I hope this won't be one too many workbench threads, since Zahid and Dennis are going to be having workbench thread of their own, but I thought I'd post some shots of my workbench that I finally started on because I finally got off my butt to get going on it.
In a burst of energy with the new year, I finally made some movement towards building my "real" workbench. The temporary poplar-beam-on-sawhorses workbench that I had been using since May still works great. I've been able to plane, chop mortises, do chisel work, and saw using it without issues. I think that the reason it's taken me so long to get around to building my "real" workbench is that the poplar beam has worked out so much better than I thought it would. And actually, the main benefit that I think I will get from this bench is extra counter space. I think this benchtop will wind up being about 7' x 22". Over the past several months, I've needed the extra counter space much more than I've needed a leg vise.
Anyway, here's where I started:
I've been collecting kiln dried Douglas fir 4x4s from the borg for this project. I'd go there every few weeks from work, pick through their pile and leave with three that were clear, and knot free. I picked the best looking ones for the top. When I'm done gluing this up, I expect to have a benchtop that's essentially clear quartersawn Douglas fir with pretty tight grain (21-38 rings per inch, if I counted correctly).