Workbench finally coming together (sort of)

[Matthew Wright]

Anyone else work in a messy garage? :)

I thought it would be very smart to laminate the sides and legs so the tenons and mortises would be "easy." Of course, when I glued up the third piece on each side, I did not think to put a block or something in the hole and, surprise, they wouldn't fit.

I practiced my paring with chisels - - so that now it looks like I made each tenon by gnawing it with my own teeth. But they fit - - sort of. It's tight, no need to glue at present.

The plan is to affix a solid core door atop this frame (you can see a corner of it in the pic, currently resting on saw horses. I also have a nice old Wilton vise I'm going to mount on the bench... that was sort of the point of building the bench.

I first intended to put it in the traditional front vise position, but that will require cutting into the side more effectively than I'm able. I've considered using it as an end vise, but set in to the middle of the bench so there's no side-cutting involved. Not sure.

I'm also going to have to figure out how to cut the legs to height and level. I think I will probably try to mark them when the bench is turned upside down to affix the top. Not sure if I will then attempt to cut them flush with a hand saw, or if I will try to remove them and cut them on the table saw.

So anyway. You were all very helpful in a previous post when I was cutting the dados/mortises at the top. This is an update to show some slow progress.

Because we can't all make Chris S.'s Roubo. At least not yet.

[glenn bradley]

Matt, that is coming along great. You've got some space challenges there and I salute your fortitude. Having a decent bench of any flavor will make your shop time much more enjoyable.

[Stephen Edwards]

Looks like you're making progress, Matthew. Keep plugging along and you'll have your new bench finished before you know it!

Speaking of a messy shop: I cleaned mine last week and found tools that I forgot that I had!

[Brian Greb]

Looking good Matt...

Is that dead stand pine that you are using? If so I hope it doesn't "move" on you. What's your top going to be... A door good scrounging on that. Once upon a time I had a door bench. That was about 3 or 4 benches ago though. It worked well to get me by until I was more proficient of a wood worker. Good luck on your vice placement, why don't you attach the vice then build up the rest of the tops edge to make it flush. Adding wood is always simpler then subtracting. ...Just a thought though.

Any way nice work so far and enjoy the learning experience.

As for a cluttered shop I had one, now I have cluttered cabinets and shelves, but now it's all wood working related. I had to build a shed for all the other crap.:D

[Matthew Wright]

Thanks everyone. I don't know what "dead stand" pine is. It's SYP from the ACE hardware / lumber store.
Usually space constraints aren't so bad, but we had to bring in all the kids' outside toys because of a snowstorm and I haven't (a) cleaned the garage, in hopes that they will soon go back out, or (b) taken them out, in fear that we will have another snowstorm.

Here's a picture a little closer to finished - top is screwed in, vise is attached. I decided that, at least at first, I will put tall wooden jaws to make it flush with the top so I don't have to cut into the side yet.

The whole assembly turned out to be really heavy and stable. I wish I had done a better job of making the top of the frame completely flat but it will certainly work for the foreseeable future the way it is.

I also attached a picture from the plans, so you can see what it's SUPPOSED to look like. This came from The Art of Making Furniture by John Makepeace. The actual design came from someone named Norman Beverton. I really liked the beveled leg assembly. At least that part is marginally faithful to the original design.

[Richard Magbanua]

Great progress Matthew! Much more than I've been able to do in the last couple months (nada :eek:).
Do you have plans on making the face of the inside vice jaw flush with the front? That way you can clamp a board along side the bench, flat against the front edge along with a handscrew for edge jointing, etc.

-Richard

[Matthew Wright]

Richard,

Sometimes you just have to put out other fires. Haha.

Thanks. Actually, I wasn't smart enough to see the advantage of the flush-mounted face before I screwed it on and started mulling on jaw installation. But here's what I think I'm going to do - - I'm going to take a piece of nominal 1" or 2" pine and route out the space for the inside vice face. Then I will screw the "jaw" directly into the side, over the metal face.

In the situation you describe, I could probably put a piece of scrap the same size against the bench on the right side and clamp the long work piece that way.

At least, if I understand what you're asking, and if I understand how it will all fit together... that's what I think.