Project Information
After 14 months of a few hours here and there, my workbench is done. Completely done! All bells and whistles added. It seems like it took me forever, but it fits perfectly in the shop and I started using the bench even before it was finished. I am very happy with the outcome and am currently working on projects that have been piling up all winter.
In truth the bench is an amalgamation of benches by M. Roubo, Roy Underhill, Norm Abrams, Chris Schwartz, and Bill Schenher. I am calling it the "Cornebarrieu Bench" after the small village in southern France where we live, where the lumber has been sourced, and where the bench was made and first used. I thought it fitting to build a somewhat traditional French workbench with a few extras: It is 8'3" (2.5m) m long, 24" wide and 36″ high (as that is MY optimal bench height). It includes a wooden leg vise, dog holes, a cast iron German tail vise - all the bells and whistles! I built it so that it would take a mule to move the thing (400+ pounds) as I will do some serious plane work on this baby over the next 40 years or so.
For anyone interested and because it was WAY too big to upload to lumberjocks, I have a documented build process presentation PDF with lots more pictures, build notes, and step by step guide - 115 steps - to build this beast on my website:
http://drivenoutside.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Cornebarrieu-Bench-Matt-Talley-2015.pdf
In truth the bench is an amalgamation of benches by M. Roubo, Roy Underhill, Norm Abrams, Chris Schwartz, and Bill Schenher. I am calling it the "Cornebarrieu Bench" after the small village in southern France where we live, where the lumber has been sourced, and where the bench was made and first used. I thought it fitting to build a somewhat traditional French workbench with a few extras: It is 8'3" (2.5m) m long, 24" wide and 36″ high (as that is MY optimal bench height). It includes a wooden leg vise, dog holes, a cast iron German tail vise - all the bells and whistles! I built it so that it would take a mule to move the thing (400+ pounds) as I will do some serious plane work on this baby over the next 40 years or so.
For anyone interested and because it was WAY too big to upload to lumberjocks, I have a documented build process presentation PDF with lots more pictures, build notes, and step by step guide - 115 steps - to build this beast on my website:
http://drivenoutside.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Cornebarrieu-Bench-Matt-Talley-2015.pdf