21st Century Workbench

Welcome to LJ’s Bud! Good job on the workbench. You will get a lot use out of that bad boy. Thanks for sharing!

-- Brad, Oregon- Wood, it's what's for dinner.

great looking bench…I bet it is very handy….did you have plans for this or is it you own design…I would like to make one…..

-- Todd, Oak Ridge, TN, Hello my name is Todd and I'm a Toolholic, I bought my last tool 10 days, no 4 days, oh heck I bought a tool on the way here! †

Very Nice. Welcome to LJs.
Cheers.

-- Life is about solving problems and trying not to be the cause of those problems in the first place

Bud, this is a nice bench and one that you should be certainly be proud of building. It adds a lot of capacity to your workshop and is as vital a tool as the table saw. Thanks for the info on the vices as well. A bench has moved to the top of my to-do list (I have to keep a separate one for my wife, though) and have been debating both the vice and bench designs.

This is a nice project that should give you years of enjoyment.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Agree with Todd and Scott. You may have quite a few copies of your bench sitting around LJ shops. Having just got my shop finished, I now have to populate it and a bench is something I have to either buy or build. Building certainly sounds more practical and I like your design. I buy from Grizzly some, so appreciate your recommendations. Welcome and looks like you hit the ground running in your contributions. This is an awesome group of guys and I have been in school here over ten months.

-- Gary, Huntsville. May you live as long as you want and not want as long as you live.

I am liking that HUGE face vice. It seems with the two screws being independent you could have eliminated racking issues? You know like with a wooden hand screw clamp how you can adjust if the pressure should be even or at the tip. Hmmmmm….. I’m liking this a lot.

-- Wipe the blood stains from your blade before coming in.

Dimensions if you please Bud…....that is just what the doctor ordered….......clean, conservative, and cost effective…..Nice.

-- I will just keep doing it till I get it right.

very nicely done! I think most LJs here are in the same boat as you are (including me) and would choose a $60 double screw vice over a $200+ version – and I personally like the look of the one you made better as well :) way to go.

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

Great looking workbench. The Doug Fur might bite you. If it does I’m sure you can just make another … ever better. I visited your blog and I see we share a lot. Except that is for wanting to make hand dovetails.

Welcome to LumberJocks (I’ll keep an eye on your blog).

-- Odie, Confucius say, "He who laughs at one's self is BUTT of joke". http://woodstermangotwood.blogspot.com/ (my funny blog)

This is one great bench great job

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

Beautiful bench. Nice work.

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

Thanks for the comments everyone. The Bench is 8’x26”x35 1/2” (L, W, H). The bench is very similar to Bob Lang’s 21st century workbench – hence the name. A short video of Bob using his bench can be found here http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/bench.

The desire to build the bench came from reading the Schwarz bench book found here: http://www.amazon.com/Workbenches-Design-Construction-Popular-Woodworking/dp/1558708405/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243618911&sr=8-1 and the Holtzapffel bench that Mr. Schwarz built found here:
http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/Download+A+Free+Slideshow+Of+The+Holtzapffel+Workbench.aspx.

I’m a tool tray kind of guy so I kept that aspect of the 21st century bench design.

I personally enjoy having the vise screws turn separately, you can clamp tapered pieces without any setup and it’s simply not worth $200 to have them turn together. I’m sure it wouldn’t be incredibly difficult to come up with a sprocket and chain solution if you’re set on having your screws turn in tandem. As far as wracking is concerned, you’re right…you don’t have to dial this vise in exactly to make the chop parallel to the top, just give one screw a little more, the other a little less. I highly recommend making your own twin-screw.

Nice!

-- Max the "night janitor" at www.hardwoodclocks.com

Beautiful bench! Great work went into that!
It would not fit in my shop.

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

Welcome to LJ’s and great looking bench.

Thats a beautiful bench.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

hey i was always thinking about putting a twin screw on my future bench just like yours. The only thing i would do differently is make a piece of metal go from one end of the handle to the other and then you could remove it when sawing if it was in the up position. All you would have to do is measure the distance of the screw centers and drill the holes in the metal accordingly.

-- My philosophy: Somewhere between Norm and Roy

that would be so you could turn them in tandem as I didn’t explain that.

-- My philosophy: Somewhere between Norm and Roy

nice work. i also very much like the handmade twin screw face vise.

i was wondering why you went with the shop fox for your tail vise – since 1) it’s a face vise design and 2) on your other bench you used the single end screw for your tail vise.

Skeeter – That’s a good idea for tandem turning of the screws, I actually enjoy having them turn separately.

AaronK – First of all I should reiterate that this bench design is not mine, it’s modeled after the 21st century workbench by Bob Lang. The idea behind using a quick release vise at the end of the bench is to make bench dog use extra fast. For my other bench I happened to have that extra screw so I decided to make a wagon vise. I prefer the versatility and speed of the quick release but the wagon was fun to make.

A great looking benc. Nice job on the construction.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Regarding your comments about the twin vice screws… I think it’s great you did it your way. Nice bench.

-- Tony

Bud,

Excellent Job on the bench. Great Job!

John

-- John -- Racine, WI -- Woodworking..."It's not just a Hobby, it's an Adventure"