Project Information
I did not think I had room in my shop for a "real" woodworking bench. Then I spotted LJ Trev_Batstone's wee little woodworking bench and realized, of course, that I could make one to fit the space available. This bench is just a little over 2' x 4', but it will clamp just about any workpiece I plan to plane, chisel or saw. Made from 2×4s, 2×6s and some old wormy oak I had lying around the shop, the only real expense was for the end vise hardware (Large Front Vise from Lee Valley) and a little extra oak for the vise jaws. To make the top I laminated strips of oak onto fir 2×4s, glued them up, flattened the whole thing with a No.7 hand plane, and then filled the holes and pores in the oak by sanding with a mixture of oak saw dust, BLO, and varnish. I kept the leg vise and side vise (which runs the entire length of the bench) as simple as possible, building them with a few ¾" nuts, some ¾" threaded rod, and washers. The vises work by means of ¾" nuts inserted into mortises in the handles and the rear jaws. The end vise and leg vise jaws are faced with maple but the front jaw of the leg vise is faced with jatoba. I built several bench dogs using a ¾" birch dowel and music wire, which is made from spring steel. (Bench dog in photo enlarged to show texture.)