My workbench build

[Dalton Peppers]

Hey everybody, I’m a newish member/contributor and this will be my first post. I’m currently building a workbench from some longleaf and loblolly pines i milled from my property. I would say about 90% has been built using hand tools with the remainder being the few times I used my skill saw and bandsaw and the one time I used my uncles old electric handplane for about 30 seconds and made a huge dive in the top. Half of the top is a 13 ish” wide slab and the the other is laminated with some 2x and 3x boards. The leg vise is from Lake Erie and the chop is some white oak that my buddy milled. It’s drawbored with 5/8 red oak pegs that I made from some firewood. Still have a little ways to go before it’s finished and I’ll post pictures as I get it done. Thanks. Please excuse my disaster in my shop

[William Fretwell]

Welcome to the group, great way to join with a major project!
Workbench builds are very popular. Looks very solid, good joints, lots of progress! Not long to the final flattening of the top, that is the icing on the cake.
Clearly you put some thought and planning into this project. Looks very long, do you plan some large tables or doors?

[Dalton Peppers]

Thanks for the reply. It’s a little under 8ft long mainly due to the fact that the log I cut for the slab was that long. Probably should have included the dimensions…it’s 90 something inches long by 23ish inches wide by 30ish inches tall. I just wanted the flexibility to do what I want on it, but yes I would like to build a dining table for our home at some point

[Tom M King]

Looks great. I would make a relief cut directly on radius with the pith on the underside.

[mike stenson]

Nice bench! My next one will be pretty much 8'x2'. My current bench has been irritatingly short at just under 6' long. I think you'll appreciate the length.

[Kris Cook]

Looks beefy and plenty of good exercise with the hand plane. Should serve you well. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

[Dalton Peppers]

Looks great. I would make a relief cut directly on radius with the pith on the underside.
Thanks for the suggestion

[Tom M King]

Such relief kerfs are common in Japanese timber framing, used in beams that contain the pith. Examples can be seen pretty early in this thread. I'm not sure if you have to join to see the pictures, or not. A timber that contains the pith will check along some radius line at some point, especially Pine. This just lets you choose which way.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=114064.0

[Mark Gibney]

Great looking bench, and an impressive amount of work with handtools.

[Thomas Crawford]

looks good, what's the dished area on the front left for?

[Jim Koepke]

Welcome to the Creek Dalton and looks like a great bench.

jtk

[Rob Luter]

Welcome. My first big project was a bench and 16 years later it still serves me well. I wish I had the space for a man-size bench like you are building. Mine is a little wider (27") but only 60" long (small shop area). I'm looking forward to seeing your finished product.

[Dalton Peppers]

I had mounted my great grandpa’s old rr track anvil before I decided to use that slab for this bench, not sure what I’m going to do with that spot.. probably nothing

[Dalton Peppers]

I didn’t feel like tackling the top, so as usual I put the cart before the horse and put in a shelf and attached a tool rack the the backside. I also glued some suede to the vise chops. Once this is done I am going to have to force myself to tackle the clean-up of my shop, or maybe just pay my sons 20 bucks. Thanks for looking


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[William Fretwell]

Tool shelf to quickly grab the most used is a real boost to productivity. I barely have to look when I grab.
The front vise looks good. As for the anvil spot, easy to make a filler piece or add a thin stock stop.
I mount mine in the tail vise when I use it.
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[Dalton Peppers]

494554494555 Pretty much calling it done. Still need to add a row of holdfast holes and maybe a small drawer. Thanks for looking

[William Fretwell]

Lovely solid bench Dalton. Let it settle for a year before the final top flattening. What finish did you use? Mine was two coats of smoking hot boiled linseed oil applied with tongs and a wire wool pad then the excess wiped off. Each coat was a week apart. Now I just use Tung oil for touch ups.

[Dalton Peppers]

Thanks William. I used some linseed oil and a little varnish. I had actually planned on heating it but the Dutch oven I use for that kind of stuff was full of some other concoction…oh well

[Thomas Wilson]

That’s not going anywhere! Messy is authentic. While your sons are cleaning up, you could sagely study and plane, carefully measure with winding sticks, and talk about how good it is looking. Perhaps it would “Tom Sawyer” your sons to pay you $20 to finish flattening the bench.

Nice tools. Looks like they are well used.

[Dalton Peppers]

Thankyou, I’ve paid my sons for stuff I didn’t feel like doing more times than I’d like to admit. As for the tools, my uncle was a timber framer for many years and passed his tools down to me when his health wouldn’t allow him to continue. Since then I’ve developed a tool addiction. Rust control is a constant battle in my unconditioned shop in south east Texas. Hopefully this year I’ll finish the shop out and get an ac in here as long as I can quit getting side tracked with projects

[Dalton Peppers]

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[Dalton Peppers]

Decided to add a small drawer with some scrap pieces. The main drawer is cherry and yellow pine with oak runners while the trays are made from maple and apple. This was the first drawer I’ve built and I’m the end I think it turned out pretty good but there were quite a few lessons learned

[Jim Koepke]

Nice drawer for tool storage.

jtk