Thread: The Perfect Workbench?

16'x8' ... LUXURY!

when I was a little girl and wanted to work on a piece of wood I had to use the kitchen, and if it was over 2' long I had to open two windows. But DAMN IT we were happy

who names their little girl dave? wierd.

It was a second hand name from the family in the hovel next to ours, a bit thread bear but it was all we could affort, and by george I wore it proudly

ryanarcher
I had to look twice because I was looking for someone called 'dude' in the earlier post.
For those around the world. There is a good woodworking forum at UkWorkshop
It has a couple of woodworking magazine contributors and a recent member is Alan Holtham who is well known here for his books, magazine articles and TV woodworking shows.
Here is a link to webpages he has made for Record Power tools in UK.
There is a lot of usefull help on each page complete with photos.
We were honoured when he registered a few days ago after months of browsing as a guest.

Originally Posted by DaveInOz

It was a second hand name from the family in the hovel next to ours, a bit thread bear but it was all we could affort, and by george I wore it proudly

Dude, Hovels have windows? all right, all right, I'll stop.
Thanks dewy, Great site!

Originally Posted by DaveInOz

It was a second hand name from the family in the hovel next to ours, a bit thread bear but it was all we could affort, and by george I wore it proudly

My workshop was in shoebox in middle of road....

Sounds like all 4 of you come from Yorkshire!!

Alastair

Originally Posted by ryanarcher

who names their little girl dave? wierd.

Thanks for replies to my thread,though we did get off track reave's name? I have a question, should I keep my lathe mobile or is it better to have it fixed on a permanent bench?Thanks

A lathe is a heavy bit of kit and needs to be on a firm base to prevent movement.
If it's on a mobile bench it could move while you have the chisel in your hand which could then be thrown anywhere.
For this reason, lathes should always be unmovable.

My workbench is almost there. The top slab is together & just about flat (still to do a final smoothing). The base is done of course. I cut the tenons on the end of the top slab yesterday. Also started mounting the vises. I should get most of the work on the skirts done today and hopefully do the final flatten & smooth tomorrow. Then to finish the top.

I'm going to hang back on drilling the dog holes for the time being. Once I have the whole lot together and start working with it I'll probably drill them in stages as I work out what I want.

I have 3 weeks off work - so I might actually finish this thing off and get to use it

Congratulation DarrylF on your work bench. I am a late coming to this thread but empathise with the deliberations everyone went through to get their ideal bench.

I went through that about 3 years ago. I eventually decided on a 3 metre version of the shaker work bench from the Workbench Book. I made it out of all recycled hardwood I had picked over 10 years of collecting and rescued guide posts that had fallen by the way side on the side of the road.

Took about a year of weekends to build and weighs in at an immovable quarter of a tonne. Actually if I take out all the 20 drawers and whip off the Tallowwood top I can move it.

One feature I added was to have a cut section in middle of the rear of the bench top so I could walk into the bench. Very handy for planning the other side of wide boards that are not the width of the bench. It also provides a handy clamping position.

One piece of advice a friend gave me after I finished it was to go home and hit with a chisel or a saw so I could get over being "precious" with it while new. After 3 years it is now just a great and reliable work horse.

Steve

Originally Posted by CoastWoodie

..........I made it out of all recycled hardwood I had picked over 10 years of collecting and rescued guide posts that had fallen by the way side on the side of the road.........
Steve

Steve,
you don't happen to have a whoppin big bullbar on the front of your vehicle with which to make those guide posts fall by the way side do you?

Mick

Mick,

I have the next best thing. A bunch of teenages roaming the street or driving around in crap cars drunk who keep knocking them over. I give it 6 months and if they have not been fixed and repotted in that time I give them a new home.

In one street I found two posts that after dressing discovered they came from the same log and made a nice set of matched drawer fronts after some seasoning (air & time not salt & pepper).

Also termites chew off the base of some.

Steve

DarrylF

did you ever finish the workbench
if so how about a couple of pics

http://www.aussiewoods.info/darryl/workbench.asp