Ash Workbench

[Todd Beaulieu]

I love it. I'm just starting out with woodworking and I'd love to make my own bench.

I looked into the plan you mentioned. The legs are quite different. I like yours better (no, I'm not hitting on you). Did you improve it, or was it an alternate design in the purchased plans?

Could you give me a ballpark cost for the materials?

Thanks!

[Keith E Byrd]

Thanks for the comments. It does not come with an alternate plan. I modified it myself. I made the top bigger and thicker - then adusted the other the dimensions on the other parts based on the new thickness. I put carriage bolts on the stretchers instead of the wedges and built a shelf into the stretchers. The plan and vises I think were $295 and I used about 130 bd ft of wood - I bought it from a friend who had a sawyer cut up some of his trees - and air dried - pretty rough wood and I planed a lot down. I think I have a total of about $500, plans, vises, wood, finish. Best part of the bench - I made it!

[Dave Haynes]

Keith.....

Your bench looks very similar to mine which I built early last year. The two primary differences are that I made mine from hard maple instead of ash and my tail vice is not full width of the bench like your is. You can read about mine and the building process article on my website if you care to at: http://www.oldaveswoodshop.com/Workbench.php

I know you will get plenty of good use from your bench as I have. My only problem at first was to actually do any work on it for fear of messing up the finish...........dumb huh? You should see it now though!

Great job!!

Dave

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Keith, Nice bench! Dave, thanks for posting a link to your build blog. I enjoyed reading it and found some info useful as I'm in the middle of my own workbench build.

[Todd Beaulieu]

Keith,

Do you think the plan/package you bought was better than this free plan from popular mechanics? Of course, I'd need to buy a vise or two, as well.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...61.html?page=1

Does their plan include more step by step instructions for idiots like myself, or is it just a plan, assuming the builder has a clue?

I'd love to build one of these. I think I'm going to struggle trying to put the wood order together. I looked on Rockler and so far haven't been able to figure out what I'd need, what the wood cost would be. I hate being dumb.

I need to fast forward through the utter rookie phase this summer!

[Keith E Byrd]

Actually the plan at popular mechanics looks a lot like the plans I got - for $295 you get the plan and the vises. The plans are ok. I had to reread several parts to get what they were talking about. The vise assembley instructions - especially the tail vise were confusing - I would give the plan discriptions a C grade at best - the drawings of the parts etc were good and well laid out. I modified the table and ended up doing final assembly and vise installationon my own. Don't overrate your rookiness - I am sure you have much more skill than you give yourself credit for.

[Keith E Byrd]

Here are a few pictures of the final project! Now I can get to work. I have a question - I have few dog holes that the hold fast won't grab in - any ideas why? They have all been drilled with the same bit.

[Keith E Byrd]

Dave, just finished viewing your project - great job! I enjoyed observing the progress - I kind of relived mine as I went through yours!

[John Thompson]

Nice end result Keith.. that should do ya for the next several hundred years so....

[Brian Tymchak]

Here are a few pictures of the final project! Now I can get to work. I have a question - I have few dog holes that the hold fast won't grab in - any ideas why? They have all been drilled with the same bit.

Keith,

Nice job on that bench!

WRT to your question about the dog holes, I read recently on the Grammercy website that their holdfasts worked better if you lightly sand around the post (not lengthwise on the post). I also read in another forum that the thicker the top, the harder it is to seat a hold fast. I can only offer the advice based on my reading. I am still midway thru my bench build and don't have any practical experience yet with holdfasts.

I noticed that you chamfered your dog holes and my curiosity is peaked. I think this is the first time I've seen that done. What led you to do that?

Thanks, Brian

[Keith E Byrd]

I chamfered the dog holes for two reasons: 1. I saw it on another bench and it looked good. 2. I had a few holes that had chewed edges from the drill bit and wanted to clean them up! (Appearance-ego?)
What you read was sand around the top of the holdfast shaft?
The dog holes are in the rail and they are 4 1/2 thick. That is where I have most of my problem but a few of them do hold. I will try to sand the posts and see what happens. Thanks for the tips.

[Van Huskey]

Very nice, I love the ash. Almost makes me wanna go neander.

[Rich Aldrich]

Keith,

Nice workbench. Ash is nice to work with and strong.

However, I don't think the vise you refer to as a shoulder vise is a true shoulder vise. It is in the position of a shoulder vise. A true shoulder vise allows the wood to be held through the vise vertically. There is no hardware to get in the way.

See the pictures below.

[Neil Brooks]

Keith-

Excellent result.

I _keep_ seeing these benches popping up on the various ww sites.

They're calling to me.

They're haunting me.

I ... I ... I think I'm going to HAVE to build one.

I've found a few semi-local sawyers, too, including a guy with a *whole bunch* of historic, turn of the century doug fir.

If I go that route ... I can only hope that mine looks as good as yours!

Thanks for the additional inspiration.

Cheers!

[Brian Tymchak]

I chamfered the dog holes for two reasons: 1. I saw it on another bench and it looked good. 2. I had a few holes that had chewed edges from the drill bit and wanted to clean them up! (Appearance-ego?)
What you read was sand around the top of the holdfast shaft?
The dog holes are in the rail and they are 4 1/2 thick. That is where I have most of my problem but a few of them do hold. I will try to sand the posts and see what happens. Thanks for the tips.

Keith,

Sorry for not getting back to you. Was out this weekend. Here's what I read on the ToolsforWorkingWood website which sells the Gramercy holdfasts:

"Note: we have discovered that while the holdfasts work great they will work even better and in more benches if you just rub a little 150 or 220 sandpaper around the stems (not up and down, round and round)"

Here's the link:

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/M...&Category_Code=

I also picked the following comment up off a forum called Family Woodworking (which sure looks a lot like SMC..)

"I seem to remember an "Old Codger" telling me something about the thicker the top is, it needs to have a "SLIGHTLY" larger hole than a thin top to get them to hold, since the holdfast cocks off of vertical and binds on one side of the hole at the top and at the opposite side of the hole at the bottom. With the THICK top and a small hole, the holdfast can't cock sideways enough to get a grip."

Here's the link on the thread from that forum: http://www.familywoodworking.org/for...ead.php?t=6962

Re: chamfers - Asthetics are important! I was wondering what bit of woodworking wisdom I was missing out on. I hadn't really considered what I would do if I messed up a dog hole when I drill my bench top. Maybe now I have a plan... Thanks!

Brian