Projects #11: John White Workbench - SketchUp File

Thanks so much, Jeff. I hope to build one in the next several weeks.

-- There are three kinds of people... those who can count, and those who can't

got any more angles on the workbench ? Looks good.

-- JJohn

Thanks A lot Jeff. I still need to take the time to learn SketchUp. What have found to be the best resource?

-- Chris

Jeff -

Thanks! I built a similar bench with a few modifications from the original. It is a very welcome “tool” in my shop!

David

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

I am curious about something… the original from FWW had some extended keyholes cut into some of the elements of the workbench. What is the purpose of those?

-- There are three kinds of people... those who can count, and those who can't

Hi, Slacker. Those holes are preemptive strikes against the splitting of the legs. When you work with construction lumber, its moisture content is pretty high even if you let it adapt to your shop for a month. So, the keyholes are there to help release some of the stress on the boards and hopefully stop them from splitting as they dry. I can confirm (in my case anyway) this works. When I went back to the shop this past week, after the thaw, my legs were free of splits.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Whoops. I missed that 4 other folks commented…

David, I remember your video blog. I need to check back at foldingrule and revisit your modifications.

Chris, I find the best resource to be trial and error. This said, Google’s tutorials are good as well as those from our own Bob Babcock and also the ones on FWW’s site (finewoodworking.com).

jjohn, if you download the sketchup file, you can see all the files you want. Also, all past entries in this blog series have several different views. Just follow the links at the top.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Aha! Just came back to this. I got the plans (thanks) and am now figuring out how much wood I need. I was thinking of getting some 12 foot 2×12’s cut in half and rip what I need from that, but our the local Home Depot only sells up to 2×10. So, I will go to plan B, which I have yet to devise.

“After the thaw”... sounds wicked.

-- There are three kinds of people... those who can count, and those who can't

Hi Jeff, Greetings from Australia. I have been looking at the New Fangled Workbench for a few weeks and have finally taken the plunge. Have started making the Top first – cause I figured that that would be the hardest to get right. Your drawings and pictures have been most helpful.
However, I’m now at the stage of assembling the Top and am wondering about the method of attachment of the front two “L” shaped boards to the frame underneath them. (I know that John suggested large screws, but I wonder whether anyone has tried dowels or other methods?)
Hope that you are all enjoying your Benches.
Best regards,
ChrisO

Jeff,

That’s a very interesting model of John White’s bench. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a SketchUp model executed as you done this.

I’ve drawn the bench, too but have yet to build it.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

DaveR, nice model. It’s tighter than mine for sure.

Chriso, I went on the cheap and used really long deck screws to attach the “L-shaped” boards in the front. This seems to work fine. This said, I think dowels could work provided you had everything clamped tight when you bored the holes (to maintain alignment). If you wanted a lot of depth on your holes for dowels, you might consider shortening the cross supports by 1 1/2 inces and using a 2×6 board for the front-inside face of the well. This would allow you to use a brace and bore really deep into the end grain if you wanted to use some long, stout dowels. The 2×6 would lend some extra rigidity to the whole top.

If I were to do it again without a salvaged door for the top, I would laminate 4-inch wide boards together much like a traditional bench. Stable and easy to plane dead flat.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Jeff, do you have a version of the file that isn’t read only?

-- Derek, Bremerton WA --

Derek, you always get that message when opening a SketchUp model from somewhere else. Go ahead and click OK when the box pops up. You’ll be able to edit the model if you want.

Jeff, I’d love to chat with you about how you made your version but I don’t think we should take your post off track.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Derek, Dave’s right. The editable model is posted in the 3D Warehouse. When you click the download button and it gives you the choices, you can do the following to save the model without actually opening it:
1) PC User – right-click the link and select Save Target As…
2) Mac User – Ctrl + click the link and select Save Link As…

You will be prompted with a dialog to specify a location to save the file.

DaveR, fire away. That’s what these threads are for. This entry is Part 10 of a long blog on making the bench. Appropriate if you ask me. :)

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Well, alright.

I noticed you have done an interesting thing when drawing your bench in SketchUp. You’ve scaled some instances of a single component to get other parts in the model. Although it can be done, it isn’t a great idea when it comes time to edit them. As an example see the attached image. I edited the near wide leg and drew a circle on it. Notice what has happened on the other related components. (I rotated the stretcher so it would be easier to see what happened there.)

Imagine ewhat would happen if you added those splits and holes as were shown on the original bench and on my drawing.

It would be better to make the copy of the component unique prior to changing its dimensions. You can do that by right clicking on the component then choose Make Unique from the Context menu.

It is kind of entertaining though. ;)

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Oh yeah. I’m all too familiar with the error. This model was one of the first ones I ever made and I’ve since gotten “better, stronger, faster” as Oscar Goldman would say. As you can tell, it’s pretty down and dirty.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Thanks so much for posting this. It was this series of articles that inspired me to build my NFWB in two weekends. Now, mind you, I did a bunch of other stuff on those weekends too. I bet I built it in less than 10 hours. I took my time. :) You can see it over on my LJ blog – Matt's LJ Blog.

Thanks again for the plans.

-- Matt - My Websites - http://www.bestinwood.com - Hand Tools :: http://www.workshopgarage.com - Small Shops

You’re welcome Matt. ‘Tis and honor to be an inspiration.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN