Thread: WIP Shaker Workbench with Split Top

I was struggling to figure out how to lift the rear face frame on top for the glue up. The bloody thing is so heavy and I could see myself getting a hernia or dropping it on top of the tenons and damaging them. I mulled it over my head for a while and below is the solution that I came up with.

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It was a "light bulb" moment when I realised that I could use my crank-adjustable roller stands by removing the roller and sitting a bit of HW across them. I absolutely love these roller stands and I don't regret ever buying them. The range of height adjustment let's me use it on the table saw, bandsaw, jointer and they've pretty much eliminated any snipe on the thicknesser. I highly recommend them. The problem is I only had a pair so I needed another solution for the other end.

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I didn't want to buy another pair of the roller stand, and it would have taken too long to arrive from the UK, so another moment of inspiration had me scouring Gumtree for the smallest acrow props I could find. $100 (for the pair) later, this is what I came up with. The adjustment isn't as fine as my roller stand, but it will do what I need it to do.

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Here it is in action. My run of good fortune keeps on rolling during this project. Without planning it, I was lucky that my tenons were different lengths. The 4 on the corner are 60mm, the 14mm Dominoes of the end frames stuck out 50mm, and the tenons on the middle frames were all 30mm long. This meant that all I had to do was worry that the 4 corner tenons were aligned and then I could the lower the face frame until it hit the Dominoes, and once they were in, I could "persuade" the frame further down until it reached the tenons of the middle frames. I would hate to think what it would have been like trying to align all 16 tenons which is what I would have had to do if they were all the same length.

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Final dry fit to check for squareness etc before glue up.

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Finally epoxied, draw-bored, and clamped. I used as many clamps I could fit - 45 all up. I left it clamped for more than 24 hours giving the slow set epoxy plenty of time to cure.

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Here it is out of the clamps. It's upside down because the next step is to install the skirt but first I'll have to dimension the timber and decide on how I'm going to do the groove for the sliding deadman.

This was by far the biggest and most stressful glue up I've done so far. I'm really glad that I did the glue up in stages. It went relatively smoothly with the only hiccup being one drawbore dowel breaking about 15mm in. The dowel must have had a crack or defect because it broke well before the stress point. One failure out of 88 is pretty good by my reckoning. Again I was lucky that it's one of the bottom pins which will be hidden (and strengthened) by the skirt. The next update should be when the skirt has been installed. Cheers until then.

Very nice work. You cant have too many clamps.

Hi KK. Surely the varied length of tenons was designed in from the start .

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi KK. Surely the varied length of tenons was designed in from the start .

I'd like to pretend that I had the foresight at the planning stage but I gotta admit it was pure @r$e on my part. It's probably obvious to all, but I'm just "winging it" as I go.

The bottom skirts are now all done. It probably comes as no surprise, but I decided to cheat with the groove for the sliding deadman. Most would probably laminate the skirt and then route a groove with a router. I considered doing it this way but my widest router bit is a 12mm upcut spiral bit and I wanted the groove to be about 19mm, I could've done two passes but to be honest the router is probably my least favourite power tool. Even when I use guide bushes (handheld) or featherboards (table), my cut seems to always wander. So what I decided to do is laminate two spotted gum 135 x 19 decking boards with one with a bit cut out for the groove. It's probably easier to just show you a couple of photos...

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This allowed me to sand the groove to 600 grit. I then laminated a 46mm piece over the decking boards making the front skirt 86mm thick........just in case the base wasn't heavy enough. Actually, I copied the thick front skirt from Auscab's Jarrah Workbench which is serving as one of my inspirations amongst others. The other 3 sides are just 46mm thick.

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Here's the front piece being glued on.

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It's hard to tell, but the skirts have a 15 degree chamfer.

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I rotated this photo to give a better representation of what the skirt will look like at the end. The chamfer is a bit more obvious in this shot.

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Here's the last skirt (rear) being glued.

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I've installed the cleats for the cupboard floor. That sure is a lot of laminated timber especially on this corner.

The next step is to install the drawer runners/guides for the the bottom two rows of drawers. The ones for the top row of drawers I'll install once I've flipped the base back up. Which brings me to my next dilemma: how to safely flip this beast back up. I probably won't get to much more than that done this week as my Laguna P Flux DE is being delivered tomorrow and it'll take me some time to assemble it. That's all for now folks.

Originally Posted by KahoyKutter

Which brings me to my next dilemma: how to safely flip this beast back up.

I was wondering the same thing. How will you get the "shaker beast" the right way up ?

balancing the load for an engine crane might be very dicey.
using levers to roll the whole construction onto its back (or front) and then onto its base risks damage to the tenons already cut for attaching the top.

any idea how much hardwood (in cubic metres or kg) is in your bench? At 50 - 60 kg per "boofy bloke" that will give you an idea of how many blokes are required.

Originally Posted by ian

I was wondering the same thing. How will you get the "shaker beast" the right way up ?

balancing the load for an engine crane might be very dicey.
using levers to roll the whole construction onto its back (or front) and then onto its base risks damage to the tenons already cut for attaching the top.

any idea how much hardwood (in cubic metres or kg) is in your bench? At 50 - 60 kg per "boofy bloke" that will give you an idea of how many blokes are required.

Hi Ian,

I don't have an engine crane, so that's out.

Archimedes is reported to have said "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." And that's the method I plan to use. I will roll it on the miniature saw horses to hopefully keep the tenons from touching the ground and getting damaged. Well at least that's the theory.

I have no idea of kg or cubic metres is in the bench thus far. If I had to guess I reckon it would have to be over 150kg. I hate to imagine how heavy it will be with the top, vice hardware, and all the drawers.


Cheers,
Mike

Originally Posted by KahoyKutter

Archimedes is reported to have said "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." And that's the method I plan to use. I will roll it on the miniature saw horses to hopefully keep the tenons from touching the ground and getting damaged. Well at least that's the theory.

I have no idea of kg or cubic metres is in the bench thus far. If I had to guess I reckon it would have to be over 150kg. I hate to imagine how heavy it will be with the top, vice hardware, and all the drawers.

Mike, to help you with the maths ...

specific gravity of
grey ironbark -- 1090 kg/cu.m Ironwood Australia - Technical Specifications - Grey Ironbark
white ironbark -- 1010 kg/cu.m Yellow Gum | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood)
spotted gum -- 940 kg/cu.m Spotted Gum | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood)
blackbutt -- 880 kg.cu.m Ironwood Australia - Technical Specifications - Blackbutt

The past couple of weeks has been fairly busy for me. I've still managed to steal a couple of hours here and there to work on the bench but most of it has been boring and uneventful stuff, i.e. a lot of sanding. Before I could flip the beast I had to clean up the bottom of the base. This was easier said than done because half way through, my Mirka Deros died on me. I only bought it in March and I haven't really used it that much. I bought it from Axminster UK and I was worried that I'd have to send it back, or even worse, that I wouldn't have any warranty. I needn't have worried. After contacting Axminster, they referred me back to Mirka Australia who gave me a list of repairers. I ended up taking it to Go Industrials who repaired it on the spot!! It only took the guy 30min to replace the motor and circuit board but I couldn't use it until the next day as the glue had to dry. I was very impressed with Mirka Australia and Go Industrials. If I knew it was going so hassle free to get it fixed, I wouldn't have waited a week to call them.

While I was waiting for the glue to set, I hand sanded the drawer runners/guides using 40 grit stuck to a wooden block. I deliberately left them 0.5mm proud so that I could sand it flush. Pics below....

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Before....

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After....



With the Deros back in action, I tidied up the bottom and it was finally time to flip the base back up. No more procrastination, it was time to put Archimedes' words into action.....

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Attempt #1 was to attach a stout lever to the base with some ratchet straps (note the staggered minis "saw horses").Alas, this was unsuccessful. It was just too heavy for one bloke. I either needed a longer lever or more power....

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More power came by way of mechanical power, i.e. another ratchet strap secured to the bottom stretcher of my "practise" workbench. The strap wasn't quite long enough so I had to join another one. I ratcheted the strap until the base had tipped over about 25 degrees and by then I could do the rest by hand. In the end it was surprisingly easy and I was able to gently lower the base onto the middle "sawhorse".

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Here it is down.

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A couple more pics. I've decided to leave it on its side because it will be easier to fit the leg vise and drill a couple of dog holes on the right leg for my holdfasts.

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Speaking of leg vices, here's the rear chop or the "leg". It measures 140mm thick and 125mm wide......just in case the base isn't heavy enough .


At this stage, I'm debating whether I cut a notch on the bottom of the leg the same profile as the skirt or cut a small checkout on the skirt so that the notch on the leg will just be a simple square. I'm leaning towards making the notch on the leg the same as the skirt profile because I'm thinking ahead when I'm long gone and whoever ends up with this behemoth can remove the leg vise and repurpose it as a kitchen island. I'd like to think that it'll stay as a workbench but in reality no one else in the family has been bitten by the woodworking bug.


Next update will hopefully be once I have the leg vise installed. Cheers.

Originally Posted by KahoyKutter

Hi Ian,

I don't have an engine crane, so that's out.
.....
I have no idea of kg or cubic metres is in the bench ...I ...guess ... it would have to be over 150kg. .....

What a dilemma? If you filled the shed with water, the bench wouldn't float ... so that options out.

That leaves helium balloons.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

That leaves helium balloons.

I might give that a try next time.

I got a bit of 'shop time during the week and below are the "fruits" of my labour.....

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First step was to laminate more timber for the chop. I decided to pimp out my bench with a bit of purpleheart. The piece above was 2700 x 290 x 29 and I had to carefully plan how to cut it up to get the pieces I wanted. The first pic is half of the chop which will have a purple heart "racing stripe" running down the middle. Next to it will be the LH end cap laminated from 3 boards. The purpleheart was quite flat so I skipped jointing and just sent it through the thicknesser. I managed to only lose less than 3mm of waste per board and the endcap ended up being 80mm thick.

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Here's one half of the chop with the purpleheart strip planed flush. The defect will be cut out when I shape the front chop. I've never used purpleheart before and I found it quite prone to tearout and this particular piece had reversing grain. I resorted to skewing my block plane and attacking if from both directions. It doe reward you with some pretty purple shavings though.


While the front chop was in the clamps, I got on with drilling the holes for the leg and cutting out the mortise. Below is the hardware of choice:

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I've bought these for a few years ago now when the Aussie dollar was still strong and anything less than a grand was exempt from GST. It'll be good when I can finally put it to good use. And as always, my installation is not standard. My leg vise will attach to my face carcass. This meant that I had to either cut a clearance hole on my carcass for the nut for the bench screw or install the nut inside the carcass. The problem with the first option was I'd have to cut quite a large clearance hole in the carcass and I didn't really want to do that just in case someone want to re-purpose the bench as a kitchen island down the track, and the problem with the 2nd option is the vise would lose capacity whatever the thickness of the carcass (70mm). I was already losing more than most due to the thickness of my chop (65mm) and rear leg (140mm) and I could not afford to lose anymore. So I went for the 3rd option - install the nut on the back of the leg but turn it around and cut the large clearance hole in the leg instead. This also had the added benefit of giving me back some of the lost capacity due to the thickness of the leg.

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I must say that the little Bosch PBD40 handled the 67mm diameter forstner bit quite easily. This drill continues to impress. The "tearout" is actually my mistake when I moved the piece without fully retracting the bit.

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The Bosch was again called upon to hog out the waste of the mortise for the CrissCross. The Bosch's digital depth readout is so accurate that I don't ever bother to use the depth stop and having a fence on the drill table is a huge timesaver when you have to drill a series of holes like these.

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I then chiseled out the waste to 1~2mm of the line.....

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......and then used my plunge router to remove the rest and clean out the bottom.

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And above is the result after squaring up the ends of the mortise with a couple of chisels. Rinse and repeat for the front chop.



Perhaps the biggest test for the Bosch is drilling the holes for the mounting pins especially for the front chop which is 260mm wide. I didn't have a drill bit long enough so I would have to drill from both sides and hope that the 2 holes meet in the middle.

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To have any chance of success, I made sure that the drill was plumb to the piece. And then I crossed my fingers........

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.....and SUCCESS !!! The top is the rear chop and the bottom is the much wider front chop.


I could then finally move on to cutting the notch on the bottom of the rear chop.

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I did this on my table saw using my sliding crosscut table attachment.

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I used the bandsaw to do the rip cut. I'll have to check the squareness of the fence because as you can see from the photo above, the cut wasn't square as there's more waste towards the inside corner. This meant the chop wasn't sitting flush. I'll fix this tomorrow or Sunday when I go to remove the inside chamfer.


Until then.....

i'm really enjoying the build, it's looking really good. It'll be a dream to work on once completed.

Any pics of the table you made for the drill press?

Cheers

Originally Posted by groeneaj

i'm really enjoying the build, it's looking really good. It'll be a dream to work on once completed.

Any pics of the table you made for the drill press?

Cheers

Thanks Groeneaj.


I say "table" but it's really more of a mini-bench with T-tracks for the fence and Incra clamps, and a few dogholes so that I could use the Veritas surface clamps to push the piece hard up against the fence and the Veritas Hold down to clamp it to the bench.....

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The bench has levelling feet allowing adjustment so that the bit is plumb to the work piece. I've since changed how I attach it to the wall but having both ends of the column secured prevents any flex and mounting it to the wall increases the "throat" depth, at least for pieces up to 60mm thick (my front chop is 65mm thick!). I'll probably end up upgrading to the Nova drills down the track, but the little Bosch is definitely punching above its weight.



Cheers,
Mike