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Ken Bryant
10-30-2006, 10:24 PM
My next project was going to be a big new workbench, based on Chris Schwarz's redrawing of a Roubo bench, but even bigger (12' long). My current bench (a Lee Valley) being too light, I plan to go obsessively heavy -- I found two 12' 6x6 white oak beams to build the frame from.

However, I'm making a detour, and will welcome advice (on either project). The detour is this. My grandniece (9 years old) has become interested in woodworking, and needs a bench. I decided to build her one in the same style.

Current plans: build a 26" high, 6' long, 24" wide Roubo bench, laminating the top from plain old 2x4s (so 3.5" thick). I have some 12 quarters ash in short lengths left over from another project, and that'll make legs. Will plan on a leg vise, and (again after Schwarz's experiments) a wagon vise on the end.

The one weakness, of course, in building a child-size bench is that the child will grow and the bench won't. But then she's the eldest of four...

Advice? Also advice on tools? I've urged her parents not to buy tools made for children (I'm picturing, for example, an LN #2 or #3...)

Steve Wargo
10-30-2006, 10:41 PM
My 8 year old has an LN #2 and enjoys it. Much cheaper than the Stanley Equivelant. Good luck on the little bench but I think that the 26" height will be a bit tall.

Ken Bryant
10-30-2006, 10:56 PM
Thanks Steve. I had her do the "arm down, hand bent" test. Anyway, if too high is the only problem, THAT I can fix.

Roy Wall
10-31-2006, 12:54 AM
Ken,

I've had my daughter (8 yr) cut little boards.....I mean little.....with a fret saw.

She likes it (two hands on the handle) and its safe for her till we can graduate to something else.

For the bench.....I think I'd make a standard height bench ( well,, 30-33" for a woman's height.) and let her stand up on a wooden platform if you have the room.

Wilbur Pan
10-31-2006, 6:41 AM
I would make sure that the height is appropriate for your grandniece. My neighbor built a workbench for his kids when they were little. As they grew, he added on risers to the bottom of the legs to increase the height.

Tony Zaffuto
10-31-2006, 11:48 AM
Ken,

I have a six, soon to be seven year old daughter that is in my workshop quite frequently. She has her own block plane, egg beater drill and a few other items she uses. She has gotten quite proficient in planing (her specialty is chamfering!).

Anyhow, I have had some similar thoughts to building her own bench. It will be multi-purpose, as she has recently set-up what she calls her "science lab" in another area of the basement (we call her Uncle Fester!).

Because she is a child, inevitably she will outgrow the bench, so my thoughts are to build it, and eventually use it for a "finishing" bench, that you would want lower than a hand-tool bench. I would probably build it in a different fashion than a my work bench also--something like 30" X 45" worktop, to facilitate her other crafts (as well as finishing for me later!).

T.Z.

Dave Anderson NH
10-31-2006, 12:34 PM
When my grandson was about 8 he started in the shop with me. I decided that since he was growing like a weed that making a kid scale bench was a lot of work and it would fit only for a short time. My approach was to build a 5 sided box for him to stand on. It was a good choice, at 12 years old he now stands 5'5" and I expect that he'll end up well over 6 feet.

Danny Buie
10-31-2006, 9:32 PM
Here is the one my grandson and I built a couple of years ago. Nothing fancy. The top is a sink cutout. The legs are made to be replaceable as he grows. We use it more and more and one day when he and his skill set mature we will build him a new one. Another option is that he can inherit mine.

Ben Grunow
10-31-2006, 10:35 PM
How about some legs made from simple 4x4s with bolts holding them in place so they can be changed out for longer ones as time goes on. Or you could make a series of matching holes in two pieces for adjustabe legs (unbolt and move up a notch every so often). Good luck. Ben

Hoa Dinh
10-31-2006, 10:41 PM
I made this bench for my son. If he's not using it, and if (a big if) there is no junk on the top, I use it as an assembly table. The first three photos show the bench in progress. The next one shows the completed workbench with my son's first completed project: a bird house.

The bench is easy to move around, and does not take up much room, yet opens up large enough for a workbench/assembly table.

The last photo shows his favorite tool: Last November, I gave him a LV LA block plane as a birthday gift. Later, he did some product testing for Lee Valley and Rob Lee was kind enough to send him a complementary rear handle for the plane. It fits him "perfectly."

Ken Bryant
10-31-2006, 11:02 PM
Hoa, that's a beautiful bench. I hadn't thought about the "smaller handle" solution, but of course that's a natural: buy a plane made for adults, build a handle made for a child.

Ben, what you suggest is perfectly practical but...like most of my projects, I'm only being partly practical. (Well, maybe not even partly). I really like the idea of building a Roubo bench, and so a small Roubo bench it will be -- bolting it together won't meet the terms of the obsession! Good thing I don't have to make a living this way...

Ken Bryant
10-31-2006, 11:04 PM
Tony, I love the idea of a specialty in chamfering.

Kurt Loup
11-01-2006, 9:34 AM
I used lag screws to attach the legs on this bench. It will be simple to replace with longer legs as needed.

Kurt

http://www.loup-garou.net/sitebuilder/images/Paulbench-493x331.jpg

http://www.loup-garou.net/sitebuilder/images/completedbench-634x387.jpg

Ken Bryant
11-01-2006, 10:39 AM
Kurt,

What a perfect bench! The woodworker looks very pleased.