Early Saturday morning I was out in the shop putting the finishing touches on the New Fangled Bench. The wife came out and said, “You need to get some shelves up.” She also said I needed a bench for my lathe, most likely, so I could finishing turning some bowls I roughed out late last summer!
With that, it was off to the BORG to get some lumber for shelves and the new bench. Here are the benches in their completed states. I added a small shelf to the front of the lathe bench with a small lip to keep my chisels from rolling off. I’m thinking about adding a tool holder to the left side. It was a long Saturday!
Let me know what you think.
Here is the NFB
And the NFLB (Not really ‘new’ or ‘fangled’)
-- Matt - My Websites - http://www.bestinwood.com - Hand Tools :: http://www.workshopgarage.com - Small Shops
5 comments so far
brackett
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3 posts in 227 days
posted 219 days ago
Nice work, Matt,
I love all the maple and oak benches I’ve been seeing, but it’s great to see a quality bench out of pine. Goes to show you that it’s not all about the material. And I’m sure it’s much less expensive that way.
BTW, nice use of pipe clamps!
How far do those run under there?
-- Steve from the soil
PurpLev
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2752 posts in 543 days
posted 219 days ago
nicely done.
from my own experience (I used the BORG douglas FIR 4×4 and 2×4 for my bench base assembly (legs aprons and stretchers) I know this is very cost effective- but with that in mind, it looks like you have lots of knots in your NFB. for future reference, I’d suggest taking your time at the BORG to find boards with least (non if possible) amount of those.. and if possible – trim the knots off the boards. sure it may mean getting a little more boards than the minimum requirement, but thats always true in woodworking. and it’ll still be cost effective.
other than that, looks like a very practical bench!
-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.
nuttree
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15 posts in 219 days
posted 219 days ago
Very nice. I also like the use of the pipe clamps. Getting ready to set up my shop and will be building a few as welll.
-- Andy
Matt
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178 posts in 267 days
posted 218 days ago
Those pipes run the full length of the table. This table is a 5 footer. If you google “New Fangled Bench” you’ll find the plans. I like this bench and will probably make an upgraded model in the next couple of years.
It’s a really slick bench. I’m glad I buiilt it. I didn’t see a need for anything fancy at this point. I plan to add several coats of poly or something for protection but that is about it.
I spaced the pipes in the top far enough apart to clamp my router table onto the bench. My bench grinder for my woodturning chisels also has a baseplate with the Wolverine sharpening fixtures mounted. Now I just put it on the bench an clamp it in. My Rigid spindle sander will probably get a similar baseplate if it’s not too tall for me. I am able to put my full weight on the front beam without problems so maybe I can just stand on that to use the sander! haha
You can see the bench with my grinder mounted in the back corner of this shot.
-- Matt - My Websites - http://www.bestinwood.com - Hand Tools :: http://www.workshopgarage.com - Small Shops
Jeff
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996 posts in 989 days
posted 211 days ago
Good stuff, Matt. I do the same thing with my grinder! Mounted it to a piece MDF sized just to fit in the well.
If you do any handwork, let me know how it works for you. I have experienced a little wracking but that is likely because my floor is extremely uneven and I had to shim the front-left footing.
A recent discovery I made was the benefits of working a table top that wasn’t square (by design) on the planing beam. With the design, you can adjust it to any angle that will allow the work surface to be level and help better ensure the accuracy of hand planing and/or router work.
Thanks for the kind words on my blog.
-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN