My first (and most likely not my last) real workbench.

Nice workbench that will last for years, great job.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Dude – that is one nice power drill you are using in pic. #1 – great looking workbench too

-- Just learning the craft my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ practiced.

Definitely nothing to be ashamed of. A little quality time with a plane to flatten a bit and a little oil finish and it will be ready for a sexy photo shoot :)

-- Woodworking shouldn't cost a fortune: http://lowbudgetwoodworker.blogspot.com/

Great stuff, RG!

some say …a man and his dog …....i say…. a man and his bench
great job ...

i’ve got one, and one in process …they are kind of like lays potato chips aren’t they

-- "when you think youre going to slow, slow down just a little bit more" .... Pop's

This bench should last yours and several other life times. Must make planing a lot easier to have a stable (rock) under you. Also good to know about the tool well. I had considered one but I may not now. Thanks.

-- "Man's ingenuity has outrun his intelligence" (Joseph Wood Krutch)

I flatten the top about once a year. (still never put a finish on it, don’t know if I ever will)

The potato chips thing is so true…

Yes it does make handplaning vastly easier (as well as every other task). The tool well is not a huge nuisance when in power tool mode, but when I use hand tools all it does is become a sea of shavings “I know my glen-drake is in there somewhere.” is something I say a lot

-- Make furniture that lasts as long as the tree - Ryan

A solid piece of work – and the clamps storage system looks well designed ! ( lol )

-- Don, Somerset UK, http://www.donjohnson24.co.uk

That’s what you call getting on top of the work. Good looking bench!

-- bigfish "I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it." Vincent Van Gogh

That’s a really nice heavy bench

An old friend of mine(about 40 years my senior)built a bench like this as an apprentice, made from heavy sections of softwood in the early 1930’s it was still in use when he died in the mid 1980’s after a lifetimes work as a Joiner/Builder, so it may be the only bench you’ll ever need it looks great & you can always modify to suit your requirements rather than replace
Good job
Trevor

-- God created wood that we may create. Trevor East Yorkshire UK

If a replace it, I plan on bequeathing it to someone who is just getting started in the craft.

-- Make furniture that lasts as long as the tree - Ryan

Really nice job! I have the small end vise like yours. The tenon frame is sweet.

-- The works of evil people are not the problem. It is the "Good" people standing by and watching not speaking up. Dubsaloon

I know what you’re saying re: tool wells. I have a bench with one but have yet to find a good use for it other that to trap cr*p that otherwise should be swept (effectively) to the floor with my bench brush.

Nice bench! May your next one be everything you’re after and more!

-- Don't anthropomorphize your handplanes. They hate it when you do that. -- OldTools Archive

Thanks Smitty. I figured out why tool wells were useful back in the day. I was looking at a picture of an old cabinet shop (plate 11 Roubo to be more specific) and it dawned on me. When you are working with other cabinet makers you can’t have storage quite at hand but you still needed to work quickly, so you would grab the tools you need for a specific task and those would go in the tool well. For them the benefit of not having to walk across the room constantly was worth the benefit of dealing with the shavings.

Now that most craftsmen work alone, the tool well needs to go extinct.

-- Make furniture that lasts as long as the tree - Ryan