The Alley Workbench

Enjoy your new woodworking pal. Great blogs and nice accomplishment…Blkcherry

Congrats on the bench and the story was nice to read also.

-- Whether You Think You Can or You Think You Can't, YOU ARE RIGHT!!!

Congrats on a nice bench.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Hey Purp, nice bench.

Great project….great documentation of the process, too!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I’ve been following this all along the way. Glad to see it’s done, functional, and really looking good.

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful. http://web.me.com/deceiver6/Deceiver/Craftsman_on_the_lake/Craftsman_on_the_lake.html

Super Job Sharon,It’s been a long haul but you got her done looks great.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Very very cool!

-- Cody Crisp - http://www.ruggedcrosswoodworks.com

Yah:

Time to get busy and quit screwing off. Entirely too much time for making a little bench.

Great job.

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

Thanks everyone, it’s been a fun journey (and still is).

Karson – sir, yes sir! lol.

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

I was cool following the blog and now getting to see the finished project. Nice work!! I have been looking for some old bowling alley myself for a bench and outfeed for the table saw. Now that the saw is almost complete I will really need to start looking harder. Once again…..nice job

-- My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist....medic20447@gmail.com

Fantastic Purp! It looks great, and I love the cabinet over top of it. How did you fasten that thing to concrete?

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Thanks,

Ken – if you were any closer, I’d give you some maple slabs I have left.

Gary – if you like the cabinet, you can see more about it here. it’s attached to the wall with french cleats. I actually use 2 cleats (one on top, and one on bottom) to prevent racking, and wobbling, and it sticks to the wall like glue that way. for the concrete, I attached a 3/4” plywood board to the concrete with regular concrete anchors and screws, and attached the french cleats to that board. the only board I had was small, so it’s completely hidden by the cabinet – but I’ll usually take a full sheet, or half sheet and cover the concrete completely. this way I can always attach/hang things on the plywood without much trouble.

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

some serious weight and a really sweet bench

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ Stay so busy you don't have time to die.

I, too, have been watching this saga unfold! Great story and coverage! Excellent Job on the bench. Looks like it will quietly add to the quality and pride you take in all your future work as well!!

-- Mike in Manchester, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

Congratulations on completing the project.
Now lets see what you use it for!
See you soon!
Ellen

-- Ellen on Cape Cod

Very nicely done my friend. Enjoy.

-- if the hand is not working it is not a pure hand

Like pretty much everyone else here I’ve been watching this project and enjoying the adventure. It is quite an accomplishment. The bench looks good … real good. Thanks for taking us along on the adventure.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

Nice bench spically like the dove tailed end caps you did amazin work…

-- christoper Blanchard, Michigan

Hey Purp, great job.

Thanks to everyone the commented. I’m glad the blog was interesting, and helpful.

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

Nice work!

Dealing with the nails must have been quite a chore. My son-in-law offered me an 8’ slab of an old alley when I told him I was going to a build a bench … I said ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ Many years ago, I worked for a bowling alley and every summer part of my job was routing out bad sections of boards to replace with filler stock and I had to watch my router depth like a hawk. Every foot or so, there were long, spiral-cut nails that would destroy router bits like crazy.

-- The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. -- Vincent T. Lombardi

Thanks TheDane, it can indeed be daunting dealing with those nails, and I had my share of frustration before I found my ‘easy’ way to deal with those (this was blogged here). once I figured out how to deal with those nails in a controlled and methodical manner, these slabs look much more like a usable resource, and less of a dead-weight.

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

great bench ,
and a learning experience for me too .

enjoy working with it ,
and lets see some ” relaxing ” work now !

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

Sweeeet Bench!!

The dovetails turned out super.

Lew

Sharon thats a sweet looking bench my friend and like Karson said now no excuse for more projects LOL…..........
this has been fun following mate

Andy

-- cut it saw it scrap it

I also have been enjoying your progress and know that we’ll see some amazing work now that you have that magnificent bench to help you. Good job, now get to work.

-- Every cloud has a silver lining

Nicely done… I’ve obviously been following along, and it’s been a great assist to me as I’ve been building (but not blogging) at a slower pace behind you. You’re right, it does put all your skills to work, and certainly a learning experience, I’m understanding why apprentice woodworkers built a bench as a major part of the apprenticeship!

I might suggest that you and I get together some time soon, having gone through the process yourself, I’d be psyched to get your insight on the best way to tackle the top?

And it looks like you might need some handles for those vises… Come on by, my lathe is at your disposal if you need it!

Very nice bench, congrats!

-- Ryno

Thanks everyone, glad you like it. I know I do (more than I thought I would).

patron – relaxing work? this is woodworking, not knitting… lol

Ryan – that would be super! I think I’ll use the mahogany you gave me for the handles – I think it’ll work well with the rest of the mahogany trim on this bench. we should definitely get together soon. you’re always welcome to drop by in the evenings with, or without the clan. I still keep the router sled for you if you want it (to flatten the top)

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

Sharon,

I must not of pressed “Post this Comment” button the other day! I am glad to see you have this beastie done! I am sure you will use this bench for many years to come! I had made a couple of other comments (like getting the wood off of the floor) also, but that time it seems to have passed already. I am wanting to make myself one of these here soon. 20 other project await in front of it however.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Thanks sIKE... if it wasn’t for you, this bench would have looked very differently. so thank you again!

I know what you mean with the 20 projects in front of it, and I myself would not have built this bench for many more years, it it wasn’t for the huge heavy slab of maple bowling lane sitting in the middle of the garage and blocking my way… that kinda pushed this project up the priority ladder… in a way, I’m glad it did. I think I was mentally ready for this one now.

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

Purp—-Incredible bench. You have done a wonderful job with it. I know you’re proud of it, as well you should be.

-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!

Thanks Kent, I am indeed very pleased with how it came out – waaaay better than I expected. I really like working on it

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

Are we left handed?

Just subscribed, so have not read much in blog.

-- "But I'm much better now!"

not sure about you guys mtlwrkr, but We ARE … lol.

welcome to lumberjocks!

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

So now that the bench has been in the shop for a bit how has it been working for you? Really interested in how useful the leg vise has been.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

sIKE,

unfortunately since completing this workbench, I haven’t had too much shop time as I would have liked. BUT, those times that I did get to work on some things I used the bench throughout. it works GREAT!. I already have half of it hidden under crap (why does it always happen) but the other half is very useful.

the height (32.5” from floor) is comfortable for planing, and the leg vise is terrific. it has tremendous grip. I can clamp something in it, and pull on it – and that will lift the entire workbench too (if only a little, since it’s so heavy). having to change the pin on the bottom of the vise doesn’t seem too troublesome as some people claim. I made mine out of 1/4” steel with a hand planed round handle (mahogany). I like the fact that there is a really large capacity to hold parts unlike the meal vises which have the bars and screw ~2-4 inches below bench top. the leg vise moves in and out smoothly that I even dropped the idea of adding the skateboard wheels like Jameel did – there really isn’t any need for it.

I still need to find time and get the wagon vise mechanism setup and installed though. this will be very helpful for mortising as I don’t have any mean to secure parts to the top except holdfasts – which for mortising might not be the best of ways sometimes.

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

Great, I thought all along that you would find the Leg Vise on the Roubo very useful. Maybe I can get to mine next fall.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Did not see this when you completed it, sure is nice looking. I’m sure you will enjoy working on this bench.

-- Tim: Remember, if it doesn't say Binford, someone else made it.