Let's see them!

[steven c newman]

Your bench in action....

Everyone has seen my workbench being used.....so, how about a thread of benches actually being used? Let's see a bench being used, for a change. Doesn't matter how beat up, cluttered, large, small.....just a few pictures of YOUR bench in action.

( "Warts, and all" as the Goblin King would say)

[Sheldon Funk]

This is a shot from when I tried to make a chamfer plane. What I ended up with was a tear-out plane, but it's the thought that counts, right? :)
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[steven c newman]

Yep.

After all, they are supposed to be WORKbenches.....

[Adam Schultz]

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I just put together the drill press. Thus the mess. It was the second one I put together. I bought the cheapish Porter Cable press and returned it because the chuck wobbled like crazy no matter how I put it together.

[James Pallas]

Here is mine. Inside bench projects, outside trim for new window I just installed in the bedroom, installing generator and transfer switch for the house, new handrail in progress for exterior front steps. Garage bench repairing chainsaw and collecting tools and supplies from the window install. Plenty going on here.
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

Okay, here are a couple of my bench in use images:

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This is cutting a groove with a 6mm blade and a Stanley #45. Plywood seems to have gone metric and what used to be 1/4" is now 6mm. The skates on the #45 are a bit too wide for a 6mm blade so the movable skate is removed.

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This is using a plane on thin stock. A person asked about this so this was a demonstration of my technique for holding and working thin pieces.

jtk

[John Schtrumpf]

Making a candle box:
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Rabbets for thicknessing the boards:
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[ken hatch]

Your bench in action....

Everyone has seen my workbench being used.....so, how about a thread of benches actually being used? Let's see a bench being used, for a change. Doesn't matter how beat up, cluttered, large, small.....just a few pictures of YOUR bench in action.

( "Warts, and all" as the Goblin King would say)

OK Steven you asked for it:

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The main bench with the prep and assembly bench behind it.

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The third bench is the most important, the sharpening bench:

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I've re-purposed the portable bench to replace the old sharpening bench. In a few weeks I'll start building another portable bench using what I learned from the portable/sharpening bench. There was nothing wrong with the bench as a portable bench but because of the rush to finish and construction grade wood it was not pleasing to the eye. Hidden away as a sharpening bench is a good use of it.

ken

[steven c newman]

Ok...mine, since it was in use, today..
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Not the prettiest at the dance.....still seems to do the job...

[ken hatch]

Okay, here are a couple of my bench in use images:



This is cutting a groove with a 6mm blade and a Stanley #45. Plywood seems to have gone metric and what used to be 1/4" is now 6mm. The skates on the #45 are a bit too wide for a 6mm blade so the movable skate is removed.



This is using a plane on thin stock. A person asked about this so this was a demonstration of my technique for holding and working thin pieces.

jtk

Jim,

Yep, that is the way it is going. The sooner folks start thinking in metric the easier the transition will be. One of the best things I've done in my shop was going metric about 6 or 7 years ago. While I measure little, when I do, I make many fewer mistakes working in metric.

From your photo I'm not sure how you are holding the thin stock, it looks as if you have it pinched between the end vise and ?.

ken

[ken hatch]

It's a long story but the bench on the assembly/prep bench was very instrumental in MsBubba and I buying our current house about eight years ago. It was down in the back garden's wash sitting area and falling apart and only eight years later have I gotten around to fixing it. No one ever said I was fast:).

ken

[Jim Koepke]

From your photo I'm not sure how you are holding the thin stock, it looks as if you have it pinched between the end vise and ?.

Hi Ken,

My cropping of the image did that:

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There is a low wooden dog holding the far end. This was done when another member asked about holding thin stock. The spacer stack in the vise not only keeps the vise from racking, it limits how hard the vise can close and prevents bowing thin material.


the bench on the assembly/prep bench was very instrumental in MsBubba and I buying our current house

That style of bench is one that appeals to me. My truck has broken an end on one. Picked up another that was broken by someone else. A piece of firewood under the broken leg has added some life to it.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

OK, I'll play. I just began a new project today, and I have a few photos to record it. First the bench ...

https://s19.postimg.org/3uingsfwz/6a-_bench.jpg

Looks too neat, I know. The story is that I have had a month-and-a-bit to install a new tablesaw (Hammer K3), upgrade the dust collection, and tune all the machines. I even built a router table into the K3 (not sure why, since I used the old one once last year). But after that orgy of machinery, I completed the last hard maple panel for the kitchen I built earlier this year. That's it on the right ...

https://s19.postimg.org/z45rl4c8j/kitchen.jpg

And NOW I can put all the machines away and concentrate on three windsor three-legged stools to replace the three in the picture above. I really want to build a bunch of windsor chairs, but the stools are needed first.

But before I can begin, I need tools. I have a new scorp from Ray Isles (I chose this because it is based on a favourite of Peter Galbert, and you cannot get a better recommendation than that). I need a travisher, and have decided to build my own (possibly more than one) using Peter Galbert's as a model. That involves making blades as well. Brass and O1 ...

https://s19.postimg.org/71d707akz/4a_(O1_and_brass).jpg

I thought I would start with rebuilding the blades in a couple of heel shaves (different curvatures) I picked up ...

https://s19.postimg.org/orevl93lf/2a-(heel-shaves).jpg

You can see how worn one is here ...

https://s19.postimg.org/59k85bm37/7a_(wavy_blade).jpg

Well, I'll post more down the line :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[brian zawatsky]

These pics are all from my current project which is a mission/arts & crafts style desk.
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Chopping mortises in a front leg
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Making the shoulder cut for the tenon on the front stretcher
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Glueing up drawer runners
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Plowing grooves in the drawer sides

[Todd Stock]

Student working on a top for a Limbert table - tail vise is handy for deeper cross-grain jobs. He just completed a 00 in highly figured mahogany and Lutz, but wanted to stick around for some non-instrument projects.371069

[Joe A Faulkner]

My 14 year old completed a night stand for this year's 4H project. Most of the joiner was done using hand tools (my tools, my bench). In addition to half-blind, hand-cut dovetails, this piece featured web-framed dust panels beneath the drawers and 30 hand-chopped mortises.

[Mel Fulks]

Joe, fine work there. I'm betting his interest continues. Congratulations to you both.

[James Pallas]

Joe, That is very nicely done. Must have a good teacher and must be very skilled at 14 years.
Jim

[David Ragan]

Here's my two benches; Not much to say, except they are unusually neat.

The maple one (the top looks rather thin, right?) was just resurfaced, and the other (my first) bench I made of spare flooring was full of junk till yesterday-looks more like a counter now.

There is a third bench in lumber area-I made it years ago before WW started. It's a horizontal surface to cut down sheet goods.

371105371106

[David Ragan]

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This is using a plane on thin stock. A person asked about this so this was a demonstration of my technique for holding and working thin pieces.

jtk

Look like you killing it w that plane, but what is yer thin stock butted against?

[Jim Koepke]

Look like you killing it w that plane, but what is yer thin stock butted against?

A wooden bench dog. The picture was cropped for the first post. Then in post #12 the full image was posted. The dog is kind of hard to see, so here it is with and arrow pointing at the dog:

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As for killing it my planing started out slow and cautious, but at the end it picked up a little speed. There is a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsa0bdnW14U&t=

In the still shot it looks like fast movement because of the slow shutter speed in low light.

jtk

[Chuck Nickerson]

https://s19.postimg.org/59k85bm37/7a_(wavy_blade).jpg

Well, I'll post more down the line :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek, I have heel shaves in seven different sweeps (including a #12) so I'm really looking forward to this.

[steven c newman]

A Long Time Ago...in a Pole Barn far away....
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With a top made of Ash, sitting on 6 x6 Sycamore legs..."Chop" was even "rived" from one of the beams of Sycamore (still used, on my latest bench BTW) Aprons were from an old waterbed frame.

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Back then...I could work from both sides of the bench....
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And, it was better than using the top of my #113 Tablesaw....
The old bench still lives on, in another Pole Barn Shop ( where I sometimes go to buy a bit of hardwood)
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Now serves as a bench for an old Sears lathe....

[Bob Leistner]

This is my faithful assistant371169

[Eric R. Smith]

371201371200My Bench in use. Working on 2 more Windsors for my dining room set ( 2 already completed and in use).371200

[glenn bradley]

Accessories for the dog . . .

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[Phil Mueller]

In the process of fine tuning a curved rail.

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One down, one to go.

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[Jeff Zihlman]

Because of Steven's Goblin King quote.

On the bench in the background is the lid from the family trunk that came over from Sweden. In the foreground is some walnut from a deadfall on the farm...and some of my daughter's painting supplies.

[Rick Malakoff]

Inside bench kind of small less than 2'x4' and keeps me from making anything too big.

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Outside bench, second top, I used 2''x8'' KD pre-primed fascia board need something water resistant other than the tarp and I'm going to enclose the base with 1''x8'' ship lap on the 3 sides to the weather.
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Rick

[Carl Baker]

Nice Steven! Covered in dust and up to your knees in shavings... thats what they are supposed to look like!


Here are a couple of pictures of my boys and my dad working on some "windows" for a built in cabinet. Had the boys working on chopping out bridle joints for the frames and then the assembly line work of mitred glass stops...

[Bill Houghton]

In the middle of a remodel, installing some stained glass panels in a window opening. The panels are trapped between two sets of cleats, behind and in front of the panel. Here I am cutting the cleats
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Using my reliable M-F Langdon Acme miter box (somewhat overkill for 1/2" by 1/2" cleats, but I don't have a smaller one). Sanding block to clean off the splinters and fuzz from the cuts. Marking gauge, 4" double square, and scratch awl to lay out locations for screw holes (done on a drill press). Hand countersink to countersink holes after drilling.

Detritus from other projects shoved to the back of the bench, and to add character to the shot.

[steven c newman]

The reason for this little thread....is because too many benches look like living room furniture, than just something to get a job done on. Seen a lot of beautiful benches....that I'd be afraid to use, lest I mar that perfect surface. All very nice to show off your skills at building a bench....but, look at the old benches, and how much they have weathered over the decades of use. The good ones are still around, the bad ones fall apart long ago.

Look at those old benches as "veterans" in the "war" against raw lumber. Their task was to help the craftsman build whatever "Masterpiece" he needed made, to put food on his table.

keep the photos coming, showing your workhorse in action....Whether it be a piece of fine furniture, or a plank between a pair of sawhorses.....some have even used a wooden porch rail as a work bench.

[Andrew Seemann]

Hey Steven,
Funny you mention benches looking like furniture and never used. I was watching a couple videos with Tage Frid and Frank Klausz today, both well known for articles, plans, and pictures of their furniture quality workbenches. Thing is, in their videos, the actual benches they use are as beat to h#ll as my benches, full of chisel marks, stains, and scraped glue.

Anyway, my assembly bench with a mission desk in progress. Gluing up the rails and stiles. The newspaper and kraft paper covers the stains on the formica top. The Frid style cabinetmaker's bench to the right (not seen) has the rest of the stock on it, waiting to be glued up.

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[Matt Lau]

Keep it coming! Does my heart good.

[Mike Walsh]

not a great picture, but here's mine with a few parts of a dining room table that's currently in progress
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[Oskar Sedell]

new bench, on which I made the last missing pieces:

ripping the track for the sliding deadman:

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and trimming the deadman to fit:

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