Well this thing has been quite the journey for me. This is my first official woodworking project other then my crosscut sled for my tablesaw. I decided against a lot of advice at taking on a project of this scale as my first one but I knew I wanted and needed a workbench so decided what better project to learn traditional joinery on then one that can have a few cosmetic flaws on. I followed along on this guild build over at Wood Whisperer and could not be happier with the instruction and guidance Marc offered. I built the entire bench out of White Ash with some accent pieces made out of Walnut. It contains dovetails, small and large mortise and tennon joints including many that use the drawbore technique (which I love by the way), shiplap joints and about 1 gallon of glue! I struggled over what hardware I wanted to use and after choosing Benchcrafted for the tail and leg vise I could not be happier; It is smooth, strong, extremely well crafted and pleasing to my eye at least. The top slab is a full 4 inches thick with a split and gap stop running dead center of the top the can be set below the surface, removed for clamps or left high as a stop. The overall is 87 inches long and 2 feet deep about 35 inches tall and I would estimate it to be about 350-400 pounds. I used my router, tablesaw, jointer and planer a TON plus many small hand tools that I will give a short rundown on another post since I don’t think I can talk about it in this section and will go over what I like and dislike about each since most of them I used for the first time extensively. I think all in all it took me about 80 hours to build but honestly a fair amount of time was spent picking up other tools that I needed, many hours getting planes and chisels flat and shaving sharp and learning how to use some of the tools and even set others up. Heck I got so sick of the knives on my Old DJ-20 that I installed a Byrd during the process as well. I generated 8 full contractor bags of shavings during the course of this build and cannot seem to get rid of them LOL and will at least figure out a way to compress and burn them in the fireplace. I cannot wait to put the thing into full use for a kitchen island that I want to build next! I think I am going to be needing some addiction classes with this new obsession of mine or at least a case of wine to ease the nerves of my saint of a wife in taking on the three little ones solo for such long periods. Thanks to all you fellow jockers who helped me set up, find, tune and use my tools…..After this build I have a lot more coming.
30 comments so far
crashn
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510 posts in 636 days
#1 posted 310 days ago
ummmm wow. Please have your wife call mine and explain how to let me into the shop. PLEASE?
-- Crashn - the only thing I make more of than sawdust is mistakes
waho6o9
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2911 posts in 747 days
#2 posted 310 days ago
Outstanding first project TDog77! That’s a mighty fine workbench my friend.
blackcherry
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2905 posts in 1993 days
#3 posted 310 days ago
Just a fabulous bench now the projects will be flying out of the shop. I built my out of white ash a few years back and it still look great and holding up just wonderful. This is one stout looking bench which add volumes in using hand planes. Best wish to you and your new workmate enjoy the journey…BC
jcwalleye
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267 posts in 1243 days
#4 posted 310 days ago
Congrats. Beautiful job. And as BC said, an essential element for using hand planes.
You’ve got a right to be proud of that bendh.
-- Trees, a wonderful gift --Joe--
Bsmith
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257 posts in 840 days
#5 posted 310 days ago
Very nice work. You should get many years of use from this work bench and many more projects of this caliber. Keep it up.
-- Bryan
DouginVa
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428 posts in 443 days
#6 posted 310 days ago
You should be very proud of this project. Looks great. Hey, I found a way to get rid of shavings. Put a post on Craigslist under “Free Stuff” or the “Farm & Garden” sections. You’d be surprised how many replies you get. I started doing this a few years ago and I have a steady stream of people I give bags away to. One uses them in the garden as a soil amendment, another to mulch walking paths in their garden, and one uses the saw dust to dry animal hides…he’s a taxidermist.
-- Just a man with his chisel.........
ssnvet
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1573 posts in 499 days
#7 posted 310 days ago
great project…. congratulations on seeing it through to the end…
Mind me asking how much $ do you think you put into it?
-- Matt, Pine is fine, but Oak's no joke!
SawDustKing
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173 posts in 352 days
#8 posted 310 days ago
That’s very awesome.. You must have tremendous patience for tackling such a feat for your first project. Very well done!
-- Woodworking for the hobbyist woodworker. http://sawdustking.com
tsangell
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173 posts in 863 days
#9 posted 310 days ago
Beautiful. Really fantastic.
Bertha
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13111 posts in 863 days
#10 posted 310 days ago
Man, I’d hate to see your second project! It’s phenomenal.
-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog
oldnovice
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1753 posts in 1538 days
#11 posted 310 days ago
You are one of those people that make it difficult for the rest of us novices who have been woodworking for a number of years … 40 or more. I don’t have a bench like that and I surely could not afford to buy one that good!
Outstanding work, whether it is your second or your twenty second! You are not a novice!!!!!!
-- "I never met a board I didn't like!"
JohnFD
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7 posts in 656 days
#12 posted 310 days ago
What a tremendous project Your bench will make everything else so much easier. I am jeolous.
-- JohnFD Lewes Delaware
DaddyZ
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2007 posts in 1211 days
#13 posted 310 days ago
Nice Bench !!!
-- Pat - Worker of Wood, Collector of Tools, Father of one
Mauricio
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5147 posts in 1322 days
#14 posted 310 days ago
Wow, the bench is amazing and very ambitious for a first project. I love the ash too.
-- Mauricio - Woodstock, GA - "Confusion is the Womb of Learning, with utter conviction being it's Tomb" Prof. T.O. Nitsch
jcees
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911 posts in 1969 days
#15 posted 309 days ago
Nice job. Now get to work! Otherwise it’s just so much pretty shop furniture. And as far as addiction goes, wait till you start working with highly figured woods like curly maple and ribbon mahogany. Then you will find out how bad your “jones” is.
Again, darn fine job on that bench.
always,
J.C.
-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein
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