Started on a new workbench

[James Conrad]

Since I had a little down time this weekend due to my missing veneer glue, delayed from last weeks storm and I guess UPS was afraid of a little snow and rain yesterday so it was delayed again. I decided to start breaking down the stock for a new workbench. This one will be geared towards chair making and double as an assembly table for other work. A friend up in Kingston has a mass of rough sawn air dried white oak which will be perfect. A few weeks ago I took a trip up there and came home with a pile.
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All of the boards are 8/4 and range from 6 to 12 inches wide which I let acclimate in the shop and dry out since they have been stored outside. I am shooting for a bench that is 36" wide and a bit over 5' long. The top was going to be 4" thick but it made better use of what I had of this fine oak to shoot for something less, I am hoping for 3 3/4". Here are the top boards cut to rough size and stacked to acclimate for another week or so.
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It is real nice stuff underneath the weather beaten exterior. And, I should have enough left over for the legs and stretchers.


All this was not done with a rip saw, well at least not a hand powered one nor will the remainder of the dimensioning, I'll leave the hand work to smoothing the top and joinery - I've got work do get done!

Such as, the above mentioned veneer project:
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and then there are a couple of these and some chairs:
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and other projects backed up! So, with some luck it will get done between projects by the end of the month.

[Chris Hachet]

In the process of another bench build myself, this post is inspirational. Keep us up to date....

[David Nelson1]

Hi James,
Other than the width being a bit wider than norm, what amenities are you going to incorporate in your bench that it would dedicate it as a chair building bench? The reason I'm asking is that I have an interest in learning the how to's. While my shop is still not where I'm comfortable working in I might want to reserve an area dedicated to this bench if it really does differ from the norm.

Thanks!

[James Conrad]

Hi David,

Since this bench will be doing double duty, I may be compromising a bit. It could be smaller, in fact I went back and forth on just building more of a dedicated carving bench similar to Curis Buchanan's approach with a small bench that you can reach the seat from all sides. If shop size was an issue, I would go this route for sure as long as another workbench met the other needs of chair making.

It will differ from my German bench in that the dog holes will be round to accomated holdfasts and dog pins that can be set to hold curved and angled pieces better. It will have both a front and end vise, but the vise on the end of the bench will likely be a Record 52D that I have. This will take the place of a shave horse. I was going to build a new one as I got rid of an anaemic one a while back, but I like standing when doing the spindle shaping and this small quick release vise makes it easy. The large mass of the bench will also help with this approach. The front vise will be longer for holding seat blanks. The size will allow me to have a legged seat on top and continue to do other work.

So, does it differ dramatically from other benches? No, not really, just some small tweaks to accommodate how I work.
I suppose like any workbench it's a bit personal in this way

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice! This bench is going to be a beast in white oak at 3-3/4" thick and 36" wide. Are you planning a split top?

[Thomas Schneider]

Wow! I just found a source for air dried 8/4 rift, quarter sawn and plane sawn White Oak for .95 a bf and was wondering how good white oak is for a workbench. What little experience I have with white oak is all with power tools. If I decide to go with the oak I will do most of the dimensioning with power tools too but joinery and smoothing will be done with hand tools. Looking forward to seeing this build progress! Let me know what you think about working the white oak with hand tools.

Thanks
Tom.

[James Conrad]

No on the split top, although I'll think about that. White oak works just fine with sharp hand tools and should make a solid heavy bench that wears well. At .95/bf I'd go for that. Count on more waste than than with typical lumber, depending on how thoughtfully sawn it was.

[Winton Applegate]

The top was going to be 4" thick

That is one reason I like the Klausz style; one can have the massively thick front but then the rest of the top can be thinner on the order of 8/4. Puts the mass were you need it without wasting wood.
I am supposing you want the whole top thicker for using hold fasts.

Yah . . . anyway . . . I am looking forward to seeing your progress as you build your new chair building bench.
Thank You for starting this thread.

[James Conrad]

Made some more progress today on the bench top, after my veneer glue finally showed up, got some panels in the vacuum press and more veneers taped and ready for tomorrow:
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Now, on to the bench - cut the pieces down to 5.5' long and milled S2. I've got a couple of knot holes that were unavoidable to fill. I should have time tomorrow to square up the stock, figure out my final top thickness and get ready to glue things up.
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[James Conrad]

All the boards are squared up and ready for glue tomorrow. I had to cull one board for thickness, I ended up at 3 5/8" strong and without that one I'll be just under 34" wide which should be fine.
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[Mike Allen1010]

James, thanks for the post\pics. White Oak alike yours at .95 cents/BF- where do I sign up? We lived on the south shore of MA (Duxbury) 20 years ago. Now that we're back home in the hardwood desert of San Diego, I wish I had half the wood I burned back in MA for heat!

Good luck w/ your bench. You are off to a fast start.

I hope we get to see some more picks of your Windsor bent back chairs like the one on your bench - very nice!
best, Mike

[James Conrad]

Thanks Mike, if you move back east I'll put you in touch with my friend which is where I got my oak from, another poster was looking at some for .95. I'm out of time for benchwork today - cut boards to even length, filled some knot holes and organized them into groups for glue up, not really pic worthy. The panels for one cabinet are done pressing for my veneer project so I need to get back to that for a day or so. If things go well there I might start glue up, but probably wait until next week. Taking a break from the shop and doing some ice fishing this weekend!

Not sure when I'll do another sack back, but I will be doing some stools next and some Rhode Island Low Backs. I'll probably document a stool build, they are pretty easy.

[David Nelson1]

I'd be interested in following that! Just bought ‘Chairmaker’s Notebook’ by Peter Galbert this morning. digital copy is ready now the hard bound in a month or so. Looks like perfect book to learn from. Hmmmm I didn't mean to throw a link in here. If it's a violation my apologies in advance

I'll probably document a stool build, they are pretty easy.