Moravian Roubo Nicholson hybrid bench build.

[william sympson]

About a year ago, I was in a barn helping to clean it out …there was a 20’ 8” long, 20” 1/8” wide, 3” thick slab of maple from a 1952 shuffleboard table, a pile of nominal 4x8 SPF cutoffs from some jobsite long ago, and some old 2+” x 12” poplar floor joists from an 1840s house. I hauled those parts home and now I have my first proper workbench – sure beats working off of a sawhorse trestle .
It is 100” long, 20” wide, and just under 3” thick, the legs dropped to 3 1/8" x 6.7" after taking out the twist and bowing. A single 16’ SYP 2x12 for the stretchers was the only lumber I had to buy. The leg vise screw is a leveling leg for scaffolding, the end vise, and a 1" iron pipe floor flange are the three pieces of hardware I had to purchase.
I still need to put some holdfast holes in the top after I figure out where I need them and build some wooden liners for the end vise to bring it level with the top. I decided to fasten it directly to the bench and not mortise it in – easier to move if needed/desired and it has more depth and width with wood jaw liners.

I call it hybrid - moravian for the easy knock down basic design, Roubo for the big legs and flush front, and Nicholson for the angled leg vise.



R/
William

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[John Crawford]

Looks great, and a nice length. I bet it will be quite a job getting the dog holes in that maple....

[Will Boulware]

Very cool! Looks heavy. I like it.

[Curt Putnam]

Check out the Nail Owl or whatever it's called - Wood Owl bits. Looked it up for you http://www.woodowl.com/PROD_nailchipper.htm

[william sympson]

😄 yes, those bits could be helpful but I may choose another way.

[Chris Hachet]

Very impressive. I like your use of recycled materials.

Chris

[Mike Cherry]

What is the leg vise chop made from? The poplar?

[Christopher Charles]

Perfect use of materials for a workbench. Looks great but too bad you got the vises reversed :)

Will look forward to seeing the first projects come off the bench!

Cheers,
C

[william sympson]

Yes, it is poplar with powder beetle boring insect tracks all over it. It is nearly a quarter sawn piece, about 2.25 thick and seems plenty stout enough at this point.
R/
William

[william sympson]

... Looks great but too bad you got the vises reversed :)
C

Yes it is a lefty bench and man do I like it reversed!

[george wilson]

I'd like to see a better picture of the shuffleboard top. Sounds like a very lucky find.

[Jim Koepke]

Wow, wish a find like that would come my way.

You should be careful when drilling your dog holes. There may be metal inside the maple as part of the manufacturing process.

Use a bit that can handles metal or start the holes with a good bit and then switch to one that is not going to be a heartbreaker if it hits a screw or nail.

jtk

[william sympson]

George it was definitely a lucky find and I still have 12' of it to make a couple of countertops for the house. I'll have to get a better pic of the top later today - it is hard maple by the way.
Jim the top has nails in it, centered vertically in the thickness (found them when cutting it up). Any idea how are the nails spaced across the the width and length of the laminations?

R/
William

[william sympson]

George,
Here is a close up picture of the top and a cut off that I used for the bench legs.

R/
William
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