Show us yer bench

ennisa

I have been woodworking for about a year. One of the first things that I built was my bench. And it is said that one of the first things you want to do after building your first bench is build another. As a result of trawling the web and reading books about workbenches (John Landis's workbench book and Chris Schwarz's workbench book) when I was planning mine I have now developed something of a bench fetish From the humble €80 workmate to the $2,500 Ulmia european style benches and all the the shaker and english benches in between I love them all. I had already started to build my bench when I began to discover all the other wonderfull types out there and to be honest at that time my woodwork skills were not up to the task of taking on anything more difficult. So I resolved to finish the one I was working on and then in time build my dream bench. I am a big believer in building your own bench. I think there are probably very few opportunities open to use to build something as solid and use nice big chunky joinery but I do understand that not everybody has the time or the inclination to build their own.

So I have two questions.

What tell us about/show us your current bench.

Tell us/show us your dream bench, the one that given little time, materials and money constraints you would love to build/buy.


Here is my bench. It was built from the following plan that I bought on line;
http://www.plansnow.com/wwrkbnch.html







I did make some modifications to the bench; I didn't make the drawers, I thought they would hamper my ability to clamp things to the top of the bench and they would get in the way of the dog holes. I also put a leg vice in the face vice position and put my woodworking vice where a tail vice would normally go and lined it up with the dog holes.I also used edge jointer 2x4's to make up the top, the plans recommended a solid core flat sided door and I have to say that would work very nicely if you have one or can get one cheap. It is not as heavy as it could be and tends to me a little under heavy hand planing. That is why the 110v converter is under there as those thinks weigh a freakin' ton I also plan on putting some concrete blocks on that shelf and then putting some plywood on top of those to use as a shelf and use that to add more mass to the bench. The construction was very easy. It used laminated 2x4 to make the legs and they way they go together means that they resist the front to back racking force very nicely.

My dream bench is probably Chris Scwarz's roubo bench here;
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/Shooting+The+Cover+Of+The+Workbench+Book.aspx

It is built from souther yellow pine, which is a good blend of strong and stiff and is available in ireland or at least I have seen it on the price list in brooks. The legs are morticed into the top so there is no need for top rails and stretchers and all the legs are morticed with big chunky joints. My current bench is bolted together as I wanted to be able to dissasemble it but I have now realised that I have no intention of moving house ever again, and even if I did it would be unlikely that I would be lucky enough to buy somewhere with the space that I have here.


So what have you got, and what would you want?

aerosol

My bench is in pieces! I made a quick n nasty one(of my own design) just to enable me to build the carcasses for my shop. Pretty much straight away realised it was sh*te. Its since been dismantled and waiting for me to redesign and make stronger.

I've looked at loads of plans and other folks' benches(usually with great envy) but still to decide on what to go for.

Thats a great leg vice on your bench Ennisa.Did you make your own dogs?

ennisa

aerosol I do make my own bench dogs, I just bored 3/4" holes in the bench in line with the tail vice and used 3/4" dowels as dogs, when they break I just cut another one. I am thinking about buying the veritas 3/4" brass dogs but I am worried that if I prang one of them with the plane iron that I'm going to spend too much time regrinding and honing the iron.

I need to size the Vice down a little bit and also pretty it up a little bit. it is 9" wide and 2" thick. Ages ago I cleaned up the inside of the jaw to remove some of the rough finish on it and as a result of doing that the front and back of the vice jaw are no longer parallel and it doesn't hold the work quite as nice as I would like as top, the inside of the jaw does not meet the leg squarely. I am going to cut it down to just under 8" wide, which should still be plenty wide, so that it will go through the jointer and joint and thickness it down a little bit. I also have a wonder pup dog hole clamp, from veritas, that I use to clamp work up against a 1" thick piece of oak that I have morticed through the bench top as a planing stop ( you can see it in the 2nd pic just above the vice screw on the leg closest to the camera) and I also have a pair of gramercy holdfast ( you can see them in the right hand leg of the bench) that are fantastic and they work on the 3/4" dog holes too so I can use them all over the bench. I love them but they did cost a bit to ship from the states. I think it was $30 for the pair and the same again for shipping.

I still have that plan from online if you would like to have a look at it aerosol. I would encourage you to buy it though if you like ( I think it was just $5 to download it)

SpitfireIV

You're lucky I didnt have a copyright on the line 'Show us yer .......... '

Nice bench you have there, looks the biz alright and I like that leg vice! I dont have one of those but will have to look into one soon.

I would put in a few pics of my bench but unfortunately, with the construction work going on its buried under a pile of junk and tools etc :rolleyes:

I made the frame out of 3X2 rough deal (although it was pretty smooth!). For the bench top I sandwiched three sections of three quarter inch ply together, so its a pretty hefty, strong surface! It also adds a little weight to the light frame. Its small enough, but it does me, I'd really like to go the whole hog and design/make a really nice one from beech, but, we'll see how things go!

ennisa

croppyboy, yeah I shamelessly stole your "show us yer..." but I couldn't think of anything better!

Fingalian

Yeah good thread, has got me thinking about the ultimate bench. Need another day to mull it over.

ennisa

Mulling is good

Fingalian

Still thinking.:)

Fingalian

Hi Ennisa. We must have a similar library as I too have those books by Landis and Schwarz. I also have one by Lon Schleining ' The Workbench'. Total tool porn. I like Ian Kirby’s bench but an Irish guy ( I think he lives in America now) named Niall Barrett has modified his design somewhat and I think it is a better bench, it looks better anyway and for a while I reckoned that it was 'the bench'. Schwarz’s Le Roubo is impressive and he is a good writer and explains things well. I would love to see/find some old Irish benchs before I build anything.
Worked for years off a Workmate, current setup is an experiment/stop gap. Criteria for it were cheap but functional. Most of it came out of skips. Made from two very strong sawhorses with a top made from a door with a 2x8 biscuit jointed to the stile and drilled for holdfasts, vice is also mounted to this. Recessed pop up planing stop at one end. Made a couple of bench hooks, very handy gadgets. It does not look pretty but it works well enough. One problem is the top is too high but on the good side there is zero racking when planning because the sawhorses are basically a triangular structure.

As to my ultimate bench , well it would be something massive like a Roubo. I have a stash of rock maple that I could laminate up for the top , with an ash frame. Freestanding, with a leg or conventional vice on the front and a sliding deadman. Double pop up planning stops , plenty of holes for holdfasts and a pattern makers vice on the back. Yeah that’ll do me, though I can’t see it getting made in the near future…… too much other stuff to start/finish,
Cheers
F.

ennisa

Fingalian,
the saw horses and solid core door is a tried and tested venerable workbench solution. You don't have to have a fancy bench to get the job done.
What are those black hold downs that are on the left hand side? Are they in dog holes or are they mounted into custom fittings and where did you get some rock maple? I have to say that I think maple and beech may be over rated for bench tops I could probably replace my white pine bench top 8 or 9 times for the same price as a beech top, i know a beech top will last a life time but i have to say that I amn't too precious with the pine top. Even something like red oak is cheaper that beech and maple. Maybe next time I'll go for southern yellow pine or red oak.

Thanks for sharing Fingalian that sounds like a fine roubo running around in your imagination there

Fingalian

Hi ennisa,
The black hold downs are in ordinary dog holes. I can't remember if I got them in Rutlands or Axminister but they were cheap , less than a tenner for four. They are ABS plastic , threaded with a quick release nut under the bench and a cam on top to lock down the piece.Very handy.

Bought the maple out the buyn'sell couple of years ago. Was used for flooring and was secret nailed so I have to de nail it first:rolleyes: Still, got it for a song.
Douglas Fir might make a nice bench top too.