Bench Finished (almost)

[Don Inghram]

Here are some pics of my bench I've been working on for about the last year. Jatoba with African Mahogany face vise jaw. Curly Maple doors with plywood drawers and cabinet.

[John Jendro]

Very nice..looks too good to use.

[Tim Byars]

Now that is a work of art...what are the dimensions?

[Peter Quadarella]

Fantastic! And Congratulations on finishing such a large and beautiful piece of work.

[tim mathis]

hi don, that is a great looking bench.

[Bruce Page]

All I can say is, SAAAWHEAT!

It'll serve you well, there's nothing like a good bench.

[Dewey Torres]

Very nice...
Remember to put something on the corners of those drawers to protect insides of those beautiful doors. (Please don't ask how I know that).
Great Job!
Dewey

[Don Inghram]

The top measures 87" X 31" X 4". By my calculations on the weight of Jatoba per cubic foot the top alone weighs over 400#. I built the whole thing with the idea of moving into hand tools. Funny part is the only handtools I used on the whole bench was a #7LV jointer to flatten the top. Kind of like you have to have the proper bench to use handtools. A catch 22 if you will. On the base I mentioned using ply. What I did was double up 3/4" ply laminated together to form the basic base structure. Should be plenty strong. The reason I made it so wide is it will have to double as a assembly bench also. Besides, I can access both sides of the bench so it (the width) shouldn't be a problem. Used a Veritas twin-screw on the end vise. About the hardest part was drilling all the dog holes in that Jatoba. That's some hard stuff. One more pic:

[jerry nazard]

Don,

If you are going to build something like that and post a photo, please post LOTS of photos. At least let us see it from several angles and with the doors closed. What is the finish?

Did you see the recent thread on FWW Knots about hand tool storage? One of the new FWW editors posted a pic of his recent cabinet. I'm going to post a link over there to your thread here.

Back to your bench. That is one beautiful piece of work! Please share more pictures.

Best!

-Jerry

[Don Inghram]

Few more:

[Don Inghram]

Sorry about the image size, computers are not my strong point.

[jerry nazard]

Sorry about the image size, computers are not my strong point.

Don,

Who cares. It's a woodworking forum. Thanks for the additional pictures. That is one very nice bench.

-Jerry

[gary Zimmel]

Don

Now that is one sweet looking bench.... Great job!

[Johnny Kleso]

Very Nice Job............

[Eric DeSilva]

Nice bench--looks plenty solid.

Just out of curiousity, what are the rows of what look like 3" holes along the sides? Most of it seems self-explanatory, and maybe I'm unsufficiently caffeinated, but I can't figure that out...