Thread: Workbench pics

Michael, Wonderful looking bench.

Personally I prefer a bench you can bash things upon, splash paint everywhere, over run a drill upon and hack up with a saw.

I am not jealous, I am not jealous, I am not jealous

Cheers

Originally Posted by MJS

If you wish to see any more pics please let me know as I took photos through most of the construction. As this was my first real project I wanted a record of how I did things as many of them I had not done before.

I'm with zen, where are the piccy's???

MJS, the bench looks great and I'm sure that you are going to have a lot of fun using it. Well Done!!!

Great bench, Michael. Well done! (Greenie on the way).

It looks to be quite long. What are its dimensions?

Col

Originally Posted by TassieKiwi

OK then. They're wedged tenons and it is like the axe head. They really tighten up and show no signs of ever moving. If I did it again I would:

• Order the Lee Valley twinscrew with the clamp order like I almost did and put it on the end
• Have the legs closer to the front of the bench
• Have the dogholes closer to the front - no more than 50mm to the centreline
• Have it a wee bit higher - only 20mm, but you notice (I have it on packers now)
• Make sure when I'm laminating the top that everything is flat - I was careful but still somehow set a slight warp in that I had to plane out
• Plan the dog hole spacing so that the holes miss the vice and the stretchers easy fixed by using benchpups. Oh - I like the round dogs BTW

Other than that I love using it, and wish I could use it more. Work sucks.

Fantastic response, it’s a pity about the photo posted…it won’t open very big at all.:confused:

Brilliant work Michael !..... no stopping you now... Don't hold back though.

I mean, don't worry about dinging it up ! The first scratches are the hardest.

good work there michael. The bench will be invaluable, even when using your power tools such as routers, sanders, etc. woodworking is much easier with a decent bench!

The next step is to start putting some dents in it

That is one great bench. I have been looking and reading about benches etc for quite some time now and I am biting the bullet and will start making one starting today. I would love to see more pics as well

Yawally

Thank you everyone for the very positive feed back. Please don't worry, I will be using the bench, it's not just for display
I will start with some photos of the bench base construction. They are pretty self explanitory, but please ask if you want more indepth descriptions etc. I am more than happy to help any newbies like me if they want to have a go.
Picture 1 is the tenon with slots cut to take the wedges. I drilled a hole at the end of the cut to supposedly stop splitting, the camp seems divided as to if they are necessary or not but I thought they couldn't hurt.
Picture 2 is the joint wedged and glued.
Picture 3 is the leg assembly glued and clamped.
Picture 4 are the wedges cut from Tassie Oak ready to go.
Picture 5 is a close up of the bridle joint used at the top of the leg assembly.

More to follow..........better do some work now !

Michael

Originally Posted by Fella

Fantastic response, it’s a pity about the photo posted…it won’t open very big at all.:confused:

Search for a thread called "The Bench" - heaps if pix and further discussion there.

Originally Posted by Driver

Great bench, Michael. Well done! (Greenie on the way).

It looks to be quite long. What are its dimensions?

Col

Driver,
Its 2.2 metres long and about 750 mm wide. Initially is was going to be 1.8 metres long but when all the timber was laminated I thought I might as well use it all, it allowed my vises to be outside the legs and hence level with the end of the bench.

MJS

This next lot of photos shows the cutting of the dogholes.
Again they explain themselves. It was good practice cutting them by hand. I used a knife to mark the saw lines instead of pencil and got much better results. As the picture shows the fit was tight. All holes are sloped at 88 degrees toward the end vise. This was the best part of a days work, but went very quickly.

MJS

These next photos show the cutting out of the notch for the dog and the doghole strip being glued into the bench top.
MJS

Fantastic! Keep up the progress reports mate - this is invaluable. Cheers.

Originally Posted by MJS

As an example when I proudly showed my wife my new bench she said - what was wrong with the old one !

Cheers
Michael

Mine would have asked,"And how much did that thing cost?". Women are truly philistines when comes to man's shed.:mad::mad: