Completed Workbench, Finally!

[Brett Bobo]

After over two years in the making, I've finally managed to finish my version of Lon Schleining's workbench, which is my first workbench. What appeared to be simple construction ended up taking much longer than expected with family and other honey-do's taking precedence. The bench is made entirely from soft maple and the overall dimensions are 32"x96" with a 2 1/2" top. Aside from modifying the overall dimensions to be larger, the only other difference is with the pegged vs. wedged mortise and tenon joints. The finish is two coats of Danish Oil. Any comments or criticisms welcomed.

[glenn bradley]

What a beautiful beast.

[Paul McGaha]

Awesome Brett. Nicely done.

[Danny Hamsley]

That is some nice workbench. I see the jointer smiling!

[Hugh Jardon]

Great job! I can only aspire to such a beauty.

[Bobby O'Neal]

Very nicely done.

[Will Overton]

Nice work Brett!

Now you can use it to produce more great work.

[Bruce Page]

"Any comments or criticisms welcomed."

I can't think of a single criticism.

Beautifully done!

[Mike Cruz]

All that work. All that time. All that attention to detail... and you couldn't sweep the floor before taking the pictures? C'mon...:rolleyes:

Hehe, I bet you were so exited (and relieved) to have it finished you couldn't wait to get it in its place! I don't blame you one bit. Very nice. Wish I had something that nice for assembly and creating. I needed to crank mine out, so I'm left with MDF with maple edging...:o

Lucky you...

[Kevin Gregoire]

damn damn impressive!! you should be very proud.
and the old adage has never been more true..... good things comes to those who wait.

[John Mark Lane]

Wow, that is an awesome bench! Is the entire thing as thick as those edge pieces suggest? How much does that freakin' thing weigh? And how did you glue it up and smooth it out?

Nice!!!!!!!!!!

[harry strasil]

I just have to ask, did you chamfer or roundover the tops of the dog holes?

[Van Huskey]

That is a very nice bench!

[David Colafranceschi]

Looks great!! You could land a airplane on that puppy..:-)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Very nicely done! Impressive.

[Bill Whig]

Beautiful work! I am working at designing/building a similar bench, but, being a beginner, mine will need to be a bit more modest. I can honestly say I appreciate all of the details. Nice! I am very sorry to learn that it took you over 2 years to build! :)

Bill

[Thomas love]

Very nice Bench, happy woodworking

[David Nelson1]

WOW! Great job

[Brian Kincaid]

Wow very cool. Looks HEAVY! :)
-Brian

[Brett Bobo]

Mike,
Actually, you're exactly right! As soon as I turned the last vise handle and applied the coats of DO on it, I snapped the photos. Now, it's a matter of moving it to it's final resting spot and putting it to good use.

[David Helm]

Nobody mentioned it but, I really like the figure in the stretchers and sides. Way to making a utilitarian piece pretty.

[Brett Bobo]

Harry,
I haven't roundover the dog holes yet but I've considered it. I figured that if the holes get damaged from use, I would then ease the edge to help.

[Brett Bobo]

John Mark,
Thanks, I appreciate it. The overall top is 2 1/2" thick but the front and side aprons, which are 6" tall, give the appearance that the entire top is that thick. Not exactly sure on the weight but I'd venture to guess it's around 300 lbs. For the top, I should have purchased stock in Porter Cable with as many biscuits as I used. There's two layers, top and bottom, of 50 biscuits between each lamination so overall, I used roughly 1000 biscuits for the top. That was primarily for alignment but as good as that way, I still spent some considerable time flattening the top by hand, probably a couple hours over several days before I was satisfied with "flat."

[Doug Carpenter]

I am sorry to say this but no one has been honest with you.

often times the first time we build somting it just isn't our best work. PM me with your address and I'll come get. I feel strongly that if I act fast it will save you any further embarrassment. :D

I promise I'll hide it in my shop where no one will see it.

[John Thompson]

You did a nice job of execution on that monstrosity Mr. Bobo. How did the vise situation turn out? I think you will know to what I refer.. ;)

Extremely well done and I am proud of you... :)

[Dan Schmidt]

Really top class work. I'm curious how you attached the short aprons to accomodate movement along the top width. I assume that is why you didn't box joint both ends?

[Raymond Fries]

That should hold your needs forever...

Bet you cant wait to give it a test run.

[Paul Raymond]

beautiful bench. enjoy it!

[Greg Plowman]

Great looking bench.

[Brett Bobo]

Dan,
Thanks--Actually, both ends of the apron are tied with box joints. There are many people here more knowledgeable about wood movement than I am but for the top, each "slat" is oriented so the edge grain is facing up. Since most movement is across the width of the face of a board and the edge grain is up in this case, I wasn't concerned with much movement. The total glue surface area and quantity of biscuits between each slat should help minimize this as well. I guess we shall see over the long term...