My First Workbench Build - A Journal

[Phil Mueller]

Eric, you’re at a place where we’ve all been. I’m interested in the answer to Pat’s question as well. In one of your original posts you indicated you were planning for two 10-11” slabs with a 4” gap. That would put the outside leg width at 24-26”. So for argument sake, lets assume you were shooting for a 24” wide top.

You’ve either made the base width narrower than originally planned, or the slabs are wider than you originally planned.
If the latter, the obvious solution is to cut down the slabs a few inches. If the former, it’s a matter of how much less you ended up with. Miscalculations like these end up being “what can you live with”

If the base width ended up being 22”, or 20”, can you live with that?

I wouldn’t consider putting the tenons through the inside of the back slab. Just me. I’d either adjust the slab width, or redo the side stretchers to get to a overall width and inside gap you can live with.

[Robert Engel]

Eric,

You may want to rethink the idea of a gap like your talking about. Bench hooks will serve the purpose.

I envision chisels, pencils and other tools falling through the gap while your working ;-)

After building a couple benches, for me personally, I think tool trays are not that useful. Seems I mostly end up searching for tools and finding them after cleaning out shavings.

So I would fill in the 3/4 gap maybe with a contrasting wood and call it a design accent.

Another suggestion if you go with bench hooks, don't drill a lot of holes until you've used the bench a bit.

[Robert Hazelwood]

3" is really wide for the gap, in my opinion. The gap on my bench is about 1-3/4" and it is plenty wide to use with F clamps. I would try to keep the slot as narrow as possible, especially since yours is a pretty narrow bench to begin with. You don't want a huge section of your usable bench width taken up by the gap. It is difficult to keep the filler strip/tool rest co-planar with the top over time (in fact I gave up on mine and recessed it 1/32"). The slots in the tool rest don't need to be wider than 3/4" to hold chisels, saws, etc, and could probably work at 5/8". The two strips on either side of the tool slot don't need to be that thick, 1/2" or even 3/8" could work. So your tool rest can be in the range of 1-1/2" to 1-3/4".

Before cutting down the slabs, I recommend you experiment with a tool rest design that accommodates the tools you expect to use, and see just how small a gap you can get away with for clamping. If you have particularly bulky clamps for some reason, consider getting some regular bar-style F clamps, they are not too expensive.

[Eric Schubert]

One thing to clarify that I don't think I've mentioned, yet. My original plan involved also adding dog holes that can be used with holdfasts. (Is that what you're referring to as "bench hooks", Robert Engel?) So, I eventually want to add dog holes as-needed here and there for common tasks. And I have a pair of Gramercy holdfasts already sitting around that I want to use. I also have a LV surface vise that could get some use if I have dog holes.

Robert Hazelwood, I suppose the necessary gap size can depend on which clamps you're using. I'm using the parallel clamps from Harbor Freight, in multiple lengths. Both the clamping surfaces and the diagonal distance of the bar are around 1-1/2", so your 1-3/4" gap size is probably perfect to get clamps in and out, turning them as you need to. I could easily do that by just shaving off about 1" from a single slab and call it good.

So, maybe a tool tray isn't quite as important to have. I may add a short tray on one end; an insert that I can slide out when I want. I'm trying to think of the best way to do that without reducing the width of the slot beneath the slab to support a tray in the slot. Maybe just a couple of small blocks that twist into place to hold it? The majority of weight could rest on one of the crossing members for the end of the bench. Just remove the tray if I need to clamp in that space and twist the blocks out of the way.

The primary reason for the tool tray would be to hold chisels or similarly-handled hand tools. Maybe smaller saws, but not as likely. Writing/marking tools. That sort of thing. But, I definitely want it removable so I can use the entire bench surface, if I need to.

[Eric Schubert]

Phil, to address your post. I think you're right. Changing the position of the mortises isn't a great way to do this. I'll probably shave an inch or so from one of the slabs to get the desired gap. The ends would be difficult to disassemble, what with the oak dowels already driven in to drawbore the pieces together.

I also noticed that the legs aren't exactly square to the stretchers. This may be due to my inexperience with hand planes, causing a dished surface on each face of the legs. They tend to lean inward, so that's probably the case... So, I'll need to account for that when I lay out my mortises.

[Robert Hazelwood]

Hm, I guess I didn't realize you wanted a tool tray and not the typical slot you see on split top roubos. Something like Paul Sellers' bench I suppose. I think your base is too narrow to accommodate that at this point, at least one between the slabs. It seems to me a useful tool tray would need to be 6 or 8 inches wide. Sellers' bench is probably pushing 36" wide overall, so it can accommodate that.

If you are set on a tool tray, you can add one hanging off the back slab. That makes it hard to work on the back side of the bench, but if you are going to have it against a wall that is no matter. A tray off the side could work, too, although it depends on how your vises are setup; on mine it would get in the way of sawing some things in the face vise, or operating the tail vise, depending on which side it was added.

For what it's worth, I like the slot-type tool rest well enough. It's handy for repetitive operations involving lots of tools, like dovetailing. It keeps the tools all close to hand and safe from rolling off the bench or banging about. It's no good working with large wide parts, because the tool handles are all sticking up and in the way. Overall I try to keep tools off the bench and to have easy access to them on the wall behind me, so I can retrieve and return tools instantly. So the tool-storing capacity of the bench is not that important. If you can do something similar, then perhaps the best course is to keep the bench build as simple as possible, widen the slot to 1-3\4" or so, and make a simple slot-style tool holder (or an even simpler solid filler). Get it built, use it a while, then see if you feel like adding a tray.

In any case, I think you're doing a good job on this, it's beginning to look like a pretty nice bench!

[Eric Schubert]

Thanks, Robert! It's always amazing that I miss so many little details during planning, but have to deal with them during construction of a project. (It's certainly NOT limited to woodworking!) But, it's been a really great learning experience. I'm grateful for the speedbumps and mistakes, because I'm learning a lot as I move forward.

I'll widen the gap to accommodate clamps and smaller box carcasses. That's my highest priority for now. I'll deal with the tool tray later, maybe making something small for one end, just to hold pencils and chisels and stuff. I don't want a full-blown tool tray in the middle. That's just a spot for tools to fall through and get damaged, so narrower is definitely better.

[Pat Barry]

Thanks, Robert! It's always amazing that I miss so many little details during planning, but have to deal with them during construction of a project. (It's certainly NOT limited to woodworking!) But, it's been a really great learning experience. I'm grateful for the speedbumps and mistakes, because I'm learning a lot as I move forward.

I'll widen the gap to accommodate clamps and smaller box carcasses. That's my highest priority for now. I'll deal with the tool tray later, maybe making something small for one end, just to hold pencils and chisels and stuff. I don't want a full-blown tool tray in the middle. That's just a spot for tools to fall through and get damaged, so narrower is definitely better.

Hi Eric,
So what is the outside to outside dimension of your posts (front to back)? I'm guessing around 21 inches? That would make your bench be about 21 inches also, which I think is on the bottom of the range you'd want. WIth your top slabs being 10 inches wide, I'd hate to skinny them up any. I'd rather have a bit wider bench so I'd consider offsetting the back top a couple inches by overhanging it and leave the front side flush to the posts.

[Eric Schubert]

Hi Eric,
So what is the outside to outside dimension of your posts (front to back)? I'm guessing around 21 inches?

I just went down and measured this. The front-to-back dimension of the bench base is 21".

Considering that these top slabs are supported by the short stretchers beneath them, is there a reason you wouldn't want to narrow one of them by an inch? Is it just for as much solid benchtop space as possible?

[Pat Barry]

I just went down and measured this. The front-to-back dimension of the bench base is 21".

Considering that these top slabs are supported by the short stretchers beneath them, is there a reason you wouldn't want to narrow one of them by an inch? Is it just for as much solid benchtop space as possible?

Yes - just because I like a wider bench. I like the front edge to be flush because I more often clamp a board to the front side for doing edge jointing for example. The back edge having a bit of overhang doesn't bother me too much

[Eric Schubert]

That's fair. We all have our preferences. Unfortunately, I don't really have much experience, so I can't say if I prefer wider or narrower, yet. Wider would probably be nice, but at the same time it would take up more room in my already relatively-small basement. It also presents a challenge cutting a dovetailed mortise without an open side. I'll have to play with it a bit, setting the slabs on top of the bench, and see if I would prefer one over the other.

[Phil Mueller]

Eric,
No argument with Pat...I like wider too. But, like you, I’m tight on space. My bench is just shy of 24” wide. Which just allows me to work both sides if needed. But, honestly, given 99% of what I do, I wouldn’t really miss a couple of inches.

[Eric Schubert]

I made some good progress over the past several days. I started working on the large mortises in one of the top slabs. Doing these really deep mortises and tenons has probably been the most-difficult woodworking I've ever done. It's hard work, boring deep holes. And cleaning up the mortise to a nice, rectangular shape is nearly impossible in this pine. It just tears out like nobody's business. But, I managed to get the first slab's mortises done and fitted to the tenons. Next step is to get the second slab done, and then clean up the bit of tenon sticking out above the slab's surface. The joints aren't the prettiest, there are some gaps here and there. But, the joint is rock-solid. With the slab resting on the small crossing stretchers beneath them, these slabs aren't going anywhere. If they loosen up at all, I'll look at fastening them into place with lag screws. Otherwise, I'll see how it goes for now without the screws.

Some pics of the process:

The new gap will be just about 2 inches wide, just a touch wider than my clamps.


Getting the dovetail mortises cut. Those angles are a PITA to fit properly!


Finally got both sets of tenons to fit the mortises!


Bench base with one of the top slabs in place.

[William Fretwell]

Almost together! Then it gets easier. Look forward to seeing it finished.

[Eric Schubert]

Thanks, William! Me, too!