Roubo from drawer scraps.... am I nuts?

[Jeff Wittrock]

Some time ago I had a bunch of narrow strips of poplar laying around....
If I can waste the time (and glue) on a bunch of poplar, then you can certainly feel justified in wasting the time (and glue) on maple .

Happy gluing.

[Zach Dillinger]

Some time ago I had a bunch of narrow strips of poplar laying around....
If I can waste the time (and glue) on a bunch of poplar, then you can certainly feel justified in wasting the time (and glue) on maple .

Happy gluing.

Thanks for the inspiration Jeff. That bench looks great.

[Daniel Kennedy]

For the end to end joints, I would consider doing those on the router table with a bit designed for finger joints. I know this is the neander section, but it would probably make your life a little bit easer. If you join all of your wood end to end first, I suspect that it will make the rest of the lamination process easier. It would also eliminate the gaps between the ends. They wouldn't be strong end to end joints but I guess they would be better than butt joints. Good luck.

[Travis Teichmann]

Zach,
I'm building a similar bench from oak (red or white or don't know or care). A wonderful friend gave me enough 1/2" thick x 4"-6" wide oak to make a 24"x6' benchtop. My bench consists of a plywood laminate base (design from a magazine article) with a sub-top of three pieces of laminated 3/4" ply (also from same friend...he was re-doing his bench tops). I'll add the 2" thick oak on top of the plywood sub-top, making a benctop that is about 4-1/4" thick. I may never be able to move the bench, but it will definitely be sturdy enough for hand planing, jumping on, etc.

So far I have the base completed, sub-top installed, and four glued-up slabs of oak ready to glue into wider sections. I'll try to post some pictures tonite.

Travis

[Wilbur Pan]

Wilbur,

When you say inlays, do you mean something like a dutchman? Dovetail key? Your post just triggered an idea, a dovetail key to help hold the 6 sections together that will make up the 12" wide planks. That would be helpful to hold everything together lengthwise and might make it look kinda cool.

I was pretty much thinking along the lines of a dutchman.

I'm not sure I would rely much on dovetail keys to hold your subsections together, though. For your benchtop, you really just want to rely on a nice tight glue joint as much as possible.

[Zach Dillinger]

Daniel,

That would probably be a good idea, but I don't have a router, let alone a router table. I would do as you said, however, if I had one.

Zach

[Zach Dillinger]

Zach,
I'm building a similar bench from oak (red or white or don't know or care). A wonderful friend gave me enough 1/2" thick x 4"-6" wide oak to make a 24"x6' benchtop. My bench consists of a plywood laminate base (design from a magazine article) with a sub-top of three pieces of laminated 3/4" ply (also from same friend...he was re-doing his bench tops). I'll add the 2" thick oak on top of the plywood sub-top, making a benctop that is about 4-1/4" thick. I may never be able to move the bench, but it will definitely be sturdy enough for hand planing, jumping on, etc.

So far I have the base completed, sub-top installed, and four glued-up slabs of oak ready to glue into wider sections. I'll try to post some pictures tonite.

Travis

Thanks Travis. I'd like to see any pics you might have and try to see if I can adapt anything you've done successfully.

[Zach Dillinger]

I was pretty much thinking along the lines of a dutchman.

I'm not sure I would rely much on dovetail keys to hold your subsections together, though. For your benchtop, you really just want to rely on a nice tight glue joint as much as possible.

Yeah, that's true. I might do the keys anyway, just for looks.

[David Keller NC]

Hmm - Well, I still think you're nuts., but one thing that pops into my head is that it you know someone with a domino, this is one application that's tailor-made for it - gluing the end grain to end-grain of the short boards. Heck I'd even think about buying one and then selling it for this application - think of it as an open-ended "rental".

Failing that, I'd consider cutting open M&T joints in the ends. They're fast and easy with a flat-topped blade on a table saw and a jig, and they're way stronger than finger joints or just butt joints.

[Jim Koepke]

This has to wait until I finish my new Roy Underhill pine tool chest so that I can take my tools to the MWTCA meet on Saturday. I've decided to build a cherry sliding till with drawers and veneer the inside with cherry... its looking pretty sharp if I do say so myself. I'll get some pics tonight if people want to see it.

I always like pictures of tool chests.

jim

[Wilbur Pan]

Yeah, that's true. I might do the keys anyway, just for looks.

I think "just for looks" justifies anything you do in building a workbench, or other shop projects.

[James Scheffler]

I think "just for looks" justifies anything you do in building a workbench, or other shop projects.

I've been thinking about this, and I don't believe you need to put any special effort into the end grain to end grain butt joints. (As long as you stagger the joints across the width, as suggested above. Picture a floor laid out with random-length boards.)

You will have so much long grain gluing surface on the faces of the laminations that I don't believe that your bench will have any significant loss of strength or rigidity due to the butt joints. The laminations would have to shear apart for the bench to break, and I don't think the thing would deflect at all in normal use. (Now maybe if you were using it to store a wrecking ball that would be an issue!)

If you do this, I would definitely use the full width of the boards so your bench ends up 4" thick. If I understand correctly, I think that's what you're planning anyway.

Jim S.

[rick carpenter]

If anything, I'd obsess over your end-to-end joints. The flatness of the top can be easily fixed. The end-to-end joints will be harder to fix.

You may want to consider half-lap or tongue and groove joints on ends instead of just butting them.

[Jim Foster]

An idea for perfect end to end joints. Cut the ends in a chop saw at 1/8 to 1/4 degree angle, so each board "drafts" inwards on both sides from top edge to bottom. (Leaving the board longest on the top edge)

[Zach Dillinger]

Creekers,

I glued up some sample chunks and tried to fit them together cleanly. After about an hour of doing so (only on one joint) and being unable to achieve tight end to end joints, I've decided to change my tactics a bit. I've purchased two 97" by 4.5" by 3/4" pre-surfaced and jointed one edge boards of quarter sawn white oak. I will use these as the front and back edges of my bench. I've started to laminate the maple pieces to the inside faces of those oak boards, staggering the joints so that they do not overlap. This allows me to ensure that all the end to end joints are tight and that the glue up can progress slowly to avoid mistakes.

I am about 4 layers of maple into the glue up and things are progessing nicely. I hope to have the top glued up within a week. I will be sure to take pictures of the top when it is finished.

I was distracted with the glue up last night and neglected to take pictures of my tool chest progress. I will rectify this tonight.

Thanks, all, for the advice. Here's hoping I end up with a bench thats worthy of all this effort!

Zach