Hand Tool Workbench...Finally Ready!

[Andy Pedler]

As a hobbyist with a full time job and kids and all that kind of fun, I don't get out to the workshop as much as I'd like. But finally, over a year in the making, my Roubo workbench is finally ready to get to work. It was a fun project and obviously I used both hand and power tools. It's pretty much all douglas fir from the local lumberyard, except for the endcap and vise chop, which are poplar I grabbed from the rack. I may change those out sometime to dress it up a bit, but they are functional.

This was the first time I really put handplanes to use for dressing stock. When I glued up the top I did it in 3 sections, with the intention of running each section through my planer. Once I had the 3 sections, it occurred to me that I needed one side to be flat in order for the planer to do any good, so I flattened one side of each with handplanes. It was actually a lot of fun, so I went ahead and did both sides of each section! They turned out okay, but I ran them through the planer anyway and it did improve the surface (I need more practice...).

I still need to spend some time to flatten the top a little better, drill some dog holes, build the shelf on the stretchers, and get to work practicing with saws and chisels.

Andy - Newark, CA

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[Stewie Simpson]

A nice looking bench Andy. To further brace the legs from potential movement a sheet of ply fixed between the 2 back legs will make a difference.

Stewie.

[bob blakeborough]

nice looking bench! I will be pleased if my own turns out as well...

[Tony Shea]

Very nice bench Andy. Is pretty much what I have in mind for my upcomming bench in Doug Fir. Of most soft woods Doug Fir is probably my favorite, something about it is really sticking to me. I love working with it as the smell is very nice, not your typical pine/fir smell. Has a nice sweetness about it that's hard to explain. And a well planed surface with a very sharp iron comes out wonderful.

I am curious about your wagon vise hardware. Where did you get it at? Do you think that handle design might interfere in certain positions with your long planes?

[Michael Peet]

Looks great, Andy. It should last you a long time. Funny how these simple-looking things take so long to build, isn't it?

Mike

[Jim Koepke]

Looks great.

Are the legs 6X6?

Right now with the garden, chickens and other things to take care of I haven't had a lot of time in the shop to work on my bench.

It looks like it all should go quick, then something comes up and it takes a year or two to build a bench.

jtk

[Steve Branam]

Very nice! The wagon vise looks like it's made from a veneer press screw, nice idea. If the handle does get in the way a bit, you could hacksaw off the opposite end. There should be enough play in the system to allow turning the handle a quarter turn to get the mail part out of the way. And I wouldn't worry about stabilizing the legs, if you followed Chris Schwarz's design, which this looks like, and used the beefy drawbored mortise and tenon everywhere, that thing is solid.

[Andy Pedler]

Thanks everybody. It's been a really fun project and it is nice to complete something.

Stewie, thanks for the advice about bracing the legs. I'll see how it works when planing and keep that in mind. It is designed using the plans from Chris Schwartz's book and it feels very solid. Right now the top is sitting on the base (the legs are mortised into the top) with no other attachment than gravity and it doesn't slip around. I had intended to drill some holes through the tenons and hammer a couple of dowels into each of them to more-or-less lock it on, but I'm hoping I don't even have to do that.

Tony, the wagon vise is something I really wanted from the start but wasn't how to best implement. I got impatient this week as I was getting things done and threw it together in the fastest manner possible. The veneer press screw is held by the endcap and secured to the wagon block, and there are a couple of aluminum runners that support it below the bench. I was able to throw that together in one night and it locks pretty tight, the action of the vise screw is smooth enough, and we'll see how it works. Someday I might modify it to make a more elegant wagon vise design where the block moves and the screw handle doesn't stick out a long way from the end of the bench, but that's for another day if this one doesn't pan out. Today, if I turn the vise screw handle to that it is vertical, the top just barely clears the top of the bench so it would obstruct or hit a plane. But if it is anything but straight up it shouldn't be a problem.

Jim, the legs are ~4" square. The top is a bit over 3-1/4" thick.

Have a good 4th of July weekend!

- Andy -- Newark, CA

[john brenton]

I hear that man. I just attached the legs to my dominy-esqu bench yesterday after I found out I wouldn't be able to do anything with it on Monday. I said screw it and just started slapping it together. It shows to the eye, but it's solid with only three legs (I still have to make the other one!)


I got impatient this week as I was getting things done and threw it together in the fastest manner possible.

Have a good 4th of July weekend!

- Andy -- Newark, CA

[Joe Fabbri]

Hey Andy,

That's a great looking bench you've built there. Thanks for sharing the pictures. It's always great to see another bench build. I'm glad to see another person making it out of Doug fir, because that's what I'm thinking of using. I don't really want to spend the money for maple or some other hard wood. If I did, I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable doing any rough sort of work on it.

Let me ask you, did you just use 2x4, or did you rip it out of a larger stock (like 2x10)? I have a bunch of 2x4's that I used to build an old train table. I'd like to use it perhaps because of its being aged (and because I have it already). I'm concerned a little about not using rift or quarter sawn doug fir, though (which could be cut out of larger stock). Also, I can't tell exactly from the picture, though it looks maybe to be the case, but did you orient each grain to go in a different direction (rings going different direction on every other board)?

Lastly, are the legs merely 4x4 posts milled a little, or did you laminate them? I have 4x6 pressure treated pine, which is very old and pretty straight. I think they would be good to use, because they won't twist any more.

Joe

[Andy Pedler]

Hi Joe,

I went down to a local lumberyard (not a big box store) and picked through their stacks of 2x10's and 2x12's to find the lumber I used. Then I ripped those down to size on the table saw. The legs are laminations of 4 boards each. I could probably go back and figure out how many 2x10's and 2x12's I purchased, but I got really lucky and used all of them with almost nothing remaining and needed no additional lumber! Chalk that one up to pure luck and not careful planning.

For the top, I wasn't so worried about the ends of the boards but tried to get the direction of the grain in the same direction for all the boards. But I think I goofed up a bit, and some of the boards have a grain reversal midway through the span. You can really tell when handplaning the top where the grain shifts. The finish just isn't the same.

Andy - Newark, CA

[Billy Trinh]

great looking bench! mind if i ask which local lumberyard did you get the doug firs? were they kiln dried? I'm close by newark and might build one someday if i can get pass the planning stage :D

[Andy Pedler]

Hi Billy,

I went to Golden State Lumber (http://www.goldenstatelumber.com/), on Cherry just north of Mowry. I had never been there before but drive by it all the time. I found the people I talked with to be remarkably accommodating given that I was going to make a relatively small dollar purchase and asked if I could pick through their stock to cherry pick some boards. They showed me where to find what I was looking for and told me to have at it.

I don't have a moisture meter, but the lumber was stored outside and had been rained on when I picked it up, so it wasn't very dry (I really don't remember if it was kiln dried or not). But it seemed to dry quickly when stacked in the shop. I started cutting the material for the base within a month of purchasing it and had no problems with warping or movement. The stuff for the top sat in the shop for 6 months before I got around to it and was very dry by then.

Andy - Newark, CA

[Will Boulware]

Very nice! They say everyone likes a workbench thread. I think "they" are right!

Don't forget about us when you finish the shelf/doghole part of it. We want pictures of that too!