Roubo bench

[Brian Behrens]

I just finished this workbench based on the Benchcrafted plans. I used the Benchcrafted leg vise and tail vise. It is maple and cherry. I didn't keep track, but I probably put 150 hours into it over the course of a month. The big dovetail was intimidating to me, but it came out perfect. I'm thrilled with the vise hardware. It works effortlessly just like in the Benchcrafted videos. The brand name (my name) was laser engraved. I have used it for a few small projects already. It is awesome being able to hold workpieces properly without having to rig stuff. Thanks for looking.

[Wojciech Tryc]

I just finished this workbench based on the Benchcrafted plans. I used the Benchcrafted leg vise and tail vise. It is maple and cherry. I didn't keep track, but I probably put 150 hours into it over the course of a month. The big dovetail was intimidating to me, but it came out perfect. I'm thrilled with the vise hardware. It works effortlessly just like in the Benchcrafted videos. The brand name (my name) was laser engraved. I have used it for a few small projects already. It is awesome being able to hold workpieces properly without having to rig stuff. Thanks for looking.
Congratulations Brain, it looks awesome.

[Mark Rainey]

Impressive bench Brian...quite a centerpiece for your workshop.

[michael langman]

Beautiful bench Brian. You will enjoy it for the rest of your days and then someone else will for the rest of theirs, probably.

[Brian Behrens]

Can anyone see the photos? They were there when I posted the thread but I don't see them anymore.

[charles mathieu]

I've always wondered how you guys build that huge sliding dovetail near the tail vise ? That looks impossible to do ! Any chance someone's got a link or pictures that show how ?

[Steve Wurster]

Can anyone see the photos? They were there when I posted the thread but I don't see them anymore.

I still see them; they are beautiful! Great job.

[Brian Behrens]

Charles, there is an article on a good way to do the big dovetails in Popular Woodworking. The article is available for free on Benchcrafted website. Look under the "Instructions" section, then under Split top Roubo - "How to make condor tails". I followed the advice in the article and it worked great. The short version is, cut the tails on the bandsaw with a shop made jig, rout the pins shallow, then clean up with a chisel, then go deep in the pins with a top bearing pattern bit. This way you only have to get the top 1/4" of the pins perfect with your chisel. There's also a black magic trick involving splitting a .5mm pencil line to tighten up the pins. It's a great technique for big "condor tails"

[Brian Behrens]

Thanks for the comments. This was my first major project after getting back into woodworking. (Unless you count building my own house - but the bench was harder than that!)

[Joe A Faulkner]

Very nice bench. And from what I can see of the background, your shop looks very nice as well. Do you have a wood floor or is that laminate? Looks like you've got some great natural light.

[Brian Behrens]

Thanks Joe. The floor is "luxury vinyl planks" from Lowe's. It's been ho!ding up great, and wood glue doesn't stick to it. The stuff is waterproof, floating, and locks together, so it goes down fast. I did the whole shop in a day (900 square feet) . It gets slick if you let sawdust pile up, but I run a clean shop so it's not an issue for me

[David Eisenhauer]

Great looking bench Brian and your name added to it makes it even more special. For those who want to know, you can also cut/fit Benchcrafted's "Condor" tails completely by hand. I also like what is visible about the shop. Good stuff.