My finished Ruobo bench!!

[bob cohen]

Just finished my bench this weekend and thought I would share some pictures with you. The tail/glide) and leg vise hardware was purchased from benchcrafted. I also purchased their bench plans. The overall dimensions including the 4 inch bench top are as suggested in the plans. I beefed up the dimensions of the legs slightly and double the thickness of the top and lower rails. Bench top and legs were made from a combination of ash, which was unfortunately very wormy, and soft maple. The leg vice chop, deadman, and shiplapped shelf were all made from back walnut harvested several years ago from a neighbor's yard. All joints are mortice and tenoned as describe in the benchcrafted plans, and reinforced with draw bore pins. I was a bit apprehensive about draw boring since I had never done it before, but it worked beautifully thanks to the wonderful description of the technique included in Christopher Schwarz's workbench book. I will draw pin all of my mortice and tenon joints forevermore! No glue is needed which means no race against trying time during assembly. The finish is is not measured mixture of blo and tung oil.

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[Paul Saffold]

Very nice bench, Bob. Looks very solid. I'm sure you will get years, or a lifetime of use with it.

You might consider rotating your pictures before you upload them. Then we won't be breaking our necks to see your beautiful work.:)

[Richard Line]

I've been wondering if there would be a work holding problem with the bench, based on the last picture. :D

[Michael Fross]

I think what everyone is trying to say is that you accidentally built it upside down. You'll probably have to start over.... :)

Great looking bench!

[bob cohen]

[QUOTE=Michael Fross;1950389]I think what everyone is trying to say is that you accidentally built it upside down. You'll probably have to start over.... :)

No, just kidding. The pictures were right side up from I loaded them. I promise!! Is it possible to turn them around after an upload?

[Carl Beckett]

Some viewers rotate the picture when viewed, but don't actually rotate the original image ( have had the happen myself ).

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Bob, great looking bench! I made very similar modifications to the plan on mine. I thought the strechers needed to be thicker as well. I also skipped the bench bolts and just drawbored the strechers. Enjoy your bench, it is my favorite tool :).
Salem

[Derek Cohen]

They look the right way up to me ... :)

Excellent work ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tony Shea]

Great bench! I am currently in the process of making my own roubo. It is taking a very long time due to the fact I have done all work by hand. My top is doug fir which was very nice to work with hand tools, but for some crazy reason I've gone with hard maple for my base. I had a bunch of 12/4 maple boards around that I was initially going to use for the top. But that started to become a bit more spendy than I could manage at the moment. So I used what I had collected for the base.

And it just so happens it's some of the hardest hard maple I've worked. The mortises were a nightmare. Lots of sharpening and pounding. But now I'm on to fitting the tenons which is a bit more peaceful work.

Anyways, I have a question about your leg vise. I can't tell in the pics, but is the parallel guide below or above the bottom stretchers/shelf? I planned on going above just out of ease of use. What size holes are in the parallel guide? Last question, how thick is your leg vise chop?

[Jim Ritter]

Tony.... Tried to send you a PM but your box is full. Contact me when you can I have some info about the leg vise to share.

[bob cohen]

Great bench! I am currently in the process of making my own roubo. It is taking a very long time due to the fact I have done all work by hand. My top is doug fir which was very nice to work with hand tools, but for some crazy reason I've gone with hard maple for my base. I had a bunch of 12/4 maple boards around that I was initially going to use for the top. But that started to become a bit more spendy than I could manage at the moment. So I used what I had collected for the base.

And it just so happens it's some of the hardest hard maple I've worked. The mortises were a nightmare. Lots of sharpening and pounding. But now I'm on to fitting the tenons which is a bit more peaceful work.

Anyways, I have a question about your leg vise. I can't tell in the pics, but is the parallel guide below or above the bottom stretchers/shelf? I planned on going above just out of ease of use. What size holes are in the parallel guide? Last question, how thick is your leg vise chop?

the bottom of the guide is about an inch above the bottom rail, the closer the better for clamping leverage so make sure your bottom stretcher is not too high off the ground especially if it is thick. Mine is about 3.5 inches above the floor, just enough room for the toe of my shoe to fit under. The holes are 3/8 inch diameter. The front chop is just under 2 7/8. Good luck!

[Pat Barry]

Its possible the camera itself was upside down. Nice work on the bench though.

[Carl Beckett]

Its possible the camera itself was upside down. Nice work on the bench though.

Thought maybe he was indulging in too much celebration due to it being done, and he just fell over and didnt realize it.....