I have not really been woodworking all that long. I have actually owned a sawmill longer than I have been making any finished wood projects, long story. I have debated making a proper bench for some time. My old/first bench was a row of kitchen cabinets I took out on a remodel I did as a contractor with a solid plank on top. Everyone has different needs, I tried to design mine to fit the work I do. If I need to I can easily make modifications, as is I am calling it “done for now”.
I started with 1”x3” white oak I laminated (glued/screwed/plugged) for 3” square base/legs.
I tied them together with a couple shelves. I wanted open shelves to not collect so much dust.
I picked out some 1/4 sawn hackberry 2” thick for the top.
Jointed it and put an ash skirt around it.
Then it was time to add some dog holes. I had some ideas for things that would help me. I like the idea of a bench hook…but it seemed like I would always be bumping into it. So I made one that was movable/removable. 2 actually, one goes in the dog holes on the vice. I made a little adjustable board jack to hold up the middle, seems to work pretty good and its a handy place to keep my extra dogs that I turned from osage.
A closer look at the movable/removable hooks.
I have some lighting issues in my little shop. I took a piece of 1X ash and just turned one end to fit in any dog hole. I can clamp a light (or 2) to the pole for task lighting.
It should work for me. $15 vice (new) from a guy I know, a double handful of screws, some glue and wood other people were going to burn (urban logger, all this wood was headed for the landfill)
-- http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

















21 comments so far
teenagewoodworker
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2727 posts in 1965 days
#1 posted 1875 days ago
wow great job. that looks like a nice and sturdy bench that will be serving you for years to come. great job.
Russel
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2199 posts in 2136 days
#2 posted 1875 days ago
Nice bench. Even more, I love the look of the Hack Berry top. I’ve never heard of Hack Berry before, but what you’ve got there is gorgeous.
-- Working at Woodworking http://www.VillageLaneFurniture.com
Dorje
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1761 posts in 2194 days
#3 posted 1875 days ago
That looks like a good way to do it! What’s the height on it?
I like your “blogject” format!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
Ad Marketing Guy - Bill
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314 posts in 1995 days
#4 posted 1875 days ago
GREAT bench, with a wonderful choice of woods. I like what you did creating your own MT joints-
You also posted an excellent step by step guide. Thanks for posting- good luck with the bench.
-- Bill - - Ad-Marketing Guy, Ramsey NJ
Daren Nelson
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767 posts in 2103 days
#5 posted 1875 days ago
Dorje, it is 34” (30” wide X 72” long). I am 6’3” and for hand planing I can put more down pressure. But at that height I can still pull a chair up next to it and work on small stuff.
-- http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/
Scott Bryan
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27253 posts in 2019 days
#6 posted 1875 days ago
Daren,
You have built a gorgeous bench. The top is beautiful. I have never seen hackberry that large before. Here if they get around 12 to 18 inches in diameter that is an old tree.
Well done. You should get years of service from this bench.
Thanks for the post.
-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine
GaryK
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10263 posts in 2185 days
#7 posted 1875 days ago
Great looking bench! Also some great accessories!
-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way - Tyler, TX
Douglas Bordner
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3907 posts in 2261 days
#8 posted 1875 days ago
That’s a beaut, Daren. I’ll wager no one on Planet Earth has one like that with a Hackberry top. Smart move on the fashioned mortises too.
My bench was on of the first things I made when I resumed woodworking as an adult and bugle-headed screws were the height of fine woodworking for me at the time. Someday I hope to make a bench as nice as yours.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
jcees
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913 posts in 1996 days
#9 posted 1875 days ago
Fan-damn-tastic bench. Or should I say, that’s bencherific, baby! Great execution, gives me ideas for mods to mine. Thanks for the pics.
always,
J.C.
-- When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. -- John Muir
Dadoo
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1763 posts in 2187 days
#10 posted 1875 days ago
Wow that’s real sharp looking. Love the attachments as well. Great project Daren!
-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!
John Gray
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2364 posts in 2083 days
#11 posted 1875 days ago
Beautiful job!!! I favourited it.
-- Only the Shadow knows....................
SteveKorz
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2119 posts in 1911 days
#12 posted 1874 days ago
Daren, I’m always impressed. That’s a fine lookin’ bench, man!! I really like your choice of woods, very nice.
-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †
OldSteve
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1 post in 1873 days
#13 posted 1873 days ago
That is a sensational bench. I especially like the movable bench hook! I gotta make me one—maybe two: one right-handed and one left-handed.
OldSteve
Karson
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34396 posts in 2598 days
#14 posted 1872 days ago
Daren: I expected a great looking bench. I see you picture with those nice big boards and I figured you had some wood stashed away. The hackberry wood is great looking. Is it very dense and hard?
Nice looking, Great job.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Daren Nelson
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767 posts in 2103 days
#15 posted 1871 days ago
” I figured you had some wood stashed away.” I have a small stash I guess you could say Karson.

”The hackberry wood is great looking. Is it very dense and hard?” There is some method to my madness here. It is medium density/hardness hardwood. I know you know wood from reading some of your posts, so from the little picture I’m sure you can see that bright yellow stack of osage. In the picture there is also black locust, honeylocust, hard maple, ash, just to name a few…all of those for example are harder than hackberry. It was a choice on my part to make the base out of a good hard wood (white oak) and the top something a little softer than those other species I rattled off. Dings/dents/scratches/spills… are inevitable I reckoned with a card scraper I could fix them pretty quick on hackberry. Same years from now too when I may have to do some resurfacing/flattening, the hackberry should be easy to do that to. So the short answer, no it is not the hardest wood I could have built it from, but I did it for some reasons be they right or wrong. (and one I did not mention, even though hackberry is pretty it has a low market value here at my sawmill…so yea, I am cheap too. But that was down the list a ways on why I used it)
-- http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/
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