Building a bench part 2

[Tom Bussey]

When building a bench a lot of thought and planning should go into it. I was planning on making my bench 8" long. Why? because my area sill support an 8 foot bench, And nobody builds them 8 foot long except me. I am going to make the top out of hickory. Why? because I bought a pile of it at an auction a few years back and I haven't had anything else to use it for I checked the length on each board and they are all over 8 feet closer to 9 feet. Not looking forward to making it flat though. And who in their right mind would build a top out of Hickory?

I figure since it measures right at one inch wide using a tape measure I am hoping they will finish out at 7/8 inch for gluing. I am not sure what the final width will be when it is all said and done.

I know a lot of plans call for 1 1/2 wide or even 2 inches wide, a lot less gluing. 6/4s or 8/4 are is a lot harder to work. One inch thick boards, even if they are a little bowed can be pulled in with clamps. The one thing never mentioned in the plans is that 6/4s board command a much higher price per board foot and that the cost of the board can be charged as 2 board feet because the board feet can double because of the thickness. If a person is on a budget they could get a big surprise when buying thicker boards.

Anyway I had it all figured out and then I said to my wife that I planned on entering it at the county fair and quite possibly the state fair. And she asked how how I was going to get it there. I said in my pickup truck, it has an eight foot bed. And she asked will it fit since the handle will stick out. You can't close the tail gate. To which I said, back to the drawing board.

If one looks at one of the pictures up top, you will see that the end of the vise, along with the shoulder support sticks out and I would not be able to shut the tail gate. So I decided I would go 7 feet long and not 8, So I laid out my top at 7 foot. And I was fine with that until just for fun I places a
2 1/4 inch wide board at the end of the plywood top which represents the wood tail vise support for a lack of any thing else to call it. and also placed the end of the vise screw where it should go only to find out I needed less that 6 inches of to make it fit in the pickup and not 12. Now I had to tape over some of my layout and lengthen the layout 6 inches.

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As this bench unfolds you will come to see why I wish to close the tail gate during transport.. And why, this is why, I am making a inexpensive , research and development actual size model. It will just make less problems when in the actual build.

Probably the most often asked question I see asked on wood working forums, is how high do I make my bench? I stated this in the opening part of the original post and now the time has arrived. So I will restate it.

Probably the most often asked question I see asked on wood working forums, is how high do I make my bench? The answer to that this question is how tall are you? Taller people need a higher bench and a shorter person needs a shorter bench. And only you can decide the height.

I checked the height of Sjoberg's benches out of Wood Craft and they ranged from 32
something to 35 1/2 for the high dollar ones. It is close but still to high for me.

I started by making legs and stretchers out of 2 X4 material to make a frame to support the plywood top that hopefully was cut and sized to fit the area allowed for the bench.

I knew from experience with my last bench that 36 inches was to high so I decided to start with 35. and I cut the legs at 34 1/4 so that when the 3/4 top was added it would be 35 inches. But after I screwed everything together I decided I should cut everything to the same height. I knew all I had to do is set the fence for the distance I needed. But I also know that not everyone has a say fence that will allow a cut like that so if following in my footsteps you will have to figure out what works in your shop. If you use this method, shorten a blade width at a time drop offs from the legs are the last thing you need

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Then I bolted the frame together because I figured I might have to shorten the legs some more and needed to be able to take it back apart.

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At this part I would like to speak about rubber mats to stand on. bench use covers a lot of different tasks and a person can find that a lot more time can be spent standing, working at the bench than though possible. Most people"s, and I say most because this is my disclaimer, shop has a cement floor and the floor can take a toll on the feet and legs over time. And after 50 years working on cement floors I strongly recommend a rubber mat at the bench. I picture a solid 2 foot by 5 foot mat I see in catalogs. I borrowed it from in front of my jointer . The other is a put together. If going that way, specking from experience I would glue it down very well on a 1/4 " plywood.

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My point is both measure about 3/8 " thick and if one adds a 1/4 " piece of plywood and if used the matting can lower the height of the bench 3/8s to 5/8s inch. Your bench stands on the floor while you stand on the mat. So if you are going to use one stand on it when determining your bench height.

Then I screwed a short piece of 2 x 4 to the end of the bench to act as a stop and turned the bench so that the planner would stop the bench from moving while I tried out the height with a hand plane and a gents saw.

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Frank Klausz said in his video, Dovetail a Drawer that a the correct height for a person is when he or she stand at the bench with their arms straight but relaxed can place their hands flat on the bench and I found that to be true. I have a picture of that but I can't add anymore pictures. Anyway as of now my height is 34 1/4 to34 1/2 from the floor, so now I have my length, height, and the width will depends on the width of each board during glue up but I want it wide enough for my Bessey 24 inch clamp to set on the top,

How am I doing so far? Run of the mill stuff that is always posted about new builds? Or with things most people don't consider when building a bench?

[Tom Bussey]

How does one delete an attachment (picture) And this is just to see if I can post another picture or two
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[Tom Bussey]

In my second addition I mentioned my tail vise screw and making allowances for it in length. Yes, I prefer an actual tail vise but the same principle holds true for any type of end vise of your choosing. On a personal note: I can not conceive of building a woodworking bench without some type of end vise so please disregard my references if you bench is not going to have one. A wood carver, a person who only makes toys, and any other disciplines may not have a need for one.

And again if I may e permitted my personal opinion which is: A workbench should be used as a work bench, Period. Nothing about it is sacred. However it should be that which automatically draws the eye of anyone entering my shop. Here I put my best foot forward. Paying attention to all the little details. If I am permitted, what I call the wow factor. An example is the dove tails on the tail vise and bench pictured above. They are big and anyone who knows anything about woodworking knows that they were not cut with a jig. They are half blind to the eye (eye factor) but actually they are through dovetails cut on a table saw and band saw, then a 1/4 wide piece glued on. Just like in everything there is a small learning curve but anyone can cut them if you have a table saw. A band saw is nice but can be done without one with a little extra work.

I do plan on covering all that if people are interested

[William Fretwell]

Hi Tom,
Mostly regular stuff so far. You must know if you liked your previous bench height? Don't forget work boots lower the bench also.
Personally my bench is 38.5", that is what I like. I hate to stoop and it's a very comfortable planing height for me, even for large stock.
I would encourage people to try heights for themselves as the 'recommended' heights by some 'experts' are found wrong by many people.
Yes the large dovetail on the end vise looks nice and I'm sure some people would love to see how you cut it. I chose to sacrifice looks for function and went with the huge glue area of finger joints. I doubt anyone will say WOW look at that glue area, but you can't win them all!
Perhaps you could say what you liked/didn't like about your last bench and how you plan to improve on it?

[Tom Bussey]

I knew from experience with my last bench that 36 inches was to high. It is right above the picture of the table saw. So yes , I did know if I liked the height of my old bench or not. I do not know if work boots would make that much difference and I have my doubts, but I will check it out and find out. It is a point to be considered and that is what this post is all about. It is about research and development to keep problems out of the build.

I too would encourage people to try different heights, that is why I showed building a temporary bench so they might have an idea how to find the correct heigh. for them and them alone. There is always a use for the plywood when the temporary bench is no longer needed, the same with the 2 X 4s.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Tom,

Good stuff so far. I would not have thought of building a prototype bench to check out the height for planning etc. Now, however, I would strongly think about building a prototype. For me, I have doubts of building very many benches, so would want to get it pretty close to a good end product the first time.

I might build two benches eventually, one relatively light and portable for carpentry and a stationary one for woodworking at a shop, probably building the portable one first. The portable one would give me more knowledge about how I end up using a bench before I build the one that will be used for years. (I don't know much about benches because I work on planks and sawhorses, like a lot of guys do who have primarily done carpentry, but of course that means I have to get pretty creative with clamps at times to be able to hold things to work on.)

Anyway, I appreciate the thoughts you are putting in about design.

Stew