Tall, short workbench question
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30 December 2016 at 1:14 am #143685
This afternoon I finished the final assembly on my Paul sellers workbench. It will finish at 39 7/8 inches tall and is 60 inches long. I just need to flatten the top this weekend.
It is built exactly to Paul’s specs except the length. I also changed the legs to 7 inches in-board instead of 9, since my bench is not 8 feet like his.
My question is, has anyone needed to add a trestle between the legs for more lateral support? My bench sure looks top heavy. This is my first project held together with joinery. Maybe I am just being over concerned. Thanks for any advice.30 December 2016 at 3:50 pm #143692Mine is almost the same , the legs make it look unstable but it isn’t at al I missed the part of the series where dados the top so my top just sets on the legs. It is perfect
This summer I am going to take it down and dado in the legs to the top. Just to make it right.Fwiw, mine was very solid without a stretcher along the length, The dado’s in the aprons coupled with wedges really stiffen it up. That said, I wanted a shelf underneath for storage. I used 2×4’s lengthwise held together with cleats. Near the ends, I attached a cleat on the inboard side of each stretcher to the bottom of the 2×4 “slats”. I made it a snug fit. No need to screw it in place. I don’t think Godzilla could wrack this bench.
Definitely no. Horizontal stress in the Direction of the long Side is supported by the Aprons and horizontal Stress in the Direction of the short Side is supported by the Joinery of the H Frames. Mine works fine for two years now, built from nordic fir. No worry it will last for Generations. Foto below thats mine.
Greetings Paul Huss from GermanyAttachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.5 January 2017 at 12:01 am #143809The question is partly one of how deep one makes the apron.
The picture shows that Paul Huss’s bench has very deep aprons and it performs as can be expected with such depth.
My bench will have somewhat shorter aprons particularly on the rear. I want to be able to clamp from the bottom edge of the aprons to a piece on top of the bench. And I want easier access to things under the bench. So the front apron is about 12″ deep finished and the rear will be about 7″ deep.
I’m building it with a 2×6 (nominal) lower rail M&T’d to the rear legs. I don’t know if this is necessary. And I hope a 2×6 proves stiff enough to do the job.
If my design proves less than fully stable, I’ll cut some rebates on the outer faces of the legs for diagonal braces back up to the bench top.
I’ll be happy to offer feedback on this design when the bench is done, although you probably don’t want to wait that long.
Good luck
Rick
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