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Randy Bonella
12-29-2009, 4:17 PM
Hi All,
I've posted here a couple of times and finally decided to get serious on my work bench.

The story goes I have a friend who owns a number of green houses here in Oregon and he heats them in the winter burning wood. He gets bundles of rough cut wood from a local beam manufacturer at some ridiculously low prices. Much of what I salvaged is 8/4 x 10' x 10"+. A few surprises with some really hard spalted maple in the bundle most is Doug Fir and pretty well seasoned at that. Beyond ripping the timber to width on my table saw most of the bench will be build the Neander way, so can't say all done using hand tools. Pretty much Following the Roubo design from Chris Schwarz. Starting with the legs I've finally gotten far enough to show a little progress and wanted to document it. I'll post more as I go. Feel free to ask questions and I'm really new to this level of woodworking but having a lot of fun doing it.

This is the pile of wood I started with:
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/IMG_1734.jpg

Ripped and cut to rough length using Table saw and SCMS:
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/IMG_1729.jpg

Flattened the boards to prep for glue up:
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/IMG_1793.jpg

The Glue-up, I'm going to need more clamps for the top!
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/IMG_1790.jpg

Cutting the Tenons, Got better on each one but still tended to undercut so lost about 1/8" on the tenon width. should have been 3" not 2 7/8". Used Japanese pull razor saw. Works pretty well but not the easiest thing to cut these massive ends.
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/IMG_1865.jpg

All 4 leg tenons now done. One to the mortices and milling the wood for the top. 28 1/2" to the shoulder of the tenon and 3 1/2" tenon, May lop off 1" prior to mounting to the top. Top will be about 4 1/2" thick mostly Doug Fir giving me a bench height of 33" when finished. I'm 5'7" and think this height is about right for me. If not I can adjust it.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/IMG_1869.jpg

Next installment will be the stretchers. It'll probably take me a couple weeks to get that part done in concert with milling up the wood for the table top.

Next question is to put in sq. dogs or wait and just bore round ones? Any inputs on that one?

Front vise will be a leg vise like shown in Christopher's book end vise I'm thinking I'll use a 9" Jorgensen Quick release I bought about a year ago. Also might consider a wagon vise but that means more money which I'm a bit short on at the moment. Any suggestions? pro's or con's? Keep in mind I'm a hobbiest.

harry strasil
12-29-2009, 4:39 PM
nice job, but I would have used the nice rift sawn planks for the top as they will hardly warp at all if any.

David Gendron
12-29-2009, 9:43 PM
nice work, so far! one thing to consider, it would be to put the paralel guide of your leg vise above the stretcher so you don't have to reach so low to move the pin!

Randy Bonella
12-30-2009, 2:15 AM
David,
Thanks, I saw what Jamel did on his and though that was a good idea. didn't know if there was a functional issue moving the parallel guide up over the stretchers. Didn't seem to be a problem and thanks for the input makes sense.

Harry,
A good chunk of the wood I have is flat sawn but when ripped to size will have sections rift sawn. I'll keep it in mind and see if I can be selective. Makes sense to keep the movement to a min. for the top.

Thanks for the comments, I'll post more as I go. Learning a lot about how to do this neander type work even if it is only partially neander.

Randy...

Randy Bonella
01-16-2010, 10:35 PM
Hi All,
I'm slow as a turtle at this but I've started to prep the wood for my top. Other than using my table saw to cut the slabs into proper width for top thickness the rest of the dimensioning and squaring is being done by hand using hand planes and winding sticks. I've got about 2/3's of my top prepped and will start the glue-up sometime later this week. I still need to get a couple more slabs from my friend to get enough material to finish the top. I'll do final board prep just prior to glue-up to fix any twisting that may occur due to the initial prep.

I do have one question for you all: Any recommendations on board ordering for glue-up of the top based on the different cuts of boards? any issues using any of the boards in my current stack?

Matt Evans
01-17-2010, 12:56 AM
My only suggestion with the stock ordering and the current glue up is to select more rift sawn boards. ( Harry mentioned it already, I believe.)

# 3 is the best of the bunch currently glued up, in my opinion. A more stable top, and any movement will be more vertical, which is easy to flatten.

Looking good otherwise!

David Gendron
01-17-2010, 11:31 AM
I agree with Matt(#3) if you can get most of you stock that way it would make for a rely stable top.... That said, I didn't pay much attention when building mine and it seem to be relatively stable!

Chen-Tin Tsai
02-02-2010, 1:33 PM
The pictures you took are exactly what I'm trying to figure out. I'm in the beginning stages of designing my bench and I'm mentally working through the logistics of working each piece. I'm interested to see how your top works out, and how you flatten it. :)

Randy Bonella
02-02-2010, 9:26 PM
Hi CT,
I haven't had a lot of time in the workshop lately but I have been able to get more of the top boards cleaned up. I'm hoping to get started on laminating the top next week and I'll add more information to this thread as I do it. I think I've figured out a method to my madness. One thing I am concerned about is not having enough clamps once I get this more than 14" wide, we'll see. Good excuse to buy more clamps :D

This is my current state in prep, and a bit more yet to go. Other than ripping by my table saw all the squaring and cleaning up is done by hand. Some of this wood is incredibly hard and been having to work hard to prep it.

Randy...

Randy Bonella
02-02-2010, 9:45 PM
One more thing: This sucker is heavy. It didn't seem so bad when it was about 14" wide but now with it at near 26", pre glue, its a bear to lift. One key learning is that once this thing was about 18" wide and I was planing the other boards it didn't move at all on the saw horses. Can't wait to get real legs on it. should be rock solid!

Final top dimensions will be about 86" long, 24" or so wide and 4.5" thick. I contemplated leaving it at a full 96" but I just don't have the space. I knocked off about 10" and it feels like it fits much better.

I had to get a 2nd load of lumber to finish up the top and have enough for the stretchers. I'm loosing about 40% to waste because of severe defects. This batch had been sitting out in a field all winter so far and was pretty wet. Its spent a week or so in the garage stickered with fans on it prior to ripping to rough width. I did this batch a bit different and it proved to be much much easier. I used a straight edge and skill saw to get it to rough width then the table saw to nominal width. First batch I did all on the table saw and that proved to be extremely difficult. This was much easier.

Hopefull some glue-up pix next week.

Randy...

David Gendron
02-02-2010, 10:10 PM
Randy, I would like to find a field that grow rough dry lumbers like that!! Lucky you!

Chen-Tin Tsai
02-03-2010, 12:33 PM
Looking good. Now, you said that when you planed the other boards when it was 18", did you glue them down and then plane them flat? Are you going to flatten the entire top once you've glued down all of the planks?

Randy Bonella
02-03-2010, 11:49 PM
Now if I could only get it to grow without knots, checks, twisting, warping and be of uniform thickness.... :) I've been lucky, timing was right but my supply is going away. I might try and forge a relationship with his supplier and see if possible to pick through the discard pile at the beam maker. Just farther away
and not sure they would be amenable to it but we'll see.


Randy, I would like to find a field that grow rough dry lumbers like that!! Lucky you!

Randy...

Randy Bonella
02-07-2010, 3:43 PM
Question: I'm about ready to start my top glue-up. I'll be doing it one board at a time Until I get the stack done. I got a few more top boards cleaned up the last couple days and once I have the back 3-4 boards ready I'll start gluing.

One key question beyond "Dog Type" is placement. I see benches with the Dogs located within a couple of inches of the front as shown in Jameel's blog and web site to as far back as Schwarz Roubo with the location a good 5"-6" away from the front. Based on the way I'm currently working I'm thinking similar to Jameel's is better but as I have zero experience with this I'd ask before I cut. Dog to Dog spacing will be 3"-4".

The wagon vise will be made with a home made wood screw. Another woodworker here in Portland has offered to help make a few of them. He has the right tools and I have Hard maple blanks that are perfect for the task. I'll be posting the design and build portion of the wagon vise soon.

Thanks for all the help!

Randy...

Randy Bonella
04-11-2010, 11:00 PM
Well I've been making some progress on the bench finally. I'm down to the last 5 boards to get my top to width. Also been working with another local woodworker to build a wooden screw wagon vise for the bench. I've been gluing up the top one board at a time. May be slow but the only way I can handle this by myself. I'm at 15" width. The most interesting thing about this project to date is that I"m getting much better at sharpening my plane irons. While not perfect yet they are getting much better. Since going to the LN show a few weeks back my skills have improved markedly. I'll be working on the wagon vise and have included a rough drawing on what I"m planning on doing. Each board was hand plane rough to square then once I started the glue up each board was final prepped just prior to glue up. Didn't want to risk getting it all square then finding out the wood moves before I could get to it.

I took the shot of the bench top between glue-ups. The top has remained amazing stable in this vertical position. Still getting used to how much glue to put on to minimize squeeze out. getting better but still wasting a bit of glue.

Comments and feedback welcome. Particularly on the wagon vise shuttle design.

Looks like I'll get to the wooden screw this week. We've got 3-4 to make and so we'll see how it all goes. I'll be posting some in progress pix as we go.

Randy...

Josh Bowman
04-12-2010, 6:34 AM
Comments and feedback welcome. Particularly on the wagon vise shuttle design.
Looks like I'll get to the wooden screw this week. We've got 3-4 to make and so we'll see how it all goes. I'll be posting some in progress pix as we go.
Randy...
Randy,
All looks good! I think you're dead on only glueing up one board at a time. I did the same with mine until a friend help me joint the boads dead flat. Then I got a little cocky and tried to do 3.....that's way too much to try and keep even with the other boards. I planned a head...barely enough.....to leave a couple of boards short for my wagon vise, so I didn't have to chop them out. I'm interested to see how the wagon vise travels with the screw off center. I fretted over that more than it was worth and just got a press screw and will have it dead center of the dog block. Looking good. You'll have a ball when you get to the leg mortises;). They've worn me out! Not sure of your plan, but a friend of mine talk me into routing them out. SMC talked me correctly into drilling then just pairing in the sides, this way takes much less time, is controlled and make less noise and saw dust.

Tony Shea
04-12-2010, 10:16 AM
especially all doug fir rough dry lumber. yes you are lucky.

Randy Bonella
04-12-2010, 12:37 PM
Josh,
I thought about doing more than one board at a time but decided to use the time between glue-ups for final prep on next board. No chance of me getting cocky on this. Each board has proven its own unique set of issues and getting one lined up straight has been a chore in and of itself.

As for the mortices I'll be drilling and parring as you ultimately did. I'm going to try it using my brace and bits but if this proves to be an issue I'll pull out some electrons and use the Forstner bits so we'll see what happens.

I've sweated about the offset screw as well and was concerned about binding and have tossed this thing back and forth but in the end decided to try it this way and if it doesn't work I'll have to try something else. My main issue is space in the shop. Much of anything needing space outside the 86" bench is a problem.

I've decided on square dogs. I've mulled this over more than I should have as well. Pro's and con's to all dog options. I'll still have a few round ones in appropriate places but the main line will be morticed in the front of the second or third board in from the front, which puts the fronts of the dogs either 2" from the front or 4" from the front. at least right now when I plane boards I like to be as close to the front edge as possible. This is my final decision and will be made in the next couple of day's as I'm about to put the last 2 boards on prior to making the final dog placement decision.

Randy...

Josh Bowman
04-12-2010, 2:08 PM
I'm about to put the last 2 boards on prior to making the final dog placement decision.
Randy...
Here's a few thoughts. Since you are near complete with the top glue up. The last boards on each side can have a dovetail if you desire to hold end caps, this is the time. I was too late to consider this. The reason I wanted it is because of the wagon vise on one end and the dual screw vise on the other. It would have looked nice. But I didn't know how. Folks here at SMC showed me, but as I said, it was to late, it happens at your last board on each side.
Round holes, square holes are a debate. I choose round for practical reasons. All my hold down stuff was 5/8" round and I didn't want to buy new.
Oh ya, WHEN you give up on the brace and bit and use a drill, get as big of plug in electic as you can borrow. It will be easier on you. Also I had made a template to use a router with. The template was the exact size of the motise and I would pare down the delta left and that worked ok. I found though drilling worked as well and not as messy. So I would screw that old template down and use it as a guide to get the drill close to the sides, if also offered a good guide for paring the sides. Just some ideas.
Looks like you're about to pass me. I need to go home tonight and get my leg motises done to keep ahead;) Speaking of them.....use a drill press. I did last night, and except for the bulk of material it has to eject, it did very well. My mortises are 1 1/4" and I used a 1 1/8" bit down the center. Once you get about 1" deep you'll have to raise the quill about every 1/8 inch to keep the forster from stopping up.

Tom Vanzant
04-12-2010, 3:17 PM
Watch your grain orientation. I added 6"+ width to an existing carver's bench and didn't pay close enough attention to the direction of rising grain. I got all the boards in my addition right, but the grain of the add-on lies opposite to the grain in the original table top. That made leveling interesting. Flattening with a plane takes enough time without mixing up the grain direction. In the end, it came out OK, it just took forever.

Randy Bonella
06-15-2010, 8:50 PM
Well its been a while and I've finally made enough progress to give an update. Lots of pic's to follow. First I'll start with the Dogs. I decided on the square type and put a 3 degree angle to the dog hole facing the slot for the wagon vise. My Dogs are made of hard maple left over from a project long long time ago. Mimicked after the Lie Nielsen Dogs using a wood spring. Decided to make one per hole.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/16benchdogsafterroughout.jpg
This is the family of bench dog blanks being cut out. Doing them all at once after making the prototype seemed like the best route to go.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/17a3degjigforwoodspring.jpg
this is my hold down jig for cutting a 3 deg slope for the spring to be glued to.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/17c3degcutwooddogspring.jpg
Dog in jig getting ready for the cut.

Now on to cutting the dog holes. I made a small sled for my table saw with a stop in it that allowed me to hog out the primary slot using a dado blade set at 3/4". It took two passes at getting the slot the right width at 1". The next picture is of the jig used for the routing out the notch. I used the slot to register the jig. It needed another registry board to prevent some minor tear-out. but in the end worked ok. Finished prototype dog shown in picture.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/18templatefordoghole.jpg


http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/19dogfitproblem_oops.jpg
I got a little cocky when using the dado to hog out the initial slot. A couple of the cuts wend a little wide and I needed to put a shim in to snug up the fit. Not happy about it but once the dog board is glued on you won't see any of this.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/20dogsintheirholes.jpg
This is the dog holes with them populated with dogs. Only one completely done dog, second from front.

The last part of the dog saga is making the traveler for the wagon vise. Angled the dogs 3 deg facing the other dogs.
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/25aWagonvisetravelerdogholes.jpg

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/25bTravelerafterglueup.jpg

Thats it for the dogs and dog holes. While lots of steps it didn't take all that long. Main issue was figuring out how to hold the little pieces for cutting and getting a uniform dog hole. I've glued up the bench dog hole strip to the main bench and only one more assembly set left before the top is finished with glue-up. Next up is creating the end cap for the bench.

Thanks, for looking!
Randy...

Randy Bonella
06-15-2010, 8:56 PM
Almost ready to wrap up the top assembly. This is my latest.

The End cap and front board dove tails. This is my first attempt at hand cutting dovetails and wow, maybe I should have picked something smaller to cut my teeth on! This was a nerve wracking experience. So here we go again....

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/21aCuttingthelargedovetailpins.jpg
After deciding on doing half blind dove tails, which maybe wasn't the smartest thing in the world I marked out what I wanted and started to cut. Not one to second guess things my face board was long enough that if I really messed up I could cut them again. Needless to say didn't need to.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/21dpinsdone.jpg
This is the finished tails. these actually went pretty well. A bit of optical illusion but the tails are cut pretty straight. I was concerned at first but laid a straight edge to them and not bad for a first timer.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/21bchoppingoutthesockets.jpg
The sockets were anther thing all together. These things were huge and chopping them out was going to be an act in futility so I paired out the top of the dovetail and then opted to use a pattern bit in my router to hog out the remainder of the socket with using chisels to do the final cleanup.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/21cSocketsdone.jpg
This went quite well except I need just a bit more length than my bit allowed and I ended up chamfering the top of the socket ever so slightly with the top of the collet.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/21ematedpair.jpg
Dry fit of the dovetails. not bad. A little gap but less than what it looks like as I mentioned the top edge of the socket got a slight chamfer to it. So now on to mating the end cap and the front board to the bench top.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/22hoggingoutthegoove.jpg
hogging out the groove in the end cap. A couple of screw-ups using the router but doesn't matter as you won't see it in the end. I've alway's had issues with routers so a good practice

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/23Benchtongue.jpg
I opted to mount the end cap using a tongue and groove as well as the dovetail. Because of the beating abuse the bench will get I figured that it needed something more than just bolts. I'm also keeping the end cap removable for now as I'm not sure how well the wagon vise design will work.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/24aendcapassembly.jpg
All the pieces for the end cap dry fit.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/24bendcap_frontdryfit.jpg
Dry fitting all the pieces. I had a bit of a wobble on the end cap and that also took about an hour of fussing with the Tongue and groove to get it all lined up just right.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/24cEndcapboltlayout.jpg
This is where I am today. Getting ready to place the bench bolts. I picked these up from Highland Woodworking online. Order placed in the evening and <48 hours later they were at my door. Now that was fast.

So my question: is there any issue with the barrel of the bolt lining up on a glue line? intuition say's don't do it but all I've read about glue lines are that the wood is more likely to fail than a glue line but I need some input on this. I would like to ignore the glue lines and just uniformly space out the bolts. Comments from those of you who have experience with this.

My second question: I cut the end cap thicker than the top by about 1" This gave me some wiggle room prior to final assembly to play with. Any issue leaving the end cap proud of the bottom of the bench by that inch? There's no rush on this as the end cap is removable and I can trim with thickness anytime. Most Roubo design's I've seen show the end cap flush to top and bottom.

Thats it for now. Once I decide on bolt placement I'll get hose drilled and mounted then the final face board glue-up and the top is practically done, sans wagon vise screw and leg mortises.

Thanks again for looking and next update I hope to have the top finished and legs being mounted so that this baby can stand on its own. But it works pretty good as a bench now.

Randy....

Randy Bonella
06-23-2010, 2:15 PM
More progress. Funny how once all the glue-up waiting is done how much faster the bench takes shape. So here we go....

We last left off getting ready to bore holes for the barrel bolts. Finally decided glue line or not id didn't really matter. so I spaced them where I thought practical and the two end ones landed in the middle of a board and the middle one on a glue line. So worrying or not looks like I got both. I used a #16 bit in my brace and was sweating bullets to bore those three holes. In the process I got to learn how to sharpen bits. First part of hole was miserable couldn't get it to cut worth anything. Looked at the bit and decided a bit of a sharpening was in order and WOW! what a difference.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/26aBoring1inholesforbenchbolts.jpg

Decided to do a bit of bottom flattening. I kind of did things a bit backwards and have the top mostly flat and then decided to work on the bottom. Separate thread on bottom flattening. Looks like I ended up with one board about 3/16ths shy of all the others on the bottom. I may leave it or I may put a small piece for infill. Something to decide later.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/26bbenchboltsinalittlebottomflatten.jpg

So End cap secured with bench bolts, and bottom kind of flat. Now on to the legs. First things first I needed to get some final dimension measurements and hoisted up the legs onto the bench. This is exciting. First time with the bench starting to think it can stand on its own fours. Because a vast majority of the boards were rough cut and flattening was done by hand final top width was a bit unpredictable. I ended up at 24 5/16" and I've got a slight bow in the front middle that extends out about another 1/16" that I'll deal with when I can get some help to get the top off of the saw horses. The leg attach points equal in width. Also the leg thickness was a bit unpredictable. The funny thing is that the width of my right two legs in combo are 1/16" shy of my left two legs. This is exciting!

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/27ameasuringlegsforstretchers.jpg

Chopping out giant mortices. This is where I really started learning how to use my brace and sharpen bits. So I first marked out the locations on the right rear leg the two mortices which turn out to be 1 7/8" x 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" deep :bigeek: First mortise turned out ok. Started with a #8 in my brace and bored 8 holes to waste out the middle. Thought about using my drill press with Forstner bit but leg is to thick to fit and besides I need the tool practice. This first mortise took a long time and I was really tired when I got done. I also learned that it is best to start the mortice by chiseling out at least 1/8" to start the mortise. First it makes it easier to set the bit and second no tearout when the bit starts cutting. My second mortice on the leg went much faster but somewhere along the way I got it about 1/16" to wide and will need to place a shim in it when I do the Glue-up. No big deal just something that will need to be done.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/27bchoppingmorticesforstretchers.jpg

After getting my practice done on the Right Rear leg I started on the right front leg mortises. Major learning on using the brace and bit. if the bit is sharp and the screw is the right type you don't need to press down hard on the brace. It pretty much pulls the bit through the wood. Amazing how much faster and easier this second set of mortices went in place.

We have legs! :yes: Dry fit of the Right side of the bench. The clamps aren't really needed. I used them to draw and hold the legs to dimension: Short stretcher dead on flush with the legs. Leg width dead on with the bench width. With something this large I'm amazed at how well and fast this part has come along.

Outside View
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/27cRightsidedryfit.jpg

Inside View
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/27drightsidedryfitback.jpg

I did attach the bench shelf ledgers as part of the Stretcher glue-up. Figured it wouldn't hurt and why not. The only power tool used was my Bosch Colt router with a pattern bit for some mortise edge cleanup. Much cleaner wall surface for dry fitting. tried to dry fit without it and didn't do so good. It is hard to see but my cadre of Bits for the brace were, lets just say, in not so good of shape. Amazing what a little sharpening will do, especially if you do it right. Took me a couple of try's but looks like my $12 purchase will yield nearly a full set of a mix of Russell Jennings and Old Craftsman/Irwin bits. Also one other learning was that the Russell Jennings bits are much easier to keep running straight and true when boring holes. I need to get a #12 and a #6 Russell Jennings to drill out the draw bore holes and the larger hold fast holes.

Next step is to get the left side legs done, dry fit the whole base and then glue and draw bore prior to final insertion into the top.

Thanks for looking and probably next week for next update.

Randy...

Rick Rutten
06-23-2010, 3:28 PM
Nice stuff randy. Good looking bench. Those legs are almost as big as the trees out there.

Rick

Jim Koepke
06-23-2010, 4:59 PM
Looking good.

For what it is worth, I like a little bit around the edges hanging below the bottom. It gives a place to clamp up bigger things.

jim

Randy Bonella
06-26-2010, 12:16 AM
Stretcher mortices are now done :D That was a lot more work than I originally thought it would be but I got better and faster at it after each one was bored, choped and cleaned up and after I figured out how to sharpen the Auger bits.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/28Legmorticesforstretchers.jpg

I'm not done working on the legs just yet. I still have to cut the through mortice for the leg vise, which will go in over the top of the stretcher and I have a bunch of hold fast holes to drill out and holes for draw boring the stretchers to the legs. Just a little clean up to get the leg assembly to square. I'm currently skewed by about 1/8". The amazing part is that I"m flush on all critical surfaces and no twist to speak of. Things work pretty good when you follow directions

Next up is to finish the leg prep: for leg vise and hold fasts. and get ready for chopping the leg mortices into the top

Thanks for looking!

Randy...

Randy Bonella
09-18-2010, 10:31 PM
:D

After 9 months a new Roubo is standing on her own 4 legs!!! Many thanks to all the help as I marched through the process of the bench build. Almost couldn't get it off of the saw horses. She weighs in well over 300 lbs and I'll never have to worry about chasing my work all over the shop again.

Had a friend come over today and we routed out the deadman trenches in the top. Then drilled the peg holes for draw boring the base to the top. Followed by the first dry fit of the base to the top. Needed to use some clamps to pull the base in tight through those monster mortise and tenon joints. Once in marked the tenons for drilling the offset, used a jack to push the base off of the top.

Finished drilling all the holes then put the base back in the top and pegged away. I didn't use glue in the event I ever needed to remove the top. We then flipped her back over on her 4 legs for the first time and amazing how heavy and stable she is. I have a little bit of prep work before really getting to use her but pretty much functional as is.

I'll be adding the leg vise next followed quickly by the wagon vise and deadman. I'll do some updates as I get the finishing touches done over the next couple months.

Thanks again for all the help and kind words!

Randy...

Jim Koepke
09-18-2010, 11:56 PM
Impressive, I want one.

jtk

Michael Peet
09-19-2010, 9:35 AM
Beautiful bench, Randy. I'm at the endcap stage on mine. How did you ensure the bolt holes would line up with the holes for the barrel nuts?

Again, great job!

Mike

Randy Bonella
09-19-2010, 8:13 PM
Beautiful bench, Randy. I'm at the endcap stage on mine. How did you ensure the bolt holes would line up with the holes for the barrel nuts?

Again, great job!

Mike

Hi Mike,
I had to think through that one for a bit but pretty much just measured again and again. I did the following: 1) measured and marked all of the locations for the bolts and nuts. 2) measured again 3) measured again just to make sure I got it right. 4) used my drill press to make a drill guide to get the holes started. 5) Clamped the guide onto the end of the bench. 6)started to drill the holes using a brace and bit. 7) after about 4" or so removed the guide and checked for direction and marked the bit for depth by wrapping the shank with tape. 8) kept drilling to depth for the bolt. 9) used the bolt to check for direction before drilling the nut hole. Made adjustments on location of nut hole based on accuracy and or perceived accuracy of the bolt hole.*10) Drilled the bolt holes.

I got 2 of three dead on the third I had to futz with a bit to get it lined up. This was a bit tedious but it did work. As noted I used a bit and brace but could easily have been done using a power drill. I"m more than amazed at how well bit and brace work and how fast they can be.

Hope this helps but pretty much measure, measure, measure and go slow checking alignment as you go.

Randy...

Michael Peet
09-21-2010, 7:54 AM
Thanks Randy!

Mike

Randy Bonella
04-01-2011, 1:55 AM
Time for the quarterly update. Seems that I get little bits of time to finish off each piece in due time. The good is that I've got a functional bench and have been using it since it has been standing on its own.

The cool part is now I've the the leg vise done!!! for something that shouldn't have taken much time it sure took me a while to get it done. Pictures are attached. Not as fancy as some but looks great on the bench. The chop is made from 3x8 doug fir scavenged from a construction pile. I bought the wood screw from Lake Erie Toolworks. Awesome job they did on the construction. Added my own handle, 1" cherry doweling with my own threaded knobs made from Asian Satin Wood as is the garter and the guides. Made a few mistakes that had to be fixed but overall I'm very happy with the workings. Now only a few more Items left to complete: 1) deadman 2) wagon vise (home made screw and traveler) 3) lower shelf 4) a few more dog holes.

Rick Cicciarelli
04-01-2011, 11:57 AM
Great thread. I am thinking of finally starting on my bench. In the past what has held me back is I keep seeing all of these beautiful benches with spectacular joinery incorporated into them...all made out of hard maple. Going to a big woodworking show last week and seeing a gallery of benches did not help. I kept telling myself I need a bench to build a bench. Or I need to get a jointer/planer to do it all right. I think I have finally come to a point mentally where I have convinced myself to just DO IT...put something together...use it as a "1st attempt learning process" and later on, I can use it as my bench to build my "good" bench on :) I am sure there will be mistakes along the way anyway...or things I would design differently. So I have laid out some ideas and I just need to get started with it. I'll be following this thread to see how it all goes.

Randy Bonella
04-01-2011, 12:47 PM
Hi Rick,
I was where you were 1.5 years ago. Finally jumped in with both feet. Yes it has taken a while with limited time available and the forever list of projects done and half done in the mean time. There were lots of mistakes, and still are. None which couldn't be fixed one way or another. After all we are woodworkers. Would I have liked to make my bench from something other than Doug Fir? sure thing but free is free in any book and what a learning experience it was, but oh so satisfying. So I spent a little money on a few things like the Vise screw, ok one thing. Good luck with your build and no time like the present to get going.

Randy...

Staffan Hamala
04-02-2011, 4:55 PM
Nice! Where did you get the wheels? I've been thinking of constructing something similar myself.

Randy Bonella
04-03-2011, 1:41 AM
Nice! Where did you get the wheels? I've been thinking of constructing something similar myself.

Very very Cheap plastic casters from Home Depot. Not sure that the wheel part does much but the plastic is very slippery and with their orientation the vise slides nicely even though the wheels don't really move all that well. I think If I were to build new assemblies I might just use a piece of that High Molecular density plastic attached to a block to save the grief of cutting out the assemblies and and messing with the wheels. I"m certain it would work as well if not better. The real trick in this isn't so much a moving wheel as it is something supportive and slippery for the guide to slide on.

Randy...