Pop Woodworking 21st Century Bench

[Chris Schumann]

This project would be bit tricky without a planer, although if you can get your lumber shop to dress the lumber for you it would reduce a lot of the need.

If only! My lumber for this project is rough on three sides, and bark on the fourth. I got it from a private seller who took it from his own lake home lot. (Nearly) 8/4 ash should be pretty dry after nine years, yes?

I'm hoping that my jointer will keep the faces parallel, and that my table saw will make the edges parallel.

[Rob Bois]

I'm hoping that my jointer will keep the faces parallel, and that my table saw will make the edges parallel.

Your TS will work fine for keeping the edges parallel, but you jointer won't work well for keeping the faces parallel. Especially if this is really rough stock you're odds aren't good. You could run the oppose face through a band saw if you have one. Otherwise, you'll need to use a jack plane to work the opposite side. But it's absolutely critical to get well dimensioned lumber especially for gluing up the top and for registering the cuts for the joinery on the bottom. This is one project you might want to see if you could borrow, rent, or steal a planer!

[Tom Hargrove]

Chris -

I can echo Rob's comments about the planer. A jointer can't and won't make parallel faces on a board unless those faces are already parallel. And the more material that you remove with a jointer, the more likely it is the faces will move out of parallel. Given the investment in time that you will make in building this bench, you will want it to come out right.

I have almost finished the bench (with some design changes) using recycled rough sawn oak timbers I salvaged from a friend's remodeling project. I had the timbers resawn on a band mill to 16/4 (for the legs) and 8/4 (for the balance). I had obtained the wood and had it resawn before the article was published.

I have generated over 40 gallons of chips and sawdust from my from machining the wood for the bench. At least 30 gallons of this came from the planer. Since you also have rough lumber to start with, you may very well create a similar amount of debris. I cannot imagine doing all of the planing that will be necessary by hand, especially without a good bench to begin with.

[Rob Bois]

Well I'm almost done now. The vises are both on, and the final step is the construction of the tool trays. I did get bitten by a typo in the cut list in the magazine article. The lenght of the tool tray bottom is listed as an inch too short (the delta between the bottom and the sides should be 1 inch, not too). So I cut my first set of bottoms too short. But my glass is half full. Since I was out of 4/4 ash at this point, I used 1 5/8" strips of 8/4 stock edge glued to 6 3/4" for the bottoms. So now when I turn the trays over, the surface will show laminated QS ash matching the rest of the top. That suits my OCD just fine! I will post some pictures when I finish up next weekend. This took a little longer than I expected, but I also paid very close attention to detail since I will be looking at this bench in my shop for a long time to come, and didn't want to be haunted by any gaps in the joinery.

[Chris Schumann]

How's your bench coming, Tom?

[Tom Hargrove]

I have the tops installed and the vises mounted. I applied a couple coats of Watco. I still don't have the space between the tops filled in, and I got sidetracked by a subtle request from SWMBO for a new knife block for X-mas.

Once the knife block gets finished, I will finish the bench. Photos will be shared!

[Rob Bois]

Tom that's funny, that's exactly where I am (minus the watco). I have glued up the trays, but don't have enough ash left to make the cleats, so back to the lumber yard for me. Would love to see the pics when complete, I'll probably be posting mine around the same time.

[Rob Bois]

At long last I have finished my bench. In total it was probably about the equivalent of a dozen or so weekends. I've posted some pics and video on my web blog (you can find it if you look at my profile). I'm also doing a live "reveal" of the project on a live ustream broadcast tomorrow (Tuesday Dec. 23rd) at 1:00 PM EST if anyone want to see the final product. Details, as well as a replay of the video, will also be on my blog. The project has been a lot of work, but also very gratifying to have done. And I've already gotten some great use out of it. Thanks to Bob for a fantastic design - I can't believe I ever doubted the tool trays!

[Chris Schumann]

You can buy the October 2008 issue for $8. Or you can buy the DVD for $20. I highly recommend you buy one or both, and in the paper issue, there's a link to a page on their web site that has the entire article, tons of pictures, shop drawings and more.

Resurrecting this thread, I noticed today that this issue is available online at Cloverleaf.com for 99 cents. Cloverleaf Issue

[Jerome Hanby]

Resurrecting this thread, I noticed today that this issue is available online at Cloverleaf.com for 99 cents. Cloverleaf Issue

WOW! That's pretty neat. Much than spending $8.00 plus shipping!

[Brad Simmons]

I'm just getting started in woodworking and was considering building this as my first bench. For those of you who completed this bench and have had it for a while... what do you think? Any regrets? Any changes you would make?

[Rob Bois]

Brad, looking back at my initial posts, it would seem my bench has been in use for about 2 1/2 years now (it seems like I built this thing just yesterday). In any case, I've put the bench through it's paces in that time, and have no real regrets at all. My one initial regret was going with the 30" twin screws given that I shortened the bench from 8' to 6'. But I do a lot of hand cut dovetails, and having that span has proven quite useful. I tend to keep one of the tool trays open for use, and the two on the right upside down for a flat top (since I shortened my version there is no fourth tray). Honestly, I can't think of anything I would improve on it even after all this time.

[Scott Flamm]

Brad, if you don't already have it you might look into getting a copy of Chris Schwarz's Workbench Design Book. It has details and reviews about many of the workbenches that have been built at Popular Woodworking over the last decade or so. Bob Lang's 21st Century Workbench is included in it and he (Bob Lang) gives a review of what he likes/dislikes about the bench after having used it for a while.