Workbench build with photos

[Paul Cahill]

This is not a showcase piece, just a solid bench with two nice vises – LV twin screw and Benchcraft wagon. My objective was to get beyond my well worn saw horses in a reasonable amount of time and expense. Originally I was planning on something much simpler but then I read Chris Schwarz’s book and became a convert, for the most part. Also, I used SYP to avoid getting slowed down out of fear of screwing up some nice hardwood.
Bench-0.jpg

The bench is 30” by 77”, 4” thick, and 34” high. It took several trips to both the blue and orange stores to get it all.
Bench-1.jpg

I know a lot of people don’t like biscuits, but I found them very helpful in stopping the boards from squirming around during glue-up. I glued up the boards in sections of three, and then ran them through the jointer and planer. I was concerned about whether the sections would be too heavy for the small planer but it was not a problem.
Bench-2.jpgBench-3.jpg

For the mortises on the legs I don’t have a dado stack, so I just made multiple passes on the TS and cleaned it up with a chisel and block plane. I made the base completely independent of the top, in case I ever want to redo the top at some point. In the addition the base is bolted together, so I could change its dimensions fairly painlessly.
Bench-4.jpg

I used square dogs for the front, cut on the TS like the mortises. I cleaned them up partially with a chisel, and then finished them off with a router and template.
Bench-5.jpg

Once glued together, I had to cut off the two ends. The hardest part was flipping over the top, which wasn’t too bad with three of us.
Bench-6.jpg

When laying out the boards for the top I spent some time trying to figure out which direction the grain was in, to minimize tear-out later on, but I finally gave up. The whole concept of grain orientation baffles me at this point. Fortunately, I had very little tear-out when I flattened the top, the then mainly on some of the diagonal passes when I was too aggressive. Hand planing the top wasn’t nearly as difficult as I feared, although I didn’t have to remove much material. I used a toothed blade to hit the high spots and then switched to the jointer plane.
Bench-7.jpg

[frank shic]

beautiful job!

[David Nelson1]

Nice job Paul! Hope mine turns out that good!!

[Dave Ray]

Paul, really looks good. Thanks for the pix and the write up.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I like the crank handle on your tail vise. That is a curious arrangement. Nice bench.

[Kurt Cady]

Not including hardware, how much $$$ was all the lumber? Did you buy the 12" boards and only use the outer "quartersawn" 4 inches?

Thanks! Looks great!

[Michael Peet]

Well done, Paul. You are going to love that wagon vise and nice heavy work surface.

Mike

[Paul Cahill]

Not including hardware, how much $$$ was all the lumber? Did you buy the 12" boards and only use the outer "quartersawn" 4 inches?

Thanks! Looks great!

The wood totaled about $130. Some was 2 x 10 and some 2 x 12, depending on what looked best. I looked for boards with the rings at a diagonal. I got two boards out of each. For the top, I ripped them to 4 3/8" and worked down from there. Some of the other pieces were wider,so I adjusted the cuts accordingly. For the bottom shelf, I resawed to 5/8", which worked fine. I only had one board that was a total loss - the very first that I ripped. I could not get it through the table saw. I finally gave up, and got out the circular saw. The resultant boards were so bowed that I wasn't able to salvage them for anything. I was afraid I was in for some real trouble, but that was the only one that behaved so poorly.

The boards had plenty of knots, but was good enough that I was able to hide them in either the body of the top or the backs of the visible sections.

Thanks to all for the kind comments.

Paul

[David Kumm]

Cool bench Paul. Schwartz's roubo book is a great read. I built one a few years ago. It gets dinged up because it is soft but there is a certain comfort in knowing when you drop your piece, it is the table-not the work that takes the hit. Have you seen the benchcrafted site? Nice hardware. Dave

[Rick Lucier]

It is a good looking bench. It looks as if it is heavy enough to take a lot of heavy hand tool work. Great job. Rick

[Joe Angrisani]

The wood totaled about $130.....

One hundred thirty bucks. I LOVE it!!!

Thanks for a great write-up...

[Steven Wahlert]

Hi Paul

Kudos!
Nice looking bench.

I'm still planning my Roubo type bench and like your bolted base design.

You mentioned the top is completely independent from the base.
But did you use some screws or bolts to secure the top to the base?

How is the lateral stiffness of the bench when planing?

Steve

[Paul Cahill]

Hi Paul

Kudos!
Nice looking bench.

I'm still planning my Roubo type bench and like your bolted base design.

You mentioned the top is completely independent from the base.
But did you use some screws or bolts to secure the top to the base?

How is the lateral stiffness of the bench when planing?

Steve

The base has a frame. I may have overdone it, but I can always remove the long stretchers if I ever want to clamp across the underneath of the top.
Bench-8.jpg

To attach the top to the base, I used 1/2 lag bolts that penetrate 2" into the underside of the top so I have no concern about lifting the bench by the top. The left front is anchored by the rear jaw of the twin vise. For the right front I made a slot to allow the top to move lengthwise, but not front to back. The rear attachments can move in any direction.
Bench-9.jpg

As far as stillness when planing, the bench is rock solid and feels and acts like it is glued to the
ground.

Paul

[Jake Elkins]

Paul - Great job!

I'm working on a similar design, but with the twin-screw as an end vise. I was curious how much racking you get when clamping between the dogs on your twin screw vise, since there is about 6" between the screws and dogs. I am hoping that I don't have to make some sort of peg system using this as an end vise.

Thanks -

[Paul Cahill]

I'm working on a similar design, but with the twin-screw as an end vise. I was curious how much racking you get when clamping between the dogs on your twin screw vise, since there is about 6" between the screws and dogs. I am hoping that I don't have to make some sort of peg system using this as an end vise. -

I don't see any racking, although the vise is new and has not seen much use. However, I don't think that is the issue in using this as an end vise. As the front jaw is screwed out, it drops down slightly - at 6" out I would say it is about 1/16" below the board that is being clamped. The manual mentions this and describes installing a wear plate under the bench to support the screws to hold them level. i haven't done that as I am using the wagon vise for face planing. Hope this helps.

Paul