Finished workbench + WIP pics.

[marinosr]

I finished my workbench this weekend! I learned a lot about large-scale joinery and had fun making it, but I'm glad it's done. Everything except the milling and rough dimensioning was done by hand. It also taught me a lot about the speed of projects when you have a baby in the house

-72" x 28" ash top, 3" thick.
-4" square yellow pine legs with SPF stretchers and shelf.
-9" Yost quick release vise and a wagon vise built around a 18" Yost vise screw.
-Beeswax and BLO mixture finish.
-Lefty orientation and 32" tall.

My workbench will never be this clean again...

The legs are joined with drawbored through tenons. They came out serviceably tight if not perfect.

Wagon vise from the top...

From the bottom. You can see I routed a slot for a sliding deadman if I ever want one. I used a very simple wagon vise design that is very effective. Most examples I saw really overcomplicated things.

Build pics:

I went with ash for the top because it's very cheap here in Ontario with ash borer, and it's sturdy. Pine for the legs for economy. Stretchers are glued up 2x6es.

Drilled a dog strip with 3" between centers, then glued up the top.

I went with through tenons because I was worried about stub tenons not being long enough. This worry was likely unwarranted. I wasted most of the mortises with an auger bit, then finished with a chisel.

You don't need a bench to build a bench! My AC unit and the 6x6 from my deck were my sawhorse for cutting the tenons.

Stretchers and legs coming together nicely...

Drawbored all the joints...

After glue-up I flattened the top with my #7.

Then I mounted the vises.... View of the wagon vise parts before installation... main attachment block, follower block with the nut attached and with a notch cut in it, guide for the notch to ride in (to combat the inherent slop in the machining), and a block with a screw in the end to act as an axle for the screw (there's a divot in the end of the screw.) Not shown is the dog hole block, which I glued into place after installing everything.

Made some sprung bench dogs...

I put on a 1:1:1 mix of beeswax, BLO and turpentine as a finish, buffed it, and called it good.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Graywolf]

For some reason I'm not seeing the pictures

 

[marinosr]

Ah thanks Richard and Raymond for telling me about the problem with the pictures. When making the post I got a "token expired" message, and it would show the pics when I looked at the thread, but not when I used a different browser. Strange. Anyway, hope it's fixed now.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Very nice bench, Richard. And you're right; never again will it be that clean.

 

[Chris C]

Very nice work.... Makes me want to start on mine.

 

[Jim M.]

Very nice bench, Richard. While a new bench is pretty, a well worn bench where ever mark tells a story, is the most beautiful thing a woodworker can own. Good luck on that journey.

 

[Graywolf]

Well that's much nicer, that's fine bench, great job and I hope you build many a project on it.

 

[llucas]

Great job! Inspired and inspiring! I love the simple elegance of the construction. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Hmerkle]

GREAT JOB Richard!
Thanks for all the WIP pictures, really cool to follow along.

I like your "simple wagon vise design" elegant, but appears VERY effective

 

[pop-pop]

I wonder if left-hand threaded vise screws are available? Guess that one will get used to turning the wagon vise handle the “wrong way”.

 

[MarkE]

Very nicely done. Love the Ash top.

 

[marinosr]

Thx all for the kind words.

 

[Bear Republic]

Great job on the bench you'll have years of joy out of it. Nice job on the pictures and explanation!!!! A mastery of both.

 

[David Justice]

That is one beautiful bench!

 

[danmart77]

Nice workbench Richard. I too like the face vise with re-newable face blocks. I did the same on the tail vise. I see that you went with the round dog holes to use with the tail vise. Assuming they are 3/4 holes, you could start using hooks from TFWW. After a little use, you'll know where you want other holes.

I would be lost without holdfast hooks. I used them for 20 years. Sold a bench. I worked on a newer bench with no holdfast capability. After 2 years, I used them at Phil S shop on one of his benches and realized how much I missed them.

Some thing to add down the road. Build a bench slave something like this. You won't regret it. I did cut the long dowels down. I don't really need the top dowel I can use holdfasts but that's what I did at the time.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=3028


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