Bench revamping

[Richard Hutchings]

I've been working on a small bench using a slab of bowling lane that I got from a friend. I've come to the conclusion that I still won't have a good bench when I'm done. It might make a good sharpening station down the road.

I have a bench in the basement that will work very well with a few dog holes and a vise. Since its Father's Day and I get to what I want, I've started planing and adding my Vise to this bench.387945

After a lot of work with my #5 and transitional jointer I'm well on my way to having a usable bench. I love the workout.
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I plan on building 7' Nicholson style bench using this.

[David Eisenhauer]

Glad you are enjoying the project. That is what makes it good.

[Richard Hutchings]

Yes thank you. I'm enjoying every minute. Now I need to go shopping for dogs and holdfasts followed by some lumber. I have a great liner supplier up the street. They seem to have every thing I might want in the rough. Yay more planing.

[David Dalzell]

I seem to recall someone posted about building a bench top from a slab of bowling lane. This was some years ago. A significant problem was the large number of nail present used when the alley was first built. Bad news for drilling dog holes or any other type of drilling or modifying.

[Richard Hutchings]

This one has large dowels running through it. It more work than it's worth. That's why I'm going with a Nicholson style. They look fairly easy to build and use less lumber than laminated.

[David Eisenhauer]

I have had good luck with the holdfasts that Joel sells at Tools For Working Wood. As for dogs, I am one of the folks that uses wooden dogs rather than metal ones to prevent a mishap due to a blade accidently contacting a metal dog and save some on the cost. I have fabbed up both round and square wooden dogs that work well. I believe that the metal ones also work well and it is just a matter of personal preference. I use my holdfasts daily and would not want a bench without that capability.

[Stew Denton]

Richard,

From a practical standpoint, that bench looks like it holds some good promise. The lumber for the top looks pretty substantial, and your plane work looks good too.

Stew

[Richard Hutchings]

My only issue with it is there's no cross members or apron to keep it flat. I don't want to mod it too much I'd rather just use it to best of its ability while I build my bench. This one will always be useful for most work.

[Robert Engel]

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[Richard Hutchings]

I'm aware of that method of flattening a bench. It's just not for me right now. I'm trying to stay away from the noise and dust of these kind of operations.

[Pat Barry]

Hey Richard, how thick is the top on the bench you are revamping? Its hard to tell from the pictures. Maybe just 2x construction lumber?

[Richard Hutchings]

It's about 2" thick. The more I think about it the more I want to add the extra braces and apron that I want. Heck if can plane this bench comfortably then I can plane anything on it. I can start building stuff instead of a bench.