Diary of a Madman's Workbench

[Pat Germain]

I read way too much. One of my recent perusals is "Workbenches: from Design & Theory to Construction and Use" by Christopher Schwarz. It's a great book. I highly recommend it. Just beware the big ideas it's likely to inspire.

I was inspired to build the French workbench featured in the book. I don't have a real workbench and I've never built one before. Yet, I was drawn to this bench. While the "Continental" benches I see most these days are amazing and incredibly beautiful, they're just not what I wanted. Perhaps it's my French DNA, but this classic example just seemed right for me. (If you've got a problem with the French, just consider it a "Freedom Bench".)

I'm going to try documenting here the process of building this bench. I hope to include many pictures. Hopefully, others can learn from my mistakes and perhaps I can be helped along as well. I will certainly need it.

1. Wood Selection: Christopher Schwarz recommends using Southern Yellow Pine for his workbenches. He quite literally buys 2"x12"x12' floor joists from Lowe's. This may seem a bit strange, but that stuff is apparently quite stiff, quite durable and quite inexpensive. Christopher claims he can easily find straight, clear examples by picking through the stack. Unfortunately, SYP not readily available in Colorado. I could order it, but by the time it's trucked across the country, I might as well buy hard maple. I'm trying to keep the cost down on this project, but you know how that often goes.

I visited my local Lowe's and found plenty of kiln dried Douglas Fir. According to the charts in the Workbenches book, Douglas Fir is only slightly less hard than Southern Yellow Pine and a little more stiff. As you would expect, this Douglas Fir stock was pretty awful. Strike that idea.

I dropped by two local hardwood suppliers I frequent. One proprieter suggested Ash or Hickory and had some very nice examples. His wood is very high grade, but also pretty expensive. I thanked him and told him I'd think about it.

The other supplier had 8/4 Ash and Hickory for $5.00 BF. There wasn't much Ash, but there was a good supply of very long and very straight hickory sticks. I picked up three, each over 12' long, and trucked them home.

After looking over the workbench plans again, it became apparent building the entire bench from Hickory would be way more expensive than I wanted. (The legs alone are massive.) I thought I might reserve the Hickory for a very big and very hard top and find something cheap for the base. And, if the workbench top turned out lousy, I could always set fire to it and make an amazing roast pork.

I drove my truck South to one of the too many Home Depot stores in my town. HD also had a lot of kiln dried Douglas fir. Most of it was of the proverbial awful variety, but by golly there was a fresh batch of 2"x12"x10' boards. I combed through these and managed to pull out six nice examples; and all for $50. Sweet.

Two of the HD boards were a little damp, but the others were reasonably dry. Surprisingly, Christopher Schwarz writes in his book this really isn't a problem for his bench. I guess we'll see.

2. Cutting Up: I cut and squared just a few Hickory boards. I've heard that stuff is difficult work with, but I like it. Of course, my tools' edges may be screaming in pain and require sharpening and replacement after this project. Also, cutting Hickory makes my shop smell downright delicious.

I then ripped the Douglas Fir boards in half lengthwise and jointed one edge. I'm still working on surface planing one side. These boards are pleasantly and surprisingly straight. There are a few knots here and there, but overall, the surface is workable. And if I need more, it should be easy and cheap.

I'll try to get some pics posted pronto. To be continued...

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Pat. I am considering using Hickory for a workbench base. Shagbark Hickory is the hardest of domestic woods. Pecan is of the Hickory family and classified together with Hickory, but it is not quite as strong. Take note that you are getting real Shagbark Hickory, and not Pecan.

My choice of Hickory or Maple will come down to how available Hickory is and its local price.

[John Schreiber]

That sounds exciting. I'm going for a similar project and I'm going wood shopping this afternoon. We've got lots of Southern Yellow Pine on the Borg's shelves. I hope I can find enough good stuff.

[Pat Germain]

Take note that you are getting real Shagbark Hickory, and not Pecan.

I didn't see anything labelled as "Shagbark Hickory" at the hardwood store. The wood I have has a strong hickory smell. Would pecan have a similar smell? There was something labelled "Rustic Hickory" which was less expensive than the Hickory I bought.

[Pat Germain]

Here are two pics of two of the Hickory boards with one as a closeup.

[Pat Germain]

Here are two shots of the Douglas Fir after ripping. It came out surprisingly nice after is was squared up.

[Pat Germain]

Since folks just like to pics of other folks' shops, here's a shot as I was setting up for face jointing. This gave my jointer quite the workout. It's a great machine selected last year with help from SMC. Thanks.

[Pat Germain]

Here you can see my first try at gluing up one of the legs. It's a four piece laminate with the two center pieces being 2" longer to form a tenon. This was a real clamp attack, but I wanted to be sure the glue up went well considering this is a pine. I also wiped down the wood with acetone before gluing. According to Christopher Schwarz, this helps with glueing "sappy" woods. He also warns a mimimum of four hours in the clamps. I'm going to let this sit overnight.

[Joe Chritz]

Lots of people use 2x12's and rip the sides off for getting decent wood. By looking at the grain you can often get acceptable lumber that way. I have done it with SPF boards for a few projects and it works pretty good.

I really like hickory and have a decent supplier here for 4/4 but it is prone to chip out and is kinda hard on tools. When finished clear and natural it is downright beautiful.

Keep us posted, looking good so far.

Joe

[John Thompson]

I've attached a picture of what you can kind of expect your base to look like with Doug fir. That base was made about 6 years ago from a re-sawn and ripped single Doug Fir beam I recovered from a Cival War Warehouse here in Atlanta being torn down. Then it was laminated as your doing.

I also attached a picture of a SYP top in glue up on top of the current bench. I just flat wore my top out and it was time for another so.. I purchased qty. 4 SYP 2 x 12 x 12's Friday. $17 plus tax and a new bottle of Tite-bond III for a grand total of around $25.

I ripped them Friday evening... jointed on Saturday and cut the dog holes. Then started glue-up Sat. evening. Should be able to do a final flattening (pretty flat now as I jointed both edges and took out any bow after I iniatally ripped them) with a #smoother or low angle smoother.

Take the old top off tomorrow and transfer the vises. With any kind of luck be back in action tomorrow afternoon. I have built about 4 benches with SYP including this one... and all have held up well. The Doug fir is my standard base material as I have built over 20 benches for either sale or for friends.. relatives over the last 36 years.

If you do through tenons... the Doug fir is a very solid base and will not rack under extreme pressure. My final test on a base is to get about 4 neighbor-hood teen boys and offer them $10 each if they can rack it. If they can't and they won't... the base is ready for a top.:)

Good luck with your bench...

Sarge..

[John Thompson]

Opps.. missed one..

[Ken Garlock]

I didn't see anything labelled as "Shagbark Hickory" at the hardwood store. The wood I have has a strong hickory smell. Would pecan have a similar smell? There was something labelled "Rustic Hickory" which was less expensive than the Hickory I bought.

Hi Pat, my advice is from someone who is just starting to run the traps of buy lumber for the WB base. After reading Chris S's book, which I liked, I started looking around and discovered that both Pecan and Hickory are excellent choices, Pecan is not quite as strong as Shagbark Hickory. Take a look at the charts in Chris' book, pages 15 ,16, 17.
Another source, Understanding Wood by Bruce Hoadley, p.79 gives a detailed table of strengths of most popular hard and soft woods. Static bending, or Young's Modulus, for hard maple is 1.83, Pecan is 1.73. and Shagbark Hickory is 2.6. Hence, Pecan is not quite as strong as Hard Maple, and SB Hickory is 18% stronger than Hard Maple.

I, like you, can not differentiate between the two. When I start hitting the lumber yards, I will have to rely on the people working at the yard. I plan to visit 3 or 4 yards in the Dallas area, and learn as I go. Hopefully, I will get the same story from at least 2 of the yards.

[Peter Quadarella]

My parents have a small property and house in the Catskill mountains, and there is a bunch of shagbark hickory on it. One time when I was younger I tried to carve a walking stick out of a piece, and my swiss army knife could barely scratch it. That is some tough stuff!

[Lori Kleinberg]

Very interesting topic, Pat. I am very interested in following your progress. I am not ready to build a bench, although, I could certainly use one. I will purchase Chris Schwartz's book some time in the future since I have heard nothing but praise for this book. For now I will watch how yours turns out.

[glenn bradley]

Singular comment; I used KD Doug-fir for my workbench top outer trim. Wayyyy too soft (seems fine for the base though). I was going with the often spoken idea that if you bang your curly maple jewelry box into your table, the table should ding, not the piece. This works, I just went too far. I am considering beech as a replacement. YMMV.

[Dewey Torres]

Nice thread Pat. Good progress on Sunday!

[Pat Germain]

Thanks for the encouragement!

Today I had actually hoped my workbench project would be interrupted by the arrival of my new bandsaw. FedEx called me last Friday to set up a delivery appointment for this afternoon (Monday). I took a half day from work to be home to meet the truck.

After waiting until just after 2:00, I called FedEx just to make sure things were on track. Not! I was informed the representative who set up the Monday appointment gave me bogus info. The saw won't arrive until Wednesday. Let's hope it isn't de ja vu all over again. :rolleyes:

Today I glued up a second leg for my workbench. I'll post a pic or two along with some early lessons learned.

[Dewey Torres]

Pat, if it make you feel any better, I too am still waiting on my tool shipment! :mad:

[Chris Padilla]

Good stuff, Pat, keep 'er updated, por favor! :)

[Pat Germain]

Here are the first two legs after glue up and cleanup. The second picture has a glue bottle and a small combination square for a sense of scale. These legs are like skyscrapers

[Pat Germain]

And here's a closeup of the tenons formed from the laminate process. No cutting required!

Lessons Learned

1. Glue up right after planing. Otherwise, the stock will start to cup. I had this problem with the first leg. Two of the pieces were cupped ever so slightly. This became apparent only during glueup. It made it a little difficult, but I think it came out OK. For the second leg, I planed them just before glueup and it went better. However, because of the extra planing, the second leg is just a little smaller than the first. I can easily fix this with two passes through the planer with the second leg.

2. With all the glue involved here, it's a good idea to scrape the squeeze-out about 30 minutes after clamping. Otherwise, removing all that hardened glue will be all too arduous. I knew this, yet waited until the next day to scrape the glue anyway. I learned from my mistake. You can too.

3. I know most people like using a roller to spread glue. I do not. For the first leg, I used an old foam brush which happened to be sitting nearby. This was a bad idea. It kept absorbing glue as I was spreading. There's a lot of glue surface here! For the second leg, I used a piece of cardboard to spread the glue. This worked well. Ah, simplicity. I actually prefer to use a nylon paint brush. Of course, I couldn't find one at the time.

I'm sure many readers here are thinking, "Duh to the tenth power, Germain!". Well, I'm still pretty new at this major woodworking project stuff. Since we have our share of new woodworkers on SMC, they might find this helpful. And I really don't mind exposing myself as a biscuit.

[Douglas Krueger]

I redefine any 'ooops' as unsolicited educational opportunities. A new WB is also on my horizon, thanks for the 'how to's' as well as the 'how not to's'.

[Jimmy Williams]

3. I know most people like using a roller to spread glue. I do not. For the first leg, I used an old foam brush which happened to be sitting nearby. This was a bad idea. It kept absorbing glue as I was spreading. There's a lot of glue surface here! For the second leg, I used a piece of cardboard to spread the glue. This worked well. Ah, simplicity. I actually prefer to use a nylon paint brush. Of course, I couldn't find one at the time.


Alternate Glue spreading tip.
I recently glued up some maple and bloodwood for an inlay on a picture frame and found that spreading glue is pretty easy if you use a 1/4 -20 bolt. The threads in the bolt spread the glue nicely and leave the perfect amount of glue on the wood. I forget where I saw that tip but it worked well. Very little squeeze out.

[John Thompson]

I started Friday and built a new top for my bench. Transferred vises over yesterday and dropped a coat of Danish on the top last evening. Will "drop" the top on this morning as I have work to do this afternoon.

Now.. my question to Pat.... ??? .... how are you going to attach the top as I'm curious. My best guess is whatever method Chris S. has reccomended which is........ as I don't have his book?

And question two is: would you be open to reccomendation of a very efficient alternative method I learned from Ian Kirby years ago before Chris S. wrote his book?

Regards...

Sarge..

[Chris Padilla]

I use old credit cards cut with my wife's pinking shears (ssshhhh!!! don't tell her!) to give them a serrated edge to spread glue over semi-large surfaces. Otherwise, even larger ones will get a hard rubber roller that the glue peels right off of when dry. The glue bottles with a built-in roller work nicely, too.

[Pat Germain]

Now.. my question to Pat.... ??? .... how are you going to attach the top as I'm curious. My best guess is whatever method Chris S. has reccomended which is........ as I don't have his book?

And question two is: would you be open to reccomendation of a very efficient alternative method I learned from Ian Kirby years ago before Chris S. wrote his book?

Regards...

Sarge..

Chris S. uses a morties and tenon with hardwood dowels to attach the top; no glue. This way, if you ever want to remove the top, you can just drill out the dowels and you're good to go.

Shoot, I'm open to anything, Sarge. Recommend away.

[John Schreiber]

And question two is: would you be open to reccomendation of a very efficient alternative method I learned from Ian Kirby years ago before Chris S. wrote his book?
If Pat's not, I am. Hit me.

Pat - thanks for all the notes. I'm about two weeks behind you in the process. The SYP is drying out in my garage now. Please make lots of mistakes :D:eek: and tell us all about them.

[John Thompson]

Pat and John....

I have to agree with Chris S. pretty much with a simple modification of his method. I lieu of running the dowels all the way through and glueing.. I just drill a 3/4" hole 7/8" deep in the leg top... drill a corresponding hole in the bottom of the table 7/8" deep. I then attach a 3/4" dowel by glueing into the leg.

But... instead of running the dowel all the way through the top and glueing.. I simply shape the exposed head like a bullet or a cone. But.. I don't use glue on the upper portion. The table top just sits on the exposed dowel heads that keep it from racking side to side. Gravity will hold a 100 lbs. top down with no problem.

This way.. if you were to move the bench or just need to take the top off as I did twice today to make adjustments on the vises.... you simply lift if off in about 2 seconds and avoid having to drill out an entire through dowel. Drilling one out IMO, can get sloppy and leave a hole larger than your original. You could drill it over-size.. plug it and re-drill a size larger, but this eliminates un-needed work.

I learned this from Ian Kirby when he had a stuido-school just up the street back in the 80's. I have built around 15 benches for myself.. friends and a few for sale since and it works like a charm. If you were using a very thin top without weight.. I would be hesitant to do so... but Gravity will hold a heavy top down and that's fact.

And for those that have twin screws and want to avoid saw-dust and grime from dust attraction on the acme screws... I have included a pic of how to use a little high tech method to do so. Take a look underneath the one picture at the screws.. very high tech space material used to keep em clean. But you can pick up enough for $2 at the BORG to make it. BTW.. don't let them know that what they think to be cheap PVC is high tech or the price will go up for sure. And that's a fact. ha.. ha... ha...ha...ha,,

Hope this might help someone...

Regards...

Sarge..

[John Schreiber]

Those bullets will work well for most benches, but on the Ruobo as Chris Schwarz presents it, the top does not lay on top of the base. There are no upper stretchers. The massive solid top itself basically serves as both short and long upper stretchers. That's why the legs are mortised into the top and secured with draw bores.

It does leave a wood movement problem, but it is mostly at the other end of the leg where the short stretchers are mortised and draw bored.

[John Thompson]

Thanks John S. I just looked at my Landis Work-bench book to see if it had the Ruobo and it indeed did. And you would be correct that the mortise and tenon would be the best bet as I see it. Not a lot of options really. I personally wouldn't be overly concerned about expansion as wood "is" going to expand and contract.

If this were a formal dining table.. I would indeed be concerned. But.. it is a work-bench and can be repaired as 100 year old joints are repaired on antique furniture every day. A work bench is well.. a work bench. Nothing more.. nothing less IMO.

Again thanks John as I did catch French but not Roubo when reading the intial post. Old man always short of time. :)

Regards..

Sarge..

[Pat Germain]

After many domestic distractions, I finally made some progress on my workbench. I have a few happy snaps and lessons learned to share if there is still interest.

[Brent Ring]

Always watching and reading - Please, post away!

[Daniel Savard]

(...) if there is still interest.

Interest or not, a diary is a diary.:D

[Barry Reade]

After many domestic distractions, I finally made some progress on my workbench. I have a few happy snaps and lessons learned to share if there is still interest.
Those stinkin domestic distractions :D

Lots of interest still here.;)

[Dewey Torres]

Come on Pat... Post the pics... heck... I was one of the distractions!
Dewey

[Pat Germain]

Come on Pat... Post the pics... heck... I was one of the distractions!
Dewey

Yeah, but you're not very domestic. ;)

I'll post some pics tonight. It's OK to laugh at me.

[Barry Reade]

I am laughing with you Pat

[Doug Donnell]

Very interested in your project, in the planning stages for something similar myself. I have subscribed to your thread so I don't miss a post!

Doug

[Jim O'Dell]

Reading with lots of interest. Not sure when I'll build a bench like that, but someday. I enjoy watching your progress, trials, tribulations, and accomplishments. Jim.

[Pat Germain]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

Here's a picture of a mortise being punched out. Forstener bits work well for this. I squared the first few mortises with a regular chisel. The process was non-trivial and the results were a little rough. I went to Woodcraft to get a corner chisel. They had a nice example for $72.00. I considered it, but decided to get the mortising attachment for my drill press instead. It was $75.00.

Now, I've heard mixed reviews of drill press mortising attachments. For what I wanted, I was pleasantly surprised. The results were much better than using a chisel. I made a few practice mortises in some scrap as well and they came out pretty nice. I'm not saying such attachments are a replacement for a dedicated mortising machine, but they'll serve as a nice compromise. I have the Delta mortising attachment. I also looked at a Steel City model and it seemed identical.

[Pat Germain]

Here's a shot of a base just after I put it together. The plan calls for an 8' benchtop. I really don't have room for a bench that large. My benchtop will be just over 6'. It seemed to me reducing the base length by 24" made it too small. I decided to reduce the length by 12". This will mean less overhang than the Chris Schwarz example. That's fine with me.

As most people know, this bench uses draw boring to secure the tenons. This was the first time I've ever done this. I wasn't sure how it would work, but by golly it worked quite well. The instructions say to just twist the dowel into the hole. I wasn't able to do this. After whittling down the end to a point, I put some paste wax on the dowel and tapped it in with a dead blow mallet. That worked.

The best part about using draw boring for assembly is it requires no clamps. Otherwise, I would have had to buy a few more, larger clamps. While some guys might relish the excuse to buy more clamps, my budget is being pulled in enough directions already without another clamp purchase.

Lesson learned: For some reason, when I started to drill the holes for the dowels, I didn't use a forstener bit. As Schwarzeneger said in "Predator" just after punching the alien, "Bad idea!". The start of the hole had some serious tearout. Drat and double drat. Oh well. Live and learn. I never expected this workbench to be a museum piece. It's definitely a function over form project and, as a rather new woodworker, I'm learning a great deal in the process.

I'd rather be making mistakes and learning than being afraid to do something lest I screw up. Hopefully, the screwup to success ratio will continue to improve.

[Pat Germain]

Just to demonstrate the art of screwing up, I forgot to attach the picture to that last post. :rolleyes:

I just started gluing up the top. I'll be sure to post some pictures of that process soon. The plans call for a 4" top using Southern Yellow Pine. You may recall I can't get that stuff in Colorado and I bought hickory. Well, a 4" hickory top is pretty expensive for what I'm building. After squaring up the hickory, each board was 5" wide. Rather than ripping off 1" and buying a lot more hickory, I opted to rip the boards in half. Sigh, a 2 1/2" top will look "Spindley" as The Schwarz would say. Well, I sure don't think the hickory will be sagging, even at 2 1/2". I can always build another top, or another bench in the future.

I recently saw an interview with The Schwarz on The Wood Whisperer web site. Chris built an example of his French bench from ash. I couldn't find any nice ash when I was looking. I'm sure I could find some nice examples if I looked again. Although, hickory and ash are the same price per board foot in my area.

[Chris Friesen]

The instructions say to just twist the dowel into the hole.

I think you misread the instructions. If you have two holes in a tenon you twist the drawbore pin (the tapered metal tool) into one hole, then pound the actual peg into the other hole. Pull out the pin, and pound in the other peg.

What offset did you use? I'm in the middle of making a bench as well...I tried 3/32" and it really didn't want to work. 1/16" seemed to be okay.


Lesson learned: For some reason, when I started to drill the holes for the dowels, I didn't use a forstener bit.Brad-point bits work well for this. Better-quality spade bits will work too, but they leave the cleanest hole if you clamp the work, then turn off the drill with the bit still at the bottom of the hole. Wait for it to stop, then bring it back up.


Sigh, a 2 1/2" top will look "Spindley" as The Schwarz would say. Well, I sure don't think the hickory will be sagging, even at 2 1/2".

My bench top will also be 2 1/2" thick, but out of maple salvaged from a bowling alley. At that thickness it may have some "bounce" in the middle. If so, the remedy is simply to do any heavy pounding directly over one of the legs.

[Pat Germain]

I think you misread the instructions. If you have two holes in a tenon you twist the drawbore pin (the tapered metal tool) into one hole, then pound the actual peg into the other hole. Pull out the pin, and pound in the other peg.

What offset did you use? I'm in the middle of making a bench as well...I tried 3/32" and it really didn't want to work. 1/16" seemed to be okay.

Brad-point bits work well for this. Better-quality spade bits will work too, but they leave the cleanest hole if you clamp the work, then turn off the drill with the bit still at the bottom of the hole. Wait for it to stop, then bring it back up.

My bench top will also be 2 1/2" thick, but out of maple salvaged from a bowling alley. At that thickness it may have some "bounce" in the middle. If so, the remedy is simply to do any heavy pounding directly over one of the legs.

I did see the instructions say to twist the drawbore pin in. I thought I also read to twist in the dowels. As you said, I could easily have misread it.

Thanks for the drill bit tip. I have a set of DeWalt drill bits. They're not brad point, but something else I don't recall.

Glad to hear someone else is going with 1 1/2" on the bench top. My friend Dewey also suggested it would be fine. I guess I'm concerned only because my bench won't look like the pictures in the book. :)

Also, I forgot to mention I wasn't confident I'd be able to find a "draw bore pin". The Schwarz suggests you can get a tapered alignment pin at Sears. Sure enough, that's exactly what I got. Be sure to get the long alignment pin. Sears has shorter, less expensive examples which I don't think would work for such large mortises.

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/cSchwarz/z_art/drawBoring/drawBoring1.asp

Found this. :)

[John Schreiber]

Pat,

You are doing a great job. But, I wish you could make some more mistakes, so that I can learn from them. I plan to start cutting wood this week. (Actually I planned on cutting wood last week, but the lawnmower died and I've been shopping.)

Here's my variation on Chis Schwarz's plan on another thread. (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=84966)
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=84966

[Chris Friesen]

I wish you could make some more mistakes, so that I can learn from them.

Here's something I learned...if you're pounding in a drawbore peg with glue on it, and it cracks and doesn't want to go any further...don't try to pound it out from the other side. I tried it and blew a big chunk of wood out of the outward side of my bench leg (and still didn't get all the bits of peg out).

A better solution (that I used on a second peg that cracked, before I reduced the drawbore offset) is to just cut the peg off flush and drill it out. If the peg hasn't gone through the tenon yet you can put another peg in and still get some drawbore effect.

One final tip. My Veritas Cabinetmaker's Mallet seems to be much less likely to split pegs when pounding than my steel hammer. My deadblow mallet didn't work very well for pounding pegs..it seemed like the peg would chew up the rubber face.

[Patrick Nailon]

Lesson learned: For some reason, when I started to drill the holes for the dowels, I didn't use a forstener bit.

Pat,

I'm planning on building this same bench, already got the 2x12x120 Doug Fir acclimating out in the garage. I didn't know about using a forstner for the dowel holes. Glad you pointed that out to me ahead of time.

One thing I noticed is that you need a LOT of lumber for this bench! I did the BF calculation on each board I bought and thought my purchase was enough, but I forgot to do the cutlist breakdown. I'll only get two blanks for the top out of each 2x12, so the 7 10' 2x12's I bought will not even be enough to do the top! I'll have to get at least 5 more to finish the top and do the legs, stretchers, etc. Luckily, these were only about $7.50 each board, so no great hassle. My wife has me on a $100 a month lumber budget, so it usually takes me a while to do big projects.:D

[John Schreiber]

I bought 2x12 by 16' and can pull four (84" x 4") top pieces out of each one comfortably. To get the leg pieces, I'm cutting them 5" wide from one side and top pieces from the other.

I didn't find the 16 footers any more expensive per foot than shorter lengths. They had longer lengths too, but 16 feet was as long as I wanted to handle.

[brett gallmeyer]

Hey pat,
I just started my own thread on if it would be better to use Hickory or Red Oak for a workbench top. I'm really interested to see how your's is going to turn out! I would also be interested in how much chipout or splintering you experience. And how working with Hickory is.

Thanks, Brett G.

[Pat Germain]

Brett, I haven't experienced any chipout working with the hickory. I have had a few splinters, but it was no big deal. I have found the squared edges of the hickory are downright sharp. I wear gloves when moving it around the shop.

I haven't had the opportunity to work on my bench in many weeks. That project has bee interrupted by a hardwood flooring project. I'm anxious to get back to my workbench, but it's taken weeks just to get the inside of the house painted before even starting on the flooring.

Personally, I'm not a fan of red oak. The fact it's always for sale at the local big box store may have a lot to do with this. Yet, I just don't like it.

[Barry Reade]

So Pat, are you going to start a thread on your flooring project and share your journey with the dreaded red oak??

[Pat Germain]

My flooring isn't red oak. I mentioned that because you mentioned it in your post. In retrospect, my statements were a bit out of sequence. I'm just confused of late. :confused:

My flooring is mesquite. I have no idea what that's like to work with. I'm hoping to soon find out.

[Barry Reade]

Mesquite!! I think you will like it. Are you getting prefinished or are you going to finish it?

[Pat Germain]

It's pre-finished. It's the Lumber Liquidators "Bellawood" brand with an aluminum oxide finish. I'm just now opening the Grizzly flooring nailer, brad nailer and stapler I ordered. If you or anyone else is interested in how these tools and the flooring perform, I can start another thread.

Maybe when "Operation Deck Plank" has stood down, I can get back to my workbench. :rolleyes:

[Barry Reade]

It's pre-finished. It's the Lumber Liquidators "Bellawood" brand with an aluminum oxide finish. I'm just now opening the Grizzly flooring nailer, brad nailer and stapler I ordered. If you or anyone else is interested in how these tools and the flooring perform, I can start another thread.

Yes, Another thread would be great. we can always learn more from a fellow Creeker's experience. As soon as I get back home from California I will be doing another room in my home. Hopefully two rooms and the dining room before I have to go back to Calif.

[Pat Germain]

I truly am a madman. My workbench project was interrupted by not only a flooring project, but my daughter's decision to move back in after being gone for a year.

Anyway, I've made some more progress on the workbench. I'll share a few pics for anyone who might have maintained an interest.

To review, I ended up using douglas fir from Home Depot for the workbench base. I used hickory for the top. As you can see, I recently installed a vice on one end. It's a Chinese quick-release from Woodcraft. It actually works pretty well. I used an extra piece of hickory and a piece of maple I had laying around for the jaws.

[Pat Germain]

Here's a closeup of the vice. I had no idea how to install a vice and it came with no instructions whatsoever. I just guessed and this the result. If I really pulled a boner here, by all means let me know. I plan to make a handle for the vice next weekend.

The workbench, as well as the vice jaws, are 24" inches wide. Yes, I do get some racking if I clamp something at the far end of the jaws and really clamp down on it. I think it's going to be OK. If not, I think I'll add another for a dueling, twinscrew vice setup.

[Pat Germain]

Here's another view where you can see the hickory top. I finished it with a blend of 10 parts boiled linseed oil and one part varnish. I think the finish turned out pretty well.

I took these pictures after giving up for the night on drilling dog holes. The brace and bit work well, but it does take a toll on my arms. I'm just not used to such efforts!

[Pat Germain]

This side is actually the front. I included a track at the bottom and a groove beneath the top to accommodate a deadman. I haven't built it yet, but I will eventually.

So why is the vice on the left side? Why, because I'm left-handed, of course. If I install a shoulder vice, it will go on the right side.

[jerry nazard]

Pat,

Great bench. Also a very enjoyable thread with lots of good information. Thanks.

-Jerry

[Pat Germain]

Here are some lessons I learned from this project:

- When building the legs, cut, plane and joint the stock for one leg at a time, then glue it up immediately. Using douglas fir probably exacerbated the problem of warping and cupping after squaring, but other woods would likely have the same problem.

- As Patrick pointed out, this workbench requires a lot of lumber! If you're in my situation and can't get southern yellow pine, I would recommend ash, if you can afford it. I have learned recently that Chris Schwarz built himself one of these benches from ash.

If using all ash is beyond your budget, use douglas fir for the base, as I did, and ash for the top. My budget started to get lean and I compromised on the top. It's not as thick as the plans call for. I don't know if this will cause any problems. I can tell you now that flexing and sagging are not issues at all with the hickory top. It's also plenty heavy.

- Be sure to get a brace and bit as Chris Schwarz uses in the book. A power drill just doesn't have the necessary power and the bits likely won't be nearly long enough to drill the holes for draw boring. Sure, you could use a super heavy-duty power drill with extra long bits. But why bother? And it's more fun using the brace. :)

- It should have been obvious, but I didn't think about it at first. When you attach the top to the base, lay the top upside-down, on the ground, on a furniture pad. Then step inside the upside-down base, lift the stretchers and walk it right over the top. You can then lower the base tenons right into the mortises in the top. (Remeber, the top tenons and dowels get no glue.)

- While Chris Schwarz recommends flatting the top with a plane, I don't have a joiner plane nor do I know how to properly use one. I didn't think flattening the top would be the best time to learn.

I flattened the top using a router sled. I had never done this before and improvised. I clamped a long piece of douglas fir onto the front and back of the top; jointed side up. I attached a 2"x6" with a hole drilled in the center to my router base. With a large mortising bit installed, I tried to find the lowest part of the top. I then set the bit to be just below the lowest point of the top.

At first, I was routing across the grain, This resulted in a lot of swirl marks. I lowered the bit just a hair and tried again going with the grain. This worked great! After a long time and enough sawdust for a barn dance, the top was flat. I did a little sanding to remove a few router marks here and there. No, it's not dead flat, but it's real close. If I want dead flat, I'll build a torsion box assembly table.

Questions?

[Dewey Torres]

Looks good Pat...

Now you are on the home stretch.

Dog holes and a bottom shelf are all that is left right? Your productivity is going to increase two fold.:)

[Pat Germain]

Thank you Dewey and Jerry.

Yep, I gotta build a shelf on the bottom. And I need to put a finish on the vice jaws. I might also put a nice roundover on the outside of the moving jaw. Of course, if I really wanted to get fancy, I could put some inlay in the vice jaws. Somebody recently gave me a nice piece of ebony.

[Dewey Torres]

Pat... almost forgot... you may want to order a set of these:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10510&filter=bench%20dogs

They are not cheap plastic like they look. These things are rugged and useful. Price is great too!

[Jim Becker]

Pat, the only concern I would have with the vice is racking when you're using the dogs since that's a very, very wide setup. Outstanding bench!

[Dave Anderson NH]

Well Pat, you're finally most of the way there. As another gauche and sinister individual my bench is also left handed. For my top I used ash and am quite happy with it. You've motivated me to get some more pictures taken of my progress too.

[Larry Browning]

Pat,
Have you given any thought to turning this thread into a blog? This seems like a really good subject for an SMC blog. I started one for my workbench project, but, alas, it turns out that I am a very lazy blogger. Who knew?
Anyway, I have really enjoyed following this post, and was just thinking that it would be a good candidate for a blog.

[Gary Herrmann]

Great job, Pat and an entertaining read. I was just reading the workbench book the other day. Have to put the bench aside till I finish my son's loft bed tho.