21st Century Workbench

Nice workbench.
Thanks for sharing with us and welcome to Lumberjocks community.

-- Not my woodworking http://woodworkessence.com/

Very nice workbench that suits the space available. Great job Rob!

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

Rob, this is a really nice bench. A good bench is an essential tool for most shops. This one should give you years of service.

Thanks for the post.

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

Thanks for the post, this looks like a fantastic workbench, I def. made some notes on some of it’s features for when the time comes for me to build my bench.

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Nice workbench!

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Great looking bench. Is the hole in the center and the recess on the end for clamping?

-- Father of two sons. Both Eagle Scouts.

I’m surprised it took this long to get a question about the hole in the middle. I need to take an updated picture, but these photos were taken during the final planing and finishing steps of the bench. Basically, there are three removable tool trays that sit on cleats down the middle of the bench. There are about 100 great benefits to this (including the ability to get by with a 12” planer during construction). The tool trays can be placed normally for keeping tools below the bench surface, or inverted to have a completely flat top. Or removed for more clamping options. I also recently found if I shim one of the trays underneath, it also serves as a nice built-in bench hook. Ironically, I had initially planned to design the trays out of the project, but am so glad I kept them. The best part is that when they get full of dust and shavings (a common complaint of tool trays), I can just pick them up and dump the rubbish in the trash in about 5 seconds.

Great bench. It should serve you for decades.

Might I suggest some type of shelf below the center opening that doesn’t interfere with your ability to clamp here. It is truly a stomach wrenching sound when you hear your favorite bench chisel being rudely introduced to the concrete floor because it was inadvertently shoved off the work surface and into the hole representing the great abyss. And it usually hits cutting edge first. I won’t go through the gory details of personal experience.

But I’m jealous – it’s a great bench!

Yeah, that pretty much also gets addressed when that tool tray is in its place. The trays slide left and right, so even if I need to move a tray to clamp, I can still slide trays right up on either side of the clamp to close up any gap. I have heard that concrete floors and expensive hand planes don’t get along very well.

Rob, real nice and efficient bench, your idea for the tool tray is great and the clamping concept makes the idea that much better. I’d like to incorporate it into my bench somehow

-- Frank

Rob,
That’s a nice,nice bench.
The wood choise was wise for several reasons, I like the “beffy” look, and all the funcionality that was carefully planned for every part of the bench. I hope you hours and hours of happy woodworking and I believe a second review is due for this wonderful bench after a year or two of use.

-- Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain" Frank Lloyd Wright

I’ve been planning for the last couple months to build this bench. I am getting more and more excited about tackling this project. I have a fully outfitted shop, except my only workbench is a Workmate. I need a bench like this very badly! I can’t wait! I have hardly heard a negative comment about this design.

-- Paul, Wildwood, MO; (Ps 145: 1-2)

I’m lovin’ it… I need one bad. Nice job…

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

Nice work!

I’m contemplating building from the same PW plan, and shortening the bench as you have done.

My shop is not only small, but also doubles as the garage, so whatever I build needs to be mobile. I have some reservations about putting such a bench on wheels, and have been looking at the heavy duty (650 lb) poly casters from Grizzly. I’m just not sure it would be stable enough.

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

i really have alot of questions about this bench.
do you hook the vice handles as you plane long boards?
is there a way to put a planing stop for width to help with planing wide boards?
do you mind losing the space for your tools under your bench to those stretchers?
what makes this bench special for using power tools?
with the high stretcher bolted dovetail, is the lower stretcher necessary?

I really appreciate the workmanship that went into this. and the trials of working big pieces of ash.
great project

-- Junior -Quality is never an accident-it is the reward for the effort involved.