Advice for anyone building a Roubo-ish bench

[Randy Klein]

I'm in the process of building a Roubo-ish bench and just wanted to offer some advice for anyone doing the same.

As Chris Schwarz says, buying SYP at the borg is plenty good enough for a bench. The wood is #2 construction grade and the longer it is, the clearer and straighter it is, so buy as long as you can. I built the base of my bench out of this, by buying onesies and twosies at a time, as I rejected a whole bunch.

However, when doing the top, I wanted to get all the boards at one time and the Borgs never seemed to have enough good ones. Luckily, I have a Carter Lumber nearby. Their lumber is actually #1 construction grade and only a few dollars more per board. They are alot clearer, straighter, and easier to pick through. So, if you have one nearby, go check them out.

But both locations will crosscut for a fee and sometimes free if they don't care. I bring my cut list and select the 14' and 16' boards and have them cut out my pieces (make sure you add in some waste factor to your markings since you can't expect them to split your line). The 14' is probably the best value as it is only pennies more than a 12' but dollars less than the 16'.

By having them do my crosscuts, I now get access to the longer boards since I wouldn't be able to haul the native length home.

Advice overview:


A few extra dollars spent on #1 vs #2 construction grade lumber is money well spent and the 14' seem to be the best value.
Bring your cutlist and have them crosscut to a rough length.

[Ethan Sincox]

I'd say that's sound advise for anyone building any kind of workbench, neh?

[Michael Schwartz]

I agree that your best bet is going to be looking through stock meant for floor joists as this lumber is required to be much clearer due to the fact it is ment for structural applications.

2X4'S are trash most of the time. and as Christopher Schwartz warns in his book don't even get them.

You can get a lot of bench for a little money using construction lumber and I would much rather have a properly made bench that weighs a ton and is sturdy made from pine, then a flimsy poorly designed bench made from beach.

[Erik De Vocht]

I'm in the process of building a Roubo-ish bench and just wanted to offer some advice for anyone doing the same.

As Chris Schwarz says, buying SYP at the borg is plenty good enough for a bench. The wood is #2 construction grade and the longer it is, the clearer and straighter it is, so buy as long as you can. I built the base of my bench out of this, by buying onesies and twosies at a time, as I rejected a whole bunch.

However, when doing the top, I wanted to get all the boards at one time and the Borgs never seemed to have enough good ones. Luckily, I have a Carter Lumber nearby. Their lumber is actually #1 construction grade and only a few dollars more per board. They are alot clearer, straighter, and easier to pick through. So, if you have one nearby, go check them out.

But both locations will crosscut for a fee and sometimes free if they don't care. I bring my cut list and select the 14' and 16' boards and have them cut out my pieces (make sure you add in some waste factor to your markings since you can't expect them to split your line). The 14' is probably the best value as it is only pennies more than a 12' but dollars less than the 16'.

By having them do my crosscuts, I now get access to the longer boards since I wouldn't be able to haul the native length home.

Advice overview:


A few extra dollars spent on #1 vs #2 construction grade lumber is money well spent and the 14' seem to be the best value.
Bring your cutlist and have them crosscut to a rough length.



Here is my version of the Roubo-like workbench. It was based on an old bench I had that could not be repaired so I decided to make a new one.
It was a great journey into the past because it was full of little details that were not obvious at first. Only when I made the new one did I findout how the bench really works.
It's made of beach and padouck. The addition of the tail vice was something I wanted from the beginning.

Erik

(Cannot upload more images but you can find them here (at the bottom of the thread):
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=65334)