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#1 ·
Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises

I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.

I'm past that now.

This isn't fine furniture; it's a big rustic wooden table. Once I realized that, I was able to relax. Instead of saying to myself, "I'm building a Roubo-Moxon workbench," I'm saying, "I'm gluing this board to that board." And without me even really noticing, I've got long stretchers and two of my legs are halfway completed.

But let me back up a bit. Here's my order of tasks for the build:

  1. Long stretchers:Done. These are four 1×4s glued together. The inner two are longer and will tenon through the legs.
  2. Legs: These will be eight 1×6s glued together, alternating two short with two long. The long ones will tenon through the top (with the outer tenons being dovetails).
  3. Benchtop: I'll glue up the 1×4s from the inside of the benchtop to the outside. Once I reach the through tenons on the legs I'll know exactly how long my short stretchers need to be. The mortises in the benchtop will be created by leaving voids in my glueup. The dovetail mortises are the only ones I'm really worried about.
  4. Short stretchers: I'll already have cut the mortises in the legs so this should be pretty straightforward.
  5. Accessories: Leg vise, crochet, double-screw vise (Moxon).

I don't have any pics of my long stretchers. Not very interesting. So then it was time to figure out the layout of my 32 boards for the 4 legs. Here's what I was looking at, trying to sort it all out (the long boards are two pieces each):



Some boards are super light, I'm talking balsa light. Why? Dunno. But I have those boards as the load-bearing pieces, always paired with a normal board. I have a few sapwood boards, which will be the interior through tenons - those will be my "anvils" on the benchtop. And the prettiest boards were moved to be the outermost "show" pieces. The colors of my show pieces - the long stretcher, the legs, the benchtop - may not match, but I don't care. They'll look nice. :)

So here are the 32 pieces, in the general shape of my legs:



I'm gluing them up from inside to outside. And while most people say that there are two ways to create a mortise - chopping and boring - I am going to see about a third way: sawing. I'm going to test it on scrap but here's the plan: Once I have the innermost four boards glued up (3"), I will drill a hole in the midpoint of each edge of the mortise, so that the outside of the hole is the outside of the mortise. Then I'll slide a hacksaw blade in there and saw from the hole to one corner of the mortise. Repeat until you've reached all the corners, and bang, instant mortise! I may clamp some metal rulers on each side to guide the saw, not sure yet. This technique would only work because of the way I'm gluing up my legs. Anyway, I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.

So for now, I'm gluing up the innermost four boards of all four legs. Then I'll get to work on the mortises for the short stretchers, and the mortise for the nut to the leg vise. Then I can glue the rest of the leg pieces together, leaving voids for the long stretcher tenons along the way.

It is all crystal clear in my mind. What about in yours?
 
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#4 ·
at least you have started out with some niiice TIMBER …..LOL
I realy look forward to see how this is going with your tecnic
not sure I have understand it correct, as I read it you will saw diogonal from a hole in the mittle
and out to the corners = no mortisse
well anyway good luck with it

Dennis
 
#5 ·
Thanks guys! And Dennis, I don't think I described it well. I'm drilling 4 holes per mortise - one in the midpoint of each of the edges. Then I'll saw from that hole to the corner, so I'll be sawing along the outer line or perimeter of the mortise. Hope that makes sense!
 
#6 ·
:) Eric
I thought this was what you had in your mind, just had to have you verifi it

have you thought on that you can make the mortisse even with out boring and sawing
well nearly not sawing
under your glue up you you just cut one or two of your mittleboards
and use a cut of pieces from your strecher ( tennon) as a ruler
that way you make the mortisse under the glue up , I did that
years ago when I needed to build a utility table for my sister I used 2×4 to make 4×6 legs
and 2×4 as stretchers the tennons was 2×3 so I had a ½inch shoulder on top and bottom
 
#7 ·
Hmm….I wish I'd thought of that before I did all the glueups, that sounds like that might have worked!!! :)

P.S. My system won't exactly work as planned. It's too hard to cut through 6" of wood with a hacksaw and have a clean even mortise. Looks like I'll do the boring method. However, I'll be able to use my small flushcut saw I think so I won't have so much to clean up with the chisel. More on that in the next post…
 
#9 ·
Regarding the top, I'll be using exclusively round holes since I won't have a tail vise and don't need bench dogs. I may make some dogs for my round holes solely for use as planing stops, but that's about it. At least with dog holes it's easy whether square or round!
 
#10 ·
No Such Thing As a Lazy Mortise



Since my last post, I've done some preparations for traveling, traveling, and recovering from traveling, so I haven't had much shop time. Last night I had an hour or two. I had been considering building my double-screw Moxon vise for the Instructables woodworking contest. Nice prizes! But I figured I'd better stay focused and try to make more progress on the bench.

Next step: mortising the legs for the short stretchers. In my last post I suggested that it'd be "easy" to just drill pilot holes at the midpoint of each wall of the mortise and then insert a hacksaw blade in the hole, and to cut from the hole towards each corner of the mortise. Well, that wouldn't work. The hacksaw blade is just not agressive nor accurate enough to do the trick. Back to Plan B - which is Plan A for most of you: drill holes (overlapping, if possible) and then clean out the waste with a chisel.

Easier said than done.

A few things make this a tough task. First and most importantly, I don't have the right-sized bit. Ideally, the hole will extend from one wall to the other, right? Well I have two expansive bits: one that extends to 1 1/2" and the other which starts at 1 3/4". Guess what width my mortise is? Yup - in between those two. So what I've had to do is to overextend my smaller bit, which mostly works, but after each hole I have to readjust the bit which has slipped because the screw can't tighten the bit quite enough.

Another difficulty is boring with a large bit through 4" of hardwood with a bit brace. Quite the workout! So last night I didn't make too much progress. I figured out what bit to use and how far to extend it. And I got started on one side of one leg (see above). Unfortunately I wasn't able to get very far in the center hole before the bit refused to stay in the pilot hole any longer. Next - most likely today or this evening - I'll flip the leg over and finish the mortise - hoping my marks are lined up!
 
#11 ·
ok, before you proceed with the rest of the mortises (and knowing how much of a workout it is to hog that much material with a brace myself) - how about using a small drill bit, and drilling the perimeter of the motrise, then with a chisel knock off the 'walls' between the small holes, and take out the entire chunk of wood - then clean it up all around with the chisel. it may be more holes, but each one will be much easier to handle and less energy on your part in total.
 
#13 ·
Eric Uses a Power Tool

So in my last post, I mentioned the difficulty I was having boring the overlapping holes for the mortises that will receive the short stretchers of my bench. I was tired, but wasn't gonna let it breaka my stride.

This past Thursday was a federal holiday, and my wife graciously gave me the space and time to get in a lot of shop time. So I started with the flip side of the first mortise (from the last post) and was able to complete that and the mortises in two other legs. But when I was halfway through the last mortise, my expansive bit snapped under the immense power of my massive arms. Well, either that, or it got tired of being overextended beyond its intended range. Anyway, the screw head just snapped right off the shaft. Cool.

Or not cool. Because now what? I tested some of my other bits and they were entirely unsatisfactory in their cutting ability. Not only did I have this one last short stretcher mortise to finish, but I still had to do my big honkin' mortise for the nut to my wooden screw (the nut is 6" x 3 1/2", and 3" or so thick). So I did what I thought I'd never do - I reached for a power tool: specifically, our office's electric drill.

Even as I was taking this thing home, I felt kinda dirty. Here I am, building a workbench in the style of the 18th-century, and I can't even do it without plugging something in. But you know, once I plugged it in and gave it a spin (or a twist, I suppose), it wasn't so bad. The speed of boring was quite nice.

So anyway, in no time I finished that last leg and was ready to move on to the big mortise for the honkin' nut. Got some pics. First off I marked the four corners.



Then it was a simple matter of drilling holes with one hole space in between them. Then I followed up with drilling out those spaces until I had a perimeter of nearly-overlapping holes. Then the fun: drilling in at angles along the perimeter to hog out the thin walls of wood in between the holes. In no time the block in the middle dropped onto the floor, without a chisel being struck. Of course, then the chisel came out to clean up the walls.



I was surprised at how easy this was, considering how much I'd been dreading this mortise. While my holes were not drill-press vertical, they were pretty darn close. And with this mortise it really doesn't matter what it looks like, nor does it have to be perfect in respect to the nut that goes into it. Standards may be very low and it will still function exactly as it should. Still, I was very very pleased that the nut went into the mortise with the gentlest of mallet taps. In the picture below, you're looking at the inside of the leg, where the screw will come out. To fill in the space behind the nut, I'll insert a couple little blocks and hold them against the nut with a thin strip of wood screwed onto the leg. Not a drop of glue needed. And in case you weren't sure, the back side of this "through mortise" will be closed up with the remaining boards that need to be glued on to complete the leg (and then a hole drilled through to receive the screw).

 
#17 ·
Now THIS Is A Lazy Mortise

Today it's back to the glueup phase of my build. I've glued up half of the boards for each leg and done the short stretcher mortises for each. Now it's time to glue the other half of the boards on, and voids in the glueup will create the mortises for the long stretchers. Here's the first layer just after clamping, with a closeup:





Then I glued an identical layer onto that one (both pieces), and voila, a mortise for the long stretcher. The last two boards closed up this mortise, and the long stretchers will go all the way through. The short stretcher will stop just short of where the long stretcher goes through.

To determine the size of the mortise, by the way, I clamped the top piece on the leg, laid the long stretcher out in its place and snugged the bottom piece up against it. Then I removed the stretcher, scooched the bottom piece up the tiniest bit, and marked it there. Worked perfectly. My initial dry fit shows that the stretcher will either go in with a bit of persuasion, or will require some minor paring to get it to fit. Fine by me.

One leg done (minus cutting the bottom to size). Ha, look at all those colors, this will be one mutt of a workbench! :D I hope to finish all four legs by the end of the week, as I'm going to Germany next week for a conference.

 
#18 ·
I've been working on getting everything for building mine, and this is the exact idea I had….. Since I'm gonna bee gluing up a lot of scraps, why not take some of the work out…..
 
#22 ·
Legs: Check

So I'm done with my leg glue-up on all four legs. The mortises were really the thing I was dreading most, and now they're done. And my left front leg has a nice 2 1/4" hole to accomodate the wood screw for the leg vise. That was a beast to do with an expansive bit. My chest is still sore from the bit brace, and I was even using a board to better distribute the pressure.

Right now I'm en route to Germany for a conference. Will be back on Saturday. Then I'll finish off the legs. I have to cut them down to size (from the bottom, of course) and chamfer them at the base. Then I'll fit the long stretchers into the legs and drawbore them. No glue. And maybe at the same time, I'll start on the benchtop glueup.

I'm basically going to glue together the interior 10 boards (leaving a void to accomodate the planing stop). Once I've done that, I'll know the exact dimensions of my short stretchers and will go ahead and fit those into the legs (again, drawboring, no glue). And then I'll start gluing up the outer boards, leaving the voids for the through tenons on the legs.

Feels like it's coming together! Auf Wiedersehen…
 
#23 ·
Legs Are Made to Stand

Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.



Then I had to flatten the bottom. Not too bad. Creating the chamfers on the bottom of the legs was fun, though.



Then I weighed the leg with my luggage scale just for kicks.



All four legs are done. Next: fitting the long stretchers!

P.S. The post title is my general feeling after seeing my legs lying horizontally on the ground for such a long time. It's good to see them upright!
 
#34 ·
The Legs (Without Pegs)



I don't know what is making me procrastinate on this bench. I think maybe it was the hand planing that was a part of this next step. Well anyway, it wasn't that hard - I just had to make the tenons on the long stretchers a bit narrower so they'd fit nice and snug in the mortises. Not too hard.

Next step - whittling some pegs for drawboring the stretchers, and at the same time getting a start on laminating the benchtop!

 
#37 ·
I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe



So I followed Gye's advice and followed Kari's advice and whipped out my block plane to fashion me some pegs for drawboring the tenons on my stretchers. I originally was considering making a dowel plate, but Kari in her post suggests that this works best for short dowels. All of mine are at least 6" long.

So anyway, the block plane was a bit slow at first, on the corners, but it quickly picked up. I just started at one end until it fit in my test hole and wherever it hung up, I kept at it from that point. It took about 20 minutes to do that one dowel, which will serve to make 3 or 4 pegs. After this picture was taken I "doweled" the other piece, and I figure I'll do two more of this length to be safe.

When it was all said and done, I was surrounded by thin ribbons of wood, and was happy I didn't have a lathe. This was fun.
 
#44 ·
Base Complete



A lot's happened lately! I pegged the long stretchers. Funny story. In my mind, the pegs in Schwarz's Roubo were 5/8". I didn't have a 5/8" bit, but I had a very nice 3/4" one, so I used that and made 3/4" pegs. I figure, maybe they're a touch bigger than the ones Chris used, but hey, no biggie. Just the other day I realized: Chris used 3/8" pegs!!! Haha, oh well, the Schwarz has said that you can't overbuild a workbench, right?

The only thing that went wrong is that I drilled the hole in the wrong spot for one of the pegs. In a show piece, that would have ruined my month. But hey, it's just a workbench. I plugged the hole with a scrap of peg and did it again (you can see it in the front left leg).

Then I glued up my interior 12 boards, which determined the length of my short stretchers. So I glued up my cut-to-length short stretchers and pared the tenons until they fit in the leg mortises.

But here's where I had problems. Somehow, the front and back leg mortises on the right were just misaligned enough that the stretcher was not wanting to go in all the way. I did everything. I laid the base on its back and jumped up and down on the joint. Literally, it was just like you'd picture a cartoon character jumping up and down on something, like a suitcase getting it to close. I squeezed all four of my 48" clamps on it hoping to get it in. Finally I whittled a severe one-sided taper on a peg and hoped for the best. It worked! So while that joint might not be the best, it's pegged and not going anywhere. If I'd used 3/8" pegs, it would have never worked.

And so now I have a base! Next step is to glue the next two boards on each side of the 12 you see in the picture. Then the benchtop, as it were, will be able to sit up on the legs. You can already see on the benchtop (far left of the pic) the start of the void mortise for the planing stop.

It gets a little tricky here, as I need to figure out how to glue up the rest of the boards around the tenons. I only have 4 big clamps, and they're not very good, so I don't really want to just glue them up while the benchtop is in place on the base. So far I've been gluing up the benchtop on its side, with the newly-glued piece at the bottom, so the weight of all the other boards serves as a "5th clamp." But this gets harder and harder as the top gets heavier and heavier, and it also involves constantly removing and replacing the benchtop on the base to check for fit.

Light at the end of the tunnel, but it still may be a while until I'm out of it! (Absolutely must be done by year's end.)
 
#54 ·
Little By Little...

...the cow takes the cake. Not sure what that means, but it's a saying in our household. It's a strange household.

I am making progress on the bench, but as before, I get hung up mentally when I come to big steps in the process. But first, a glimpse into how I do my glueups. After applying glue to both faces to be glued up, I place the new piece on the very top of the stack and clamp it with my 48"-ers, long side down. What appears to be a misalignment of that top board is actually a wicked bow in the last couple feet. More on that later. You'll also notice that I had to elevate my work surface so that the clamps don't hit the ground.



After the clamps are on, I have to roll the whole thing over so that the top (new) board is on the bottom of the stack, so gravity can act as the "5th clamp." I rest the whole setup on my sawing trestles and that's it!

Then I had to shim the area where the bowed board popped up. I glued a couple scraps in there (this is where the benchtop rests on the legs) and planed them level with the adjoining boards. Not too bad.



And this is pretty much where I'm at right now:



The problem I have now is that the height of the bench is just slightly different at each corner. This is one of the pitfalls of working with wood that hasn't been prepped to exact dimensions. On the one hand I saved myself a lot of time; on the other hand, I have to use some of that time to fix things later. So I need to figure out where to pare and where to shim.

After that: cutting the leg tenons!
 
#59 ·
Four More Down, Eight More To Go

Here's a quote from my last post:

I am making progress on the bench, but as before, I get hung up mentally when I come to big steps in the process.
Guess when I wrote my last post? About 2 months ago. Yep, got to another big step in the process and got hung up mentally. Well that, and also just lost my motivation entirely for a few weeks there. I'm back!

So gluing four boards onto a 28-board benchtop shouldn't really be a "big step" in the process, right? Well for me it doesn't take much. This time it was doing my first glueups around my inner leg tenons. My main concern was that once I put the benchtop on the legs, my measurements will have been so far off that it wouldn't fit on. You know the fear. Well, no worries, I got it mostly right. Had to pare one "mortise" (they're all still open on one side) but the other three fit no problem.

So here's where I'm at (click for larger size):


You can see that I've closed up the mortise for the planing stop. And yes, I plan on trimming the tops of my leg tenons! The only "mistake" I made was that I had planned on trimming the length of the inner tenons so that they would have shoulders (only 1/2" or so) for the benchtop to rest on. I just plain ol' forgot. Oh well. So the inner tenons are a full 6" long. When I cut the dovetails on the outer tenons they'll just be a bit longer as well, no biggie. Here's another shot:



My next step is to touch up the outer boards a tiny bit where they are a bit proud of the tenon cheek. Then I simply need to glue my next two boards in on each side (will need to plane them down a bit to get them to fit just right in between the tenons). Piece of cake. Then the last two boards on each side will be the ones that fit around the dovetails. That will be another "big step in the process." Wish me luck!
 
#60 ·
Four More Down, Eight More To Go

Here's a quote from my last post:

I am making progress on the bench, but as before, I get hung up mentally when I come to big steps in the process.
Guess when I wrote my last post? About 2 months ago. Yep, got to another big step in the process and got hung up mentally. Well that, and also just lost my motivation entirely for a few weeks there. I'm back!

So gluing four boards onto a 28-board benchtop shouldn't really be a "big step" in the process, right? Well for me it doesn't take much. This time it was doing my first glueups around my inner leg tenons. My main concern was that once I put the benchtop on the legs, my measurements will have been so far off that it wouldn't fit on. You know the fear. Well, no worries, I got it mostly right. Had to pare one "mortise" (they're all still open on one side) but the other three fit no problem.

So here's where I'm at (click for larger size):


You can see that I've closed up the mortise for the planing stop. And yes, I plan on trimming the tops of my leg tenons! The only "mistake" I made was that I had planned on trimming the length of the inner tenons so that they would have shoulders (only 1/2" or so) for the benchtop to rest on. I just plain ol' forgot. Oh well. So the inner tenons are a full 6" long. When I cut the dovetails on the outer tenons they'll just be a bit longer as well, no biggie. Here's another shot:



My next step is to touch up the outer boards a tiny bit where they are a bit proud of the tenon cheek. Then I simply need to glue my next two boards in on each side (will need to plane them down a bit to get them to fit just right in between the tenons). Piece of cake. Then the last two boards on each side will be the ones that fit around the dovetails. That will be another "big step in the process." Wish me luck!
Thanks for the update, you is making good progress with the workbench.
 
#61 ·
ABD

In the academic world, the term ABD is almost a dreaded one. It stands for "All But Dissertation" and refers to that point in your Ph.D. studies where you've done all the coursework and all of the research, have defended your research proposal, and "merely" have to do your dissertation to finish your degree.

As for me, I am now officially ABD in regards to my workbench: All But Dovetails. I have glued up 24 out of the 28 boards for my benchtop. I now need to cut the dovetails on the outer leg tenons and then glue up the last two boards on each side (to fit the dovetails). For a long time, I have dreaded this step in the process. What if my measurements are slightly off and the benchtop won't fit on the legs? Dovetails are not the most complex job to perform but they are more difficult than perfectly-straight or even 45-degree joints.

But now that I've gotten to this point, it's really not that intimidating. The benchtop is snug enough with the inner leg tenons that joint-al perfection is not necessary with the dovetails. I will try to have the front and top be as tight with the legs as possible, but quite honestly, I might just over-pare the unseen part of the joint just to ensure that I don't have issues with over-snugness. As it is, with four of the eight tenons, it is a bear to get the benchtop off the legs.

So hopefully today I will start cutting the four dovetails on the outer leg tenons, and then the corresponding benchtop pieces that will fit around them. I also need to chop an inch or so off the top of all the tenons. Then it's just a simple glueup, and I'll be done! What? DONE? I'll believe it when I see it. :)

 
#66 ·
Hey, Now That Almost Looks Like a Workbench.



Today I lopped off the extra 1" or so from the tops of the leg tenons (are those called horns?), which was harder than I expected. Then I chopped the dovetails on the outer leg tenons, which was easier than I expected. In case you're wondering, I started the cut with my dozuki and then when the back of the saw started hitting the top of the tenon, I switched to the rip side of my ryoba. Piece of cake, quite honestly.

I'm going to glue up the last four boards (two on each side) while the benchtop is mounted, so I needed to apply a little wax a little here and there to be sure my next glue-up doesn't fasten the top to the legs. And that's that!

The tenons aren't a perfect fit through the benchtop. You can see gaps here and there. But it's also really snug here and there, and between the four legs the top is quite secure and immovable. So I'm okay with cosmetic imperfections.

 
#71 ·
Bench. Is. Done.

Did the final glueup today. The bench is now completely assembled! My birthday is Monday, so by then I want to have the top flattened. A few other things I still need to do:

  • make the crochet
  • make the leg vise
  • finish it (BLO)
  • install a shelf and maybe a drawer
  • make the Moxon double-screw vise

But once I have the top flattened, I'll consider the bench to be done, really. Picture to come at that time!
 
#76 ·
Somebody Kick Me in the Pants

Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"

I'm just in a funk with this hand planing. I can't seem to motivate myself to do it. Granted, I typically don't get much shop time in a week anyway (even if I wanted it), but the times when I could get some in, I just balk. It seems like there is still so much material to take off the top to get it flat AND level.

I don't even feel like blogging about it. Which is why I am. I'm hoping that getting it out there will in some small way give me a push towards moving forward. My guess is that one or two more good sessions on the bench will get me close enough that the light at the end of the tunnel will be bright and near, and the rest would be easy.

So there you have it!
 
#91 ·
Over the Hump!

Well the separate paths of motivation and free time finally merged today for a couple of hours, and I was able to get my jack plane out and get busy!



I am about 3/4 of the way through "Phase 1" which involves getting the whole top flattish. Then I'll drop it back down (you may be able to see it's "up on blocks" (literally) to keep the top clear of the leg tenons) and see how level it is. If it's pretty close to level, then I'll smooth it up! If it's much off (it was almost 1/4" high in some places!) then I'll get back to work on "Phase 2" and reassess.

Hope to do some more tomorrow!
 
#97 ·
I'm Calling It Level (Enough)

Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
"If I was reading the blog of some struggling woodworker who rarely gets shop time and builds a Roubo/Moxon workbench and then complains about the various imperfections of what is essentially just a ginormous wooden tool, I'd yell at him to shut up and be content and start making stuff!"
So I'm content. Enough. Next I'll take my #7 plane over the whole thing and then comes the smoother.



 
#98 ·
I'm Calling It Level (Enough)

Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
"If I was reading the blog of some struggling woodworker who rarely gets shop time and builds a Roubo/Moxon workbench and then complains about the various imperfections of what is essentially just a ginormous wooden tool, I'd yell at him to shut up and be content and start making stuff!"
So I'm content. Enough. Next I'll take my #7 plane over the whole thing and then comes the smoother.



Is this bench being built in the kitchen?
 
#105 ·
Workbench Eve

It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.

Since my last blog post when I called the bench level (enough), I have flattened it (enough) and planed/sawed the horns off the leg tenons. That was no joke! Last night I got the planing stop done and I bored the hole in the leg vise for the screw. Also no joke:



And you know what I did today? I put my first coat of BLO on it. My bench is literally finished. I still have all the parts (leg vise, planing stop, etc.) separated so it's not assembled. But tomorrow I will have a fully-functioning workbench.

Final pics to come, but here are a couple of pics from this afternoon:



 
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