Researching a New Bench

[Zachary Caldwell]

I am beginning to research benches and I really like the roubo bench and benchcrafted hardware. However I ran across this bench design recently and really like all the clamping options with it. I've read some post on here that seemed to kind of knock this design due to no upper stretchers between legs. If one were to add those would this be a good design?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDVc7FbPMgI

[ken hatch]

Zachary,

No link or photo of the bench with all the clamping options that I could see.

I'm a broken record on first bench builds, pick a standard bench, make it simple, quickly and cheaply. Then go to work. do not expect it to be the perfect bench, it may take several builds to get to that level.

ken

[Zachary Caldwell]

Thanks fixed it!

[ken hatch]

Zachary,

That bench is exactly what makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It makes a great youtube video and wow, there sure are a lot of ways to hold work, almost none of which is needed and most will have you barking at the moon in short order.

A simple face vise with stops, battens, and holdfasts will do 95% of your work holding without getting in the way. The other 5% can be handled by a Vertas Wonder Dog and very occasionally a long clamp. Please don't take this wrong but that bench screams "that guy is either selling something", mostly sizzle and little steak, or he doesn't have a clue what he is doing.

ken

[David Bassett]

Not that thing again! It came up in a previous thread and I SHARED MY THOUGHTS (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?278696-roubo-vise-options&p=2972454#post2972454) on it there. (tl,dr: "Schizophrenic".)

I think you're much better going with a simple traditional design. I'd suggest Nicholson as the simplest and a good starting point. (See Mike Siemsen's "Naked Woodworker", (naked as unequipped, not unclothed,) video for details.) But Ken's evangelism has gotten me intrigued with the Monrovian bench.

[Jim Koepke]

I am beginning to research benches and I really like the roubo bench and benchcrafted hardware. However I ran across this bench design recently and really like all the clamping options with it. I've read some post on here that seemed to kind of knock this design due to no upper stretchers between legs. If one were to add those would this be a good design?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDVc7FbPMgI

Zachary, What do you intend to build on your bench?

Make the bench to suite your needs and preferences.

The large apron on the bench in your link can take the place of a stretcher with a little modification.

For my preferences, the apron on the bench is too wide. Some like the Roubo for not having an apron. For me being able to have some storage under the bench is also a plus. A large apron negates this ability some.

There are many ways to hold work. A few are shown in these posts:

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?223428

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?272588

One can do a multitude of holding schemes with just about any bench:

426054

As long as one has imagination and a few scraps of wood the clamping or holding options are unlimited.

jtk

[Steve Southwood]

Hate to be that guy, but no.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Just build a Nicholson. That thing is basically a Nicholson on a metal frame with a bunch of unnecessary vises and accessories hung on it.

[ken hatch]

Not that thing again! It came up in a previous thread and I SHARED MY THOUGHTS (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?278696-roubo-vise-options&p=2972454#post2972454) on it there. (tl,dr: "Schizophrenic".)

I think you're much better going with a simple traditional design. I'd suggest Nicholson as the simplest and a good starting point. (See Mike Siemsen's "Naked Woodworker", (naked as unequipped, not unclothed,) video for details.) But Ken's evangelism has gotten me intrigued with the Monrovian bench.

David,

As I'm sure you know almost any design will work, the Moravian just hits my sweat spot of ease, cost, and stability. Kinda a Goldilocks bench.

ken

[David Bassett]

David,

As I'm sure you know almost any design will work, the Moravian just hits my sweat spot of ease, cost, and stability. Kinda a Goldilocks bench.

ken

I'm coming around. ;)

[Zachary Caldwell]

I want the bench to serve as a multi use tool. Like a lot of people I am limited on space, which is why right now I have taken everything off the wall and am reorganizing my garage to fit more in less space. However, over the last few months I have had this strong curiosity about hand tools and using them to build more stuff. Mostly what I do is hack my way through building items for our house such as furniture and cabinets and builtins. So one day I may use it to build a cabinet for a closet, the next try and build some sort of furniture piece. I just know that I am getting very tired of not having some sort of stable bench with some dog holes and a vise. Sorry this post was long.
Zach

[Zachary Caldwell]

I have available to me two 96x30x1.75 maple butcher blocks that are very flat. My thoughts were to sandwich these together to get over 3" thick top. Then just mortise in some legs underneath, drill some dogholes, and maybe add on the benchcrafted leg vise and/or add maybe the veritas vise at the end. Thoughts?

[William Fretwell]

Zachary don’t get hung up on one bench video, especially that one. Yes you can hold stuff many ways, lots of those are very cumbersome and slow. It is almost a Veritas ad.
What you don’t see are all the short comings. Build a simple bench to start, find out what you like. Then use that bench to build something else.
As for your stretcher question, yes they are a good idea and they need to be the right size and in the right place. Face glueing two end grain butcher blocks together is problematic as is periodic flattening of the top.

[Jim Koepke]

I have available to me two 96x30x1.75 maple butcher blocks that are very flat.

If they are traditional butcher block the surface is end grain. That will be a problem gluing and also will be easy to split when using a holdfast.

If the surface is face grain, it may work well.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

I think it's a beautifully executed, overly complex design. It's likely built to fill the camera frame for the maker's videos.

Practically speaking, I rarely use boards longer than 40" or wider than 10".

If working with sheet goods (plywood) it's off to the garage to break things down to manageable size.

*****

Where will your bench be set?

[Robert Engel]

For what you've described, with space limitations you have, rather than a dedicated bench, you might consider an assembly table with some clamping capabilities.

Aside from chiselling what would you need a thick top for?

You might take a look at an MFT type set up. The various dogs, T tracks etc gives a lot of accurate setup capability for assembly, routing and sawing. Variety of clamping methods including a face vise. IMO its a great way to go also lots of storage capacity important for a small shop. I recently came across one on YT by Paoson Woodworking that has some very ingenious features.

[Zachary Caldwell]

Thanks for all the info. I do have a couple of kreg stands with tops currently for assembly so to speak. I think I am going to go with the more classic design and get a simple vise of sorts to start and figure out what I like and dont like on my first one and go from there.