Finished my workbench

[Dave Cav]

I finished my workbench this weekend. Attached are a couple of pictures, the first after I did the final assembly, and the second after finishing up a few details and putting a couple of coats of Watco on it. I think it turned out pretty well.

The top and vise jaws are 4/4 ash planed down to about 3 1/2" thick. The legs and stretchers are glued up from 4/4 alder. The front vise hardware was from Grizzly, and the end vise is an old Wilton that came off the previous bench. The end cap is oak, since that's what I had around, and the sliding jack is maple. I glued the top up in two 12" wide sections, then ran them through my thickness planer and glued up the two pieces. I used regular white glue when doing the two initial glue ups because of it's longer open time compared to yellow glue.

I did the final flattening all with hand planes. I used a Lee Valley straightedge across the bench as I planed it down and it's pretty flat, although there are a few slightly rough spots where I got some tearout when planing down the glue line. I tried to be careful to keep the pieces aligned when I glued up the two halves; I used four cauls on each side, bolted through the dog holes, in addition to about 14 pipe clamps, when I did the final glue up, so it stayed pretty flat. After rough planing down the glue line with a #605 1/2 it was pretty flat over most of the length, but there was a dish about 1/16" deep on the right side. I flattened the top using a really sharp #8, going mostly diagonal across the top, then used a #606 for the final flattening, going mostly lengthwise. Final cleanup was with my 604 1/2 and 603.

Over all I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I have enjoyed using it so far.
Attached Thumbnailshttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=117397&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1241405961 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=117397&d=1241405961) http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=117398&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1241405961 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=117398&d=1241405961)

[Peter Scoma]

Real nice work David. Is the top inlayed? I see some darker material around the dogholes.

PS

[David Gendron]

Nice looking bench, just like I like them, simple, sturdy, eficient and looking great!
What is the lenght? it looke like you use two kind of wood for the top!?!?
when you say, 4/4 ash, you meen that the top was made with 1" strips!
Good job on the the best tool in your shop!

[Dave Cav]

I forgot to mention the doghole strips. They are walnut. The top is made from 1" (nominal) thick ash boards face glued together. When I bought the lumber I tried to find eight foot long boards as wide as possible, and some of them were approaching 12' wide. After rough trimming to length (about 7 feet) I edge jointed them and then ripped everything to just under 4" wide. Then I face glued them together, after lightly thickness planing them to to make them all the same thickness. I made the doghole strips out of walnut just to to break up the color of the top, and maybe to make it a little more like a piece of furniture. I wasn't as selective as I should have been when I bought the walnut. One board had a huge bow in it, and another one had a lot of sapwood. After culling out the bad stuff there wasn't enough to make all the doghole boards solid walnut, so I riped it down to about 2" wide and edge glued it to a similar sized piece of ash, so it still looks like solid walnut. The only way you can tell is to look at the left end, which is still end grain. I cut the doghole strips on the table saw with a dado blade and a sled. The sled is built a lot like a box joint jig, only a LOT bigger, but I got perfect spacing, and each doghole is inclined a few degrees towards the tail vise.

Most of the ash boards were 8 feet long, so I had a bunch of cutoffs that were 12" or so long. Those became vise faces. I managed to use up very nearly every bit of the ash I bought.

[Sam Takeuchi]

That is a really nice bench. Simple yet, functional. I don't think you need to be concerned about tear out, though. It's a workbench after all, it'll get chewed up and receive worse damages soon enough.

P.S. Your workshop look so spacious unlike mine. In my workshop, I can reach any point of the room within 2 steps, and only 3 steps to the entrance/exit. It's so small, it's pathetic.

[Zahid Naqvi]

that's a great looking bench Dave, direct and to the point.

[Dan Karachio]

Very nice! Can I ask a question? It is hard to see, but with your front vise it appears to have a piece fro the front face, but no "back face" and just butts against the side of the bench. Is that how it works? Got any pictures please?

[Dave Cav]

Both the front and end vises don't have a separate rear jaw as such. They bear against the edge/end of the bench. I put an oak end cap on the end to act both as an inner jaw and also to cover up the iron jaw face, so I wouldn't have to mortise it into the end of the bench. I cut the mortise in the back of the end cap instead. Since the bench is around 3 1/2" thick I figured that would be plenty of width for an inner jaw. I'll try to post some more pictures tonight. I used this hardware:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Cabinet-Maker-s-Vise/H7788

[Jeff Skory]

Nice bench Dave. I'm sure it'll serve you well for a lot of years to come.

btw - I am envious of the windows you have in your workshop. Maybe my next house. :rolleyes:

[Matthew Dunne]

I used this hardware:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Cabinet-Maker-s-Vise/H7788

Hey Dave,
Great bench! How do you like the Grzzly hardware?

(I asked in the thread on the other forum, but it may have gotten lost in the shuffle.)

[George Sanders]

That is the type of bench I want to build. I like the clean simple lines of it.

[Dave Cav]

So far the Grizzly vise hardware seems to work just fine. My old Wilton vise is a little smoother, but it's also been broken in for about 30 years. The parts on the Grizzly appear to be well machined and fit well, and I think it was a good value. It's not a quick acting vise, and it does rack a little when something is clamped in the right hand side, but I expected that given the length of the right side jaw outboard of the hardware.

[Matthew Dunne]

So far the Grizzly vise hardware seems to work just fine. My old Wilton vise is a little smoother, but it's also been broken in for about 30 years. The parts on the Grizzly appear to be well machined and fit well, and I think it was a good value. It's not a quick acting vise, and it does rack a little when something is clamped in the right hand side, but I expected that given the length of the right side jaw outboard of the hardware.

Thanks for the feedback. I've been eyeing the Grizzly vise for my upcoming bench.

[Jeff Dege]

So far the Grizzly vise hardware seems to work just fine. My old Wilton vise is a little smoother, but it's also been broken in for about 30 years. The parts on the Grizzly appear to be well machined and fit well, and I think it was a good value. It's not a quick acting vise, and it does rack a little when something is clamped in the right hand side, but I expected that given the length of the right side jaw outboard of the hardware.
I'm just fitting the vises on my bench (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=111059). My front vise is placed similarly to yours, under an extension of the top, to the left of the front leg, using the edge of the top as the fixed jaw. It'd be easy for me to extend the moving jaw to the right, to cover the width of the leg, as you have. And that would make it easier to clamp boards vertically along the leg, when working on the ends. I'd never considered it.

How well is that working for you? With a spacer on the left side of the vise to match the thickness of the workpiece, is it holding adequately when clamping at the extreme right?

[Mark Roderick]

Very nice bench. Mine is a similar design, and I built cabinets that simply rest on the front and back stretchers, without even being attached. They add even more weight (the top of my bench is so heavy that I didn't even have to attach it to the leg assembly) and that's where I keep all the hand tools I use at the bench.

[David Keller NC]

"Thanks for the feedback. I've been eyeing the Grizzly vise for my upcoming bench."

Matthew - I don't have the Grizzly, but I do have a Shop Fox quick-release, and they're identical. I would avoid this like the plague. Mine worked well enough for about 6 months, but quickly developed enough slop that the lever quick-release will now release on its own - usually at the worst possible time.

My new bench that I completed last fall has a Jorgensen cam-acting quick-release front vise in the face vise position. I cannot recommend this vise more highly - the machining and castings were far superior to the Shop Fox (and an Anant before that), and the cam-action quick release mechanism is bullet-proof. It's a huge step up, and costs about $70 more than the Grizzly/Shop Fox tawainese version. Woodcraft has them, and most stores stock them, so you can go compare.

Considering that even a modest bench costs about $200 in lumber (and that's the cheap stuff - maple/ash/white oak's a fair bit more), takes about 40 hours to build, longer if you've got custom features, and you'll be using it for the next few years to more than 20, spending the extra dough to get a good vise is well worth it, in my opinion.

[Dave Cav]

I'm just fitting the vises on my bench (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=111059). My front vise is placed similarly to yours, under an extension of the top, to the left of the front leg, using the edge of the top as the fixed jaw. It'd be easy for me to extend the moving jaw to the right, to cover the width of the leg, as you have. And that would make it easier to clamp boards vertically along the leg, when working on the ends. I'd never considered it.

How well is that working for you? With a spacer on the left side of the vise to match the thickness of the workpiece, is it holding adequately when clamping at the extreme right?

So far no problems. That's why I made the legs and bench jack flush with the top. So far I have had to put a spacer in the far side of the vise to prevent racking once or twice and it seemed to hold my work just fine, but of course the main clamping strength is right above the screw. I plan to make several spacers in common sizes with a cross bar on top so they hang on the vise jaws when the jaws are loose, and keep them in the peanut can on the window sill with the extra bench dogs.

[Jeff Dege]

So far no problems. That's why I made the legs and bench jack flush with the top. So far I have had to put a spacer in the far side of the vise to prevent racking once or twice and it seemed to hold my work just fine, but of course the main clamping strength is right above the screw. I plan to make several spacers in common sizes with a cross bar on top so they hang on the vise jaws when the jaws are loose, and keep them in the peanut can on the window sill with the extra bench dogs.
Good to know. Thanks.

Looks like my bench is going to have yet another in-progress redesign .

Does it ever stop? :)

[Dave Cav]

[QUOTE=David Keller NC;1125711]Matthew - I don't have the Grizzly, but I do have a Shop Fox quick-release, and they're identical. I would avoid this like the plague. Mine worked well enough for about 6 months, but quickly developed enough slop that the lever quick-release will now release on its own - usually at the worst possible time.

The Grizzly vise hardware I used is not the quick release. It's the old fashioned kind you have to crank open. I didn't want to use a quick release vise for exactly the reason you mention. I don't have one and don't trust them. As far as I can tell the Grizzly vise hardware is very similar or identical to the same vise sold by Lee Valley, and there isn't much that can go wrong with it.

[Matthew Dunne]

Thanks Dave and David for your thoughts.

[george wilson]

A very nice,solid looking bench. Congratulations.