Holtzapffel Workbench

Looks sturdy and attractive!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Great Job, a workbench is my next project.

-- Chop Wood - Carry Water

Nice bench, looks like you put some hours into it. mike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Did you face joint the boards for the top prior to glue up, and if so how did you do it? Didn’t see that step in your writeup. Looks great though!

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Hi Damian, all the boards were rough 2×8 southern yellow pine, which I ripped down on my cheap little 10 inch table saw using the sorry standard itty bitty fence. I used the saw to trim off the rounded edges a bit, but as long as they were close and didn’t warp out, I glued em up as is. Once the top was glued up, I used a Stanley No. 6 fore plane and a No. 5 smoother (cross grain, and with grain) to get the working side and underside flat.

Yeah, that was one of the steps I didn’t really detail out. I hadn’t take photos at that point, before WK asked me to write up my progress, so I had to sort of “write around” that part.

Very nice looking bench. It should last a lifetime.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thats a very nice nice workbench!

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Great work. I really enjoyed your write up as well. Very detailed and I admire your ability to get this done with a limited budget and tool inventory. This is a testament to the fact that we don’t have to have the Norm Abrams shop to make great stuff. I am curious to hear how you like the independent twin screw front vise. I like the simplicitiy of it over a chain couple twin screw. It seems like it would be easier to work with in the long run.

-- Check out my new blog "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog

Very well done. Sturdy and very useful. Just what ever wood worker needs. I think you made a correct choice for your first project.

-- JJohn

great posting and blog

-- ..... smalll army of cast iron wingnuts !! cool photo in FORUM

Shannon, thanks for the kind words (everyone else too!). I really like the independent twin screw vice. It took some getting used to, mostly I think because I have the metal screws, rather than the wooden set, which requires more turns to accomplish the same thing. Other than that, the holding power is pretty amazing.

Great looking bench! Thanks for the post in how you built it as well. Very informative.

-- Craig, www.WoodworkersResource.com (Where Information meets Inspiration)

Checked out your post of the process building this beauty. Nicely done. Now get back to work!

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

Excellent job on this bench. I though about building this one but went a different way. Final pics will be coming shortly. Anyway, certainly something to be proud of, Great work.

I aspire to such an achievement, Thank you for sharing.

-- Kip Northern Illinois ( If you don't know where your goin any road will take you there) George Harrison

Dave,

This is a gorgeous bench and you put together a nice commentary on its construction as well. I have one of these on my list so this proved to be very informative.

Thanks for the post.

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