New bench in progress....

[Mike O'Reilly]

Hi All,
I recently had a friend drop off 60+ pieces of red oak and ash. I have decided to use some of it for a new work bench. I am basing this on Christopher Schwarz's 18th century bench from his second book. I am building it 35" high with a top around 24"x 90". I will be building a leg vise and most likely a Veritas twin screw end vise. The top will be made up of laminated 3 3/4" x 5 5/8" pieces or the red oak. I am using a mix of hand tools and power tools. Too much work for hand tools alone. Any suggestions are welcom. Here a few pics of the work so far.

Rough material:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/OakBench/Paradise-20121105-00006.jpg

First few peices of the top

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/OakBench/Paradise-20121105-00005.jpg

Legs:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/OakBench/Paradise-20121105-00003.jpg

[Andrew Hughes]

Hi ,looks like its going to be a real nice bench.If you haven't glued up the top sections yet consider the grain direction for future flating with hand plane.If at all possible.looks great. Andrew

[Mike O'Reilly]

Andrew,
Probably can't tell in pics but I have marked the grain to make sure the grain is running in the same direction. Learned that lesson on my first bench.

Mike

[Carl Beckett]

It looks like you are already done - great bench!

(what's those big oak pieces you are working on..... ?? ) :D

[Mike O'Reilly]

Big oak pieces will be a test of my patience I guess.

[Andrew Hughes]

I hear ya mike thats a mistake you only make once.Now that i am out of the sun and thinking clear.Your book probably mentions it too.Are you going to do the 50/50 mineral spirits and oil mix for the top?

[Mike O'Reilly]

I have not decided what to do a for a finish. I left my current bench unfinished and no issues so far. I am open to suggestions.

[Mike Heidrick]

Can I have the old bench - It looks awesome too!!

[Mike O'Reilly]

Mike,
I guarantee you could buy a better one for less than the cost of getting it from where I live to where you live. I appreciate the comment though. I built it a couple of years ago from some mystery wood for the legs, bc fir for the deadman and spruce for the top. Has held up well but it is time for something a little more stout.

[Mike O'Reilly]

A bit more progress. The first few pieces of the top are cut to length and ready glue up. I am planning to use biscuits and glue but need to locate some more clamps first. I plan to do this using 4 pieces to make up a 7" x 90" piece and then will join 3 of these together for the final top. May add an additional strip to make it 24 or so wide.

Pretty clean joint.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/OakBench/Paradise-20121108-00011.jpg

Need more clamps.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/OakBench/Paradise-20121108-00010.jpg


Mike

[doug faist]

"Something a little more stout". Really? You plan on parking your car on it? It's really starting to look awesome.

I built my bench about 6 years ago. Finished the top (3" maple") with just two coats of Waterlox. Dried glue pops right off, paint doesn't stick and when I plane and scrape the top to remove the occasional ding or to keep it perfectly flat, it's very easy to refinish.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your finished project. Just be careful with the lifting and moving, OK?

Doug

[Carl Beckett]

"Something a little more stout". Really? You plan on parking your car on it? It's really starting to look awesome.



lol Thats what I was thinking.

Yep, should hold up to some pounding ok......

[Kurt Cady]

How thick is that top?!? Wow!

[Mike O'Reilly]

Kurt,
The top will be about 5 1/2" thick when finished.

[Carl Beckett]

As a side note... I saw that woodstove stoked up in the background and was wondering just where 'Paradise, NL' was.

You are out there Mike, so can imagine a material score is a big event. Congratulations, a great project.

[Mike O'Reilly]

Carl,
Getting decent material is a major issue. We have a good supplier locally but prices are pretty high. I cannot imagine building a bench like this from red oak if I had to pay for it. Local materials are limited to spruce and fir and a bit of birch or maple.

[Mike O'Reilly]

A bit more progress. I have the first 2 pieces of top biscuited and glued. I also have 3 more pieces squared and ready to add on to the top. This is going to be a heavy top. Each 5' piece weighs around 50 lbs. So I will have about 8 pieces of material in total in the top. The math says 400 lbs in the top alone. This is going to be beefy.


http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/Paradise-20121114-00032.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/StJohns-20121114-00031.jpg

And got another leg cut tonight.


http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll102/BugsandJeeps/IMG-20121114-00030.jpg

Mike