A Newbie Neander Journey & Workbench (long w/ pics)

[Raymond Stanley]

Hi All,

I've been asking questions about tools and techniques here for a few months now. I figure now is the time to actually post some pictures of what I am doing with *wood*, and along the way do a sort of bio/introduction.

It all began this past summer when I was interested getting some hand power tools for DIY work. My girlfriend and I were getting married, and I wanted to register for some gifts that would be helpful for the household, but more enjoyable for me than new china. So I stopped in Highland Hardware to talk to them about the feasability of doing carpentry with hand power tools. Bill of Highland Hardware informed me that there are some strange folk that do everything by hand (and not powered).

What! Everything by hand! What kind of nut would do that?

I went home to investigate this strange claim and found the OldTools list and the Neanderthal Haven here at Sawmill Creek.

It went downhill fast from there, and I quickly went from interest in DIY work to interest in fine furniture.

But these pesky tasks of finishing a masters thesis and getting married was interfering, so I had to take quite break from actually aquiring some tools so that I could start to do something with tools and wood.

I got back from our fabulous wedding and honeymoon, and ordered a low angle jack plane + a honing guide the first day I was back. My plan was to start with a simple project that wouldn't require many tools or too much skill - a set of floating shelves for our 2nd bedroom. I began by building a shooting board, and was very pleased with the results:

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I then began to use my workmate to do some edge planing, which wasn't too bad with a sharp blade and light cut. Although it was very exciting to get translucent shavings, I really needed more bite to do some serious dimensioning. As soon as I tried to do that and try planing the face of the board, I ran into serious problems with the workmate hopping around the room and when placed up against furniture ramming into their side. I was going bonkers and pretty frustrated.

So, I decided out with my office desk and in with a workbench. I also had to do quicky MDF build of a bookcase-like item to hold all of my tools which used to be on my office desk.

I first bought the lumber and stacked it in my room:

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...this is the point at which my new wife knew she was really in for it.

and I began building the bench.

I fashioned a temporary bench out of my windowseat:

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I was so happy with the stop system and its simplicity that I decided to go roubo-style on my bench, with consultation of Landis's workbench book and very helpful advice from Dean J at Woodcentral, who built a large roubo bench.


I used this temporary bench to dimension all 12 boards for the benchtop by hand. After many weeks of dimensioning and flattening, I came up with this:

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I then went to dimension *more* 2x4's (is it ever going to end!) to build the base assembly's legs and rails.I am currently working on squaring up the laminated base assembly peices, planning out my board jack, and installing my vise…I will update as I make progress…


I hope this wasn't too long, but I thought it might be nice to share the beginnings of my newbie journey - for those who have already gone through it, and for those ready to embark.

Thanks so much to all at Sawmill Creek who have so generously given their time and energy to help me learn. Thanks especially also to Bill @ Highland Hardware, Steve Wargo from Sawmill Creek, Dean J from woodcentral, and Jeffy from OldTools. But Thanks most of all to my wife, for her patience and support (I’ll make you something useful soon!) Now I feel like I'm giving an acceptance speech. Anyways, I really appreciate everything. Thanks guys and gals.

[James Mittlefehldt]

Thanks for sharing Ray i personally love threads on workbenches and tool chests. I built my first workbench, well my only one really, with a workmate, try mortising 2 inch thick white ash on one, not only does it run away from you it makes a heck of a racket to.

Keep going though, every thing you do, every project establishes a wider knowledge base to build on. I started this about seven years ago when I was in my mid forties and have come a long way, but have a long, long way to go yet. Personally I am really enjoying the journey, and it sounds like you will to.

Keep telling us about it I personally like to hear about it.

[Tyler Howell]

Welcome Ray.
Nothing like a finely tune hand tool to give you power and control over a piece of wood.
Glad to have you on the dark side.:cool:

[Steve Wargo]

good to see the tools get used. keep working, and I think the workbench looks great.

[Billy Chambless]

I then began to use my workmate to do some edge planing, which wasn't too bad with a sharp blade and light cut. Although it was very exciting to get translucent shavings, I really needed more bite to do some serious dimensioning. As soon as I tried to do that and try planing the face of the board, I ran into serious problems with the workmate hopping around the room and when placed up against furniture ramming into their side. I was going bonkers and pretty frustrated.


This part made me grin, because it's exactly what I've been going though:

jack plane + workmate + oak board = I want a drink!

As soon as I finish some of the high-priority jobs assigned by the LOML, I'll be following a similar path to a real workbench.

[Robert Rozaieski]

This part made me grin, because it's exactly what I've been going though:

jack plane + workmate + oak board = I want a drink!

As soon as I finish some of the high-priority jobs assigned by the LOML, I'll be following a similar path to a real workbench.

If your Workmate is the style with the holes in the feet, cut a sheet of 3/4" plywood in half and lag screw the workmate into both sheets of plywood (for a 1-1/2" thick base) and stand on the plywood. It should help some.

[Mark Neighbors]

I had the same problem with my workmate, as well as I wanted it to be few inches taller.

I built a quick box out of 3/4 plywood, added a "shelf" in the box to get the additional height and filled the gap between the shelf and the bottom with a leftover bag of pebbles from a landscaping project. For extra stability I cut a piece of 3/4 ply to fit the lower shelf of the workmate and used threaded inserts and some theaded rod to secure to the base.

Now I have a decent height "work-bench" that is rock solid.

[Raymond Stanley]

Thanks guys!

Below is a picture showing all the laminated base parts I put together recently:

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I made some progress on installing the vise tonight but broke a lag screw off in one of the last steps...I'll have to deal with that after the holidays :rolleyes:

...now going to tend to my planing blisters.

-Ray

[Ken Bryant]

jack plane + workmate + oak board = I want a drink!


Not only workmate; exactly the problem I have with my Lee Valley work bench. jackplane+ lv bench + oak board = I want a new work bench. That's why my current project for a 750-lb., 12' Roubo bench...

[Andrew Homan]

Below is a picture showing all the laminated base parts I put together recently


Hi Ray,
I'm going through a very similar process, but have to admit that I did not temporarily (ahem) convert our window seat into a workbench. My Roubo-to-be benchtop is clamped onto some sawhorses. Were you working on your knees -- that window seat can't be higher than 18" high, right? Anyhow, I was dimensioning 4/4 poplar to make laminated legs and stretchers when a friend gave me the tip to get some ash "cants" from a sawmill.
I went to a local part-time mill and discovered (well, they knew about it) a barn full of hardwood, all cut down over the last 30 years on a 1400-acre farm. The owner had the boards stacked, for the most part, _by tree_. I picked out some 3" thick ash boards that were cut through the center. Each board is about 5-6" wide. I'm losing about 1" by cutting out the pith and the center growth rings. By the time the boards are all dimensioned (I'm about 1/2 way through them) I'm going to face-joint two together in order to get legs that are 5"x6"x32". The legs on my bench won't be through-mortised like in the Landis book, although if I had seen the book before I cut the boards to length I probably would have gone that route. The ash is really heavy and this base should provide a lot of stability -- anything will be better than the sawhorses!
Anyhow, thanks for sharing; I'll post some pics when I figure out how to do it!
-Andy

[James Mittlefehldt]

So are "cants" basically the centre cut from a log, as there area number of local sawwmills hereabouts and it might be worth investigating, and also I assume they would be dimensionably unstable if that is the case?

[Andrew Homan]

So are "cants" basically the centre cut from a log, as there area number of local sawwmills hereabouts and it might be worth investigating, and also I assume they would be dimensionably unstable if that is the case?

Hi James,
What I got weren't exactly "cants". I wish that I could post a picture now but I can't (no pun intended) right now. Real cants would haves issues with dimensional stability -- they would "check" -- which may or may not be OK for a workbench depending on the design. In my case, picture the center board from a plainsawn log, cut through and through. Then divide the center board in half. The pith won't be perfectly straight so you'll get two 6" boards, each with some pith and center rings along one edge. According to Hoadley, some splitting will originate from the pith and radiate outward. What I've done is to rip about 1" off of the pith/center edge of each board. So, because the boards are 3" thick and 6" wide, I end up with 3"x5" boards -- these start out highly unstable due to the pith and end up very stable since they are essentially quarter-sawn boards. These are face-jointed to make the legs, which are then 6"x5". The goal was to make legs that are not laminated out of 3-5 boards -- that's a lot of face-jointing for someone not burning electrons!!!

On the other hand, if you get true cants, the pith will be right in the middle and you will have some serious checking. I've been told that this could be OK -- think of the bench as a timber-frame structure. However, I opted for a safer route. The tip was given to me by a friend who is a full-time cabinetmaker who uses exclusively handtools, who reminded me that benches made out of laminated 2x boards are really a product of the age of machine-assisted woodworking. His suggestion of using cants was directed to me, in a context very similar to that of the original poster: how does one build a bench from rough lumber (or even 2x materials), using only handtools, when one does not already have a bench? His solution would be to build the first bench base using cants.
-Andy

[James Mittlefehldt]

HMMM that has me wondering now. My bench was built from White Ash I got from a farm auction, and before milling it was roughly 3 1/8 thick X 5 something wide, and mostly twelve feet more or less long.

I managed to talk my friendly wood purveyor, for a price of course, into milling the stuff I needed for the bench frame work and top, when he finished it was uniform but down to 2 3/16 thick X barely five wide. It has been very stable in terms of wood movement and checking. I should add when laid on a flat surface originally there was a fairly high hump in the twelve foot lengths, most of which I was able to remove by cutting it to seven foot and a bit lengths.

The stuff had been cut and stored in a barn literally for years.

[Raymond Stanley]

What a great discussion! Building a bench without a bench has drawn up some creative solutions for folks! In retrospect (read: other newbies, consider doing it this way next time), I should have found some larger timbers to work with given that I was doing dimensioning by hand. I was just at Peach State Lumber and they had some amazing slabs of lumber. I'm sure that would raise cost though too.

Andrew, indeed I have to bend down quite a bit to reach the windowseat - it comes is right at my kneecaps. I can't wait to get a my bench finished so I don't have to hunch over so much! The windowseat bench is temporary i swear! All those boards are held in place just by being stopped up against the walls. Only downside is woodworking sounds travel through the walls very easily when working on a "bench" that is integrated with your walls! And the windowseat is definately going to need a new coat of paint...as well as the walls nearby...and the molding below...awh man.

I should also mention that I live in a condo, so doing things in a garage or basement are out of the question...two apprxomately 4 x 5 foot sections of our guest room is my workspace. Doing things outside is one option...but we live on the second floor, so schlepping thing down 2 flights of stairs is no fun.

This, again, was part of the "necessity" that drove my interest in hand tools, which has taken a life of its own and changed more to preference.

I showed this post to my SWMBO the other day for kicks and she was very impressed how kind and generous with information people were!

[Billy Chambless]

I should also mention that I live in a condo, so doing things in a garage or basement are out of the question...two apprxomately 4 x 5 foot sections of our guest room is my workspace. Doing things outside is one option...but we live on the second floor, so schlepping thing down 2 flights of stairs is no fun.

This, again, was part of the "necessity" that drove my interest in hand tools, which has taken a life of its own and changed more to preference.


Over the years, I've seen tons of books and articles on "small workshops" and been disappointed to realise that the author's notion of "small" was a two-car garage! Woodworking in a truly small space is quite a challenge, calling for creativity, patience, and flexibility. Obviously, you've already figured that out. ;)

edited to add:

Robert and Mark, I'm giving your suggestions some thought. I may just break down and build a small bench that can live on the back porch until I have room for a Real Shop[tm].

[Raymond Stanley]

I have finally finished my workbench after 8 months of blood, sweat, and maybe a tear or two.
Sorry for the absence of updates, I was just really set on finishing the bench and work has been busy.
I am so excited about using this instead of my window seat. Needless to say, the window seat is pretty beat up and I will need to do some repairs.
Thanks again for all the help :)

Here is me doing some tenon work...
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And a bird's eye view of the base and top before they were attached:
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And it's together!:
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A front view with my cleaned up "shop"
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what I'll use for face planing: hold-fasts (+battens):
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[Raymond Stanley]

some more pics...

An up-close view of the mortise and tenon joints, where i added walnut dowels...
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overview shots of my "shop" (guest room)
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Thanks!

[John Schreiber]

Congratulations! That's a long term project which has been well completed. You may want to throw that WorkMate away, but they are still pretty handy now and again.

[James Mittlefehldt]

Well done Raymond, I was wondering if you might part with the vital statistics of the bench, ie what sort of wood, height, length and has it met your needs or have you discovered other things you did not take into account, in the design satge.

Interested people want to know.

[Raymond Stanley]

Thanks for the comments guys :)

More details on the bench:

The bench was made of construction grade 2x4s, southern yellow pine I think.
I built the bench loosely based on Bob and Dave Key's Good, Fast, Cheap Bench. I also have elements of the design that were based on Chris Schwartz's, as well as Dean Jansa's Roubo designs.
I used a Veritas small face vise for edge planing and will use the holdfasts + battens for face planing.
The bench is 16 inches wide, 46 inches long, and about 32" tall (so that my palms would rest on the top).
I used hand tools except for some power drill action for the mortises and a buddy's drill press for the dog holes.

Things I would do different next time:

In retrospect, I should have made the bench one-sided like Chris Schwartz's design - that would have allowed a longer design in my case. Down the road, I will probably trade the face vise for a leg vise to make it one-sided, and extend the benchtop to about 5 feet.

I also should have used 4x4 for the base parts, rather than laminated 2x4's, and for the top I should have gotten the widest 3" thick lumber I could afford - this would have saved a lot of time.

I also would have just shelled out the cash for a record-type vise and attach a flat jaw face, rather than building the jaws with holes etc like has to be done with the wooden face vises.

Using bigger lumber and the record vise would have increased price, but I would have been happy to pay the cost if I would have realized it would take 8 months! Dave and Bob Key said they estimated finish time for theirs to be 20 hours, I roughly estimate mine to have taken 100 hours, in part due to the issues I have mentioned thus far.

Getting the mortise walls and tenons square and flat was challenging to me. I bought a shoulder plane to help with the tenons. It would have also helped to use a 1" mortise chisel, and to have squared the ends of the tenon peices - so that I could check the tenons for square easier.

As recommended by Dave Key, I cut the cheeks of the tenon by splitting down the end grain with a chisel and then cleaning up with the chisel and a shoulder plane. This way I did not need a sturdy vise to saw the shoulders.

In general, working with the big timbers gave its set of challenges because of the difficulty with things like, for instance, shooting the end of a 4x4 peice of wood. It is already difficult enough to figure out how to do things with exclusively hand tools, but then exclusively hand tool timber joinery - oy! I look forward to my next projects just using about 1" thick lumber.

If you don't have a window seat like me, you can build the benchtop on the base once the base has been finished (as recommended by Bob Key). I really liked the stop system I used on the window seat, you could do something similar with an old rickety table with peices of lumber between it and a wall to keep it from moving forward and provide space for planing...plus a sand bag or two attached from the rear to keep it from bucking like a wild mustang. You could just put a few nails in the top to use as stops. That and a bench hook, and you are all set for making the base!

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other quesitons!

[Andy Hsieh]

this is a great thread - I sit on the fence whether to build or buy my workbench and this is one of those threads that screams "You can do it!"

Nice job and great write up.

[Eli Gunnell]

Raymond,
Did you hand-plane flat each and every 2x4 of the bench top, prior to gluing them together, on both sides? In reading through Bob and Dave's site, it seemed as though they used the 2x4s as they came when they bought them.

Thanks and I think your bench looks great. I also saw the other thread about sawdust and I hope you're feeling better.
Eli

[Raymond Stanley]

Thanks very much Eli - I am feeling much better, and am happy to be equipped to handle wood again...using the wood protection equipment now to help pulling down the paneling in our sunroom and installing insulation.

I did handplane each 2x4. I was a little bit confused as to whether this was necessary just from looking at Bob & Dave Key's instructions, so I did some internet and forum searches and came to the conclusion that it would be best to joint the faces. Other people had put together tops only to find gaps that they had to repair. Inadvertantly taking an all-or-none approach, I just ended up flattening them all.
In hindsight, I should have taken a first layer off of every board to get fresh wood, and then checked each board to see whether it would lie flat against the other with light hand pressure. If it did, I should have left it alone and just glued it; If it didn't, I should have planed towards flatness until it lied flat.

Looking forward to using the bench, but it may be a while...I have to finish some other projects around the house, put a finish on it, and flatten it.

[glenn bradley]

That is so cool. Make some curlies, run the vac and guests can sleep by night.