Pop Woodworking 21st Century Bench

[Chris Schumann]

Would someone post a budget for buying parts for this? I know wood can vary by species and time of day, but a rough idea of that and the metal bits would be nice to know to help me decide whether to buy the DVD.

[Bert Johansen]

This is a timely post as earlier today I ordered Robert's DVD that tracks the project. Count me in if you establish a sub-topic as I'm planning to make the bench. And the posts are certainly enhanced by Robert's participation.

[Bob Lang]

Chris,

The prices for the vises and hold-downs are in the magazine article. This was the biggest expense, about half the money went for the twin screw vise. The holdfasts from Tools for Working Wood I consider essential, and one of the best investments a woodworker can make. The Lee Valley surface clamps are very nice, but if your budget is tight, you might want to wait and get them later on.

The lumber cost for me was about $350 +/-. Buying dimension lumber as Chris Schwarz does would have been less expensive, but I didn't want to see yet another southern yellow pine bench in our shop. There is an entry on the Popular Woodworking blog about the lumber for this project here:

buying lumber

There are also several blog entries on the blog. If you search on "Bob's Bench", and "A Proper Bench for Bob" you'll get right to them.

Bob Lang

[Scott Loven]

I have a pile of ash that is two inches thick ($1/BF) that I want to use for a bench like this, how should I strait line rip it? Circular saw and straight edge? I have the EZ system, but it will not allow me to cut the full depth of the wood. Cut half way, flip and cut the other half and then dress it up on the jointer? I don't have a band saw.
Scott
Scott

[Chris Schumann]

I have an American elm that has to come down (broke in a storm, not diseased), and I think it would make a great workbench. I bought the magazine this weekend, and the BOM notes that the ash was TAP (Thick as Possible), but the text says that it was 8/4 stock.

When I mill my tree (have it milled, really), should I have it sliced to 8/4? Then I have to decide if I can wait for it to dry, or haul it to a kiln.

I think the tree is about 20 to 24" at the base. Will having it flat-sawn be adequate? I know it will be faster. Would there be any benefit to quarter-sawing?

[John Schreiber]

Thickness is a trade off between appearance, stability, convenience and drying time. Two big slabs would look very nice and it would certainly save on gluing and stock preparation time. Wood movement would be less predictable for big pieces like that though. I haven't worked with elm, so I'm not sure how big a concern that would be. Drying time does increase with thickness so that could be a problem. Except for appearance, I don't think there would be any benefit to milling the wood any larger than 3 1/2" square.

Quarter sawn wood is more stable and may present a harder surface for your work surface, but if you have the lumber for the top sawn square, you can pick whatever face you like. Be sure to seal the ends as soon as possible and cut plenty of extra in case of problems.

[Scott Loven]

I just read an article on drying wood in American woodworker (DEC 06) and the guy said that elm needed to be heavily weighted when drying to keep it from warping like crazy. I know I could buy dried elm local so I know that it can be done.
Scott

[Scott Loven]

I have a pile of ash that is two inches thick ($1/BF) that I want to use for a bench like this, how should I strait line rip it? Circular saw and straight edge? I have the EZ system, but it will not allow me to cut the full depth of the wood. Cut half way, flip and cut the other half and then dress it up on the jointer? I don't have a band saw.
Scott
Scott

Any good ideas on how to rip these thick boards?

Scott

[Chris Schumann]

Cutting through a two-inch board is a pretty basic task for a wood worker. A table saw would make quick work of it, and could give a finished edge with a good blade. Every 10" TS I've seen will do 3" at 90 degrees, and many will do a bit more.

If you have a jig saw, that could do it, but it would need planing, and a hand saw and a lot of elbow grease would do the same.

I haven't tried a long straightedge and a circular saw (don't own either), but I'd suspect you might need to work that a bit afterward too. If you have some thick scraps, try the cut-flip-cut method and let us know how it worked for you.

[Rob Bois]

It's been a while since I've chimed in since I've been traveling. But last week I did make it to my lumber store to get the ball rolling on this project. After taking Bob's advice, I did decide to go with ash. Wood in general is really expensive right now in the Northeast (everyone is heating their homes with wood apparently). But both ash and SYP were almost the exact same price at $4.50/BF. I figure the ash will look nicer, and certainly be more stable. But due to the cost, and the limitations to my vehicle's carrying capacity, I just bought the wood for the top (which arguably needs longer to acclimate to my shop anyway). So $220 later, I now have all the wood for the top stickered in my shop. Due to selection, I really couldn't optimize too well on lumber. To make sure I get good 3" thick pieces, I ignored any board that was less than 7 1/2" (so I can get two 3" boards from each). I also had to buy 8' lenghts, while I'm planning on possibly revising my bench to be a bit shorter given my shop size. So there is a bit of waste on the ends too.

I figure I'll buy all the components in 3 phases to spread it over a few credit card statements. Next month I'll buy the lumber for the legs and stretchers, and then I'll buy the vices last (my local Woodcraft has the Veritas twin-screw in stock fortunately).

But I'd be curious what other people have found in terms of their own local lumber pricing. I shopped around, and $4.50/BF was pretty much the going rate for ash in the Boston area.

[Scott Loven]

I paid $1.50 BF for ash earlier this year here in Iowa where I live.
Scott

[Rob Bois]

Thickness is a trade off between appearance, stability, convenience and drying time. Two big slabs would look very nice and it would certainly save on gluing and stock preparation time. Wood movement would be less predictable for big pieces like that though. I haven't worked with elm, so I'm not sure how big a concern that would be. Drying time does increase with thickness so that could be a problem. Except for appearance, I don't think there would be any benefit to milling the wood any larger than 3 1/2" square.

Quarter sawn wood is more stable and may present a harder surface for your work surface, but if you have the lumber for the top sawn square, you can pick whatever face you like. Be sure to seal the ends as soon as possible and cut plenty of extra in case of problems.

Also wanted to comment on the question about QS wood for the top. You have to keep in mind that you are basically milling the 8/4 lumber to 3" or so and turning it on it's side, essentially making the exposed tops quartersawn. If you use QS wood in the first place, the final laminated top is flat sawn, and less stable.

[Jim Becker]

Rob, since you had to buy longer lumber than you prefer, the "waste" could, in fact, be laminated into material you can use to construct your base.

[Rob Bois]

So I finally started this project in earnest yesterday. I had let my lumber acclimate to my shop for a good 3-4 weeks, and started dimensioning down the wood. A good amount of work since the boards are all pretty heavy, and I had to do a lot of manipulating to get all the grain directions lined up. But I have 12 3 1/4" TAP (thick as possible) boards. The article suggests letting them sit for a few days to make sure they remain straight before gluing up. So I will do the finally pass on the jointer at 1/16" probably next weekend and then start the gluing. In the meantime I'm going to build an MDF I-beam to help with the glue-ups. And I also need to buy the rest of the ash for the base to give that time to acclimate before I need it. Stay tuned...

[Chris Schumann]

I couldn't wait for my elm to come down and dry to have a good bench. I thought about building either the "$175 bench" or 24-hour bench, but now that I scored this lumber, I'm going to try to build the bench I want now and use the elm for something(s) else.

I got some 8/4 ash from a gentleman who cut down the tree or trees from his lake home property nine years ago. It's nice lumber, almost entirely clear, but of varying width (most of it a usable 8 inches, some up to 10, and a bit up to 12). The planks are 8'8" long. There's bark on one side, and the wood was cut with a bandsaw, so there are flat, rift and quarter-sawn boards in the mix. The pith is in a couple, and one board is cracked, thankfully right down the middle. There are small animal stains on some boards, but I expect a lot of planing and jointing to go on anyway.

I calculated the needed lumber in the finished bench to be about 110 board feet, but that's after finishing. Since I'm pretty new at this, and different sizes of boards are needed, what's a quick guess on how many bdft you'd buy? I already have 154, but could buy the rest and have about 190, and at just under $2 per bdft, it's not a bad price.

EDIT: To answer myself, I just re-read this thread and Bob Lang's blog posts about buying lumber. He bought about 150 bdft, but estimated only 80 were needed. I'm not sure if his estimate included the 1-by lumber for the boxes and cleats. Since I'm a beginner, and the tree slabs I have available are pretty uneven in width, and a good price, I think I'll buy them. It'll be good for me to resaw the lumber for those boxes. I hope my bandsaw riser arrives soon.