Holtzapffel Bench

[David Beverly]

Hello All,

Long time lurker to this site and I finally have something to add. I'd like to thank all prevoius posters for sharing as it has helped me very much.
Last summer I attended the Chris Schwarz workbench seminar at Lie Nielsen and I finally finished my bench, almost. It still needs a finish which will be 50/50 blo turpentine. The carcass of the bench was my wife's uncomfortable computer desk/bench (to tall) which didn't quite work out, but I saw the potential in it. The top of the bench is a discarded oak office door which I don't recommend but it was free. The vise chops are soft maple which I milled from local trees a few years ago. I used cherry and apple for the vise handles and knobs which were also milled up and shaped with a spokeshave. I used the economy bench screws which Chris mentions in his book. One of the nuts was way out of square and I had to do a lot of filing to get it to work. The tail vise and Veritas dogs were given to me by a nieghbor who's husband had passed away and she thought I could use them.
I took Chris's advice and moved the tail vise as close to the front as I could. I added the oak to the front legs to give me a more subsantial clamping surface ,I think it looks better too. I didn't fix the the tail vise like Chris as I didn't like the look of the steel jaw showing and I had face grain to glue to from the door end so I added the maple let in piece. All the chops were squared up by hand and only the door was ripped to width with a circular saw.

I'll post more pictures after I apply the finish.

Thanks

[George Sanders]

Welcome to the creek. That is a nice writeup on a very nice bench. I am in the long drawn out process of designing and accumulating materials for a bench. I only hope it looks as good as yours when I'm done.

[Randal Stevenson]

Are the back bench legs 2x? Does it move much? What is in the drawer, or is it sand?

I am wondering because I have a top from a closed school, but it needs legs. I've been thinking about a design I saw somewhere, where the base was a sand filled box.

Thanks

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice

Thanks for sharing and the inspiration.

jim

[Chris Padilla]

Good economic use of what you had around you! I am more impressed with these types of innovations over those of us (guilty as charged...VERY guilty) who spend lottsa money "acquiring the best".

[David Beverly]

Thanks Guys,

Randal the original legs were about 3.5"x3.5" the bottom draw is holding tools, molding planes, marking guages etc. It doesn't move in use at all it's quite heavy. I can move it myself if I need to . Sand would be a good way to add mass to a bench though. The orignal carcase is pine with a 1.5" thick top which I planed flat then I then glued the office door to that for nearly 4" thick top.


Dave

[David Beverly]

I applied the blo/turpentine this weekend. Thanks for looking.

Dave

[Peter Quadarella]

Very nice David, that's some bench you have there!