Workbench

[Mitchell Ristine]

Whelp, I started to have a go at making a work bench. Not so much because I am a hand tool fella, but more as an exercise in milling and joinery.

I do not have a jointer which has complicated this project. My brother in law gave me some 100+ year old ash from a barn of his. It's all 6/4-8/4, about 10" wide and in 8' lengths. I picked up a delta bench top mortiser which has been helping, but there's a learning curve with that machine. Also, when planning where to make mortises, I have learned that swirly grain and knots are a problem. I did not pay attention during the glue up of the legs (they are 3"x3").

Also, the mortises on the mortise and tenon joints between the legs and feet got off perpendicular somehow. Not sure how that happened (I suspect it was at the band saw, I had scouts over cutting PWD cars earlier).

All in all, this, thus far, has been a very rewarding project. I am learning a lot. I have a link to a few pictures. Please feel free to comment on improvements / tips.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eU2WOVGpnRTBKbmFijXha_uCouTT7HLJ?usp=sharing

[Andrew Howe]

Excellent pictures and beautiful ash. It looks really nice. I think if you have a long hand plane, it will help.

[Jacques Gagnon]

Nice work; this will be a beautiful bench!

Not sure if you have a router. If so you could make a rudimentary router table and fine tune your tenons.

Regards,

J

[Tom Bender]

Get a couple of rasps, bigger is better in this case. Then you can clean up those thru mortises.

Those feet are not going to sit flat on your floor unless they and it are perfect. You could add rubber feet. McMaster Carr has a good selection. I'd put 4 on each corner and recess them into Forester holes. Or you could cut a 1/2" relief across the middle, which looks nice. (leave a square at each corner on the ground) Or do both.

Take a router and round over a lot of places. The result looks much better and is nicer to live with.

[Mike Kees]

Mitchell that bench project looks like fun. I built my first bench in my garage,still using it. I really was not sure what I wanted . Mine has a laminated plywood top. I did make my legs and base construction mortise and tenon ,with framing lumber. Maybe someday when everything else is caught up I will build a real bench . Yours looks great. How did you arrive at the height that you wanted for your bench ? That was my big hangup. My plan was to use my bench and replace the pads it sits on with various thickness pieces till I arrive at a height that works for me. So far I have a ton of experience at one height.:rolleyes: