workbench

[mike johnston]

I've decided to build a new workbench,and would really appreciate your input. The bench I'm leaning towards is in shopnotes 65, but I would like to build it with a hardwood top. But realizing a hardwood top is not as stable as mdf and this top floats, do you guys think I shoul try to fasten it to the base some how with elongated holes, or some other method. I know it won't stop warping but it may help. Also there are no top stretchers on this design will this be a problem when attaching the top. To keep the cost down I am leaning towards a base made of poplar, with a top made of ash or if I think I can afford it maple.with 5/4 6/4 or 8/4 strips cut to 2 and 1/2 inch strips turned on edge and glued up.
All input and pics (everyone loves pics) are greatly appreciated.

thanks very much
Mike

[Ken Pywell]

I see at least three options.
1. Place a lag screw through each end rail. One on each end should be enough to hold it down but still give it wiggle room.
2. Angle a lag through the leg up into the bench top.
3. Place 1/2" dowels in the top of the legs, oversize the holes in the bottom of the bench top and let gravity do the rest.
Just some thoughts.
Ken

[John Townsend]

Here's what I'm working on that's similar and it might give some insight into the costs and design concerns, particularly the in terms of the bench top.
I've nearly finished a design of this bench (ShopNotes #65). But on mine I decided that I like the look of trestle legs. I like quarter sawn red oak. And I like the very flat MDF top.
My shop is not large enough for an 87" long bench so mine is 63"L x 26D x 34H. This design saves a little on MDF and red oak over the plans in the magazine, while the storage below is going to be nearly the same volume as in the original in issue #65. I wanted to use rift sawn red oak but got tired of looking for it in 8/4 thickness, so I went to 8/4 Qtr sawn. Keim's Lumber in Amish country in central Ohio, planed and thickness sanded the wood to 1 3/4" for low fee of $5.37 for 31 bf. Sweet. Jointed all the edges of them for an amazing $3. On the other hand the boards were $8 a bd. ft. -- which isn't bad for 8/4 qtr. sawn. Still, that's $248. Throw in the MDF that's $293 for the top so far...not including vises. Throw in the Twin Screw vise and the Jorgensen front vise, the top (just the top, mind you) rises in cost to around $695. My wife doesn't know that yet.

The trestle legs and stretchers will be made by laminating four 3/4" straight-grained red oak s4s boards together for a thickness of 3" for each of the legs and stretchers. By using lamination I will minimize the number of machining operations in making the mortise & tenon and bridle joints. Why? The old philosophical question: How do you build a workbench without a workbench?. Once the trestles and stretchers are built and assembled I can throw a sheet of ply or MDF on top of them and I have a better place to work from instead of saw horses.

I still have some decisions to make concerning the MDF top. The top described in the ShopNotes magazine #86 "floats" only in the sense it is not bolted to the legs in any way. That just means it sits on the legs with the force of gravity pressing on it and cleats to keep it from shifting around (though the top probably weighs 225 lbs). I probably could let my top just sit on the trestles (the top I've designed, with vises, weighs 190 lbs.!). But in my design the trestles fasten to the top from underneath using 3/16-18 cross dowels and bolts. But the ShopNotes "floating" top isn't going to help with expansion and contraction as far as the oak aprons and the MDF interface is concerned. I'm still thinking about that. Then there's the issue of how the top can be designed so that the very top layer can be replaced if it get damaged enough to warrant it?

The right hand trestle top is bored through to fit the screws. These holes serve as rub blocks for the Twin Screw vise. When the vise is opened wide, the threads tend to move upward under the weight of the jaw and the play in the threads...the holes in the 3" thick trestle stop this from happening to a large degree.

I hope to start a blog here on Sawmill Creek once I've got going building this work bench. Then follow with a blog on a Morris chair build; and then a Prairie Settle.