Please show me your workbench(es)

[Roger Bell]

nothing fancy, single Record vise. 30 x 60 inch lam maple top. weighs 200#. bed bolts hold stringers to legs. you can't likely see the row of dog holes down the front edge. "tail vise" when (rarely) needed consists of LV screw/benchdog. ten years old. one of these days.....maybe something nicer but this has been adequate for hand tool work.

good for planing and clamping. bench in background upper left is similar, but just bolted together and features cruddy formica top. used for gluing and finishing.

[Ben Grunow]

Isn't there anyone out there who made their bench from leftover framing lumber and plywood (of various thicknesses)? My benches are all ripped down 2 x 12 and 2 x 10 legs, stetchers and braces with a couple of layers of CDX ply. A six foot level generally sits flat but occasionally up an eigth in some places. Assembled with drywall screws so the top sheets are replaceable and MAYBE the edges get rounded over with the ROS. Ignorance is bliss to me. I would be afraid to work on some of the benches shown, they are nicer than my dining room table! By the way, I have not finished building the dining room never mind the table. I can't be the only cave man, the rest of you are just hiding. Wish I had some pics.

[Frank Fusco]

Man! Wadda mess. One of these days I'll clean it off and start over again. My bench isn't real pretty in the classic sense of some shown here. But it has a story. When I was a small child (I'm 67 now), my family lived on the west side of Chicago. On the street behind us was a tavern/restaurant that had one of those bowling type games where heavy steel disks were slid down a smooth surface. It was 20' long and made of laminated maple and oak. Somewhere along the line, the tavern closed and my father bought the game and cut it up into several sections. Those were made into workbenches. He used them in his professional cabinet making shop for many years. This one is 8' long. When he reitired and moved to Arkansas the benches came along and he started another business. Eventually he sold that business. Two of the benches remained but he kept this one and six years ago it came down to me. For whatever reason he painted the top green. Maybe one day I'll strip and sand it, but that's only on the 'maybe' to do list. It is gosh awful heavy but very sturdy. The top is about 80 years old and, barring disaster should last indefinately.>>

[Carl Hill]

Well, here's some pics of the workbench I built last year. All quarter sawn hard maple with a wipe on poly finish. Works good so far.

Workbench 127 (960 x 720).jpg

Workbench 180 (640 x 480).jpg

Workbench 182 (960 x 720).jpg

Carl

[Bart Leetch]

But here is one that I posted in the wrong Thread I meant for it to go here.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=20844

[Frank Chaffee]

Carl Hill, Sir,
Your bench stands among the best I have ever seen, from the attention to the carved-in tool tray, the alternating levels of stops for viced wood from two directions, through the easily accessible platform above the drawers, and down to the solid stringers that facilitate moving with a pallet jack.
Worthy of emulation, indeed!
Frank

[Tyler Howell]

Well, here's some pics of the workbench I built last year. All quarter sawn hard maple with a wipe on poly finish. Works good so far.

Workbench 127 (960 x 720).jpg

Workbench 180 (640 x 480).jpg

Workbench 182 (960 x 720).jpg

Carl

You've been holding out on us Carl.
The picture gods need more sacrifices of great WW projects to be appeased.
Beautiful bench. Thanks for sharing
You've got a lot of catching up to do.

[Bruce Page]

You've been holding out on us Carl.
The picture gods need more sacrifices of great WW projects to be appeased.
Beautiful bench. Thanks for sharing
You've got a lot of catching up to do.

I agree Tyler!

All of these benches are worthy of their own threads!!

[Steven DeMars]

I really like your bench . . . any chance you used some existing plans or your own design . . . . If your own I would sure appreciate some additional pics . . .

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[Danny Buie]

Christian,
Attached are some snapshots of my bench and other items. The bench cabinet is built from plywood much like kitchen cabinets. The cherry is from a log I help saw into lumber. I work out side due to limited space so casters are on everything. The top is 1 5/8 maple with 3 1/4" edging. The top is half of a worktable from a highschool shop auction. The vise came with the table. The bench is the same height as the table saw and you can see I also use sawhorses.
The storage cabinet was built to allow me to get all my portable tools outside and be able to close them up at the end of the day or to run an errand. It is the same height as the bench. The top is the other half of the school table top in its original beatup condition. Plans are to clean it up one day. The cabinet is actually under my lumber rack in this picture and what you are seeing in the very top of the photo is a cherry chest I have started that is temporaly stored in the lumber rack. The dooors are on piano hinges and serve as storage. All the dados provide a very flexible arrangment. I have a couple of trays, the ROS tray is in the foreground on a low bench. I have two of these low benches for another work height situation.
The clamp rack works but not as I had hoped. It gets all the c-clamps, handscrews, and light bar clamps out but no place to put the pipe clamps. The box on top was supposed to be for more tools but is more of a junk collector. Room for improvement.
This is what works for me. I always enjoy seeing how everybody else solves the problem.
Danny Buie
Baton Rouge, La.

[Christian Aufreiter]

Thanks again for your messages. Now I’m even more confused than I was before as a result of your inspiring ideas. But that’s fine.
Carl, nice bench and one most impressive tool trough.
Danny, another nice bench and the storage cabinet is an excellent example of most efficient use of space.

Regards,

Christian

[Carl Hill]

Thanks for the kind comments. Unfortunately Steve, the plans came from my own peabrain and are only scratched out on a legal pad. I've got to learn to use one of the CAD programs. I used the Leigh FMT for most of the joinery. Did I say I love my Leigh FMT?

Thanks again,
Carl

[John Hulett]

I'm glad this thread was started, as I'm realizing how badly I could use a good solid workbench. I've considered building one by using the laminated top technique, but I think I would be challenged by getting the durned thing flat. I understand that a jointer plan (LN 7?) would be the tool for the job. Any other methods used for flatening the top? Am I better off buying a top (ala LV) or perhaps using 3 layers of MDF?

- John