New Workbench in Progress
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- This topic has 21 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 3 months ago by silenthill.
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25 July 2016 at 12:25 am #138779
I decided to post some pics of my progress now that I have the legs dry fit. I laminated together the top last June and have been using it on sawhorses as a bench. Still beats the hollow core door on sawhorses. The legs are 4×6 Doug Fir beams that have been sitting in my garage for more than a year. The stretchers are 2×6 Doug Fir construction lumber, also sitting in my garage for a year.
Now that the hard part is done (the legs), I expect things will move a long a little faster on my weekends and I can finish the bench by the end of the year.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.25 July 2016 at 5:56 am #138785What? No protruding tenons?
Those are some beefy timbers for the legs. Should be nice and solid! Can’t wait to see the rest. Oh, and if you already flattened the top last year, make sure to look at it again before installing it – it may not be as flat anymore. I just re-flattened my benchtop on Friday. It had moved a little since making it last fall.
25 July 2016 at 2:38 pm #138790Jude, I’m making a modified PS bench. The top is around 17″ wide, and will have a ~9″ removable tray on the back. Two 2×10’s for aprons. The frame is going to have long dovetail-end stretchers with runners for a shelf. Eventually I’ll get a twin screw on the front and an inset vise on the right hand side.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by Derek Long.
25 July 2016 at 2:46 pm #138791Matt, I didn’t do protruding tenons because I’m going to cut in dovetailed long stretchers on the bottom there. I was going to just mortise and tenon those long stretchers too, but then I began thinking about the hassle of gluing that frame up by myself. Nah. I’m probably just going to bolt them on and let the dovetail do its work.
I definitely have to do a pass over the benchtop before putting it on. It is a little “lumpy” after a year and the one corner has a bit of twist. I deliberately left the top 6″ longer than the final dimension, so most of the twist will be cut off. Most of the movement is out of it, I think.
It’s slow going because I get so little shop time. I think I have you beat for “slowest woodworker in the West.” The legs took me a month of a few hours here, a few hours there.
16 August 2016 at 10:54 pm #139390Nice job Derek it looks great, should make a nice sturdy bench, keep us posted on the build.
Steve
21 August 2016 at 7:06 pm #139531Making progress! Cut the dovetails and the dovetail recesses for the long stretchers, and cut in the 1/4″ deep grooves for the shelf runners and glued and screwed them in. Then finally got the legs glued up, and then hammered home the dovetails and lag screwed them on.
The frame is more solid than I imagined. With the aprons on there is no way this thing will wrack or twist.
Next up is cutting the benchtop to length and making the aprons.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.21 August 2016 at 7:29 pm #139535That looks extremely solid. I can’t see how you’ll get any racking with both the stretchers and the aprons. Is this going to be able to be taken apart (for moving etc.)?
22 August 2016 at 12:55 am #139548Hey Pete. It’s going to be permanently in place in the garage, so no provision for knock-down. I hope I don’t have to move it anytime soon; the frame’s already heavy as heck.
25 August 2016 at 5:31 pm #139690Looking good, Derek. I was going to say the same thing as Peter – with the aprons there will be no chance of racking (wracking?). And heavy will be great – until you have to move it. Should be solid as a rock. You’re going to love it.
2 September 2016 at 2:36 pm #139881Keeping up the pace. The bench is assembled, flattened and one coat of BLO. There’s a good size hollow in my floor slab, so I have to wedge the left rear leg, but it’s still rock solid. The bench didn’t move when I flattened the top, which was very impressive because I put some elbow grease into it.
I’m going to add some 1×2 furring strip scraps to the ends of the tray as stops and BLO that, and screw it to the bearers. The 1×9 board has surprisingly little flex at the unsupported ends. I’ll screw some blocking under the ends if it flexes too much in use.
Next up is installing the inset vise and dog holes, then I’ll make the shiplapped shelf. The front vise is going to take me a few months to get finished after that, I think.
It’s so nice to finally have a solid worksurface after working on a hollow core door the last four years, and clamping stuff to whatever I could pin down before that.
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