My journey in workbench design #3: More thoughts on Workbench Design

Nice looking design. I’m planning my bench too, so it’s very cool to see what someone else is doing on just such a project.

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

There are a few workbench blogs here on LJ. Do a search and you will find some others.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

Each bench must fit it’s owner. I build my new bench last summer to suit me and it does very well. I’m very pleased with the result. I hope you will be as well, Mike.

-- Thos. Angle

Yes, benches can be a personal thing. I’ve built a couple over the past couple of years, and I think I’m narrowing in on what will work for me. I hope this will be last one for awhile.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

Looks good – how would the top be attached to the base?

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Looks good. You might think about putting a second set of rails at the top of the base.Then you can attach the top. It would add stability to the base otherwise the it seems like the top could rack in several directions with force applied.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

I should have done an exploded view of the bench. The legs use mortise and tenons to attach to the top, and eachother. I thought about adding stretchers around the top, but the original design didn’t have them. It’s still a possibility for me. I’ll try and add an exploded view of the bench tonight when I get home. The bench also uses drawbore pins to secure the tenons. This is one of the details I didn’t put on the drawing, along with the bench dog holes. Also not included on the drawing is board that runs along the end of the left side of the bench. This board can move up and down and works as bench stop.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

Hi Mike.

Nice sketchup drawings.

I just finished Schwarz’s workbench book. Excellent stuff if you haven’t seen that yet. I keep going back and forth between Holtzapffel and Roubo. I’m also really enamored with the wagon vise. For some reason that really appeals to me.

On your drawing you have the bread-board-like end capping the right end where the wagon vise is. I don’t think you need that. Schwarz added that to his bench because he retrofitted the top with the wagon vise. I think if you build that vise in during the initial construction it’ll be fine without the end cap. Just one less piece to simplify this wonderfully simple design.

For those who haven’t seen the book, or the magazines with Schwarz’s bench designs in them, the key thing that doesn’t show in these drawings is the massive scale of the few parts. The top is 4” or more thick, and the legs are, iirc, 5” x 5”. So with some good pegged mortise and tenons these are timber-frame structures.

-- johnjoiner

John,

I also assumed the massive scale of the legs and top is why there were no top stretchers. It was something I was going to keep in the back of mind when it came time to build the bench.

I added the end cap piece to the drawing as a reminder to me, to consider the construction of the Wagon Vise. I think you are right, it might not be needed if worked in correctly.

A few more thinks for those interested.
A video Demo of the bench by ChrisS
A Blog by ChrisS
Also, if you search Chris’s blog you will find many other articles on the Holtzapffel bench.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

I like some of your ideas, but it’s too late for me.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I added a couple exploded views for those of you that are interested.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/