Roubo Bench build

I've been lurking for a while now and learning a lot from this great community, but its time to come out of the shadows and get something done. I might as well go big and my first post while I'm at it!

I started acquiring some tools last year, starting with a table saw as well as many of the other smaller tools necessary to do woodworking projects. I started on a couple of small boxes just to learn to use the various tools prior to working on larger more complex projects around my home. Making a mistake on a small box doesn’t cost as much as making a mistake on ¾” mahogany plywood!

I quickly realized trying to cut wood on the table saw and assemble the project there too was not ideal. I needed a bench. The other thing I’m missing is a vise. I know, I’ll build a bench with a vise, brilliant idea! So I started doing some research into benches like the Roubo, Nicholson, Black and Decker and even the 2x4 and plywood bench. For me, I liked the Roubo. But even looking at the ‘Roubo’ style there are many variations. So I started taking note of the various features I liked and thought that I would use. You know that divider on the ‘split top’ design that has the gap for tools, not for me. I thought it would be a pain to remove the tool whenever you needed to flip the divider. How about round vs square dogs? Square for me. I also researched vise types as well as buy vs make, I decided on buying a kit. I really like the Benchcrafted vises and it seems everyone has nothing but nice things to say about them. In the end I purchased the Benchcrafted bench kit with the leg vise, tail vise, plans and hardware.

I made a few changes to the plans and updated them. My bench will be 81” long (6” shorter), 22 ¼” wide (one 8/4 board narrower), and 36” tall (1” higher). The top will be 3” thick instead of 4” and the legs will be 4 3/8” wide instead of 5 3/8”. The split in the top will be towards the back giving me ~18” from the front to the plane stop. I calculated all the new measurements for the rails and other items and printed a new set of plans to go off of.

Here's all my lumber, Soft Maple and some Walnut for the end caps and accents.

Attachment 369758

Yes, I did say end caps. I will put one one the left too, even though there's no functional need for it. I figured I could use the practice. I will also add a few other walnut accents here and there to try different things and get more practice in.

Here are the vise parts:

Attachment 369759

Now to start making sawdust.

Dennis

Should look like Cory Newman's bench just posted on here! A popular style with that hardware. Oblong dogs make sense.

Yes, it should look a lot like Cory's bench.

I have the legs cut out. They are made from an 8/4 and a 6/4 piece. I decided I would add a spline to aid in the alignment of the two pieces.

Attachment 369834

I have also ripped the lumber for the rails, but nothing has been cut to length yet.

I also got started on the sliding deadman. Here's the piece with the holes laid out and the radius cut for the indentation on the sides.

Attachment 369835

After a quick trip to the drill press and bandsaw and it's about ready to go.

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I'll wait until the frame is together and put the v-groove on the bottom and cut it to length.

I'm going to try and get the pieces for the top ripped this afternoon.

Dennis

Its a fun build, I really enjoyed the project and tackling a few new items like the houndstooth dovetail on the end cap.

Enjoy the project.

Cory,
Good looking bench you have in your thread. Now that you are done with it, is there anything you would do differently? I think you mentioned raising up the ledgers that hold planks on the bottom shelf, that is something I will do so the planks come out flush with the top of the rail.
Dennis

Yes my shelf is flush with the top of the stretchers, makes it easier to brush off wood chips, sawdust. I had problems with the wagon vise install, I had to walk away for a while and come back to it to finally determine why it was binding. I fiddled with it forever before I finally determined it was the threaded rod wasn't perfectly parallel to the top, it wasn't off much but it created a binding issue. I'm also not happy with the deadman, I followed the plans religiously, and while it works, I think there is a bit too much slop in it.

Other than that I don't know what I would change. I've played with the idea of putting the chop on the CNC and carving a decorative pattern into it, I've seen several on the innerweb that look pretty cool, but that might be a passing fad like avocado green appliances.

I'll keep an eye on the tail vise when the time comes. Regarding the deadman, too much slop at the top? What about the contact surfaces of the deadman as well as the runner, should they be finished with a slick surface or waxed to help it slide smoothly?
I was thinking about the chop too. I was trying to come up with something to add that extra touch to it. Maybe some stringing to follow the lower edges up and around the curve to the sides. Just a thought.
Dennis

I think the issue with the deadman is the rabbet is too big on the top, it didn't need to be such a big rabbet. The bottom side seems fine and slides just fine.

If you haven't already look at Frank Strazza strazzafurniture on Instagram, he has made a number of these benches and did some stringing and some marquetry. They are absolutely beautiful.

I finished laminating the each of the two pieces that make up each leg. The front legs have a walnut strip in them as you can see in the photo.

Attachment 370263

I also completed my first mortise on one of the back legs. I had a little difficulty on this one due to leaving too much material in the corners. I used a 9/16” forstner bit on the 5/8” mortise and that left a fair amount in the corners. I prepped the third mortise by using a ¼” bit in the corners before using the 9/16” bit to get the rest. I’m hoping this one ends up much easier. Would a corner chisel make this even easier?

Now on to the tenon. I cut the shoulder on the table saw and the rest of the cuts were by hand. I’m pretty happy with my first cut:

Attachment 370265

Attachment 370264

It looks like I went a little deep on the backside. I think that was because my shoulder wasn’t deep enough and I just keep cutting waiting for it to come loose!

And finally my first M&T joint:

Attachment 370262

It’s square and the shoulder sits nicely. I’m probably just under a 64^th of an inch from being flush. Did I pass the test? This first one took me a little more time than I thought it would, but they’ll get faster with practice and refining my techniques.

Dennis

It has been some time since a posted an update and now that I have made a lot of progress over the holidays I'll update this thread.

I got all the mortice and tenon joints done and did a dry fit, everything looked good, at least nothing that a little sanding couldn't correct. I glued up the legs and short rails then added the long rails which get bolted on through the legs and into a barrel nut buried in the leg. I checked the diagonal lenghts and I have a differnce of just under 0.25". The widths and lengths for each side are identical, easy enough to control, so that means I have slight trapezoidal shape going on and it was confirmed with the square. I'm going to try and make some adjustments to the tenons on the long rails and see if I can get it squared up.

Attachment 375828Attachment 375829Attachment 375830Attachment 375831

After I got the frame together I turned my attention to the top and getting the pairs of laminated boards laminated with the others forming a wider top. The pairs that were originally laminated were done with a spline running the length. each piece was run over the router table to create the groove. before doing so I checked individual boards since a few of them bowed up and some others bowed down. I arranged them to offset each other. When gluing up a pair with another pair I decide to use a biscuit joiner. The reason for this is the original pairs didn't line up a close as I wanted and I think this was due to the pieces that bowed up not sitting all the way down at the router bit, therefore the groove was closer to the top. Anyhow, joining them with the biscuits turned out much better. At this point the main top (front piece) has all the boards glued up except the dog strip and the front piece. The other top (back) has only three pieces and is also glued up.

Upon close inspection I found my top had a slight cup running the length. The middle was about an eighth lower than the outside edges. I had plan to run it through the planer, with about 0.25" to spare, but this was ruled out when I discovered a slight twist in the top. Once again, about a strong eighth of an inch. While I was trying to figure out the best way to deal with getting the top flat I turned my attention to the dog strip.

I made up some jigs to guide the router over the wood creating the cavity for the dog:

Attachment 375832

This allowed me to easily create the cavity at a two degree angle as noted in the plans. There is a fence on the underside that allows me to position correctly with ease. I did have issues with tear out on the backside of the dog hole which lead me to chisel out the area at the back and insert a piece of walnut:

Attachment 375833

This is what the finished strip looks like:

Attachment 375835Attachment 375836

More to come on flattening the top.

Dennis

WOW- first of all- glad you decided to post. Now let me say again- WOW- that's looking great, especially the dog hole strip. I'm feeling ashamed of my Roubo build that has been off and on for... um... gee I can't remember how long now. I plan to get back to work on it next week after a complete redo of the shop. (thread soon to come on that). Keep us posted. Looking great so far.

Malcolm,

Thanks for the comments.

Back to dealing with the top. The plan I came up with involved some levels that I don't have, so off to HD depot to pick up a few. The plan was to use the levels as rails to support a jig that holds the router. Here's the jig I came up with:

Attachment 375887

That was some wood from the build that became scrape due to a mistake. It's nice and thick so I knew it wouldn't deflect any.

I positioned my workbench top on the table saw and shimmed it up to get the top as level as I could. I could place a short level across each end and see them go up in opposite directions. Length wise I had it as level as it could be too. The next step was to take some rectangular stock and mill a channel down the middle on one side. This channel would hold the level so that the inside flange of the level was just above the top of the block. I could now clamp the level and block down to the saw top. After adding a few more blocks and shims I had the levels, well level!

Attachment 375888

I also made sure it was level going across the levels:

Attachment 375889

I originally was going to use a 0.5" mortising bit, but I ended up getting a 1.5" bit instead. That'll make for far fewer passes! Because of the larger bit I needed to modify my jig and make room for it. Let the routing begin:

Attachment 375890

The first pass took a little off of two of the corners, the high spots due to the twist. I quickly discovered the jig would drop some as I reached the extreme corners due to the end of the level finding the opening of my jig. A quick modification of filling in the openings gave me a larger surface to ride over the ends of the levels. Three more passes with the router taking a little bit each time completed the flattening.

Now I need to square up the ends and make the tenons to accept the walnut end caps. Yes, one on each end!

More to come.

Dennis

Looking good. You're gonna love the BC vises!