New Fangled Workbench in Texas

Looks good, okay you beat me to it ;o)

-- "You get what you inspect, not what you expect"

One of the nicest ones I’ve seen.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Ray, how do you like your Ridgid TS? I’m thinking about the new granite top just can’t quite decide.
By the way nice bench.

-- The only thing wrong with instant gratification is that it's not fast enough.

Bake,
I love my table saw. I built in a router table into the rail extension and it has become one of the main tools in my shop. I also made a cover for it out of masonite and 1×2. That surface serves as another work surface when I don’t need to saw or rout anything. Now with the NFWB, I might not have to cover up the saw.

-- Life is short...we should hurry to do good.

Hey Reymundo,
Sweet looking bench…...nice job.

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

This is a nice looking bench. I have a bench in my near term future and have been considering this design.

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

I like the way you enclosed the ends of the long pipes. Good work.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Thanks for your kind and gracious comments, guys. I’m amazed at how stable she is and I’m not even finished. I’m considering making an apron around the two ends and along the 10” side. I like the finished look that an apron will give and although the 10” side is 1-1/2” thick, some sag can come over time so a 5-1/2” apron will finish off the look, hide the end grain and provide that little bit of extra strength to offset the tendency to sag.

Sometime in the future, I want to fit an additional stretcher on the thin leg and then create a shelf with full extension drawers, accessible from the front. The planing beam has yet to be started but will be all maple as well. I want to thank Jeff and John (you know who you are) for all the answered questions and support. I couldn’t have done it without you and you certainly made the job easier and more enjoyable.

In a week or so, I’ll do the final assemble with the cross members, add some purple heart (or maple) to each end and along the back side, complete the planing beam and put on the finish. One of the strangest things about this project is that I don’t even own a real plane (other than 2 block planes, regular and low angle) so I think the planing beam just got me inspired to wish for another tool. (All I want for Christmas is a new vertias smoothing plane,... a smoothing plane,.... a smoothing plane.) Is singing allowed around here?

I’m very pleased with the way it has turned out. I’m going to make the “hook” removable and use a “T” track with knobs so I can slide it out of the way like David at folding rule did with his.

I’ll probable glue the front rail and the 10” maple top to the sides of the well. Other than that, everything will remain screwed and bolted.

-- Life is short...we should hurry to do good.

Nice. I posted a build of one of these too. I’ve used it a lot and it’s worked well for me and lived up to expectations. Those long pipe clamps/vise are really nice for holding almost anything of any size. Heck you can clamp a whole cabinet in there. It’s the first time too, that I’ve seen attention to aesthetic detail to one of these.

The side planing rail is very handy not only for planing but for assembly. You can place a side of, say a book case, in it and use the bench top to lay the perpendicular piece on while you glue or screw it in.

One change I’m going to make though. The small floating piece of wood on the end vice tends to rock and lift in some clamping situations. I think I’m going to extend it down to go over the pipes. That’s one thing I’ve found out that I want to try and change and see if it works out better.

-- 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

One thought I’ve had on that floating bar is to have some sort of hooks on it that would hook onto the pipes. It would have to be release-able from above though.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

looking good, im considering replacing my out-feed table with one of these

-- David - Houston, Texas.

I’m getting close now. Fitting the wrap around apron, installing the drawer fronts and the front vise, some sanding, and some finish to be applied and I’ll be home & hosed.
Here’s a link to the slide show if anyone’s interested. http://picasaweb.google.com/lanham.ray/NewFangledWorkBench?feat=email#
I’ve spent so much time working on this bench that now I have to get caught up on the “honey-dew” projects. Next week should see me finished.

-- Life is short...we should hurry to do good.