Show us your Bench

[Brendan Dahl]

Since this thread has been resurrected I'll add my roubo. The top is made from four 4x6x8' glued together. The legs are 6x6s and the stretchers are 4x4s. Everything is douglass fir except the leg vise which is maple. I'll be moving a couple times in the next few years so its designed to come apart. The top is attached with big mortise and tenons and currently is just sitting there with no glue. The long stretchers are attached with benchcrafted bench bolts and the short stretchers are draw bored. I did most the work by hand but used a planer towards the end as my arms were about to fall off. The douglass fir was all green and I don't think a single board remained flat or square after drying. If I were to do it all over again I'd try to find one or two big pieces for the top or use a jointer and planer and use some 4x4's I found that were really tight grained.
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[Robert Nease]

Nice Bench. I did the same with SYP, glued the top up about six months ago, and still haven't finished. I think I am going to call it my test bench, but yours is a keeper.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

I just finished up my bench a couple weeks ago. I splurged on the bench hardware:
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Most of the lumber was free/cheap. The legs are laminated drops from a company that makes stairs:
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The top is very inexpensive 8/4 QSWO from a local sawer.
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And the chop is a very special piece of QSRO I picked up from http://quartersawnoak.com/ :
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It took me ~3.5 months of my free time to make. I documented the build at nc woodworker dot net. If you want the gory details search for "Started my workbench!" by "eyekode". If you want full res images you can go here: http://photos.ganzhorn.org/2011_random

I mostly followed the bench plans that came with the bench builder's kit from benchcrafted.com. They are really good directions. The only changes I made were to make it 33" inches tall and only 82" long (I didn't have the lumber for more), and I used drawbored tenons instead of benchbolts for the long stretchers. By the way I assembled all the joints with drawbored tenons (walnut pegs for contrast) and no glue!

I still need to make the sliding dead man (which will be made from the same board I made my vice chop out of). And I have not used it enough to pass judgment. But I would say if I had one thing to do differently I would use better lumber for the top.

Thanks for starting a fun thread!
Salem

[Andrae Covington]

Wow, quartersawn white oak top. Should be solid, though your chisels might take a beating, if you plan to chop and pare on the top. I like the quartersawn vise chop. The oregon white oak I used for my chops was mostly riftsawn / quartersawn, but didn't have any ray figure.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Oh no I didn't even chop on my old bench which had a top that was meant to be replaced .

Also using this QS white oak for the top is the only thing I regret about the build. The quality is very poor. It will be a major pain with tearout galore when I have to flatten it again! Should have spent more and gotten some local soft maple. Or some other higher quality straight grained wood.

About rays in oak: in the chop I did some slight bevels to sorta immitate the grind on a chisel. I was surprise to see how quickly the rays went away as I increased the bevel angle. To get maximum effect you really need it sawn very , very close to 90 degrees! Look closely at my last picture and you will see what I mean. What starts as a wide/well defined ray turns to a slight streak as soon as it reaches the bevel.

[Michael Peet]

Salem, I really like that bench. How did you finish the oak?

Mike

[Chris Vandiver]

Salem,

That is a finely crafted bench you have there! Nice job.

[Kevin Grady]

Salem, love the bench! Esp. when I'm in the middle of desiging one very similar. A couple of questions, how did you attach the top to the base and do you have any pictures from under the top? I'm curious about the joinery you used to connected the legs with the cross members supporting the top.

Thanks!
Kevin

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Mike I used the finish made popular by Sam Maloof:1 part BLO, 1 part Poly, one part mineral spirits. I usually put up to 6 coats on furniture. I only did two on the bench followed by wax. Just enough so glue doesnt stick and my sweat doesn't soak in and turn the top black .

I don't think this is a great finish for showing off QS oak but it is easy and if you don't put too many coats it does not build a film.

If you would like to see pictures before the finish you can look here: http://photos.ganzhorn.org/album871

Thanks!
Salem

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Kevin the joints connecting the top strechers are drawbored mortise and tenons. But I highly recommend Jameel's bench plans. They are very detailed. And amazingly he answers the emails if you get stuck!

I tend to overanalyze everything. And the only joinery I changed was the front strechers (I didn't want to use bench bolts).

Salem

[Peter Scoma]

Beautiful bench Salem. Pics of the kids are precious too.

[Greg Millen]

Bit of an update. The Karri leg vise is complete. The lower wheel is recessed into the chop. Remaining task now is to finish the rest of the bench after drilling a few more dog holes and replacing the temporary block in the wagon vise.

[Hans Braul]

Here's my recently completed Roubo. Posted here under projects. Looks like Chris Schwartz has had a big influence!

Hans
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[Joel Thomas Runyan]

How are you liking the Veritas sliding tail vise?

[Bruce Page]

Hans, your bench is gorgeous!