Das Bench ( the bench) pics

[Robert Miller]

After twenty five years of working on 2x4 and plywood workbenches, I finally got around to making the most important tool in my shop. A German cabinetmakers bench.
I thought that the Creek might like to see my new bench that I've named Bas Bench which is almost completed. It is seven feet long and made entirely of white oak. The design is a combination of several benches that I liked. It will have a end vise and a german front vise. The vises will be made of honduras rosewood.
There are no fasteners in the bench except for the end cap bolts. The joinery has all been done by hand with wedged through mortise and tenon.
The wedges are made from ziricote.

The base:




The foot was draw -bored and pined with three ziricote dowels that I made.




The completed base.





The top is laminated from white oak. I hand cut the end cap dovetails.




This was the first job I actually did on Das Bench. Dovetails.




the dog holes






upside down , the endcaps have a 1/2" blind spline milled into them. The endcap dovetails and the bolt hold them into place, no glue. The top can move like a breadboard . There is glue only in the dovetails.




This is where I am at this point, I have hand cut half-blind dovetails in the endcaps for the rear apon and tool tray which I have not photographed yet. The finish will be waterlox.

What do you guys think? Have I missed anything?

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful bench Robert. The craftsmanship in construction is obvious. You’re not actually going to do work on it are you?

[Reg Mitchell]

Robert I would like to say that is one fine looking bench. The base is super nice. More pics when it is completed I hope
Reg

[James Phillips]

That looks better than alot of dining tables I have seen. It will be a shame to actually work on it and risk scarring that nice wood.

[Jason King]

I'm impressed with both the joinery used and the workmanship involved. You may want to post this over in the Neander section, they always enjoy this sort of thing.

I've been debating what bench to build myself. It's always good to see what other come up with.

congrats

[Robert Miller]

Beautiful bench Robert. The craftsmanship in construction is obvious. You’re not actually going to do work on it are you?

Thank you,

Funny you said that, I had it in the living room until my wife finally threw me and my das bench out into the shop for good.

She said I'll never use it to bang on, it looks better than our furinture, and she says I'll end up roping it off with velvet rope.

Well she's close anyway

[Paul Chinetti]

That is one beautiful workbench. If you take that much pride in that, I would like to see a piece for inside use!

Newbie question for you (or anyone) but how in the world is the top attached to the base??

[Wilbur Pan]

Excellent looking bench!

Paul already asked the question I was going to ask (how are you planning to attach the top to the base), but I've got another one:

Conventional wisdom holds that oak is too "splintery" to make a workbench out of. Can you talk about why you decided to go with white oak for your bench?

[Gary Keedwell]

Excellent Bench!!! How many does it seat? I would be proud to serve our turkey diner on that.
Gary K.

[David Gilbert]

I’m very impressed!

You are quite a bit ahead of my workbench construction project. I’m designing a similar bench but will use two sections of maple bowling alley instead of the oak. So far, my construction is limited to cutting the sections down and planing the edges. Oh yea, I also built two wooden bench dogs. Obviously, I have a long way to go.

I have several questions:

Did you draw up plans with CAD software? If you have plans are you willing to share? I’m using my workbench design to learn SketchUp and know that it can import designs from different formats.

I’m particularly interested in your tail vise. What hardware did you use? What size will it be? Any suggestions about it will be welcomed.

You mentioned it is seven feet long, how wide and high is it? How thick is your top? What are the depth and width of your tool tray?

I think that there will be lots of us looking forward to more pictures of Das Bench.


Thanks,
Dave

[Robert Miller]

That is one beautiful workbench. If you take that much pride in that, I would like to see a piece for inside use!

Newbie question for you (or anyone) but how in the world is the top attached to the base??

Thanks very much. I'm not finished yet but it's close.
There are two crossmembers bolted in slotted holes to allow the top to move a little under the bench. I made a oak one inch ' bullet" which is just a locator pin that aligns with the hole you see in top of the base.
The top is not fastened at all to the base. It is held in place by the
" bullet ",and gravity does the rest. I estimate the top weight alone at 150 lbs.

[Robert Miller]

Excellent looking bench!

Paul already asked the question I was going to ask (how are you planning to attach the top to the base), but I've got another one:

Conventional wisdom holds that oak is too "splintery" to make a workbench out of. Can you talk about why you decided to go with white oak for your bench?

Sure, if I had used flat sawn 12/4 boards on edge I'd be somewhat concerned about the oak. This is white oak, not red and it is about as dense as it could be. I had to have my chisels like razor blades to cut the dovetails in it. By laminating the top I' have vertical grain to the work surface and that s why you see so many beautiful rays exposed in the wood.

I have several oak mallets that I hammer the bejesus out of all the, so far no splits.

But the real reason is because I managed to get 200bd ft. of white oak that Merrill over at Alva Hardwoods let me have for $1.25 a bd ft. because he was trying to make room for the $20,000 worth of teak he had purchased.

[Dennis Peacock]

Beautifully done and I sure do need a bench like that in my shop.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

das iss das nice bench yah

[Robert Miller]

I’m very impressed!

You are quite a bit ahead of my workbench construction project. I’m designing a similar bench but will use two sections of maple bowling alley instead of the oak. So far, my construction is limited to cutting the sections down and planing the edges. Oh yea, I also built two wooden bench dogs. Obviously, I have a long way to go.

I have several questions:

Did you draw up plans with CAD software? If you have plans are you willing to share? I’m using my workbench design to learn SketchUp and know that it can import designs from different formats.

I’m particularly interested in your tail vise. What hardware did you use? What size will it be? Any suggestions about it will be welcomed.

You mentioned it is seven feet long, how wide and high is it? How thick is your top? What are the depth and width of your tool tray?

I think that there will be lots of us looking forward to more pictures of Das Bench.


Thanks,
Dave

Hi Dave, I'll be happy to help you any way I can. The first thing you need is a copy og The Workbench Book. It has working drawing in it with dimensions.

I'm currently at work on the tail vise which is made from honduras rosewood that my friend Merrill at Alva Hardwoods tossed me with a wink and a thanks for all my business .
Great guy.
This is what the tail vise will be.


Dimension are 6 1/4 wide, 5" thick and 23" in lenght. The hardware for the vise ids fron Veritas. ( not the twin vise).

To determine the best height for the bench is personal preference but the 'rule' is to stand with you arms straight down at your sides. Now turn your palms don flat with your arms straight.
I'm 6' 6" tall Das Bench is 38" tall.
The tool tray will be 7 1/4" wide with a 1" thick rear apron, two and a half inches deep.it will be milled with slots in it to hold chisels like this:


The overall width of Das Bench is 28 inches including the tool tray. The main field is two and a half inches thick. The dog hole strip is four inches thick, the vises are five inches thick.

This link is a great full tutial on making this bench with all dimensions.

http://home.mindspring.com/~hobbesct/Workbench%201.htm

I went for the full German lenght of seven feet but you can change it to what suits you.
Das Bench is a combination of many things. The base was a design in Fine Woodworking, the top is pretty close to Frank Klausz.

The finished bench will close to this