Another Workbench - My First

[Dominic Greco]

That is a beautiful bench! And well crafted to boot! I like the fact that you stained the legs for contrast. It really "sets the top off" (know what I mean?).

I'm sure you are going to enjoy this bench for years to come. You should be very proud.

Good job!

[Michael Sobik]

Great bench! Love the design, and that old lumber is amazing. Once you start using a bench like that, you'll kick yourself for waiting so long to build it.

[Jerome Hanby]

Great looking bench! I'm just starting mine, other than the tail vise, will be very similar (I hope).

[Barry Rowland]

Excellent work!

Now the really fun part!

You get to start bangin on it!!

[Zahid Naqvi]

Brandon, great bench, and thanks for the step by step pictorial. I have added this to the FAQs sticky.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Great bench Brandon. Thanks for taking the time to do a full step by step for us.

[Jameel Abraham]

Beauty! Nothing like a good bench. I love them!

[Wilbur Pan]

Really nice work! I hope mine comes out half as good as yours did.

[David Gilbert]

I love your bench too.

Mine is very similar to yours except that I still have to finish my tail vice. Do you have any pictures of your tail vice as you built it? I'd appreciate seeing pictures now it's finished too. I'm using some similar hardware from Woodcraft. From your pictures it looks like the one that I am planning on building.

Thanks in advance,
David

[Pat Germain]

Mighty heavy-duty bench you got there! It looks too pretty to use. May it serve you well.

[Ron Brese]

That's a gorgeous bench. I've got to quit putting off my bench project. You've inspired me, I may well start soon....well at least in another month or so. (grin)

Ron Brese

[Brandon Burns]

I love your bench too.

Mine is very similar to yours except that I still have to finish my tail vice. Do you have any pictures of your tail vice as you built it? I'd appreciate seeing pictures now it's finished too. I'm using some similar hardware from Woodcraft. From your pictures it looks like the one that I am planning on building.

Thanks in advance,
David

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures during the construction. The end vise was probably one of the most difficult parts of the whole workbench to assemble. It came with absolutely no instructions on how to install. Here are some CAD model details of the design as well as finished pictures...







On this last pic, you can see where I cut the dogholes on the wrong side of the board for the first 3 from the right.

[David Gilbert]

Thanks for the extra pictures. I agree with you that this is the most complicated part of the workbench.

I've designed the entire thing in Sketchup and may have outdone myself in making the tail vise as complicated as possible. I wasn't planning on having the top pieces like you have. It seems that with wood moisture changes that these would tend to come off since the wood is going in a variety of different directions. (Maybe I am being too sensitive since I just had a very unpleasant experience with breadboard ends of a cherry table.) I am planning on having several layers above and below the vise bars and plan on mortise and tenoning these into the back piece. I also used a router template to cut all of my dog holes. I built a mock-up of the vise to assure that all the dimensions work.

I don't understand your comment about the half circular hole that you had to cut. I'm thinking that I will be able to screw it on and then attach the screws that hold the back of the screw in place.

Thanks,
David