A Cabinetmakers Workbench

The legs are joined to the base with draw bored dowels that I made out of ebony.

Beautigorgeomus! When ya going to put a top on that baby and commence producing shavings instead of sawdust? Can’t wait to see the rest.

-- Jim

Once the base was completed it was time to laminated the top. I laminated them in three sections and routed full length 1/2” splines to join them together. I made the dog hole section and was ready to assemble.

Once that was completed, it looked like this:

Wow, what a neat project. It will make a great stand for all of your power tools to sit on (kidding) But seriously, its cool how you are doing it totally “unplugged.” I can’t wait to see it finished.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

I used a floating breadboard on each end of the top and milled a bling half inch spline in each end. The breadboard ends are held in place with a large dovetail, no glue and one 6” bolt to allow the top to move with seasonal changes.
Here I am cutting the dovetail in the ends and the dog hole section.

The completed dovetail.

Another view of the top with the ends in place. Here I am hand cutting the dovetails for tool tray.

WOW, love the detail. I have not built one of these but I do need to get one built. Thanks for posting.

-- Grant...."GO BUCKEYES"

The quartersawn figure just blew my mind, I was really surprised by how much figure it had and was very careful with grain direction etc.

Here is the top without the tail vise. I was really nrvious about the end vise because I had never built one, and I did all the joinery in this bench completedly without power tools.

At this point, I thought I had better start to pre-level the top and I was dreading the end vise. I broke out the jack plane, the the jointer and then my Stanley # 80 and used winding sticks to remove any wind the top. The bottom has the same level of finish as the top.

The completed top being turned over and finishing with hand planes.

Next the end vise construction.

One might almost eat at this bench looks nice and petite well done Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

With the top completed, it was time to turn to the dreaded end vise. I read and re-read everything I could find on the details. In the end, I just went for it. I wanted the end vise to be a diiferent species of wood and contrast from the bench. I buy most of my hardwood from Merrill over at Alva Hardwwods in Alva Fl, and told I need a special board for thi vise.
He digs around the warehouse and pops up with a beautiful piece of Honduras Rosewood that he stashed for years. He said he knew someone would want it one day . At about 40 bucks a board ft I gulped hard and asked how much.
” thanks for all your business” and he gives it me. You gotta respect a guy like that.
Anyway here is how I made the end vise. I starte with a n oak “core” that the vise made around. This core has to be made very carefully as it contains the main screw and determines the throw of the vise. The first step is to install the face plate to the bench, followed by the core.

Next is to build a case around the core. I could have just screwed this together as it will never be seen inside the vise but, I dovetailed it. Now, I know it’s there and that it is strong so…....

The inside of the core case has the dog holes cut into then. I angled them the opposite way from the others in the bench top by a few degrees to provide a gripping action. Here the case is installed with the outer cover of rosewood .

Thanks for all the compliments. I hope you like this project.

I cut the best figure of the rosewood for the top of the vise. First I made a cardboard template to be absolutely certain that I had the layout for the dog holes exact. I laid out the dogs holes and drilled a series of 1/8” holes. Using a razor sharp chisel, I carefully squared the dog holes.

The top installed and being leveled with the top with my # 80 scraper.

The bench top is completed and now I used my jck plane, my jointer plane and finally my # 80 to level the top.

The completed top without the tool tray.

The bottom of the vises and the first coats of my bench finish, 1/3 BLO, 1/3 turps/ and beeswax.

You can see the rosewood hand saw stops I made on the end of the bench here also.

AWESOME!!!!!!! TRULY AWESOME!!!!!!!! I want one now.

-- Jed,Ala,jmwoodworks057.com

Wow, great bench!

Thanks foer the post

Callum

-- For wood working podcasts with a twist check out http://thetimberkid.com/

Absolutely AWESOME and inspiring! This is one of the best workbench pictorials I have ever seen and I have seen many in my years.

Thanks for taking the time to share it.

Very nice job. Thanks for chronicaling the entire build process.

-- Scott in Texas

Well done, thanks for sharing this.

-- Thos. Angle

Dude that is one hard rock workbench…details are stunning…the wood choices are off the chart….thanks for posting and enjoy working off this beauty…Blkcherry

WOW WHAT A BENCH NICE JOB

-- Jim, Kentucky

Thanks for all the kind words. I have not finished the tool tray because Merrill at Alva Hardwoods is trying to get me a highly figured white oak quartersawn board for the last piece of the bench. The tool tray will have a removable insert to be able to sweep out shavings etc.
The bench has been an inspiration to me, and my work has taken on a new direction because of it. I often just sit at it and find myself thinking about my life etc.
I just love it.
It took me about 300 hours to build, and I enjoyed the process very much. It is a joy to work on, I’m trying to figure out how I ever did anything before it. I estimate it’s weight at close to 500 lbs, so it is a real rock.
Thanks again for all the kind comments.

Sweet bench!!! Thanks for posting.

-- Dennis Zongker

BigBob,

“I often just sit at it and find myself thinking about my life etc.”
What a telling remark. I often think of how to swing making a workbench like yours and I just can’t come up with the time or the money. I sometimes sit and think at my sawhorses+doorbench about how it must have been years ago. I bet it was hard to do any woodworking at all without a bench so it would have to be one of the first projects for a beginning woodworker after aprenticeship or something.

Now, with all the power tools available, I can do projects that look “professional” without much of a bench at all and one of the “heights” I hope to reach is building a good workbench like this one, someday. Thanks for the post.

-- Jim

one amazing bench.. and a wonderfully constructed blog!

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

That is a beautiful bench and you’ve documented the process very well too – thanks for sharing.

What a nice workbench! It’s too good to be used as a workbench :) Great job.

-- Praki, Aspiring Woodworker

Amazing build, it will last a lifetime. Great blog and thanks for sharing your journey.

-- Artesano Taino

GREAT! Several life times!!!!

-- spanky46 -- Never enough clamps...Never enough tools...Never enough time.

This oak must weight a TON , or Tons of Tons…

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Thank you for giving us your stunning art peice that looks wonderful and if mine looks anywhere near as good i’ll be pleased

andy

-- cut it saw it scrap it

That is seriously the best bench i,ve seen in a while.The joinery is a credit to you. Love those hand planes.It,s stuff like this that keeps my motivation up. Thanks a bunch.

-- if the hand is not working it is not a pure hand

Hi, What a beautiful piece of work!! Can you please tell me where you purchased those beautiful wood planes or did you make them yourself?
Thanks very much,
Bill

Just complete my own bench and am interested in the formula used for applied finish. I understand it to be 1/3 Turps, 1/3 beewax and 1/3 BLO…. Unfortunately I am not familiar with the term BLO.. please advise

Great bench and wonderful photo’s of the process..

In addition to a tool tray I am currently adding drawers to the base. My carving chisels will have a special drawer with 2 layers and removable till. Might be a consideration for future modification as you continue working with yours..

Wow not only is this a great bench best I’ve seen in a long while I loved those hand planes, did you make them too? If so how about a few details of them. I love your work your A true craftsman well done again Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease