My Bench is Finally Done

[Roy Lindberry]

I've finally finished the project I started two or three years ago...my Klausz style workbench. I built the base a while back, and then it got put on hold for other things, and I finally got back to it last year. This morning I put the BLO on it and pronounced it done.

Originally, I planned to make it out of maple, but soon realized that I couldn't afford that. So I went down to Lowe's and picked through their stacks of doug fir 4x4 and 4x6 to find the best wood I could. I wasn't too worried about including tight knots, but I did try to minimize them as I prepared my stock. Basically, the entire bench is douglas fir, with a few pieces of hem-fir thrown in at non-essential areas. I also chose to accent it with the use of a little black walnut that I had on hand. I was hoping for form and function, but I ended up with a lot more function than form - the pictures don't show the faults very well.

In case I ever have to move this thing very far, I built the base to be able to break it down. The top will lift off, and then the stretchers are joined to the leg assemblies via angled tenons with wedges on top which effectually turn them into very large dovetails. The vise hardware is from Lee Valley and works very well.

I learned on this project that I really don't like working with DF, because it splinters off too easily. But for the money savings, I think it was worth it. I didn't keep a really precise record, but I'm pretty sure that I'm under $500 for the whole thing. Also, I learned the value of a selection of saws. A lot of the joinery is pretty crude because the doves on this thing were too big for my dovetail saw. Since I don't have a tenon saw or anything else really, I ended up cutting most of the joinery with a Bishop 6 TPI rip. The results were far from impressive, and yet, I am extremely happy with what I ended up with and look forward to using this to maximize my hand tool capabilities.

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[James Conrad]

Well done, the dovetails in your tail vise look very tidy. How do you like the LV vise hardware?

[Chris Griggs]

Very very nice Roy! That'll be a great work horse.

[Bruce Page]

Nice bench! That bad boy will be around for generations!

[Tony Shea]

I like the bench a lot Roy. You basically ran into to the same issue I did with originally planning maple for the top. I also wanted hard maple but soon found out that it would cost me much more than I wanted to spend at the time. I collected a few 12/4 lengths of maple and decided to start collecting the 4x4 doug fir beams at HD. I was as picky as I could be and came away with a nice selection very similar to yours. The time it took me to collect and actually start building the bench let the 4x4's dry out pretty well. But I decided to use up the 12/4 maple on my legs, massive legs at that. But I went the Ruobo style.

I do really like your tail vise and wish I had taken the time to install one in my bench. I am not at all happy with adding a Record face vise in the tail vise position per Schwarz's advice. I think I would be much happier using a typical tail vise setup such as yours.

Very well done, you will be very happy to have such a stout bench to use hand tools on. A nice bench really makes a huge difference.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Great Looking Bench. I thought 2012 was going to be the year of my bench build, and here it is almost 2014 and I haven't purchased the lumber yet, so I can relate to wait. Hopefully with such a great bench you will have a bit more shop time in the next couple of years. It looks really good.

[Roy Lindberry]

Well done, the dovetails in your tail vise look very tidy. Whose vise hardware did you use?

Both screws came from Lee Valley. I was really happy because the hardware was the perfect size to fit the plans, which say you should procure hardware before you build (which I of course, didn't). Landis' book was indispensable for this project. Even with measured drawings, I messed up more than I care to admit.

[Roy Lindberry]

I like the bench a lot Roy. You basically ran into to the same issue I did with originally planning maple for the top. I also wanted hard maple but soon found out that it would cost me much more than I wanted to spend at the time. I collected a few 12/4 lengths of maple and decided to start collecting the 4x4 doug fir beams at HD. I was as picky as I could be and came away with a nice selection very similar to yours. The time it took me to collect and actually start building the bench let the 4x4's dry out pretty well. But I decided to use up the 12/4 maple on my legs, massive legs at that. But I went the Ruobo style.

I thought about the Roubo, but it was actually the shoulder vise that pushed me over the edge. I thought it would be better for me than the Roubo leg vise. I'm glad to hear that you think the tail vise will be beneficial, because this is my first "real" bench, so I didn't really know what I wanted.

The one thing where this bench really lacks is that it is not useful for jointing the edges of long, wide boards without the use of a slave (which I plan to build in the future). The sliding deadman has a lot of appeal to me. But my daughter is growing up and enjoys spending time in the shop, so maybe I need to build her a bench. If so, perhaps a Roubo is in my future....


Very well done, you will be very happy to have such a stout bench to use hand tools on. A nice bench really makes a huge difference.

Thank you.

[Tony Wilkins]

Very nice Roy. The perseverance and the choices all came together well for you.

[Judson Green]

Good job! I feel that I should have built a tool well into my bench.

[Steve Voigt]

Great looking Bench!It's really nice to see a Klausz style bench.
I used to live in CA, worked a lot of DF, and agree it can be splintery and unpleasant. But you made the right choice, in my opinion. I'm glad I used a utility wood for my bench. I'd rather spend my money on tools and wood, in that order.