# Roubo-Moxon Bench Build



## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*

I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.

I'm past that now.

This isn't fine furniture; it's a big rustic wooden table. Once I realized that, I was able to relax. Instead of saying to myself, "I'm building a Roubo-Moxon workbench," I'm saying, "I'm gluing this board to that board." And without me even really noticing, I've got long stretchers and two of my legs are halfway completed.

But let me back up a bit. Here's my order of tasks for the build:


*Long stretchers:*Done. These are four 1×4s glued together. The inner two are longer and will tenon through the legs.
*Legs:* These will be eight 1×6s glued together, alternating two short with two long. The long ones will tenon through the top (with the outer tenons being dovetails).
*Benchtop:* I'll glue up the 1×4s from the inside of the benchtop to the outside. Once I reach the through tenons on the legs I'll know exactly how long my short stretchers need to be. The mortises in the benchtop will be created by leaving voids in my glueup. The dovetail mortises are the only ones I'm really worried about.
*Short stretchers:* I'll already have cut the mortises in the legs so this should be pretty straightforward.
*Accessories:* Leg vise, crochet, double-screw vise (Moxon).

I don't have any pics of my long stretchers. Not very interesting. So then it was time to figure out the layout of my 32 boards for the 4 legs. Here's what I was looking at, trying to sort it all out (the long boards are two pieces each):



Some boards are super light, I'm talking balsa light. Why? Dunno. But I have those boards as the load-bearing pieces, always paired with a normal board. I have a few sapwood boards, which will be the interior through tenons - those will be my "anvils" on the benchtop. And the prettiest boards were moved to be the outermost "show" pieces. The colors of my show pieces - the long stretcher, the legs, the benchtop - may not match, but I don't care. They'll look nice. 

So here are the 32 pieces, in the general shape of my legs:



I'm gluing them up from inside to outside. And while most people say that there are two ways to create a mortise - chopping and boring - I am going to see about a third way: sawing. I'm going to test it on scrap but here's the plan: Once I have the innermost four boards glued up (3"), I will drill a hole in the midpoint of each edge of the mortise, so that the outside of the hole is the outside of the mortise. Then I'll slide a hacksaw blade in there and saw from the hole to one corner of the mortise. Repeat until you've reached all the corners, and bang, instant mortise! I may clamp some metal rulers on each side to guide the saw, not sure yet. This technique would only work because of the way I'm gluing up my legs. Anyway, I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.

So for now, I'm gluing up the innermost four boards of all four legs. Then I'll get to work on the mortises for the short stretchers, and the mortise for the nut to the leg vise. Then I can glue the rest of the leg pieces together, leaving voids for the long stretcher tenons along the way.

It is all crystal clear in my mind. What about in yours?


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


sounds like a good plan Eric.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


You is off to a good start, Eric.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


at least you have started out with some niiice TIMBER …..LOL
I realy look forward to see how this is going with your tecnic
not sure I have understand it correct, as I read it you will saw diogonal from a hole in the mittle
and out to the corners = no mortisse
well anyway good luck with it

Dennis


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys! And Dennis, I don't think I described it well. I'm drilling 4 holes per mortise - one in the midpoint of each of the edges. Then I'll saw from that hole to the corner, so I'll be sawing along the outer line or perimeter of the mortise. Hope that makes sense!


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


 Eric
I thought this was what you had in your mind, just had to have you verifi it

have you thought on that you can make the mortisse even with out boring and sawing
well nearly not sawing
under your glue up you you just cut one or two of your mittleboards 
and use a cut of pieces from your strecher ( tennon) as a ruler
that way you make the mortisse under the glue up , I did that
years ago when I needed to build a utility table for my sister I used 2×4 to make 4×6 legs
and 2×4 as stretchers the tennons was 2×3 so I had a ½inch shoulder on top and bottom


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


Hmm….I wish I'd thought of that before I did all the glueups, that sounds like that might have worked!!! 

P.S. My system won't exactly work as planned. It's too hard to cut through 6" of wood with a hacksaw and have a clean even mortise. Looks like I'll do the boring method. However, I'll be able to use my small flushcut saw I think so I won't have so much to clean up with the chisel. More on that in the next post…


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


hey Eric 
I don´t know what you have deside about your top
round or square holes , but if you deside for sqare you don´t have to mortisse them
make them under the glue up

good luck
Dennis


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Building a Workbench Is Easy, and Lazy Mortises*
> 
> I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not starting the Big Bench Build. Every week at church I see the kind woman who arranged for me to get all that beautiful lumber for free. I always fear the question, "So have you built it yet?" Don't ask me why it has been hard to motivate myself to do it. I think maybe it's because I've been planning this workbench for years - literally - and in my head maybe it's become this grand opus that, despite it being one of my very first projects, must somehow be my best.
> 
> ...


Regarding the top, I'll be using exclusively round holes since I won't have a tail vise and don't need bench dogs. I may make some dogs for my round holes solely for use as planing stops, but that's about it. At least with dog holes it's easy whether square or round!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*No Such Thing As a Lazy Mortise*



Since my last post, I've done some preparations for traveling, traveling, and recovering from traveling, so I haven't had much shop time. Last night I had an hour or two. I had been considering building my double-screw Moxon vise for the Instructables woodworking contest. Nice prizes! But I figured I'd better stay focused and try to make more progress on the bench.

Next step: mortising the legs for the short stretchers. In my last post I suggested that it'd be "easy" to just drill pilot holes at the midpoint of each wall of the mortise and then insert a hacksaw blade in the hole, and to cut from the hole towards each corner of the mortise. Well, that wouldn't work. The hacksaw blade is just not agressive nor accurate enough to do the trick. Back to Plan B - which is Plan A for most of you: drill holes (overlapping, if possible) and then clean out the waste with a chisel.

Easier said than done.

A few things make this a tough task. First and most importantly, I don't have the right-sized bit. Ideally, the hole will extend from one wall to the other, right? Well I have two expansive bits: one that extends to 1 1/2" and the other which starts at 1 3/4". Guess what width my mortise is? Yup - in between those two. So what I've had to do is to overextend my smaller bit, which mostly works, but after each hole I have to readjust the bit which has slipped because the screw can't tighten the bit quite enough.

Another difficulty is boring with a large bit through 4" of hardwood with a bit brace. Quite the workout! So last night I didn't make too much progress. I figured out what bit to use and how far to extend it. And I got started on one side of one leg (see above). Unfortunately I wasn't able to get very far in the center hole before the bit refused to stay in the pilot hole any longer. Next - most likely today or this evening - I'll flip the leg over and finish the mortise - hoping my marks are lined up!


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

offseid said:


> *No Such Thing As a Lazy Mortise*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ok, before you proceed with the rest of the mortises (and knowing how much of a workout it is to hog that much material with a brace myself) - how about using a small drill bit, and drilling the perimeter of the motrise, then with a chisel knock off the 'walls' between the small holes, and take out the entire chunk of wood - then clean it up all around with the chisel. it may be more holes, but each one will be much easier to handle and less energy on your part in total.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *No Such Thing As a Lazy Mortise*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Decent suggestion! I'll try that on mortise #2 and let everyone know how it works! Thanks for the suggestion bro.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Eric Uses a Power Tool*

So in my last post, I mentioned the difficulty I was having boring the overlapping holes for the mortises that will receive the short stretchers of my bench. I was tired, but wasn't gonna let it breaka my stride.

This past Thursday was a federal holiday, and my wife graciously gave me the space and time to get in a lot of shop time. So I started with the flip side of the first mortise (from the last post) and was able to complete that and the mortises in two other legs. But when I was halfway through the last mortise, my expansive bit snapped under the immense power of my massive arms. Well, either that, or it got tired of being overextended beyond its intended range. Anyway, the screw head just snapped right off the shaft. Cool.

Or not cool. Because now what? I tested some of my other bits and they were entirely unsatisfactory in their cutting ability. Not only did I have this one last short stretcher mortise to finish, but I still had to do my big honkin' mortise for the nut to my wooden screw (the nut is 6" x 3 1/2", and 3" or so thick). So I did what I thought I'd never do - I reached for a power tool: specifically, our office's electric drill.

Even as I was taking this thing home, I felt kinda dirty. Here I am, building a workbench in the style of the 18th-century, and I can't even do it without plugging something in. But you know, once I plugged it in and gave it a spin (or a twist, I suppose), it wasn't so bad. The speed of boring was quite nice.

So anyway, in no time I finished that last leg and was ready to move on to the big mortise for the honkin' nut. Got some pics. First off I marked the four corners.



Then it was a simple matter of drilling holes with one hole space in between them. Then I followed up with drilling out those spaces until I had a perimeter of nearly-overlapping holes. Then the fun: drilling in at angles along the perimeter to hog out the thin walls of wood in between the holes. In no time the block in the middle dropped onto the floor, without a chisel being struck. Of course, then the chisel came out to clean up the walls.



I was surprised at how easy this was, considering how much I'd been dreading this mortise. While my holes were not drill-press vertical, they were pretty darn close. And with this mortise it really doesn't matter what it looks like, nor does it have to be perfect in respect to the nut that goes into it. Standards may be very low and it will still function exactly as it should. Still, I was very very pleased that the nut went into the mortise with the gentlest of mallet taps. In the picture below, you're looking at the inside of the leg, where the screw will come out. To fill in the space behind the nut, I'll insert a couple little blocks and hold them against the nut with a thin strip of wood screwed onto the leg. Not a drop of glue needed. And in case you weren't sure, the back side of this "through mortise" will be closed up with the remaining boards that need to be glued on to complete the leg (and then a hole drilled through to receive the screw).


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Eric Uses a Power Tool*
> 
> So in my last post, I mentioned the difficulty I was having boring the overlapping holes for the mortises that will receive the short stretchers of my bench. I was tired, but wasn't gonna let it breaka my stride.
> 
> ...


Eric thats a hand tool!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Eric Uses a Power Tool*
> 
> So in my last post, I mentioned the difficulty I was having boring the overlapping holes for the mortises that will receive the short stretchers of my bench. I was tired, but wasn't gonna let it breaka my stride.
> 
> ...


Not to a neanderthal like me! If electrons are involved, it's a power tool.


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## ratchet (Jan 12, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Eric Uses a Power Tool*
> 
> So in my last post, I mentioned the difficulty I was having boring the overlapping holes for the mortises that will receive the short stretchers of my bench. I was tired, but wasn't gonna let it breaka my stride.
> 
> ...


You really did a nice (functional ) job here. Well done.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Now THIS Is A Lazy Mortise*

Today it's back to the glueup phase of my build. I've glued up half of the boards for each leg and done the short stretcher mortises for each. Now it's time to glue the other half of the boards on, and voids in the glueup will create the mortises for the long stretchers. Here's the first layer just after clamping, with a closeup:





Then I glued an identical layer onto that one (both pieces), and voila, a mortise for the long stretcher. The last two boards closed up this mortise, and the long stretchers will go all the way through. The short stretcher will stop just short of where the long stretcher goes through.

To determine the size of the mortise, by the way, I clamped the top piece on the leg, laid the long stretcher out in its place and snugged the bottom piece up against it. Then I removed the stretcher, scooched the bottom piece up the tiniest bit, and marked it there. Worked perfectly. My initial dry fit shows that the stretcher will either go in with a bit of persuasion, or will require some minor paring to get it to fit. Fine by me.

One leg done (minus cutting the bottom to size). Ha, look at all those colors, this will be one mutt of a workbench!  I hope to finish all four legs by the end of the week, as I'm going to Germany next week for a conference.


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Now THIS Is A Lazy Mortise*
> 
> Today it's back to the glueup phase of my build. I've glued up half of the boards for each leg and done the short stretcher mortises for each. Now it's time to glue the other half of the boards on, and voids in the glueup will create the mortises for the long stretchers. Here's the first layer just after clamping, with a closeup:
> 
> ...


I've been working on getting everything for building mine, and this is the exact idea I had….. Since I'm gonna bee gluing up a lot of scraps, why not take some of the work out…..


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Now THIS Is A Lazy Mortise*
> 
> Today it's back to the glueup phase of my build. I've glued up half of the boards for each leg and done the short stretcher mortises for each. Now it's time to glue the other half of the boards on, and voids in the glueup will create the mortises for the long stretchers. Here's the first layer just after clamping, with a closeup:
> 
> ...


The workbench is coming great.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Now THIS Is A Lazy Mortise*
> 
> Today it's back to the glueup phase of my build. I've glued up half of the boards for each leg and done the short stretcher mortises for each. Now it's time to glue the other half of the boards on, and voids in the glueup will create the mortises for the long stretchers. Here's the first layer just after clamping, with a closeup:
> 
> ...


Thanks CJ! And KTMM, it's the way to go!


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## sawblade1 (Feb 11, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Now THIS Is A Lazy Mortise*
> 
> Today it's back to the glueup phase of my build. I've glued up half of the boards for each leg and done the short stretcher mortises for each. Now it's time to glue the other half of the boards on, and voids in the glueup will create the mortises for the long stretchers. Here's the first layer just after clamping, with a closeup:
> 
> ...


looking good


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Legs: Check*

So I'm done with my leg glue-up on all four legs. The mortises were really the thing I was dreading most, and now they're done. And my left front leg has a nice 2 1/4" hole to accomodate the wood screw for the leg vise. That was a beast to do with an expansive bit. My chest is still sore from the bit brace, and I was even using a board to better distribute the pressure.

Right now I'm en route to Germany for a conference. Will be back on Saturday. Then I'll finish off the legs. I have to cut them down to size (from the bottom, of course) and chamfer them at the base. Then I'll fit the long stretchers into the legs and drawbore them. No glue. And maybe at the same time, I'll start on the benchtop glueup.

I'm basically going to glue together the interior 10 boards (leaving a void to accomodate the planing stop). Once I've done that, I'll know the exact dimensions of my short stretchers and will go ahead and fit those into the legs (again, drawboring, no glue). And then I'll start gluing up the outer boards, leaving the voids for the through tenons on the legs.

Feels like it's coming together! Auf Wiedersehen…


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Legs Are Made to Stand*

Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.



Then I had to flatten the bottom. Not too bad. Creating the chamfers on the bottom of the legs was fun, though.



Then I weighed the leg with my luggage scale just for kicks.



All four legs are done. Next: fitting the long stretchers!

P.S. The post title is my general feeling after seeing my legs lying horizontally on the ground for such a long time. It's good to see them upright!


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


Simply amazing, if I say so myself. I'm still waiting for you to finish so I can copy it. Sort of .


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


Hey thanks dude! If you get started now you'll probably catch up to me!


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


I will be happy to, but I'm working on my Hot rod saw at the current time. With my bench, I'm planning to use all wooden vise screws. I'm really stoked at trying (even if it fails miserably) to make a wooden wagon vise….. We'll see how it goes, and I'm sure I'll be posting how I make the screw (and the failed attempts).

I didn't catch what you've made yours out of, but mine is probably going to be all or mostly red oak, since I have a ton of it. Most all of the pieces I have range from 1×3 x 6' to 3/4×1 x 6', so I plan on doing a lot of laminating and gluing…..


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


Nice! Are you making or buying all your screws? I bought a 1 1/2" threading kit for a double-screw vise that will mount on the bench top. Buying wooden screws is pricey!

As for my wood, I may have mentioned it way long ago, but it's all made of reject timber (mostly seraya, which is a local hardwood here on Borneo). Thus the mismatched colors in the wood. Lots of laminating is time-consuming but so far I've not had to really do any preparation of the stock prior to glueup which is pretty sweet!


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


I'm making my screws, probably using a very small router and 60 degree v bit. I'm planning on making a router lathe of sorts. If that doesn't work, then I'm on to plan B which is to cut the whole thing by hand. I did by a 1-1/2 and 3/4 screw box and tap. I plan to use the 1-1/2 for the wagon vise, but I don't know if the threads will be deep enough to hold well. We'll see.

The stock I've got will need a little attention to get it back to uniformity, it came from a good friend so I can't complain.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


Cool. I wouldn't worry too much about the potentially weak threads on the 1 1/2" kit. Wagon vises aren't typically used for major clamping or pulling right? Just to hold something in place for planing or what have you. I seriously considered a wagon vise for my bench but all the dogholes just looked wrong on my drawing. I guess I'm a minimalist!


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


Eric - cutting 6×6 witha ryoba like this takes some serious skills! nicely done! looking forward to seeing those bases come together.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


I don't know about skills - each leg rocked pretty bad when I first stood it up! My block plane had a bit of work to do to get it flat. I did keep the saw's blade waxed, which helped near the end.


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## cDlm (Apr 4, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


From the first photo it looks like you were cutting from the far corner, pulling the saw up. In this video, Allan Little shows to pull it in a downward movement instead. Not sure what difference it makes since your legs are at least 4 times bigger than his piece, but maybe you got some more experience on the matter since you've cut these legs ?


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Legs Are Made to Stand*
> 
> Wow, that was tedious. Sawing through a 6" x 6 1/2" with a ryoba was no joke.
> 
> ...


Hey Damien, thanks for your comment! To answer your question, YES that definitely was not the most ergonomic way to to cut those things. I actually have some Japanese sawing trestles, and can't remember why I didn't use those to cut the legs. I could saw them just slightly bent over, and pulling up which is better overall with the Japanese saws. I suppose if the work was as high as in the picture above, yeah, it would be more comfortable to pull down.

EDIT: Now that I watched the video, I see that one disadvantage to cutting the way Allan does is that you have less control over the direction of your saw. It's much harder to alter your course once it's set. But for rough cuts, yeah, I'm sure I have done it that way plenty! Thanks though for the link - there are several videos on there that I am going to watch when I have time - good stuff!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*The Legs (Without Pegs)*



I don't know what is making me procrastinate on this bench. I think maybe it was the hand planing that was a part of this next step. Well anyway, it wasn't that hard - I just had to make the tenons on the long stretchers a bit narrower so they'd fit nice and snug in the mortises. Not too hard.

Next step - whittling some pegs for drawboring the stretchers, and at the same time getting a start on laminating the benchtop!


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *The Legs (Without Pegs)*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Eric, the workbench is coming alone real nice.


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *The Legs (Without Pegs)*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


They look like elephant legs…...


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe*



So I followed Gye's advice and followed Kari's advice and whipped out my block plane to fashion me some pegs for drawboring the tenons on my stretchers. I originally was considering making a dowel plate, but Kari in her post suggests that this works best for short dowels. All of mine are at least 6" long.

So anyway, the block plane was a bit slow at first, on the corners, but it quickly picked up. I just started at one end until it fit in my test hole and wherever it hung up, I kept at it from that point. It took about 20 minutes to do that one dowel, which will serve to make 3 or 4 pegs. After this picture was taken I "doweled" the other piece, and I figure I'll do two more of this length to be safe.

When it was all said and done, I was surrounded by thin ribbons of wood, and was happy I didn't have a lathe. This was fun.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice work, Eric.


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## Maveric777 (Dec 23, 2009)

offseid said:


> *I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ohhh… I was just thinking about trying this not to long ago as well….. very cool to see!


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is awesome in so many ways…...


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks guys! I actually did something similar when making this project, only I used a chisel instead of a plane. The plane definitely gave better control, but a chisel (bevel down of course) works well too!


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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

offseid said:


> *I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Use your jack plane set course next time then switch to the block for the final pass or two and it will only take you 5 minutes instead of 20. Planes can do a good job of ripping if given a chance to run with a deep iron.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *I Don't Need No Stinkin' Lathe*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Of course, why didn't I think of that??? Thanks Swirt!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Base Complete*



A lot's happened lately! I pegged the long stretchers. Funny story. In my mind, the pegs in Schwarz's Roubo were 5/8". I didn't have a 5/8" bit, but I had a very nice 3/4" one, so I used that and made 3/4" pegs. I figure, maybe they're a touch bigger than the ones Chris used, but hey, no biggie. Just the other day I realized: *Chris used 3/8" pegs!!!* Haha, oh well, the Schwarz has said that you can't overbuild a workbench, right?

The only thing that went wrong is that I drilled the hole in the wrong spot for one of the pegs. In a show piece, that would have ruined my month. But hey, it's just a workbench. I plugged the hole with a scrap of peg and did it again (you can see it in the front left leg).

Then I glued up my interior 12 boards, which determined the length of my short stretchers. So I glued up my cut-to-length short stretchers and pared the tenons until they fit in the leg mortises.

But here's where I had problems. Somehow, the front and back leg mortises on the right were just misaligned enough that the stretcher was not wanting to go in all the way. I did everything. I laid the base on its back and jumped up and down on the joint. Literally, it was just like you'd picture a cartoon character jumping up and down on something, like a suitcase getting it to close. I squeezed all four of my 48" clamps on it hoping to get it in. Finally I whittled a severe one-sided taper on a peg and hoped for the best. It worked! So while that joint might not be the best, it's pegged and not going anywhere. If I'd used 3/8" pegs, it would have never worked.

And so now I have a base! Next step is to glue the next two boards on each side of the 12 you see in the picture. Then the benchtop, as it were, will be able to sit up on the legs. You can already see on the benchtop (far left of the pic) the start of the void mortise for the planing stop.

It gets a little tricky here, as I need to figure out how to glue up the rest of the boards around the tenons. I only have 4 big clamps, and they're not very good, so I don't really want to just glue them up while the benchtop is in place on the base. So far I've been gluing up the benchtop on its side, with the newly-glued piece at the bottom, so the weight of all the other boards serves as a "5th clamp." But this gets harder and harder as the top gets heavier and heavier, and it also involves constantly removing and replacing the benchtop on the base to check for fit.

Light at the end of the tunnel, but it still may be a while until I'm out of it! (Absolutely must be done by year's end.)


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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looks like it is coming along great. Go treat yourself to a couple more clamps


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## DoctorDan (Feb 22, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


looks great


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## Broglea (Dec 9, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice progress.

OK - I've got to ask. Are you building this in your bathroom? I see all this tile in the back ground and I think I see the bottom of two towels hanging.

Go ahead and set me straight.


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This bench is looking absolutely wonderful. I've got my table saw back in one piece, so I'm getting to the point of being ready to start my bench…...


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


@Broglea: Haha! Good one. It's actually not that bad. But almost. It's in the kitchen! The way our house is set up, we have a very large kitchen and a dining area with a ton of storage. So my wife let me have about a quarter of the space in the kitchen - just enough for me. And since I'm working with hand tools she doesn't have to worry about sawdust getting in the lasagne!

So what you're seeing is the curtain to our back window. It's nice to have a window right behind the bench with good light and a nice view to the park behind our house.


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice looking bench. I started building mine before reading about the Roubo style preferred by Chris Schwarz, but it has many of the same attributes. I was originally inspired by a bench I saw that was made entirely from plywood. Mine has similar proportion and size of the Roubo bench, but it's made of laminated plywood with 3/4" thick faces of solid red oak.The main problem I ran into when doing all this laminating, which I see you are also discovering, is you never have enough clamps. I started out with a couple of Jorgensen Pony pipe clamps and 4 big C-clamps and a couple of 24" F-clamps. By the time I finished my bench, well it's almost finished, I'm up to 70 clamps.

I'm wondering how you are making sure your top is not twisted if you are building it on its side. I had started reading Chris's blog and ran across his article about using winding sticks at just about the time I started glueing up my top. That information was priceless to me. I know my top would not have been flat if I had not read that article. It had never occurred to me that once a 3 or 4 inch thick bench top is glued up, it is not going to ever move again. If it is glued with a twist in it, it will keep that twist forever; unless you are passionate about hand planing enough to carve it flat.


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## woodworm (Jul 27, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It gonna be a very beautiful workbench - now you have to find time to really use it.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


@crank49: Well I'm just gluing it up and hoping for the best! But there are a couple things that help. First of all, I will be flattening the top when I'm done. So at least the top will be good to go. And if the outside boards are not in line with the legs, I'll plane them down until they are. The other thing that helps is that I'm gluing one 1"x4" board on at a time. So if a particular board has a twist in it (and none of my boards have more than the slightest twist), it will get clamped up to the straight boards preceding it and will fall into line. So far, I'm having no problems. And to be honest, I have not done a single bit of prepwork on the wood before gluing the boards together!

@woodworm: Thanks much! Now I need to see if they sell boiled linseed oil in KK!


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Base Complete*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thats going to be a beautiful workbench.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Little By Little...*

...the cow takes the cake. Not sure what that means, but it's a saying in our household. It's a strange household.

I am making progress on the bench, but as before, I get hung up mentally when I come to big steps in the process. But first, a glimpse into how I do my glueups. After applying glue to both faces to be glued up, I place the new piece on the very top of the stack and clamp it with my 48"-ers, long side down. What appears to be a misalignment of that top board is actually a wicked bow in the last couple feet. More on that later. You'll also notice that I had to elevate my work surface so that the clamps don't hit the ground.



After the clamps are on, I have to roll the whole thing over so that the top (new) board is on the bottom of the stack, so gravity can act as the "5th clamp." I rest the whole setup on my sawing trestles and that's it!

Then I had to shim the area where the bowed board popped up. I glued a couple scraps in there (this is where the benchtop rests on the legs) and planed them level with the adjoining boards. Not too bad.



And this is pretty much where I'm at right now:



The problem I have now is that the height of the bench is just slightly different at each corner. This is one of the pitfalls of working with wood that hasn't been prepped to exact dimensions. On the one hand I saved myself a lot of time; on the other hand, I have to use some of that time to fix things later. So I need to figure out where to pare and where to shim.

After that: cutting the leg tenons!


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## bigike (May 25, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Little By Little...*
> 
> ...the cow takes the cake. Not sure what that means, but it's a saying in our household. It's a strange household.
> 
> ...


nice start


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## ratchet (Jan 12, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Little By Little...*
> 
> ...the cow takes the cake. Not sure what that means, but it's a saying in our household. It's a strange household.
> 
> ...


Nice build and solution to a problem. This going to be a nice bench! Very much looking forward to future additions.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Little By Little...*
> 
> ...the cow takes the cake. Not sure what that means, but it's a saying in our household. It's a strange household.
> 
> ...


You done made great progress on your bench.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Little By Little...*
> 
> ...the cow takes the cake. Not sure what that means, but it's a saying in our household. It's a strange household.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Four More Down, Eight More To Go*

Here's a quote from my last post:



> I am making progress on the bench, but as before, I get hung up mentally when I come to big steps in the process.


Guess when I wrote my last post? About 2 months ago. Yep, got to another big step in the process and got hung up mentally. Well that, and also just lost my motivation entirely for a few weeks there. I'm back!

So gluing four boards onto a 28-board benchtop shouldn't really be a "big step" in the process, right? Well for me it doesn't take much. This time it was doing my first glueups around my inner leg tenons. My main concern was that once I put the benchtop on the legs, my measurements will have been so far off that it wouldn't fit on. You know the fear. Well, no worries, I got it mostly right. Had to pare one "mortise" (they're all still open on one side) but the other three fit no problem.

So here's where I'm at (click for larger size):


You can see that I've closed up the mortise for the planing stop. And yes, I plan on trimming the tops of my leg tenons! The only "mistake" I made was that I had planned on trimming the length of the inner tenons so that they would have shoulders (only 1/2" or so) for the benchtop to rest on. I just plain ol' forgot. Oh well. So the inner tenons are a full 6" long. When I cut the dovetails on the outer tenons they'll just be a bit longer as well, no biggie. Here's another shot:



My next step is to touch up the outer boards a tiny bit where they are a bit proud of the tenon cheek. Then I simply need to glue my next two boards in on each side (will need to plane them down a bit to get them to fit just right in between the tenons). Piece of cake. Then the last two boards on each side will be the ones that fit around the dovetails. That will be another "big step in the process." Wish me luck!


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Four More Down, Eight More To Go*
> 
> Here's a quote from my last post:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the update, you is making good progress with the workbench.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*ABD*

In the academic world, the term *ABD* is almost a dreaded one. It stands for "All But Dissertation" and refers to that point in your Ph.D. studies where you've done all the coursework and all of the research, have defended your research proposal, and "merely" have to do your dissertation to finish your degree.

As for me, I am now officially *ABD* in regards to my workbench: All But Dovetails. I have glued up 24 out of the 28 boards for my benchtop. I now need to cut the dovetails on the outer leg tenons and then glue up the last two boards on each side (to fit the dovetails). For a long time, I have dreaded this step in the process. What if my measurements are slightly off and the benchtop won't fit on the legs? Dovetails are not the most complex job to perform but they are more difficult than perfectly-straight or even 45-degree joints.

But now that I've gotten to this point, it's really not that intimidating. The benchtop is snug enough with the inner leg tenons that joint-al perfection is not necessary with the dovetails. I will try to have the front and top be as tight with the legs as possible, but quite honestly, I might just over-pare the unseen part of the joint just to ensure that I don't have issues with over-snugness. As it is, with four of the eight tenons, it is a bear to get the benchtop off the legs.

So hopefully today I will start cutting the four dovetails on the outer leg tenons, and then the corresponding benchtop pieces that will fit around them. I also need to chop an inch or so off the top of all the tenons. Then it's just a simple glueup, and I'll be done! What? DONE? I'll believe it when I see it.


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

offseid said:


> *ABD*
> 
> In the academic world, the term *ABD* is almost a dreaded one. It stands for "All But Dissertation" and refers to that point in your Ph.D. studies where you've done all the coursework and all of the research, have defended your research proposal, and "merely" have to do your dissertation to finish your degree.
> 
> ...


ABD: all but the details, that's when the real work starts.

I was wondering how your bench was coming along. Good to see you are still on it.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *ABD*
> 
> In the academic world, the term *ABD* is almost a dreaded one. It stands for "All But Dissertation" and refers to that point in your Ph.D. studies where you've done all the coursework and all of the research, have defended your research proposal, and "merely" have to do your dissertation to finish your degree.
> 
> ...


Looks good, your bench is coming alone nicely.


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

offseid said:


> *ABD*
> 
> In the academic world, the term *ABD* is almost a dreaded one. It stands for "All But Dissertation" and refers to that point in your Ph.D. studies where you've done all the coursework and all of the research, have defended your research proposal, and "merely" have to do your dissertation to finish your degree.
> 
> ...


I used to hate the question "So how's your thesis coming?"! Eventually people learned they'd not get a good response from me…until after I defended it LOL!

I've been enjoying following this build, I wish you continued success on it!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *ABD*
> 
> In the academic world, the term *ABD* is almost a dreaded one. It stands for "All But Dissertation" and refers to that point in your Ph.D. studies where you've done all the coursework and all of the research, have defended your research proposal, and "merely" have to do your dissertation to finish your degree.
> 
> ...


I did enter a Ph.D. program a few years ago but abandoned it before it got too painful. I could see it happening at some point in my future but maybe when the kids are a bit older!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Hey, Now That Almost Looks Like a Workbench.*



Today I lopped off the extra 1" or so from the tops of the leg tenons (are those called horns?), which was harder than I expected. Then I chopped the dovetails on the outer leg tenons, which was easier than I expected. In case you're wondering, I started the cut with my dozuki and then when the back of the saw started hitting the top of the tenon, I switched to the rip side of my ryoba. Piece of cake, quite honestly.

I'm going to glue up the last four boards (two on each side) while the benchtop is mounted, so I needed to apply a little wax a little here and there to be sure my next glue-up doesn't fasten the top to the legs. And that's that!

The tenons aren't a perfect fit through the benchtop. You can see gaps here and there. But it's also really snug here and there, and between the four legs the top is quite secure and immovable. So I'm okay with cosmetic imperfections.


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## awliste (May 7, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Hey, Now That Almost Looks Like a Workbench.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's looking really nice man. I like the double tenon look. Great job, hope to see the final.


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Hey, Now That Almost Looks Like a Workbench.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That thing is is going to be a monster when you are done.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Hey, Now That Almost Looks Like a Workbench.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The workbench is looking good.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Hey, Now That Almost Looks Like a Workbench.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks guys! And yeah, "monster" is definitely what I'm going for.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Bench. Is. Done.*

Did the final glueup today. The bench is now completely assembled! My birthday is Monday, so by then I want to have the top flattened. A few other things I still need to do:


make the crochet
make the leg vise
finish it (BLO)
install a shelf and maybe a drawer
make the Moxon double-screw vise

But once I have the top flattened, I'll consider the bench to be done, really. Picture to come at that time!


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## woodworm (Jul 27, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Bench. Is. Done.*
> 
> Did the final glueup today. The bench is now completely assembled! My birthday is Monday, so by then I want to have the top flattened. A few other things I still need to do:
> 
> ...


Good progress, lately.
I hope you'll be able to get the top really flat before Monday, if you intend to cut birthday cake on it.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Bench. Is. Done.*
> 
> Did the final glueup today. The bench is now completely assembled! My birthday is Monday, so by then I want to have the top flattened. A few other things I still need to do:
> 
> ...


don´t forget a layer or two of finish ….. or you will never get the creame of ….. LOL

Dennis


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Bench. Is. Done.*
> 
> Did the final glueup today. The bench is now completely assembled! My birthday is Monday, so by then I want to have the top flattened. A few other things I still need to do:
> 
> ...


Haha! I don't know if I've said it here, but my workshop is in our extra-large kitchen! (I tell my wife her kitchen is in my workshop.) But I plan to have the strictest no-food-on-the-workbench rule there is.

I did say to my wife tonight, "It's gonna be so hard not to put stuff on that, isn't it?"


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Bench. Is. Done.*
> 
> Did the final glueup today. The bench is now completely assembled! My birthday is Monday, so by then I want to have the top flattened. A few other things I still need to do:
> 
> ...


wait and see she will get the revenge on all the paint and lack spill you have delivered to her kitchen )


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*

Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"

I'm just in a funk with this hand planing. I can't seem to motivate myself to do it. Granted, I typically don't get much shop time in a week anyway (even if I wanted it), but the times when I could get some in, I just balk. It seems like there is still so much material to take off the top to get it flat AND level.

I don't even feel like blogging about it. Which is why I am. I'm hoping that getting it out there will in some small way give me a push towards moving forward. My guess is that one or two more good sessions on the bench will get me close enough that the light at the end of the tunnel will be bright and near, and the rest would be easy.

So there you have it!


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## WoodenSoldier (May 3, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


I know your feeling. I have a terrible habit of not finishing projects too. Sometimes you just got a do a little bit at a time and realize that it's progress even if it doesn't feel like much. That's what I tell myself anyway.

Good luck!


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


Just jump into it and get started and then it will flow easier. Take that first step is the most difficult. It would drive me crazy to let a project linger on.


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## Gary_Roberts (Feb 15, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


I tell ya what to do, coming from a die hard hand tool user, collector, seller, etc. Get yourself a belt sander and level that sucker. Finish up with a random orbit sander, seal it with any good wipe on varnish and get to work making things. The bench is just another tool, not a piece of furniture.

If I get stuck on a project that never seems to end, the project ends right there and I go on to something else.

BTW, my favorite go-to bench is an old and original Black & Decker Workmate. Portable, adjustable and it always seems to be there when I need some work holding for odd pieces. Next in line is my door bench. A commercial fire proof door, cut in half. Surface it two layers of quarter inch MDF glued down with vinyl tile adhesive. An old Record vise is mounted at one end, holes bored all over for various gadgets. And the whole thing is mounted on two old sheet metal bench legs salvaged from somewhre.

I also have an old Ulmia cabinetmakers bench but honestly, it doesn't get as much use as the door bench.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


@Gary: I'm tempted to do that! Can't afford a belt sander at the moment though. But you make a superb point. The bench is a tool. A gigantic jig. Thanks for the reminder.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


Eric, I think that we all get in this type of situation at one time or another. It just seems that the job is too big to tackle and we just don't know where to start. I agree with Greg in that the best way to handle this is just to get started and do what you can- 10, 15 or 20 minutes at a time will add up to quite a bit of progress over the long haul. Once you start making some progress I am sure the enthusiasm will return.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


Buy a new plane! That always gets me motivated


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


What i would do is get into a little tiff with the wife to build up your frustrations. Once your good and pissed off, throw some metallica on the radio, grab that #7 and get to work sweating the poison out.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


It be like that, Eric. But you have to move foward.


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## tsangell (Jan 10, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


I suspect that the plane you are using may not be set up aggressively enough. Something with a heavier camber (4" to 8") that is sharp with a wide open mouth should remove a good amount of material pretty quickly. If you are thinking a belt sander would be faster…

Still, it is a lot of work - especially on a big slab like a bench.


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## Gary_Roberts (Feb 15, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


Here is a secret, long lost and hidden from modern man. You don't need a perfectly flat and level work bench to work wood. It's nice to have one but not a necessity. I've seen, used and have old photos of site built work benches for sash makers, joiners, etc. Throw away the micrometer and the feeler gauges and work with what you have.

It's wood, not surface ground steel.

Gary


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


@Gary: I wouldn't mind (probably) if it was a little bit off. But the front is more than 1/4" higher than the back (in one part). That's crazy off. So I'll be happy not to use a micrometer, but I'm FAR from that close.


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## Gary_Roberts (Feb 15, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


You could always rent a belt sander…


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


Not in Malaysia! (but that gives me an idea…)


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## hiswillus (Jan 24, 2013)

offseid said:


> *Somebody Kick Me in the Pants*
> 
> Every other week or so, my wife says, "So when do you think you'll do some more work on the bench?" And I sigh, slump, and say, "I dunno…"
> 
> ...


I've found that even if the project isn't related doing something else can help. I agree small so you get a bit of satisfaction from finishing something and that always gives me a push and gets the excitement back.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Over the Hump!*

Well the separate paths of motivation and free time finally merged today for a couple of hours, and I was able to get my jack plane out and get busy!



I am about 3/4 of the way through "Phase 1" which involves getting the whole top flattish. Then I'll drop it back down (you may be able to see it's "up on blocks" (literally) to keep the top clear of the leg tenons) and see how level it is. If it's pretty close to level, then I'll smooth it up! If it's much off (it was almost 1/4" high in some places!) then I'll get back to work on "Phase 2" and reassess.

Hope to do some more tomorrow!


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Over the Hump!*
> 
> Well the separate paths of motivation and free time finally merged today for a couple of hours, and I was able to get my jack plane out and get busy!
> 
> ...


Outstanding! The substructure is absolutely substantial. I feel for you, though, that's a lot of flattening. Just keep the reward in mind and push, push, push


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## StumpyNubs (Sep 25, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Over the Hump!*
> 
> Well the separate paths of motivation and free time finally merged today for a couple of hours, and I was able to get my jack plane out and get busy!
> 
> ...


OH- I thought you had to take the top down an inch to get flush with those legs! I almost puked out of sympathy for you and your hand plane!

There's something beautiful about big, beefy legs…


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Over the Hump!*
> 
> Well the separate paths of motivation and free time finally merged today for a couple of hours, and I was able to get my jack plane out and get busy!
> 
> ...


@StumpyNubs: LOL! Never looked at it like that (the top looking an inch too high), but I can see how you'd think that!!!


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Over the Hump!*
> 
> Well the separate paths of motivation and free time finally merged today for a couple of hours, and I was able to get my jack plane out and get busy!
> 
> ...


Nice to see you back Eric. that bench looks like it wants to be done more than you want it to be done. hope its level once you are done with this phase so you can move on to the next one


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Over the Hump!*
> 
> Well the separate paths of motivation and free time finally merged today for a couple of hours, and I was able to get my jack plane out and get busy!
> 
> ...


Flattening a bench is a really calming experience. It has become a wonderful yearly ritual for me.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*

Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,


> "If I was reading the blog of some struggling woodworker who rarely gets shop time and builds a Roubo/Moxon workbench and then complains about the various imperfections of what is essentially just a ginormous wooden tool, I'd yell at him to shut up and be content and start making stuff!"


So I'm content. Enough. Next I'll take my #7 plane over the whole thing and then comes the smoother.


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## X541 (Feb 20, 2011)

offseid said:


> *I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*
> 
> Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
> 
> ...


Is this bench being built in the kitchen?


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## 308Gap (Mar 6, 2010)

offseid said:


> *I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*
> 
> Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
> 
> ...


Hes taken the kitchen for his workshop and she gets the garage. The beer is an arms length away, perfect. Looks good so far.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*
> 
> Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
> 
> ...


@X541: No, the kitchen is in my workshop!


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

offseid said:


> *I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*
> 
> Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
> 
> ...


Nice progress eric. You are so close to the finish line.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

offseid said:


> *I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*
> 
> Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
> 
> ...


Wow, what a beheamoth! Nice and strong, extra heavy, and level (enough). Well done!


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*
> 
> Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
> 
> ...


Thats a nice looking workbench.


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## exelectrician (Oct 3, 2011)

offseid said:


> *I'm Calling It Level (Enough)*
> 
> Phase 1 is complete. The bench is mostly flat, and is mostly level. I could talk about the various parts of the top (and the bench in general) that aren't great, but then I think,
> 
> ...


nice bench ( on steroids )


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*Workbench Eve*

It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.

Since my last blog post when I called the bench level (enough), I have flattened it (enough) and planed/sawed the horns off the leg tenons. That was no joke! Last night I got the planing stop done and I bored the hole in the leg vise for the screw. Also no joke:



And you know what I did today? I put my first coat of BLO on it. My bench is literally finished. I still have all the parts (leg vise, planing stop, etc.) separated so it's not assembled. But tomorrow I will have a fully-functioning workbench.

Final pics to come, but here are a couple of pics from this afternoon:


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Workbench Eve*
> 
> It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.
> 
> ...


Way to go Eric. This is looking magnificent. I know what it's like to hit that lull in progress. I think every project has one.

Keep it up. That bench is a monster that is going to love working for you.


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## cmaxnavy (Dec 23, 2007)

offseid said:


> *Workbench Eve*
> 
> It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.
> 
> ...


beautiful woods…and workmanship.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Workbench Eve*
> 
> It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.
> 
> ...


Spectacular! That first auger photo is desktop background material. Very cool.


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

offseid said:


> *Workbench Eve*
> 
> It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.
> 
> ...


Very nice, cant wait to see the final assembly.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Workbench Eve*
> 
> It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.
> 
> ...


Eric, thats a nice workbench!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *Workbench Eve*
> 
> It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.
> 
> ...


Thanks very much everyone!!! Appreciate the support!


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

offseid said:


> *Workbench Eve*
> 
> It's amazing how close I was to being done the past several months. If you go back and look at my archives (don't worry about it, I'm about to sum up), I didn't make ANY progress from May to October because I dreaded the flattening and leveling that I needed to do. Once I got over that hump, I made ginormous strides in no time.
> 
> ...


Huzzah and Congrats! Looking GREAT!


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

*It's a Sham*

Still waiting on my oil to entirely dry.

Meanwhile, I thought I would fix something that I knew would bug me all the time. My big honkin' wooden vise jaw is too massive for the few inches of threading in the big wooden nut in the leg vise, and as a result the big wooden screw tilts downwards towards the jaw. See look: here in the very back of the leg you can see the nut:



The nut is actually not glued into the leg at all; it's merely held in place by those blocks that are screwed into the leg. So anyway, you can see that there are only a few inches of thread, and I suppose that's why the screw does not remain perfectly horizontal. So I had in mind to glue a handmade wooden washer in the front of the leg's vise hole to give some support to the screw. My brilliant wife said, "Why do a whole washer? Why not just glue little bits on the bottom since that's where the support is needed?" She gets it, folks!

So that's what I did. First step, cut out some little wedges that fit in my screw's thread and that are rounded to fit in the vise hole:



I decided to go with two wedges. I asked my wife to name this type of piece, since it was her idea, and she named it a *sham*. Works for me. I figured out the correct distance between the wedges, and with some creative weighting, I glued the two shams in place:



And voila! my big wooden screw definitely is receiving much more support and is much more horizontal when in use.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

offseid said:


> *It's a Sham*
> 
> Still waiting on my oil to entirely dry.
> 
> ...


Looks good, Eric.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *It's a Sham*
> 
> Still waiting on my oil to entirely dry.
> 
> ...


Thanks, buddy!


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## KTMM (Aug 28, 2009)

offseid said:


> *It's a Sham*
> 
> Still waiting on my oil to entirely dry.
> 
> ...


Looks very good. I like how you managed to find the wood screw. I'm still wanting to make my vise screw by hand. Like yourself, I'm stuck not wanting to plane my workbench top flat. Mine is about 20" wide 3" thick laminated red oak. It's been a bugger.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *It's a Sham*
> 
> Still waiting on my oil to entirely dry.
> 
> ...


Get 'er done, KTMM, if I can do it, anyone can!!!


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## exelectrician (Oct 3, 2011)

offseid said:


> *It's a Sham*
> 
> Still waiting on my oil to entirely dry.
> 
> ...


I think your wife should make an entry in Wickipedia and get the credit for the "sham" it would be a shame if she didn't. Your bench is drool worthy.


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## offseid (Jan 16, 2008)

offseid said:


> *It's a Sham*
> 
> Still waiting on my oil to entirely dry.
> 
> ...


Haha! Thanks, I agree! My wife has all kinds of ideas.


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