My First Workbench......

[Cody Armstrong]

......and not planning on building another in my lifetime

I received my Benchcrafted hardware last week and have been busy the last few days machining and straight-lining stock.
To those that read my "Tooling up" thread in the "Neander" section I was originally using post oak for this project but it was horribly checked so I went with German beech.
This is gonna be a split top. I'm deviating from the BC plans and building the top approx 28" wide, 5" thick, 10' long and beefing up everything else.
I'm having to laminate everything.
So far the rails, legs, and first 4 boards of one of the top sections.
Wish me luck
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[Scott M Perry]

Yowza. That's going to be a beast.

[Pete Hotard]

Wow...that is stellar...Definitely no shortage of clamps in your shop. What part of LA you in? I'll be moving to Baton Rouge in July. Looking good so far man, keep it up.

[eugene thomas]

Man. That a load of pipe clamps. And a long bench

[Cody Armstrong]

After reading Schwarz's comments in his workbench book where he said if you think it's big enough then build it bigger. I took it to heart.
I'm just getting in to hand tools and hope I'm not making a mistake by going 28" wide vs. 24" Maybe someone could chime in here.
I can't see where an extra inch on either side of the gap stop would make a difference. Each top section will be ~13" wide.

I started making cutting boards last year. Had to invest in clamps. Takes 5 clamps per board to glue up. To glue up ten boards per day=50 clamps.
I made about 200 end grain boards last year. Got some nice size orders for Christmas. Sold all the boards.

@ Pete. I'm in Ruston if your ever up this way give me a holler.

[Jim Matthews]

You can always make a long bench shorter.

Hard to stretch one, later.

I don't think deeper benches are better.
You can only reach across, so far.

It doesn't need to handle 4x8 plywood, for most shops.

[Charlie MacGregor]

Shop seems to contain interesting architectural details.

[Cody Armstrong]

Well after laminating and scraping glue for 9 days straight I've got all the pieces ready for the next step provided I don't make a mistake and have to re-make something.
The clamp rack was empty for these glue-ups.
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Started some preliminary flattening. My first time to use a jointer plane. I'm waiting on stones to arrive so I'm having to use the irons as they come out of the box sharp.
Still getting a little tear out. Swapped the 25 degree iron for the 38 and helped a bit.
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The wider slab to the above left had a full 1/8-3/16 bow. For a ten foot stretch I didn't think came out to bad. I used a LA jack and jointer to straighten both sides.
The narrower slab is ready for the bench dog strip. Fortunately it came out almost perfectly straight
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More to come when I progress further. Sorry if this is mundane.

[Charlie MacGregor]

Not mundane at all. Please keep us abreast.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Looks like a bowling alley!

[Cody Armstrong]

^ LOL. Yesterday I asked myself why am I building this so big. Definitely not cutting it down now. The next person that gets it(after my life with it is over) can do what they want with it.
This is/has been an expensive build. It has forced me to buy a few things like drill/router bits/hand tools. Things I would have acquired much slower. But it will be worth it in the long run. I'm impatiently waiting on a few items to arrive that have been ordered so I can continue on with this project.

[Bobby O'Neal]

Looking great, Cody! Not mundane at all, in my opinion. Its exciting to watch somebody's bench come together. Keep it going for us.

[Cody Armstrong]

Well 18 days into this project and I'm moving right along. This is taking longer than I expected This is where I am now.
I know this is all over the web and on the BenchCrafted site so please bear with me. It may help someone out
Cutting dog holes in the dog strip with two routers set up.
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The first pass I used a template guide bushing and 1/2" spiral up-cut bit set within 1/16th of final depth.
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The second pass I used a 1/2" four flute center cutting-end mill. The same bit Jameel mentions on the BC site. Boy does it cut nice.
The smooth shank acts as a bearing therefore cuts the template shape exactly. Dog holes finished with this pass.
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I cut the tenon for the end cap with the same metal cutting end mill bit. Will be using this bit to cut the rest of the other joinery here. It is leaps and bounds better than the wood cutting up-cut bit.
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I cut the pins for the condor tail joint with chisels. Wasn't brave enough to use a router and didn't want to fool with setting up the band saw. Needed the experience and wanted to try out the new chisels.
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The tails were cut freehand with the plunge.
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I forgot to snap a pic of the tenon before the end-cap went on. Here is the tail vise hardware installed. Bottom view.
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[Cody Armstrong]

And here's a shot of the completed tail vise bench dog/strip installation. It is finally done.

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And on to the base. Started prepping the legs today.
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[Christopher Charles]

Looking good and you're going a whole lot faster than I did!

C