Newbie Notes - Lessons learned while flattening my workbench

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

I cannot fathom why someone would go to all the trouble. Even if you value your time at minimum
wage, it's cheaper to just buy outright.

But whadda I know?

I actually get what you are saying, I just see it differently... I just enjoy making things. I assume we all do at that but I am more interested in the process than the results at this point. I am using the bench and building the tools I need as a chance to learn woodworking. I can end up with one really ugly bench and still get years of use out of it, but if I made equivalent mistakes in what I expected to be fine furniture, made with wood I can afford only at a stretch, I'd end up feeling dumb every time I walked post it in the living room. Do all the skills transfer to what I make next? Only if I screw up so bad I make another bench right away! Really, though, I am enjoying it. I spent long hours today making a draw knife, it is tempering in the oven now, even though the lady I'm getting some clamps from has one for $10. So perhaps there is a pride (or ego) thing happening. With $8 worth of steel, a few dollars for the brass nuts for the ferules, I guess I'm paying extra for the chance to make something that won't work as well as the old used one I could get tomorrow. Same with the bench.

[Jim Matthews]

I am using the bench and building the tools I need as a chance to learn woodworking.

I have heard this before, and I consider it important to call out the pitfalls of shop furniture as a distraction.
The same skills can be honed making things that other people will use, and care for.

Benches are tools, pretty benches don't get used - the indignities and slights are too much to visit on a showpiece.

My first bench was kludged together and served well, now pressed into light sawing duty and staging.
My second bench was built by a talented local cabinet maker. It's beautiful.

He couldn't bring himself to use it, so it became a showcase for his skills.
He put models and sketchup renderings on it to woo clients.

He would be horrified to see what I've done with it.

Workbenches should be neat, functional and sturdy.
Pretty? That's counter productive.

* rant off *

[Winton Applegate]

I cannot fathom why someone would go to all the trouble. Even if you value your time at minimum wage, it's cheaper to just buy outright.

Selling wood working to "wood workers" again.

It might be less "trouble" and cheaper to just pay someone to do ALL the woodworking.

Hey Jeeves . . .
make me a candle stand, I need something to take to the next woodworking show. I'll be upstairs taking a nap. Don't wake me when you are done just put it in the truck.

Why buy a Stradivarius; any violin will make screechy noises ?
Why have more than one size of clothes ? Driving around . . . trying on all those different things just wastes time. Any thing you put on will keep you warm and protect you from the sun (if you put on enough of them).

Comercial benches :

• Are too light (but cost less for the stores to truck around)
• The vises are crap (design wise, component strength wise, lacking size and mass and often have RAILS IN THE WAY)
• Aren't flat; you still have to flatten it once you take delivery.
• Have wimpy bases lacking in rigidity and weight.
• Are made of less than ideal wood (I have never seen a commercially available purple heart bench but the touch of tack in the minute amount of excretion my unfinished bench . . . well . . . excretes is ideal. I find it a benefit I could not buy in any commercial bench).

I could probably go on and on
The experience of building my bench gave me the experience of working with massive (for me) pieces of wood that I probably would never have experienced in any of the relatively delicate cabinetry that I do otherwise. Where else am I going to learn to cut three inch dovetails in super hard wood ? By hand. Yes I could have used my nice Laguna bandsaw like Frank Klausz did on his benches. I chose to cut them by hand. I learned a lot that I can apply to other operations.
I used epoxy in the dovetails and had to really study up on the various formulations and optimal use of epoxy.
I would not have missed all this for the world.

I suppose if every waking minute in my shop HAD to be devoted to making a living then I could not make a bench.

If I had to work wood with out my bench . . .
. . . well . . .
THAT WOULD SUCK.
I would probably go looking for a different sport that was FUN.
AS FUN AS MAKING MY BENCH ?
YES.
I put countless hours in training to run marathons too.
Boy what a waste of time THAT WAS !
I sure don't want that time back either.
It was TOTALLY worth doing !
(for me)
YMMV

[Winton Applegate]

For an example
I was watching Saint Roy cutting some tenons for a "Teacher's Standing Desk" I think it was called. As always I turned it on part way through the show (I got to start collecting me some Roy DVDs).

He appears to be using a smallish commercially made bench (for what ever reason).
I kept telling my self, as I watched him work, that he was doing what he was doing so the camera angle would be best to get across what he was trying to teach.

The longer it went on I am not so sure.
So
He clamped a rail in the face vise and rip sawed a tenon.
but
the vise was kind of wimpy and the jaws kind of slick
so
what does he do ? He grips the work with his hand directly bellow the cut to keep it from pivoting between the vise jaws. If the saw had grabbed and jumped off of the work it would have sawed into his hand. If he had a tail vise like on a Klausz the back area would have supported the work and resisted the work pivoting, there would have been more vise jaw area to grab the work, the jaw would have been more rigid and would have gripped the work more firmly, he could have sawn perpendicular to the bench rather than get all up against the side of the bench to align with the cut . . .
. . . I noticed the vise flexing as he was cutting and the bench moving . . .
this was some fairly soft wood and fairly small so the bench would have been even more of a flexy squirrel to chase if he had been cutting some serious tenons in say oak.

Later he was drilling some holes for draw bored pins . . .
I swear I saw the bit drop through the hole and collide with one of the RAILS of the vise that are IN THE WAY.

I was wincing through the show as I watched.

I bet when the camera isn't on and he can focus things are done in quite a different modus operandi and with a better bench
I hope.

[Winton Applegate]

ANY THING that is WELL MADE will be "pretty" to a master crafts person.
I find it telling that Frank Klausz used various contrasting woods to make his latest bench more pretty.
I used one type of wood because it was strong and avoided contrasting woods because I wanted it quiet looking. It HAPPENED to have a couple of pretty areas in the planks purely by chance.

Good thing I didn't go for the thick Zebra wood veneer for the top layer that I had toyed with in my mind.
Although . . .
. . . it is never too late . . .
would have been infinitely practical . . . all that business in the grain would help hide dings and dents . . .
. . . hmmmmmm

[Jim Koepke]

The making of a bench is a huge undertaking.
I value my time too much to expend the effort required to build a proper bench.

While I admire the determination of those that laminate, straighten, flatten and outfit benches
I cannot fathom why someone would go to all the trouble. Even if you value your time at minimum
wage, it's cheaper to just buy outright.

But whadda I know?

It appears Winton has already covered the "just for the experience" answer.

One problem is even if one values their time at minimum wage, it doesn't mean what becomes of the time not spent making a bench will put the money needed to buy a bench in their pocket.

When you start talking about a good bench you start talking about a lot more hours worked to pay for it.

When people ask about buying new compared to vintage planes a common point used to make a determination is whether one has more money than time or more time than money.

The person with more time makes their own bench and may be richer for doing so.

Using the mallets I have made has given me pleasure well beyond what is felt when using my "store bought" mallet. The Footprint mallet is a great mallet and has a much better fit than my first mallet. My second mallet has a better fit, sadly one face is cracked. My next mallet will have uniquely made features for my use.

jtk

[Bobby O'Neal]

I think for the hobbyist, you can budget your money to feed your woodworking habit and whatever that amount covers (when coupled with your patience) is what you can justify spending on your bench. I have a 9' Roubo with inexpensive hardware for the vises and its made out of SYP. I have probably $200 in it. It is extremely heavy, holds work in anyway i have found to need so far, and is flat and solid. I do not care for how soft the material is and would certainly appreciate how nice Benchcrafted hardware would move in comparison to mine, but I could not justify having $2-$3k in a bench right now. It is purely a hobby that profits me nothing. It is 100% consumptive now. I'd like to build some commissioned pieces in the future but that's not where I am at the moment and that is fine. If I had more disposable income, that would change the story. But this hobby is far from free and it is only a small fraction of my life. The time and money spent on it should reflect that. If I stretched the timeline to the point I could afford the best materials, it would take so long that it would slow down the big picture of woodworking for me, tremendously.

To me, its like a guy making $40k a year and driving a $80,000 BMW. He can do whatever he wants, it just seems out of balance.

If you are a pro, or an amateur who does enough commissions to break even or just feel good about it, I'd say you just decide what your time is worth and buy the best stuff out there.

[Brian Holcombe]

I built my bench, I feel is if I were out ahead of having purchased it even with my time involved in the process. I bought LN mechanical parts for the tail vise and for the scandi shoulder vise, and used rock maple for everything except for the face of the shoulder vice which I did in walnut and the tusk tenons which I did in rosewood.

I finished everything except the top, which I left with a planed surface to allow some grip. It gets dings and scratches, they are character; witnesses to the fact that it was used.

[Frederick Skelly]

Since Im the OP, I should probably chime back in at this point FWIW.

A few years back, I had 2 weeks of vacation, no significant backlog of projects, and I was in the mood to build shop furniture. So I looked at several high end benches and challenged myself to make one just as useful, out of dimensioned lumber. Having lived with it a while, Im (still) really pleased with it. Now, Im in the tuning phase - re-flattening it, adding more dog holes, adjusting the face vise, etc. Like others, I learned a great deal building and tuning it- which for me is another reason I do woodworking. And I love building shop furniture that makes my life easier - my new (plywood) tablesaw stand ROCKS!

I totally "get" the point about making masterpieces for the garage and then not being willing to use them for their intended purpose. I personally never understood guys doing that, but thats just my view. (You should see my crappy looking but very functional router table!)

Finally, as I said above, I think Winton's bench is beautiful. But remember that he chose purpleheart because it met his specifications - not because he wanted to build a masterpiece. It sounds like hes going to use the heck out of it and take the dings, dents and scratches in stride. Nothin wrong with that, IMO.

Have a good weekend. Im off to drill dog holes!
Fred

[Winton Applegate]

Kind of a stupid pun there on my part.

It sounds like hes going to use the heck out of

Yes I have. In fact I stopped part way before I added the face vise, once I got it far enough along it would grip big planks using the tail vise, so I could make our bubinga dining table. I used every bit of its strength and rigidity cross planing those I can tell you.

My theory, that I pretty much got from Frank Klausz, is you build a bench as well as you possibly can . . . a master piece of beauty and precision . . . a museum piece with spot lights on it and arrows pointing at it from the walls that say "The good stuff".
Then
act like a master (even if you are not one yet) and take care of it and be CONSCIOUS while using it rather than be a hack that drills through the work into the bench and then goes daaaaaahh.
So
That is what I do.
except for that one day

ONE GALLL^(*&^(^FRAZAFRAZA###%&$& DAY

When I couldn't hang onto my straight edge for the life of me and dropped it off the edge of the plank like three times in an hour and dinged the top each time.

Frank's Dad would have slapped him across the head.
I deserved as much.

One of these days I will just plane them off.

[Winton Applegate]

Two hundred dollars

Three thousand dollars

Obviously what I am going to compare with this changes when you take into account that you are making it your self and if you get good materials and do a good job and it winds up inexpensive but very good then forget my analogy. Your achievement is rare and to be celebrated but . . .
I am speaking how it usually works out and more along the lines of buying a bench now . . .

Lets compare to bicycles. REAL bicycles. A bicycle that is a small part of ones entire life but still . . .
a bicycle one regularly goes out and rides for a hundred (or two hundred) miles in a day. With like minded individuals. Club riders they/we are called.
now . . .
a MID PRICED bike is going to go for between three and five thousand dollars.
Do you hear what I am saying ?
About the same as a "high dollar" woodworking bench.
When I started serious bikes you could get the top priced bike, the equivalent of the ten thousand dollar, and I personally liked those old seventies steel and chrome and silver brazed bikes better than the generic carbon things now,
you could get the top priced bike in the early seventies for five hundred dollars. in the US. Maybe eight hundred if you went totally crazy with it.
The BEST !
A bench for three hundred.
Now days the good stuff costs. In time or in dollars.

I ride the very best custom bicycle available. I made it for my self twenty five years ago. Back then I lived for nothing else. Well maybe girls. But they had to ride a bike and fix their own flats.
Ha, ha, ha.
Same goes with my bench only I am just a mere nubie woodworker.
Guess I am kind of OCD. According to Mr. Wilson.

Heck I haven't even carved any linenfold or ribbon back chairs so I have a long way to go.

[Jay Radke]

i can see your point to some degree. i put some money into my bench with the hardware, wood and most importantly the 6 days (8+ hours each day) I spent with Jeff Miller in his shop building it. When i consider all the hands on - nearly one on one teaching i got (there were only 3 of us in the class) it was well worth the price. i am a fairly handy person, can read and learn too, but nothing beats doing it to learn. learning from a great woodworker and teacher is hard to pass up. learned quite a bit and didn't have the machines i would have need to have built the sam bench at home. its nearly the same as the one that was profiled in FWW Tools and Shops Issue two years ago.

[Mike Brady]

I have also found that using a tooth blade knocks down high areas quickly.

I have used nothing but my toothed blade in a 5-!/2 to do my bench flattening. When my bench was brand-new I probably wouldn't have, but now that I tune it for pure function and not aesthetics, the texture of the toothing gives the surface superior grip. I also don't put any finish on it as, as I did before. Two other big benifits: no tearout and the job goes very quickly.