Nicholson

[Andy Margeson]

I completed my Nicholson workbench today but unfortunately the picture files are too large to post here. You can view them on my blog. It is made from clear vertical grain douglas fir rejected for millwork priimarily because of stains. I have included a series of posts on my blog of construction, historical information about the Nicholson workbench and benches built by others.

[Peter Pedisich]

Andy,

Each time I look at your bench, the grain and color make me think of some fine interior millwork from a 3 million dollar house in the pacific northwest from the pages of Fine Homebuilding annual Houses issue. Now are you going to slip and drive a chisel into that!
Seriously, though, that is a bench of a lifetime. Well done.

Pete

[Rick Fisher]

Love the look of you bench.. The beauty of D-Fir is amazing..

[Paul Saffold]

Nice Bench, Andy. I'm subscribed to your blog and have been following along for a few weeks. Thanks for taking the time to document your work.

[Jeff Ranck]

This looks like a great bench!

I've been following all you folks that are bulding Nicholson benches with great interest. The large front looks a little weird to me, but I've seen how useful it can be. I'm wondering if the sliding deadman on something like a Roubo can serve the same purpose or whether because it moves, it doesn't work the same.

[Jim Neeley]

Andy,

Why did you delete your blog link? I was hoping to see the pictures!

[Chris Griggs]

Andy,

Why did you delete your blog link? I was hoping to see the pictures!

Looks like it was deleted by an administrator, there's a rule about not posting links to personal blogs. Andy, I believe what you can do is just post the URL as text instead of an active link, and then we can paste it into our browsers to get to your pics.

[glenn bradley]

Links of that type are not allowed. Pics can easily be re-sized with free software like 'pixresizer', Posting links instead of pics makes many threads eventually unusable and should not be done out of courtesy to future readers/members.

[Andy Margeson]

I apologize if I unknowingly broke a rule.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Nice Job on the Bench Andy. I get that the top is glued to the edge of the sidebars. Is this the only thing that attaches the top to the frame? Are the cleats in any way attached to the "Bearers"?

[Andy Margeson]

Joe,

Thanks. Yes, the cleats are glued and screwed to the "transverse bearers," as Nicholson called them. The bearers are attached to the top boards with screws in elongated holes. I debated about gluing the top boards to the side boards but ultimately did so to keep them flush during seasonal movement.

[Chris Griggs]

That is one of the nicest looking benches of that type I've seen. SWEET work Andy. Will you be adding any vises?

[Andy Margeson]

Will you be adding any vises?

Not for now, though I did plan for a twin screw vise on the end at a later date if I decide to add it. I am going to try relying on a nice Moxon vise and using the workholding methods outlined by Bob Rozaieski in his podcast on the subject. It's very interesting; I highly recommend it to you.

[Mike Holbrook]

Beautiful bench Andy!

I am making plans to build a similar split top bench but with a dead man instead of an apron, something more like the Benchcrafted Split Top Roubo minus all vises or all but one vise. I am trying to figure out how to make my top. I know Bob thinks his single construction grade 2x12 bench top sections are plenty strong enough. The issue with the thickness being more of a holdfast problem. Chris related in another post that the Schwarz thought he might face glue 2x12's for his next bench, that idea worries me a little if for no other reason than getting two boards that wide & long matched well enough to make a good glue joint. I think Bob mentioned 2x6s under 2x12s to get a thicker section for holdfasts. Maybe a 2x6 lip under the 2x12s? Maybe rip the bottom 2x12 down the middle leaving the small gap between the two boards as a place for expansion & contraction? It also occurred to me that the I beam supports Andy has in his frame could be turned face up or doubled and turned face up? I believe Andy just ordered 2"+ thick boards for his bench but I can't see how/if he glued boards together or not?

[Andy Margeson]

I believe Andy just ordered 2"+ thick boards for his bench but I can't see how/if he glued boards together or not?

I was lucky enough to have 2" boards that were full width, so I didn't glue any boards together. However, I don't see why edge gluing 2x6s or 2x8s together would be a problem. Although I felt strongly about having full 2" boards for the top, many outstanding woodworkers think thinner construction grade material is perfectly adequate. I think they're right because you can add bearers. The holdfast issue is soluble. My issue was that I couldn't find decent construction lumber.