Benchtop Bench

[Ted Phillips]

I was intrigued when I read Steve Latta's "Miniature Bench" article in Fine Woodworking (2014). My old workbench is a standard height of 30-something inches - perfect for most operations like planing, sawing, mortising, etc. I work primarily with hand tools and on smaller project like jewelry boxes, knife scales, utensils, and small-scale joinery projects. Therefore, I was finding that I spent a large percentage of my time hunched over the workbench, which was getting less and less comfortable every year. I built a Moxon Vise for cutting dovetails, which helped, but Steve Latta's plans got me thinking and sketching.

So I first went in search of a vise. I don't have a tail vise on my main bench, so I decided that was what I wanted on my new benchtop bench. I found exactly what I was looking for at Lee Valley with their Veritas Quick Release Tail Vise. So I planned the bench around that piece of hardware. After a visit to my local hardwood dealer (Dunlop Woodworks in Chantilly VA), I came away with a beautiful slab of silver maple that was an end-cut from a fireplace mantel. The slab, after flattening and squaring by hand is about 3.5" thick, 4 feet long, and 12 inches wide. I had some rustic walnut from another local dealer which had bad sticker stains and was unusable for fine work. I used this to trim out the chop, front apron, and legs.

I added an adjustable planing stop at the far left end of the bench using a thick chunk of walnut along with 1/2" acme screws, threaded bench studs (also from LV), and threaded handles. It slides up and down anywhere between flush with the bench surface to about 4 inches tall. I drilled quite a few dog holes in the top and also on the chop and front apron, allowing me a huge variety of clamping options for different sizes of stock - from small jewelry box parts all the way to furniture panels.

I attach the bench to my main workbench with C-clamps and another Veritas bench stud. It is solid as a rock, and as it sits now, the top of the benchtop bench is about 42 inches off the floor. This is too high for lengthy surface planing operations - but it allows me to sit on a shop stool and work without hunching over. I've found that this is fantastic for grooving, rabbeting, chisel work, and other operations where you need to be close-to-the-action. And for those times when I need my full bench, I can unscrew the c-clamps and remove the bench in under one minute. It is a tad heavy, but I can manage it. Sometimes, I just push it to the back side of my main workbench rather than lifting it onto the floor. I'm also thinking that I can use this as a portable work bench if I go on travel with my tools. We'll see. I'm just beginning to really appreciate the flexibility it gives me.

TedP

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[Jim Koepke]

Looks great.

jtk

[David Eisenhauer]

I don't know Ted, I'm thinking of calling BS on this because, from where I'm sitting, it looks like something that is about to be entered into some kind of show/exhibition/etc. A thrown together bench accessory? Nah. That booger is outstanding. I just recently glued up a 3" thick slab and added some short legs under it to raise it up around 11" or so, but all it has is some dog holes. You have shamed me into thinking about moving my face vise from my main bench to the benchtop bench and stick with the leg vise only for all of that type vise work on the main bench. The Moxon works for some sawing back relief and vision enhancement but does not do much to eliminate that low back tenderizing and squinting I get from working on mortises or other chisel work down on the main bench and that stuff, for me, is the time sink as opposed to sawing. Good work Ted.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Ted,

Looks very nicely done and function too! Good Job!

Design is really interesting. I like the idea of it's possible use as a portable bench.

Stew

[Ted Phillips]

I don't know Ted, I'm thinking of calling BS on this because, from where I'm sitting, it looks like something that is about to be entered into some kind of show/exhibition/etc. A thrown together bench accessory? Nah. That booger is outstanding. I just recently glued up a 3" thick slab and added some short legs under it to raise it up around 11" or so, but all it has is some dog holes. You have shamed me into thinking about moving my face vise from my main bench to the benchtop bench and stick with the leg vise only for all of that type vise work on the main bench. The Moxon works for some sawing back relief and vision enhancement but does not do much to eliminate that low back tenderizing and squinting I get from working on mortises or other chisel work down on the main bench and that stuff, for me, is the time sink as opposed to sawing. Good work Ted.

OK - you got me there, David. The walnut makes it look more like a piece of furniture rather than a workshop tool. That, I have to admit. But the price on the sticker-stained "rustic" walnut was too good to pass up. I think I paid $3 per BF... And the maple slab was also a bargain as it was an odd-shaped cutoff from a large mantlepiece. I figured I was only going to build one of these, so I might as well do it up right.

But, as I always say... The proof is in the pudding. The pictures I posted are almost a year old now - and the bench doesn't look nearly as pristine as it did then. Chips, nicks, stains, dust, glue, and other assorted goobers have accumulated. I have used and abused it heavily over the past few months. I also recently noticed that the top has gone slightly out of flat, so I'll probably get out the jack plane and clean up the top a little.

One discovery from building this bench is that I really like are Lee Valley Bench Anchors. They are ingenious. They fit down inside a standard 3/4" dog hole, and with the twist of a hex wrench, they wedge themselves in the hole extremely securely. This enables you to anchor another jig or appliance to the bench using a 1/2"x13 threaded bolt. Very very versatile.

Thanks for the kind words, guys!