LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

I built my very first workbench with the guidance of Chris Schwarz's workbench book. I am amazed by it's workholding capabilities and stability.

I used yellow pine for most of the bench (the vise and crochet are Oak/Meranti)

Building this took me about 70 hours of labour and a truck load of pine.

Some snapshots from the journey:



Next to the french bike I kept the boards inside for couple weeks for the moisture to be
Equilibrium with the shop.



2 of 3 Essential tools for this project that made everything super fast and easy. (Third one is something to rip the boards apart, this time it was my circular saw.)





Laminations These beams are soon to be a massive thick workbench top!



Tenons This time festool was my tenon saw. I am honestly happy with how this tool performs, even though it supposed to be for cutting up sheet goods



Final glue up It's very handy to have a handplane for tweaking joints before gluing up the 4 beams together. Clamp pressure here is not much help for getting rid of imperfections on the edges.



Soon All the parts ready to join together.



Drawboring An ancient technique that everyone should look up and try. I could not have done without it on this project.



Dead flat Any hils,twists and other imperfections must be removed for a dead flat worksurface. A hand jointer makes sure that everyting is level and will help you to maintain the flats in the future.



Eastern approach Cutting out the opening for the vise with a Ryoba saw and chiseling the waste with a japanese chisel.

If you are considering building a workbench for yourself I really recommend you to google a guy named Christopher Schwarz and read his books.

Cheers.

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
6,114 Posts
What a beautiful workbench.
I love the fact you made it from Pine, it gives it a more 'casual' look.
Nice work, really something to be proud of and enjoy for the years to come.
Best thoughts,
Mads
 

· Registered
Joined
·
55 Posts
My comments can only point out what you know first hand.

That, my friend, is one beautiful build. (drool) I enjoyed every view of it you provided. Rock solid, No doubt. Southern Yellow Pine with your obvious choice in grain will yield stability and strength for years to come. Did you monitor the moisture content? I mean with a meter, Not just acclimate. The numerous questions rambling through my head are starting to echo.

Congratulations. Seal the surface before I ruin it with my driveling.

edit... kinda wish I was twenty again. KINDA! ;)

edit the edit I also did not realize the size of your Japanese toolbox until I saw it under the bench.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
218 Posts
Great bench; +1 on the SYP . Nice work, you'll enjoy that every time you use it.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
4,124 Posts
Looks like you are in a much different place than your last post? Very pretty. Wonder how it will stand up? Looks like you have aquired some tools and a place to use them?

Great to see you working.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1 Posts
Thanks for the feedback.

@JohnMeeley: No I didn't measure the moisture content on these boards. They were kiln dried and stayed in a inside lumber yard for a long while. So I was pretty confident about the moisture content.

It still had some tension when I started planing the boards though. But it's even pointed out in the Schwarz's book that individual boards this size of pine won't be as stable as expected. So it is advisable to work only the stock that you're gonna glue up the same day. Once glued up into fat beams and reworked it stays pretty stable.The table top does not show any twists yet, after I assembled the bench about two weeks ago.

@DocSavage: Yes I finally have a place where I can work wood :)
 

· Registered
Joined
·
413 Posts
Excellent bench, can't wait to see what projects make it on to LJ's that go across that bad boy.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,474 Posts
Very nice work.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
14 Posts
That looks awesome. I am so jealous. I have started collecting all the info to build be one some day.
Where did you get the hardware? Great Build..Thanks for sharing.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
459 Posts
Quite a fine difference from your toolbox project space. A solid and pretty bench like this will make you bolder, truer and motivated. Nicely done.
It also should be easier for you to do curved work, given the last photo. Ha.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2 Posts
The bench is really cool. What I am curious about is the tool holder you have spanning your window. Mind sharing a picture or two about how that is set up?
 

· Registered
Joined
·
601 Posts
a great looking bench. going to be one of the your proudest tools to own; and of course, to bragg about.
you deserve every bit of praise, for this acompolishment.
thanks for letting all to see.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
83 Posts
That is just nice. Great work! Enjoy using it for years and years to come!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
157 Posts
Wonderful! You've done a great job.. love that style of workbench.. How wide did you make it?
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,217 Posts
Naturally it's a fine bench as everyone else has pointed out, but I have to say that's also some top notch photography.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,188 Posts
Great looking bench, very nicely appointed and an impressive fit and finish.
Well done Andrius.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,806 Posts
Awesome build. I loved walking through this. Thanks for sharing, I like the way you blend handtool and powertools into a good piece of shop hardware.

Thanks for sharing.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1 Posts
@rlamb007: I bought the hardware for the vise and the Vertitas hold-down in http://www.baptist.nl/ This type of vise is probably as cheap as it gets. it only cost me about 45$

@Willeh: The top is roughly 24" width. I totally agree with Schwarz that narrow is better in this case.

Thanks again LumberJocks your feedback is being appreciated.
 
Top