mm wide with 25mm shoulders to get ~13mm side wall on the tenon. Probably over-engineered but I had to work with the timber I had on hand.

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The keys I've made from 12mm tassie oak, cut with a jigsaw.

Marking out the key mortice.

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For the key mortice I used a 10mm forstner bit in the drill guide and then finished with chisels. Not unhappy with the outcome.

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The few hours I got in this weekend was about assembling the legs.

Thanks for feedback on height. I've cut the legs to the maximum height I could being 940mm which will give me a finish height FFL of 993mm.

Planed the legs to get rid of my markings and then sanded them and the stretches.

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Then I assembled one leg set. This exercise started well, dipped in disaster mode and finished OK. I didn't think enough about applying the glue and so made a mess of that. Then I set the top stretcher in first only to realise the stupidity of this move as I couldn't then get the centre stretcher in place. Pulled it apart, centre stretcher, top stretcher and then the bottom stretchers. Clamped and wiped of the excess glue. Then I noticed that in the process of hammering (is that the right word?) in the top stretcher I had the legs leaning against the benchtop and so managed to ding the legs as you can see. Hopefully the plane will fix that.

Note the blind mortice for the centre stretcher which is different to Will's build.

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I was not happy with my failure to think this through and so packed up, got a beer and left the second leg set for next weekend.

Yesterday I glued up the second leg set with no dramas. I bought a silicone brush which made applying the glue easy as. The glue up was a 5 minute job.

I then set about pegging the other leg set that I glued last weekend. I marked out where I needed to drill for the 22mm tassie oak pegs and using the drill guide (did I say this is not a precision instrument?) went about it, only to realise that the 22mm Forstner bit would not be long enough to drill through the 90mm leg, especially using the drill guide. So I drilled one side as deep as I could, being say 60mm and then using a long 3mm bit I drill through the leg to give me a centre point on the other side. I then drilled through with the Forstner bit from the other side to find that on 2 of the 4 holes I was off be a few mm. I cleaned out the holes as best I could, glued and inserted the pegs and was happy with the result.

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Today I was pressed for time but all I needed was an hour to peg the second leg set. All went well and I was much more careful drilling the pegs from both sides resulting in all 4 lining up pretty well.

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Happy was I so I hammered in the pegs only to chip of the other side on two holes. One badly, the other not so much.

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As today's holes aligned a lot better than yesterdays, I had to do less cleaning out of the holes and so the pegs were a tighter fit. Didn't consider that! I've glued in the larger of the chips so hopefully it'll come up ok.

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Ouch for those breakouts JDD62. My pegged tenons don't go all the way through, so that should/will never happen. I like your tusked tenons, I did similar but used forked wedges instead, same difference. Keep going!

@ Jaded62

Try chamfering the leading edge of your dowels. That should prevent any breakouts.

Thanks. Did that but obviously not enough.

Its a workbench, not show furniture so I'm not too stressed.

Originally Posted by KahoyKutter

@ Jaded62

Try chamfering the leading edge of your dowels. That should prevent any breakouts.

This weekend I've finished the build but there's still some refining work to do. I purchased a Bosch electric plane which made short work of cleaning up the two laminated tops.



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I've then assembled the legs to check the fit, level and final location on the tops. Note the clamps holding the two bench tops together. Bit of mistake doing that, which I'll explain later.

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I didn't take pics of the next step (Brain was at max capacity) but suffice to say that had I left things as they were the bench would have been uneven on its legs. I levelled the tops with wedges then worked around the bottom of the legs (the top here as things are upside down) with a straight piece and level to remark the legs so they'd sit flat and level. Made the cuts with a tenon saw which was easier than I expected.

Set the pegs into the legs. My inability to drill a vertical hole astounds me.

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I followed Will's advice and put a small nail into each peg, cut it off and then with help, put the whole leg assembly back on the benchtops, tapped that down to mark the pegs, drilled them out and I was done!

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I mentioned earlier the error I made in clamping the two tops when marking out the leg sets. This seemed like a good idea at the time but of course when fitting the tops to the legs this left no play between the two tops. Finessing of the pegs and holes sorted that but the fit is way too tight. Next weekend will be about "relaxing" the fit and finishing generally.

Great minds think alike or is it because our shops are half a garage so that a 1700's flat pack bench is the necessary solution.

I will be building my Moravian this year I hope after collecting all the timber and working on the leg vise wooden screw for the last few years. I've been working on two B&D workmates which have suited but seeing Will M. put the bench up in a minute convinced me to do this. Great to read about your experiences. Always a difference between plans and practice.

I will be making my bench from a light coloured hardwood here in WA called Tuart. It's going to be fun in such a hard wood but the bench should last for my son and take dings and knocks better than the B&Ds. I'm only 5'4", my son is few inches taller so it will be lower than yours.

I will be using a mix of hand and power tools, 6" jointer, 12" spiral thicknesses and a bandsaw for the bulk work and lots of plane and chisel sharpening (groan) for the joints. Lately I have been thinking about making the stretchers from Jarrah for contrast. Not fully sourced the leg vise chop yet but might have enough Tuart to make one. I'll also have a go at making my own St Peters cross for the vise or the chain guide method if the cross doesn't work instead of the traditional parallel lower guide.

If I remember to take pics I will post to add to the collection of Moravians here. What will you be doing for the vise(s)?

Thanks Skywarka. The vice is on the to do list somewhere.

All done!

I bought a rasp bit which made short work of loosening up two of the peg holes in the bench top to allow any easy fit with no lateral slop when the tops are in place. Some putty into the larger joint surrounds, a final sand and 3 coats of boiled linseed oil.

Really pleased with the outcome.

I am surprised (but shouldn't be) about how stable and shake free the bench is.

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