Moravian Workbench Build

[Steve Southwood]

Posting this for Ken Hatch, because he wanted a tic-tock of the build.

Let me start off by saying this will be a long build, I work lots of hours and a variable shift, in my real job. I will post the dates the work was started.

Also, I will let you know this is not a total neanderthal build. I like to think of it as multi-craft, using both power and hand tools. (No I don't like the term hybird, I'm not a rechargeable car. Using either form of tools is a craft. The power tool is my shop apprentice. Doing the grunt work.)

Back in the summer I was thinking about building a Roubo and had ordered the hardware from Benchcrafted. The more I thought, the more I figured I needed some sort of bench to actually build the bench. I had watched several bench builds and kept coming back to Will Myers and the Moravian bench. I like the looks, I can knock it down, being knock down I can replace just one part if something happens to it.

So Moravian it is. I ordered a bench screw from Lake Erie Toolworks. July 9, screw arrives.

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Time for the lumber. I chose to use SYP for the main parts and White Oak for stretchers and vise. Aug 7, trip to Home Depot for 2x12x16-0 SYP. Then it was off to my hardwood supplier for the White Oak. I got everything ripped and stickered.

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Aug 13, I checked the moisture content to get a base line.

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Now it is time to wait, the summer was entirely too hot to work in the shop. I checked the moisture every so often. It stayed around 10.5 until fall hit.

[Steve Southwood]

December rolled around and work slowed a bit, giving me time to start. The moisture was about good as it was going to get as well.

These next shots are from Dec 1 through Dec 4.

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First thing to do was glue up the legs and mill back to finished size.

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I glued up the long stretchers and let them sit in the clamps while I was working on the legs.

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I double checked the layout of bridle joint and the others real quick before I started the main work.

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Once I was happy with the layout, I cut the bridle joint with a router.

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Once the sides were cut I then brought the joint down to its final location with hand tools. I always stop short when using a router so I don't over cut. I cut the mortise for the center stretcher as well with the router and cleaned it up.

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[ken hatch]

Steve,

Thanks for the tick tock. It should help other builders. It looks good. BTW, I have never mastered using routers, I admire anyone that can. Years ago my best friend and I would build furniture side by side in my shop. He always used the router, I never figured it out.

ken

[Mike Manning]

Steve,

Thanks for the tick tock. It should help other builders. It looks good. BTW, I have never mastered using routers, I admire anyone that can. Years ago my best friend and I would build furniture side by side in my shop. He always used the router, I never figured it out.

ken

Where'd you get your SYP? I'm just curious if you bought it at the big box stores and if so how many trips and different stores did you have to hit to find pieces good enough for your workbench?

[Steve Southwood]

One trip to my local HD did the trick. There were several folks watching to see how I would fit those 16 footers in a 6 foot bed truck. Once I started cutting them up, the questions started. I explained to the one guy, the boards are better grade with smaller knots.

Where'd you get your SYP? I'm just curious if you bought it at the big box stores and if so how many trips and different stores did you have to hit to find pieces good enough for your workbench?

[David Silverson]

I think that’s the most important thing with using big box lumber, select the wider and longer boards which do seem to be better quality.

[Steve Southwood]

Here is the rest of the Dec 1 - Dec 4 progress.

Next it was time for the stretchers to be made. They were brought to size with the power tool apprentices. I cut the shoulders on the tablesaw and dado stack, as to keep them all the same distance. They were then cleaned up with a Stanley 10 1/2 carriage makers plane.

Test fit of the stretchers.

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The dovetailed stretcher is the last one the list for the legs, so I cut a 1:8 slope for the tails. While I had the dado stack in the saw I also took a little off the bottoms of each to make marking them a little easier.

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Once that was done I marked all their locations and traced the tail. I set the router depth and hogged out most of the waste in two passes.

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After the bulk of the of the waste was removed, I took a chisel and trimmed back to the lines and test fit.

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And that is where we are at since Dec 4. The next chance I will get to work on the bench will be Dec 24, for possibly an hour or so.

[Matthew Hartlin]

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to following along, by rough lumber for the same project is currently stickered and under a stack of soon to be Christmas presents(ie more lumber).

[Matthew Brawley]

That is what I did with my bench except I did 12' boards.

[Steve Southwood]

Dec 21

I made a mistake. Don’t know for sure why I decided to check the depth of the top stretcher bridle joint, but I did. The plans called for a 4 inch deep bridle and I made these only 3 ½ inch deep. Using that depth, I would have taken too much off the stretcher and possibly weakened it. Couple minutes with the chisels and we are back in business.


I am going to start using this hashtag on social media to show my mistakes. I think it is important to show that bad along with the good. #showyourwoodworkingmistakes


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[Eric Rathhaus]

Steve - enjoying your process. I'm getting ready to build this bench but have two start with top as I have no other bench to build on.

[Steve Southwood]

Yeah, I am fortunate to have that big assembly table. Not really made for the amount of abuse it's getting but holding up well. Make sure to post your build Eric

[Steve Southwood]

Dec 24^th and 25^th

Well I caught some free time over the holidays. I got the top of each leg cut to the 15 degree angle. Yep, I used the tablesaw to hit this as close as I could.

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I got the long stretchers all milled up to final size. Then I laid out for the tenon on each end and also for the through mortise on the legs. All the layout marks came off of the face sides of each piece, as the legs and stretchers are different thickness.

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If all goes well, I hope to have the frame done this weekend.

[Jake Rothermel]

Love the build so far, Steve. Keep 'em coming - "mistakes" and all!!

[ken hatch]

Steve,

Good to see progress on the build. The long stretcher mortises need to be loose, especially up and down and even a little side to side if you plan on the bench being portable. When you get around to the vise backer board remember the up/down dimension of the parallel guide mortise isn't critical, in fact needs to be loose, but the side to side is. The tighter the fit that still allows easy movement the better. Also when it becomes time to secure the Screw nut I've found the made in Germany "Spax" brand lags the best. Home Depot carries them.

ken