Workbench finished....

[Alex Shanku]

Almost, as I still have to install my front vise...

Top was made from maple I had been drying for about a year. ( http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=49124 )

Dimensions are 4"x24"x84". The height is 33"

The base was made from some laminated 2x4 and a couple of 2x8 that I had left over from a job of mine. I would have liked to used maple for the base, but the cost was a factor.

Tail vise is made from some QS sycamore I bought from a forum member earlier this month. Vise is a LN

What I really like about the project is that the maple was cut in my home state by a friend, dried for a year by me and also moved with me 3 times this year, until it ended up in my new shop in TN.

It took quite some time to mill all the maple down from rough 9' boards to what I ended up using. All said, it took about 30+ hours start to finish.

Thanks also to the two forum members who took time to answer a couple of questions I had along the way.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/Bench1.jpg

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/Bench2.jpg

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/Bench3.jpghttp://www.hunt101.com/data/500/Bench4.jpg

[John Thompson]

Excellent Mr. Shanku. I try to keep my designs sturdy and simple. You nailed both on this attempt.. BTW.. I wouldn't let the word get out to the Tennessee Naval Reserve or you might experience the sound of jet engines late at night with the slap of a "tail-hook" making a snatch. :)

Sarge..

[Phil Thien]

I think that is a stunning bench and in the years to come the wood will darken and the bench will just look that much better. Really outstanding work.

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful Alex. Does it have a finish on it?

[Chris Varas]

Very Nice. You should be very proud of that bench!

[Jim King]

Alex: How much does it weigh ?¿ It is beautiful.

[Bob Noles]

Alex,

That bench is as first class as they come.

EXCELLENT JOB!

[George Bregar]

Let me add congrats. Very nice.

[Jerry Olexa]

Extremely nice work. Looks sturdy and great for a craftsman...Well Done. You should be proud!!!

[Jim Becker]

Great looking bench, Alex...well done, indeed!

[Russ Cass]

:cool: Very nice. Good work.

[Mike Marcade]

Beautiful work! I can only hope to one day be able to turn something out that nice.

[Scot Ferraro]

That is one nice looking bench -- very good craftsmanship and I am sure that you will enjoy using it for years to come. Great job!!

Scot

[Don Bullock]

Alex, that's one mighty fine bench. May it serve your woodworking needs well. I can sure teoo by the craftsmanship that you'll definately be able to use it.:D

[Alex Shanku]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your comments!!!! The bench top weighs approx. 200 lbs. It was finished with a 50/50 mix of BLO and MS.

I picked up a few pieces of rubber roofing from an old job and used those as a "brace" so the legs would'nt slide.!!

[Brian Kent]

Really Fine Job, Alex. That quarter-sawn sycamore is just awesome.

Are you saying that the roofing material is like a set of rubbery pads under the feet?

[Jack Hogoboom]

Beautiful bench!!!

Can you tell me how you attached the top to the legs?

Jack

[Cary Swoveland]

Terrific bench, Alex. Just 30 hours! That's impressive too.

Cary

[Tim Dorcas]

Fantastic job! It will be interesting to see what projects you create with it.

[Alan Turner]

Nice work. How did the tail vise work out? Did you find the construction and install to go smoothly?

[Jim Dunn]

Great job!! Beautiful! Did you have much trouble with tear out on the sycamore?

[Alex Shanku]

The top was attached using two lag screws through oversized holes in the base. This seemed to be the easiest way.

Alan, the vise install went very smooth. The LN vise is a great unit and slides so smoothly. You were right with taking the extra time to drill and tap for the vise mounting plate. Thanks again.

The sycamore tears out very easily so I did alot of the smoothing with a scraper and sand paper. I am just getting into hand planes and didnt feel confident enough to try using them, yet.

[tyler mckenzie]

Nice job, could you post a photo of the under side of the table? thanks,

[Michael Schumacher]

Question - did you have plans for this or combine a bunch of plans or just come up with it yourself?

[Roy Wall]

Alex -

Beautiful work bench.........with a nice history of the lumber before it was built!! Excellent!

[Zahid Naqvi]

It looks superb, good job.

[Nate Folco]

Very nice.
What is that piece on top of the stretchers on the far side? Future front vice?

[Tom Cowie]

Alex I'm very envious of you new bench. Very nice job . It looks like a very professionally done job.

Tom

[Ray Turney]

Nice,Very nice!!!!!!

[Alex Shanku]

Question - did you have plans for this or combine a bunch of plans or just come up with it yourself?

The top was patterned after most of the traditional joiners benches I have seen, so there wasn't really a plan followed, I just built it from memory to how I wanted it to look/function. Alan Turner gave me excellent advice regarding the tail vise install.

The base was built following the look of Frank Klausz's benches. I didnt have a plan, but looked at a few pics on the net and got the basic idea from there.

Oh yeah, the block laying across the stretchers is the front vise, I am just waiting on my hardware to arrive.

[Dave Redlin]

Great Job!!! Hope you don't mind but I saved the picture. Now, make the envitable first scratch in the top and get the heartbreak out of the way. It wasn't a matter of hours before I nicked the top of my bench. Almost cried.

Can I ask why no tool tray?

Dave

[Allen Bookout]

Can I ask why no tool tray?

Dave

I don't know what Alex will answer but I have had two workbenches. One with a tray and one without. The one with the tray just collected stray tools, sawdust and stuff and decreased the work area. No more trays for me but I suppose it depends on how you work.

[Alex Shanku]

Yeah...what Allen said. I tend to leave all my tools out until the end of the day anyway, and having another place to stick them wouldnt help me much. I suppose those that use a tool, put it back, etc might benefit.

Also, I wanted as much of the 24" wide top to be used as a work surface.

[Mark Blum]

The sycamore tears out very easily so I did alot of the smoothing with a scraper and sand paper. I am just getting into hand planes and didnt feel confident enough to try using them, yet.
How did you go about flattening the top (I'm assuming from this comment that you didn't use hand planes)?

[Evan Authier]

Very nice, I have a stack of maple drying for this exact purpose.

Not being skilled in the art of bench making, could someone explain to me the purpose of the lag bolts holding the (breadboard?) end board to the top of the table? Could this piece have been mitred to the edge board on the long side? Are the bolt hole elongated or is expansion not a concern?

I also would like to see photos of the bottom of the bench.

[Dennis Hatchett]

Love it, interesting choice in sycamore. Think I may have to steal that idea.

I'm also right behind Evan. Just need time to pull my 8/4 maple planks down from the rack and a gallon of glue. They've been drying about 4 years and it's almost time to start.

Great work!

[Mark Blum]

Very nice, I have a stack of maple drying for this exact purpose.

Not being skilled in the art of bench making, could someone explain to me the purpose of the lag bolts holding the (breadboard?) end board to the top of the table? Could this piece have been mitred to the edge board on the long side? Are the bolt hole elongated or is expansion not a concern?

I also would like to see photos of the bottom of the bench.
The endcap is long-grain and runs at a perpendicular angle to the top. That means the top will contract and expand with humidity while the endcap doesn't. The endcap could have been mitered to the edge board on the long side to anchor it, but it still would have needed the lag bolts to account for the expansion of the top. It appears that Alex made the recesses for the lag bolt heads oversized to allow for that movement.

I handled this issue a bit differently with my bench, and used draw-bored dowels in the endcap through elongated holes in the tenon. My top is designed to expand into the tool tray and I see about 1/16"-1/8" movement throughout the year.

[Bill White]

Well darn! I thought that the mayonnaise was gonna be some sort of a new finish.
Great job Alex.
Bill