# 21st Century Workbenches Project



## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*

The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


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## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Looking forward to your posts on these benches, Dude. Best wishes!


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Sounds like a great DEAL for both of you!

Are you going to do it in your new shop/shed? (which, we're still waiting for a picture update.)


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


no joe it will be in the three car shop not the shed the shed is just for storage the roof will be done in a couple of days and i will take photos before then and after as soon as the sun comes back out nasty here the last few days first rain then fog and today clouds not cool Newt in 2012


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## BigTiny (Jun 29, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Hi Dude.

I've found one very useful and easy addition to any work bench is a portable dead man. Mine is just a piece of 2×4 with some other pieces of the same 2×4 added with a set screw to hold it in place on a leg of the bench whenever I need an extra "hand" to hold a large awkward work piece. Cost almost nothing, stores away in very little space and handy as all get out. Only change I might make at some later date is to drill some indexed shallow holes in the legs to accept the set screw for a more solid, slip free attachment.

Paul


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Hey dude. I am in same position you are. I have completed my MAIN frame,(6"x6" maple top, 6"x6 "maple legs) vise on one end so far. I am contemplating the twin screw vise on side, The dead man I am NOT putting on my main bench, I have a portable bench that it will get more use from. I mean, how many doors, or large items do I really plane anymore ? Would be a nice feature, just NOT practical in my case. I was going to install leg vise (Re-thinking that one as well)
AS it stands now, I DO have a SOLID start !


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## dbray45 (Oct 19, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Something that I did when I made the 3 or 4 different benches, I went to the hardware/lumber store (not the box store) where they had a bin of scrap wood. Some of these pieces were very helpful in the various configurations.

Something to think about, my current bench has drawers, where before it had a shelf. Before that, one of my beches had a couple of drawers and 2 pull out shelves to hold small pieces of wood, etc…

When you design it, try to give yourself the flexibility of changing it in the future as you and your father's requirements and desires change. You will be glad you did.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


thanks for this good input i would like to build in a full set of drawers with french inlayed tool holders for my fine heirloom quality tools I am not a tool snob but i do have thousands of dollars woth of hand planes and hand saws where a year ago i had 1 plane and 2 saws i now own over 200 planes and 40 saws I also have been buying up firmer chisels mortice chisels and i have tried very hard to buy Japanese chisels. I was going to build a cheep bench like norms bench but it is too light for hand planing and i truly love hand planing I need more hand tools like i need a hole in the head since i have been taught woodworking the classical way hand tools first then power tools I love the expandability idea and i think the design lends it self to this IMHO

David its my uncle dad died in 1975 but thanks for your ideas

Tiny I would like to see a picture and pics of the deadman in use if you can swing it

If I need a dead man why not just build it in


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## chopnhack (Nov 5, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Dude, just go with the plans for now, you have 3 benches being built at the same time, it would be easier to pound them all out and then customize them later if you need to. 2 cents ;-) Can't wait to see some progress pics!


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## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Dude, the leg vise is just killer looking, and it works really well. you have to plan for the deadman now, you won't be able to route the 3/4" x 1" groove in the underside of the top.
the cost of $145.00 for the big wooden vise might be a factor, but it is also killer


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Please check out this video and then tell me why again do i need a dead man or do in effect I already have that capability http://www.popularwoodworking.com/video/bench


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


That's a cool bench… I remember that article…

It reminds me of The Newfangled Workbench by John White of FineWoodworking… which is the one I'm going to make… nothing fancy… but functional…


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## chopnhack (Nov 5, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


As you see in the video all those peg holes in the legs and stretchers and edge of top of the bench give Bob the function of the deadman. Dude, you mention wanting to build in drawers below the bench - that kind of defeats the accessibility feature of the split top at which point you might as well build a solid top. Think of the depth issue you will have with drawers - maybe 9" deep based on overall width of the bench at 24" not to mention that you wouldnt be able to use holdfasts.


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Here is my vote Roubo style leg vice. Can't wait to see the build take off.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The Planning Phase What do I like and what else would a serious woodworker need in a bench*
> 
> The Plan was to build myself a workbench and then it was 2 benches as my uncle decided he needed a real workbench as well. I offered to build the bench if he purchased the wood. and I already have my two vises and he will buy his vises and the wood for both benches. I will work my ass off and make the two benches. I also have a LJ friend here in town and have offered to have his build go at the same time as mine so this could be a 3 bench deal I am excited and hit the plans one more time. i have posted several times on the topics of high quality benches and have asked my self if i should add the Roubo style leg vice and sliding dead man or is the twin screw and 10 inch bench vise enough to do all the tasks as I believe it is. This is your chance to chime in and help me decide, do I build this right off the plans or do I modify it with different dogs and a leg-vise please elaborate on your opinion I WILL ADD A PIC WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT OFF THE DVD


Thanks again we will be building then bench exacrly as the plans are but will add a leg vise on the back side at a later date as funds allow


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*the wood buying process is ready for step two ordering the wood.*

Ok we have the calculations and a small bit of input from others here and we are grateful to those that are following this build . I drove to Sacramento and got to speek with Rob Cosman during the time we spent yesterday in his 2 seminars on on hand cut dovetails and the other on hand plane restoration i learned some tricks he uses on planes but it mostly told me that i was doing a good job already and strengthened my point of view that I should be including a nes ibc cosman set with reach restore to make them worth the work that i had done to each to restore it and make it as good as it can be today.

We discussed my design and although not his choice he said the bench should easily meet my needs . I have 3 estimates for wood and while i am going with my local guys shop because he did more work on his bid and gave me better wood s2s instead of rough it is flat and ready to roll the cost of the wood for the now only 2 bench build is 1987.98 i still need to order 2 vises for my uncles bench and the job will begin. I can hardly wait to start making the legs and the laminated tops should be great.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

thedude50 said:


> *the wood buying process is ready for step two ordering the wood.*
> 
> Ok we have the calculations and a small bit of input from others here and we are grateful to those that are following this build . I drove to Sacramento and got to speek with Rob Cosman during the time we spent yesterday in his 2 seminars on on hand cut dovetails and the other on hand plane restoration i learned some tricks he uses on planes but it mostly told me that i was doing a good job already and strengthened my point of view that I should be including a nes ibc cosman set with reach restore to make them worth the work that i had done to each to restore it and make it as good as it can be today.
> 
> We discussed my design and although not his choice he said the bench should easily meet my needs . I have 3 estimates for wood and while i am going with my local guys shop because he did more work on his bid and gave me better wood s2s instead of rough it is flat and ready to roll the cost of the wood for the now only 2 bench build is 1987.98 i still need to order 2 vises for my uncles bench and the job will begin. I can hardly wait to start making the legs and the laminated tops should be great.


Bench designs are very personal, it depends a lot on what operations you do and the projects you make. Enjoy the build.


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## Hoakie (May 8, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *the wood buying process is ready for step two ordering the wood.*
> 
> Ok we have the calculations and a small bit of input from others here and we are grateful to those that are following this build . I drove to Sacramento and got to speek with Rob Cosman during the time we spent yesterday in his 2 seminars on on hand cut dovetails and the other on hand plane restoration i learned some tricks he uses on planes but it mostly told me that i was doing a good job already and strengthened my point of view that I should be including a nes ibc cosman set with reach restore to make them worth the work that i had done to each to restore it and make it as good as it can be today.
> 
> We discussed my design and although not his choice he said the bench should easily meet my needs . I have 3 estimates for wood and while i am going with my local guys shop because he did more work on his bid and gave me better wood s2s instead of rough it is flat and ready to roll the cost of the wood for the now only 2 bench build is 1987.98 i still need to order 2 vises for my uncles bench and the job will begin. I can hardly wait to start making the legs and the laminated tops should be great.


what species did you go with. Can't wait to monitor progress.. this build is on my "to-do" list


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the wood buying process is ready for step two ordering the wood.*
> 
> Ok we have the calculations and a small bit of input from others here and we are grateful to those that are following this build . I drove to Sacramento and got to speek with Rob Cosman during the time we spent yesterday in his 2 seminars on on hand cut dovetails and the other on hand plane restoration i learned some tricks he uses on planes but it mostly told me that i was doing a good job already and strengthened my point of view that I should be including a nes ibc cosman set with reach restore to make them worth the work that i had done to each to restore it and make it as good as it can be today.
> 
> We discussed my design and although not his choice he said the bench should easily meet my needs . I have 3 estimates for wood and while i am going with my local guys shop because he did more work on his bid and gave me better wood s2s instead of rough it is flat and ready to roll the cost of the wood for the now only 2 bench build is 1987.98 i still need to order 2 vises for my uncles bench and the job will begin. I can hardly wait to start making the legs and the laminated tops should be great.


i orderd the hard maple the thing that got me was i have to let it sit for 2 to 4 weeks in the shop I really dont want to wait they already said 2 to 3 weeks for the wood to get here


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*Still waiting for the wood and a other option *

well the wood was ordered and delivered and rejected buy my wood dealer. so we wait again for the replacement wood to arrive. i know i will have to let it sit here for a while too so i am eager to get it here. I have found a source for some chestnut and thought it might make a nice accent piece on the bench but cant figure out where to put it. should i get enough to do the legs and the rest of the chassis and then do my maple top I can always use the maple but the bench will be my last one I believe unless I end up hating the design


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## firewire (Aug 30, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *Still waiting for the wood and a other option *
> 
> well the wood was ordered and delivered and rejected buy my wood dealer. so we wait again for the replacement wood to arrive. i know i will have to let it sit here for a while too so i am eager to get it here. I have found a source for some chestnut and thought it might make a nice accent piece on the bench but cant figure out where to put it. should i get enough to do the legs and the rest of the chassis and then do my maple top I can always use the maple but the bench will be my last one I believe unless I end up hating the design


I just started my build on a 21st century workbench. I went with all ash. I have glued up the top sections and need to plane them down flat. I look forward to reading about your progress.I can't wait to finish mine so I can start getting some real work done.


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

thedude50 said:


> *Still waiting for the wood and a other option *
> 
> well the wood was ordered and delivered and rejected buy my wood dealer. so we wait again for the replacement wood to arrive. i know i will have to let it sit here for a while too so i am eager to get it here. I have found a source for some chestnut and thought it might make a nice accent piece on the bench but cant figure out where to put it. should i get enough to do the legs and the rest of the chassis and then do my maple top I can always use the maple but the bench will be my last one I believe unless I end up hating the design


Dude,
Chestnut is very durable and would be a nice compliment to your Maple top, it would also get you started on the base of that bench, while waiting for the Maple. 
You could face the drawers and/or doors with Maple to compliment the carcass as well.

Looking forward to the blog on your bench build if you have the time.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *Still waiting for the wood and a other option *
> 
> well the wood was ordered and delivered and rejected buy my wood dealer. so we wait again for the replacement wood to arrive. i know i will have to let it sit here for a while too so i am eager to get it here. I have found a source for some chestnut and thought it might make a nice accent piece on the bench but cant figure out where to put it. should i get enough to do the legs and the rest of the chassis and then do my maple top I can always use the maple but the bench will be my last one I believe unless I end up hating the design


What was wrong with the rejected wood?

Sounds like you're getting closer…


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## chopnhack (Nov 5, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *Still waiting for the wood and a other option *
> 
> well the wood was ordered and delivered and rejected buy my wood dealer. so we wait again for the replacement wood to arrive. i know i will have to let it sit here for a while too so i am eager to get it here. I have found a source for some chestnut and thought it might make a nice accent piece on the bench but cant figure out where to put it. should i get enough to do the legs and the rest of the chassis and then do my maple top I can always use the maple but the bench will be my last one I believe unless I end up hating the design


Sounds like a good idea. I would think it should save you some money as well.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *Still waiting for the wood and a other option *
> 
> well the wood was ordered and delivered and rejected buy my wood dealer. so we wait again for the replacement wood to arrive. i know i will have to let it sit here for a while too so i am eager to get it here. I have found a source for some chestnut and thought it might make a nice accent piece on the bench but cant figure out where to put it. should i get enough to do the legs and the rest of the chassis and then do my maple top I can always use the maple but the bench will be my last one I believe unless I end up hating the design


Dan please post a link to your blog on your build so we can do this together .

Joe the wood guy said the wood they shipped was not fas it was 4tyhs and scrap not what was agreed to so they are supposed to bring the right stuff but it seems to come on a very slow freight truck from back east. the wood took 3 weeks to get here last time I could have drove over and picked it up faster than that.

Len the bench has no doors or drawers

try to see this video you guys http://blip.tv/play/gcozyfsWAg.html?p=1http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#gcozyfsWAg


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*A small change in wood and a huge savings in money and we are now off and running the build Begins*

Well we were left scratching our hears and the word got out on LJ that I needed a bunch Of Maple to build these 2 workbenches. During another project Medic Ken Said John Ormsby had some wood for sale to make a bench or to or more. the only down side was it was not the rock hard maple i had wanted to use and so i was forced to re evaluate I got the lumber for only 2.50 a board foot I AN NO FOOL NOW AND I GOING TO PASS up a great deal. So i arranged to get the cash from my uncle who was very happy about the price of the new wood and I gathered a full sized truck from my cousin. Bill Barkley and I left Fresno at 5 30 am and were in Sacramento by 8 am We met with John Ormsby toured his home and his shop he showed us some of his most cherished wood some to dye for like 30 inch wide cherry panels . then we took some Photos of us and then we went to work first we moved a stack of fine lumber including rock maple and Birdseye maple and some cherry to die fore. Now we were at the stack of the stuff I came to get john graded the lumber and was very fair when it came to pricing good wood from waster the Yankee in me wont waste much wood at all . We then graded and loaded till the truck was well on the overloads and We got down to the 5 boards John wanted to keep we ran the totals and were at my spending limit then we negotiated for a 79 inch straight edge which we added to the load . after that we strapped down the wood said our farewells and spoke of a return trip in the summer once these benches are finished .

We drove home with a quick stop at woodcraft in Sacramento. when we got home we were tired but we had to unload and sticker the wood it took about as much room as a small car Ill add a couple of photos tomorrow I am tired and will finish editing this tonight or in the morning


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *A small change in wood and a huge savings in money and we are now off and running the build Begins*
> 
> Well we were left scratching our hears and the word got out on LJ that I needed a bunch Of Maple to build these 2 workbenches. During another project Medic Ken Said John Ormsby had some wood for sale to make a bench or to or more. the only down side was it was not the rock hard maple i had wanted to use and so i was forced to re evaluate I got the lumber for only 2.50 a board foot I AN NO FOOL NOW AND I GOING TO PASS up a great deal. So i arranged to get the cash from my uncle who was very happy about the price of the new wood and I gathered a full sized truck from my cousin. Bill Barkley and I left Fresno at 5 30 am and were in Sacramento by 8 am We met with John Ormsby toured his home and his shop he showed us some of his most cherished wood some to dye for like 30 inch wide cherry panels . then we took some Photos of us and then we went to work first we moved a stack of fine lumber including rock maple and Birdseye maple and some cherry to die fore. Now we were at the stack of the stuff I came to get john graded the lumber and was very fair when it came to pricing good wood from waster the Yankee in me wont waste much wood at all . We then graded and loaded till the truck was well on the overloads and We got down to the 5 boards John wanted to keep we ran the totals and were at my spending limit then we negotiated for a 79 inch straight edge which we added to the load . after that we strapped down the wood said our farewells and spoke of a return trip in the summer once these benches are finished .
> 
> We drove home with a quick stop at woodcraft in Sacramento. when we got home we were tired but we had to unload and sticker the wood it took about as much room as a small car Ill add a couple of photos tomorrow I am tired and will finish editing this tonight or in the morning


Sounds like everyone had a great day!

Looking fwd to seeing your stash… as well as what you do with it!


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## davidroberts (Nov 8, 2008)

thedude50 said:


> *A small change in wood and a huge savings in money and we are now off and running the build Begins*
> 
> Well we were left scratching our hears and the word got out on LJ that I needed a bunch Of Maple to build these 2 workbenches. During another project Medic Ken Said John Ormsby had some wood for sale to make a bench or to or more. the only down side was it was not the rock hard maple i had wanted to use and so i was forced to re evaluate I got the lumber for only 2.50 a board foot I AN NO FOOL NOW AND I GOING TO PASS up a great deal. So i arranged to get the cash from my uncle who was very happy about the price of the new wood and I gathered a full sized truck from my cousin. Bill Barkley and I left Fresno at 5 30 am and were in Sacramento by 8 am We met with John Ormsby toured his home and his shop he showed us some of his most cherished wood some to dye for like 30 inch wide cherry panels . then we took some Photos of us and then we went to work first we moved a stack of fine lumber including rock maple and Birdseye maple and some cherry to die fore. Now we were at the stack of the stuff I came to get john graded the lumber and was very fair when it came to pricing good wood from waster the Yankee in me wont waste much wood at all . We then graded and loaded till the truck was well on the overloads and We got down to the 5 boards John wanted to keep we ran the totals and were at my spending limit then we negotiated for a 79 inch straight edge which we added to the load . after that we strapped down the wood said our farewells and spoke of a return trip in the summer once these benches are finished .
> 
> We drove home with a quick stop at woodcraft in Sacramento. when we got home we were tired but we had to unload and sticker the wood it took about as much room as a small car Ill add a couple of photos tomorrow I am tired and will finish editing this tonight or in the morning


So I guess I missed the part of what kind of wood you bought. Is it hard maple? I don't work in maple, so there may be such a thing as "rock hard maple" verses just "hard maple". Oops my ignorance is showing, just look away. Glad you got the material you needed at a reasonable price.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *A small change in wood and a huge savings in money and we are now off and running the build Begins*
> 
> Well we were left scratching our hears and the word got out on LJ that I needed a bunch Of Maple to build these 2 workbenches. During another project Medic Ken Said John Ormsby had some wood for sale to make a bench or to or more. the only down side was it was not the rock hard maple i had wanted to use and so i was forced to re evaluate I got the lumber for only 2.50 a board foot I AN NO FOOL NOW AND I GOING TO PASS up a great deal. So i arranged to get the cash from my uncle who was very happy about the price of the new wood and I gathered a full sized truck from my cousin. Bill Barkley and I left Fresno at 5 30 am and were in Sacramento by 8 am We met with John Ormsby toured his home and his shop he showed us some of his most cherished wood some to dye for like 30 inch wide cherry panels . then we took some Photos of us and then we went to work first we moved a stack of fine lumber including rock maple and Birdseye maple and some cherry to die fore. Now we were at the stack of the stuff I came to get john graded the lumber and was very fair when it came to pricing good wood from waster the Yankee in me wont waste much wood at all . We then graded and loaded till the truck was well on the overloads and We got down to the 5 boards John wanted to keep we ran the totals and were at my spending limit then we negotiated for a 79 inch straight edge which we added to the load . after that we strapped down the wood said our farewells and spoke of a return trip in the summer once these benches are finished .
> 
> We drove home with a quick stop at woodcraft in Sacramento. when we got home we were tired but we had to unload and sticker the wood it took about as much room as a small car Ill add a couple of photos tomorrow I am tired and will finish editing this tonight or in the morning


We as you know there are varying degrees of hard and soft and the reason is there is several species of each. What I ended up with is technically a soft maple but as far as soft maple goes the silver maple is the hardest not quite as heavy as hard maple one specific tree is what is ofter called hard rock maple but i don't know which species it is it is. the hardest of the hard maple class it is so hard it is rough on tools. If I wanted the hardest bench I would have made it with Ipie that stuff is the hardest wood I have ever worked and the saw blade had to be sharpened about every 500 feet of cuts.This was well dried for over 6 years John Had it and it was kept in a lumber shed at his house so it is nice and clean and only a couple of boards moved from the trip to Clovis most is straight There will be enough to get a good start on a third bench which I will either keep or sell depending on my needs. I heard Joe Lydon might need a bench so I may just make it for him and give it to him for what i have into it for materials and labor no profit you know or I may keep it I am thinking I will do this other one based on Rob Cosmans Design I am watching his video of how to make the bench it has helped me some on my 21st century bench build I have been pretty fussy so far and I have rejected for boards from use on my uncles bench top that were with too thin or had a flaw that I didn't like. I will still use the wood just not on the two main benches they have to be top shelf quality so yes the wood I am using is silver maple a soft maple and not the hard maple i was going with in my original plans but John Ormsby says I will be happier in the long run I hope he is dead right.


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## scottabraham (Apr 11, 2012)

thedude50 said:


> *A small change in wood and a huge savings in money and we are now off and running the build Begins*
> 
> Well we were left scratching our hears and the word got out on LJ that I needed a bunch Of Maple to build these 2 workbenches. During another project Medic Ken Said John Ormsby had some wood for sale to make a bench or to or more. the only down side was it was not the rock hard maple i had wanted to use and so i was forced to re evaluate I got the lumber for only 2.50 a board foot I AN NO FOOL NOW AND I GOING TO PASS up a great deal. So i arranged to get the cash from my uncle who was very happy about the price of the new wood and I gathered a full sized truck from my cousin. Bill Barkley and I left Fresno at 5 30 am and were in Sacramento by 8 am We met with John Ormsby toured his home and his shop he showed us some of his most cherished wood some to dye for like 30 inch wide cherry panels . then we took some Photos of us and then we went to work first we moved a stack of fine lumber including rock maple and Birdseye maple and some cherry to die fore. Now we were at the stack of the stuff I came to get john graded the lumber and was very fair when it came to pricing good wood from waster the Yankee in me wont waste much wood at all . We then graded and loaded till the truck was well on the overloads and We got down to the 5 boards John wanted to keep we ran the totals and were at my spending limit then we negotiated for a 79 inch straight edge which we added to the load . after that we strapped down the wood said our farewells and spoke of a return trip in the summer once these benches are finished .
> 
> We drove home with a quick stop at woodcraft in Sacramento. when we got home we were tired but we had to unload and sticker the wood it took about as much room as a small car Ill add a couple of photos tomorrow I am tired and will finish editing this tonight or in the morning


Working with the soft maple gives comfortableness to my work, hard maple are always twisting me. 
Another biggest issue is the price. 
Riding vacations


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *A small change in wood and a huge savings in money and we are now off and running the build Begins*
> 
> Well we were left scratching our hears and the word got out on LJ that I needed a bunch Of Maple to build these 2 workbenches. During another project Medic Ken Said John Ormsby had some wood for sale to make a bench or to or more. the only down side was it was not the rock hard maple i had wanted to use and so i was forced to re evaluate I got the lumber for only 2.50 a board foot I AN NO FOOL NOW AND I GOING TO PASS up a great deal. So i arranged to get the cash from my uncle who was very happy about the price of the new wood and I gathered a full sized truck from my cousin. Bill Barkley and I left Fresno at 5 30 am and were in Sacramento by 8 am We met with John Ormsby toured his home and his shop he showed us some of his most cherished wood some to dye for like 30 inch wide cherry panels . then we took some Photos of us and then we went to work first we moved a stack of fine lumber including rock maple and Birdseye maple and some cherry to die fore. Now we were at the stack of the stuff I came to get john graded the lumber and was very fair when it came to pricing good wood from waster the Yankee in me wont waste much wood at all . We then graded and loaded till the truck was well on the overloads and We got down to the 5 boards John wanted to keep we ran the totals and were at my spending limit then we negotiated for a 79 inch straight edge which we added to the load . after that we strapped down the wood said our farewells and spoke of a return trip in the summer once these benches are finished .
> 
> We drove home with a quick stop at woodcraft in Sacramento. when we got home we were tired but we had to unload and sticker the wood it took about as much room as a small car Ill add a couple of photos tomorrow I am tired and will finish editing this tonight or in the morning


after working this i can say it is a fun wood to work it is pretty heavy when your old and have a very bad back but i have some help and it is turning out better .


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*the first top is done Yea I am Happy*










Well guys and Gals the first top is now done and it is on to the second one . The Glue Ups were done the way Bob Lang says to do them. Normally I do things my Own way but this time I thought what Bob said made sense. I was happy to be in the shop and doing the work that I love. I was worried that after the glue dried the boards were not all the same i had different thickness boards all over so some thought went into how to Plane it so I would get a flat top and on both sides it had to be right. The Little Dewalt733 is ten years old at least not a hiccup It worked very well. The little Black and Decker workmate holding the planer by friction not so well the wood is just to much a quick bench build may be in order to have a table i can bolt the Planer down to for safety reasons. so that will be done before we plane bench tops for the second Bench Later this week. Here is the pictorial version of the Bench so Far I have taken a few shots for you but I do forget to do more so sorry about so few photos of the build so far









Thats me and John Ormsby striking the deal John is a great craftsman and a nice guy I like him a lot and hope to spend a few days with him learning new stuff.







The Truck at it load limit nice 8/4 Silver Maple nice wood










The Glue up begins by gluing a Pair of boards together after face jointing and planing the boards as thick as Possible the goal is to use 6 boards for the top the top cant be wider than the dewalt planer SO WE ARE SHOOTING FOR A 12 AND A HALF INCH TOP



















THESE SHOTS SHOW THE 7 BOARD GLUE UP WE WERE A TINNY BIT OVER TWELVE AND A HALF INCHES AT THIS POINT BUT I WANT THE TOPS AS THICK AS WILL FIT IN THE 733









A few Passes on each side and the job is done the little planer that could it worked like a champ but this is the limit of the lunch box planer dont think its not the weight was as much as the feed rollers could move and they needed a little help when it got tight in the box.










this is the first of two tops that are now done i have to wait to cut it to length the goal of 90 inches was set and it looks like i will get the 90 inch tops out of the bench so i AM Happy I WANT TO THANK Bill Barkley AND HIS grandson Tyler FOR THE HELP Planing and the big glue up it was more fun and came out better than if i HAD DONE THIS ALONE I am very happy to have friends in the shop Bill and I are good friends now I have only known him 6 months and it is like we have been friends forever we work very well together he is a wonderful wise man who is a good sounding board for my Ideas. Well guys it is late and I should have gone to sleep 5 hours ago please LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKE THE BUILD SO FAR I will try to take more photos of the second bench top being made this week .


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## racerglen (Oct 15, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Lance, that looks like it'll be a monster when done.
Love Maple, my bench is 2" full dimention Western Maple with an Oak apron around the edges, some thing I wouldn't do again. The Oack tends to splinter at the edges.
Great to have friends to pitch in on the big stuff isn't it !
Looking forward to following this further.
Have a great sleep ;-)


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Lance,
Great job, as this will be a bench for the ages.
That sucker will weigh a ton!


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## blackcherry (Dec 7, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I built this same bench on a small scale at 7' due to my shop size and have had a blast with it now for over 3yrs. The tool tray in the middle really help keep thing in somewhat of a orderly faction. I also located my vise on the tail end is probably where I spend the most time on the bench. I also have a twin screw handle vise on the left front which get use somewhat but not as much as the other vise. You pick a solid bench to build looking forward to see your progression, enjoy building it as I did….Blkcherry


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## Brit (Aug 14, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice progress Lance. That's a beast of a bench.


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## TimC (Sep 17, 2009)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great looking top. What's the thickness you have for it?


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## Brohymn62 (Mar 23, 2012)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice top!


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## chopnhack (Nov 5, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And so it begins  Best of luck with your build, it looks like your off to a good start with some fine wood!


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


thanks you guys I hope I do a great job on the joinery as I will be doing the second top next for bench 2 and will then start on the base for the remander and it should go pretty fast i WILL BE USING POWER TOOLS FOR THE BUILD AS MUCH AS i CAN I will be using my planes of coarse to smooth things out and hope the bench meets both my and my uncles needs.


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## ShaneA (Apr 15, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice progress Lance. Looking forward to more.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


thanks Shane I appreciate the support


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well guys Today I machined up 7 more boards and did them in 2 glue ups. One of 3 boards and one of 4 boards then I will simply glue them together. This was a nice glue up and I think I will come close to my goal of the 4 in thick top when finished at least I hope it finishes at 4 inches. This time I had some help wile machining the boards up and it went very fast and a lot smoother than doing the process alone. I have always liked the Idea of a shop Buddy and am happy I have a few of them now. As soon as the tops for the first 2 benches are done I will start on the bases for the first 2 benches then I will evaluate how much wood is left from the rejected pieces from the 2 benches. This will be done pretty soon and I will be laughing about this while using the bench to build the rest of my projects.


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## Brit (Aug 14, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Keep it up Lance. You'll be finished in no time at all.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


thanks Andy, I can see the end in the distance the tops are the hard part, the joinery is the fun part. I don't know where fitting the vises falls but it has to be done.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Beautiful top Lance.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *the first top is done Yea I am Happy*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks MY Friend I am having to make a stand for my Planer before I plane the next two tops I don't need a shop accident and hope this stand prevents this from happening.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*Milling the legs*

Today I spent the day doing the last glue up of the tops and they are either done or in clamps drying. I then turned my attention to the legs and decided to cut the long boards down to rough lengths of 3 feet. The finished size will be 32 inches. I then jointed the sides and the face of each blank. I milled each piece only until I had a clean face. this gave me the dimensions i would target for finished blanks. Next I found the thinnest piece and adjusted the planer to take a shallow pass and stopped when it was a clean face. the digital gauge on the planer is from Wixey and it makes accurate and repeatable sizes a snap. I have been testing the Wixey tools and love them very much. So now I had my finished target size I began with the thickest boards and one by one ran them through the planer till they all reached my target size. I have to tell you that the instructions on the bench say to mill the legs to as thick as possible. However I felt that it was crucial to have them all be exactly the same thickness. Next I turned to the second benches legs and repeated the process. these legs turned out to be slightly larger but they were a matched set as well and all the legs were bigger than the instructions called for ,but bigger is better yes? Now we turned to width and repeated this planing procedure on both benches. This time the legs all ended up being the same.

Tomorrow I will finalize my plan for the through mortices and for the method I will choose to cut them these are pretty big and I am leaning towards making the mortises with a template and a router . I saw Norm Abram use this technique on a mortice on the deck chair he made. I thought about using the hallow chisel mortiser but the sites get eccentric when you try to make wider holes than the chisel size. the other way to do this is with a pig sticker but I still need to buy them and i don't have a 2 inch pig sticker. And lastly you can drill out most of the hole with a forstner bit and then chisel it clean. So I am thinking I will mark it out drill it out and then clean the rest out with the router and my jig. this way the majority of the wood will be gone and I will be smoothing it up easily. the other things I have to do will be done on the radial arm saw and I hope that that works out well. I will use the stacked dado head cutter on the Delta Radial arm Saw and this will leave a pretty clean mortice. I will fine tune the mortice with my Lie Nielsen 71 Router Plane. I will be Photographing this entire process so if you don't know how to do this stuff you can learn. The other thing I will need to do before I finish up the legs is I will have to make the top and bottom rails each one will be unique so the joints must be numbered and this is crucial not to mix them up After this is done I will have to mill and glue up the upper and lower stretchers these will be identical parts and should have no issues in fitting in the mortices I plan on cutting them large and fine tuning them with a shoulder plane and a chisel plane. I will do my best to get the 16 leg blanks turned into legs in the next few days then this project will be wrapped up except for the detail work which I love the most. Please feel free to chime in on my methods and if you feel I am doing something wrong. Next blog will have tons of photos so please come back for the eye candy.


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## 559dustdesigns (Sep 23, 2009)

thedude50 said:


> *Milling the legs*
> 
> Today I spent the day doing the last glue up of the tops and they are either done or in clamps drying. I then turned my attention to the legs and decided to cut the long boards down to rough lengths of 3 feet. The finished size will be 32 inches. I then jointed the sides and the face of each blank. I milled each piece only until I had a clean face. this gave me the dimensions i would target for finished blanks. Next I found the thinnest piece and adjusted the planer to take a shallow pass and stopped when it was a clean face. the digital gauge on the planer is from Wixey and it makes accurate and repeatable sizes a snap. I have been testing the Wixey tools and love them very much. So now I had my finished target size I began with the thickest boards and one by one ran them through the planer till they all reached my target size. I have to tell you that the instructions on the bench say to mill the legs to as thick as possible. However I felt that it was crucial to have them all be exactly the same thickness. Next I turned to the second benches legs and repeated the process. these legs turned out to be slightly larger but they were a matched set as well and all the legs were bigger than the instructions called for ,but bigger is better yes? Now we turned to width and repeated this planing procedure on both benches. This time the legs all ended up being the same.
> 
> Tomorrow I will finalize my plan for the through mortices and for the method I will choose to cut them these are pretty big and I am leaning towards making the mortises with a template and a router . I saw Norm Abram use this technique on a mortice on the deck chair he made. I thought about using the hallow chisel mortiser but the sites get eccentric when you try to make wider holes than the chisel size. the other way to do this is with a pig sticker but I still need to buy them and i don't have a 2 inch pig sticker. And lastly you can drill out most of the hole with a forstner bit and then chisel it clean. So I am thinking I will mark it out drill it out and then clean the rest out with the router and my jig. this way the majority of the wood will be gone and I will be smoothing it up easily. the other things I have to do will be done on the radial arm saw and I hope that that works out well. I will use the stacked dado head cutter on the Delta Radial arm Saw and this will leave a pretty clean mortice. I will fine tune the mortice with my Lie Nielsen 71 Router Plane. I will be Photographing this entire process so if you don't know how to do this stuff you can learn. The other thing I will need to do before I finish up the legs is I will have to make the top and bottom rails each one will be unique so the joints must be numbered and this is crucial not to mix them up After this is done I will have to mill and glue up the upper and lower stretchers these will be identical parts and should have no issues in fitting in the mortices I plan on cutting them large and fine tuning them with a shoulder plane and a chisel plane. I will do my best to get the 16 leg blanks turned into legs in the next few days then this project will be wrapped up except for the detail work which I love the most. Please feel free to chime in on my methods and if you feel I am doing something wrong. Next blog will have tons of photos so please come back for the eye candy.


Keep at it Lance sounds like this project is progressing nicely.


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

thedude50 said:


> *Milling the legs*
> 
> Today I spent the day doing the last glue up of the tops and they are either done or in clamps drying. I then turned my attention to the legs and decided to cut the long boards down to rough lengths of 3 feet. The finished size will be 32 inches. I then jointed the sides and the face of each blank. I milled each piece only until I had a clean face. this gave me the dimensions i would target for finished blanks. Next I found the thinnest piece and adjusted the planer to take a shallow pass and stopped when it was a clean face. the digital gauge on the planer is from Wixey and it makes accurate and repeatable sizes a snap. I have been testing the Wixey tools and love them very much. So now I had my finished target size I began with the thickest boards and one by one ran them through the planer till they all reached my target size. I have to tell you that the instructions on the bench say to mill the legs to as thick as possible. However I felt that it was crucial to have them all be exactly the same thickness. Next I turned to the second benches legs and repeated the process. these legs turned out to be slightly larger but they were a matched set as well and all the legs were bigger than the instructions called for ,but bigger is better yes? Now we turned to width and repeated this planing procedure on both benches. This time the legs all ended up being the same.
> 
> Tomorrow I will finalize my plan for the through mortices and for the method I will choose to cut them these are pretty big and I am leaning towards making the mortises with a template and a router . I saw Norm Abram use this technique on a mortice on the deck chair he made. I thought about using the hallow chisel mortiser but the sites get eccentric when you try to make wider holes than the chisel size. the other way to do this is with a pig sticker but I still need to buy them and i don't have a 2 inch pig sticker. And lastly you can drill out most of the hole with a forstner bit and then chisel it clean. So I am thinking I will mark it out drill it out and then clean the rest out with the router and my jig. this way the majority of the wood will be gone and I will be smoothing it up easily. the other things I have to do will be done on the radial arm saw and I hope that that works out well. I will use the stacked dado head cutter on the Delta Radial arm Saw and this will leave a pretty clean mortice. I will fine tune the mortice with my Lie Nielsen 71 Router Plane. I will be Photographing this entire process so if you don't know how to do this stuff you can learn. The other thing I will need to do before I finish up the legs is I will have to make the top and bottom rails each one will be unique so the joints must be numbered and this is crucial not to mix them up After this is done I will have to mill and glue up the upper and lower stretchers these will be identical parts and should have no issues in fitting in the mortices I plan on cutting them large and fine tuning them with a shoulder plane and a chisel plane. I will do my best to get the 16 leg blanks turned into legs in the next few days then this project will be wrapped up except for the detail work which I love the most. Please feel free to chime in on my methods and if you feel I am doing something wrong. Next blog will have tons of photos so please come back for the eye candy.


Lance,

You have mentioned that you are making 2 benches, is the other for Daniel?

Thanks for shariing. - Len


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *Milling the legs*
> 
> Today I spent the day doing the last glue up of the tops and they are either done or in clamps drying. I then turned my attention to the legs and decided to cut the long boards down to rough lengths of 3 feet. The finished size will be 32 inches. I then jointed the sides and the face of each blank. I milled each piece only until I had a clean face. this gave me the dimensions i would target for finished blanks. Next I found the thinnest piece and adjusted the planer to take a shallow pass and stopped when it was a clean face. the digital gauge on the planer is from Wixey and it makes accurate and repeatable sizes a snap. I have been testing the Wixey tools and love them very much. So now I had my finished target size I began with the thickest boards and one by one ran them through the planer till they all reached my target size. I have to tell you that the instructions on the bench say to mill the legs to as thick as possible. However I felt that it was crucial to have them all be exactly the same thickness. Next I turned to the second benches legs and repeated the process. these legs turned out to be slightly larger but they were a matched set as well and all the legs were bigger than the instructions called for ,but bigger is better yes? Now we turned to width and repeated this planing procedure on both benches. This time the legs all ended up being the same.
> 
> Tomorrow I will finalize my plan for the through mortices and for the method I will choose to cut them these are pretty big and I am leaning towards making the mortises with a template and a router . I saw Norm Abram use this technique on a mortice on the deck chair he made. I thought about using the hallow chisel mortiser but the sites get eccentric when you try to make wider holes than the chisel size. the other way to do this is with a pig sticker but I still need to buy them and i don't have a 2 inch pig sticker. And lastly you can drill out most of the hole with a forstner bit and then chisel it clean. So I am thinking I will mark it out drill it out and then clean the rest out with the router and my jig. this way the majority of the wood will be gone and I will be smoothing it up easily. the other things I have to do will be done on the radial arm saw and I hope that that works out well. I will use the stacked dado head cutter on the Delta Radial arm Saw and this will leave a pretty clean mortice. I will fine tune the mortice with my Lie Nielsen 71 Router Plane. I will be Photographing this entire process so if you don't know how to do this stuff you can learn. The other thing I will need to do before I finish up the legs is I will have to make the top and bottom rails each one will be unique so the joints must be numbered and this is crucial not to mix them up After this is done I will have to mill and glue up the upper and lower stretchers these will be identical parts and should have no issues in fitting in the mortices I plan on cutting them large and fine tuning them with a shoulder plane and a chisel plane. I will do my best to get the 16 leg blanks turned into legs in the next few days then this project will be wrapped up except for the detail work which I love the most. Please feel free to chime in on my methods and if you feel I am doing something wrong. Next blog will have tons of photos so please come back for the eye candy.


Sounds good!

Happy 4th !!


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *Milling the legs*
> 
> Today I spent the day doing the last glue up of the tops and they are either done or in clamps drying. I then turned my attention to the legs and decided to cut the long boards down to rough lengths of 3 feet. The finished size will be 32 inches. I then jointed the sides and the face of each blank. I milled each piece only until I had a clean face. this gave me the dimensions i would target for finished blanks. Next I found the thinnest piece and adjusted the planer to take a shallow pass and stopped when it was a clean face. the digital gauge on the planer is from Wixey and it makes accurate and repeatable sizes a snap. I have been testing the Wixey tools and love them very much. So now I had my finished target size I began with the thickest boards and one by one ran them through the planer till they all reached my target size. I have to tell you that the instructions on the bench say to mill the legs to as thick as possible. However I felt that it was crucial to have them all be exactly the same thickness. Next I turned to the second benches legs and repeated the process. these legs turned out to be slightly larger but they were a matched set as well and all the legs were bigger than the instructions called for ,but bigger is better yes? Now we turned to width and repeated this planing procedure on both benches. This time the legs all ended up being the same.
> 
> Tomorrow I will finalize my plan for the through mortices and for the method I will choose to cut them these are pretty big and I am leaning towards making the mortises with a template and a router . I saw Norm Abram use this technique on a mortice on the deck chair he made. I thought about using the hallow chisel mortiser but the sites get eccentric when you try to make wider holes than the chisel size. the other way to do this is with a pig sticker but I still need to buy them and i don't have a 2 inch pig sticker. And lastly you can drill out most of the hole with a forstner bit and then chisel it clean. So I am thinking I will mark it out drill it out and then clean the rest out with the router and my jig. this way the majority of the wood will be gone and I will be smoothing it up easily. the other things I have to do will be done on the radial arm saw and I hope that that works out well. I will use the stacked dado head cutter on the Delta Radial arm Saw and this will leave a pretty clean mortice. I will fine tune the mortice with my Lie Nielsen 71 Router Plane. I will be Photographing this entire process so if you don't know how to do this stuff you can learn. The other thing I will need to do before I finish up the legs is I will have to make the top and bottom rails each one will be unique so the joints must be numbered and this is crucial not to mix them up After this is done I will have to mill and glue up the upper and lower stretchers these will be identical parts and should have no issues in fitting in the mortices I plan on cutting them large and fine tuning them with a shoulder plane and a chisel plane. I will do my best to get the 16 leg blanks turned into legs in the next few days then this project will be wrapped up except for the detail work which I love the most. Please feel free to chime in on my methods and if you feel I am doing something wrong. Next blog will have tons of photos so please come back for the eye candy.


Len The second bench is for my uncle he just turned 75 and has decided he wants to return to working wood he will be getting a stock of tools and there like and I am happy to get him off on the right foot. he has done a lot for me over the years.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *Milling the legs*
> 
> Today I spent the day doing the last glue up of the tops and they are either done or in clamps drying. I then turned my attention to the legs and decided to cut the long boards down to rough lengths of 3 feet. The finished size will be 32 inches. I then jointed the sides and the face of each blank. I milled each piece only until I had a clean face. this gave me the dimensions i would target for finished blanks. Next I found the thinnest piece and adjusted the planer to take a shallow pass and stopped when it was a clean face. the digital gauge on the planer is from Wixey and it makes accurate and repeatable sizes a snap. I have been testing the Wixey tools and love them very much. So now I had my finished target size I began with the thickest boards and one by one ran them through the planer till they all reached my target size. I have to tell you that the instructions on the bench say to mill the legs to as thick as possible. However I felt that it was crucial to have them all be exactly the same thickness. Next I turned to the second benches legs and repeated the process. these legs turned out to be slightly larger but they were a matched set as well and all the legs were bigger than the instructions called for ,but bigger is better yes? Now we turned to width and repeated this planing procedure on both benches. This time the legs all ended up being the same.
> 
> Tomorrow I will finalize my plan for the through mortices and for the method I will choose to cut them these are pretty big and I am leaning towards making the mortises with a template and a router . I saw Norm Abram use this technique on a mortice on the deck chair he made. I thought about using the hallow chisel mortiser but the sites get eccentric when you try to make wider holes than the chisel size. the other way to do this is with a pig sticker but I still need to buy them and i don't have a 2 inch pig sticker. And lastly you can drill out most of the hole with a forstner bit and then chisel it clean. So I am thinking I will mark it out drill it out and then clean the rest out with the router and my jig. this way the majority of the wood will be gone and I will be smoothing it up easily. the other things I have to do will be done on the radial arm saw and I hope that that works out well. I will use the stacked dado head cutter on the Delta Radial arm Saw and this will leave a pretty clean mortice. I will fine tune the mortice with my Lie Nielsen 71 Router Plane. I will be Photographing this entire process so if you don't know how to do this stuff you can learn. The other thing I will need to do before I finish up the legs is I will have to make the top and bottom rails each one will be unique so the joints must be numbered and this is crucial not to mix them up After this is done I will have to mill and glue up the upper and lower stretchers these will be identical parts and should have no issues in fitting in the mortices I plan on cutting them large and fine tuning them with a shoulder plane and a chisel plane. I will do my best to get the 16 leg blanks turned into legs in the next few days then this project will be wrapped up except for the detail work which I love the most. Please feel free to chime in on my methods and if you feel I am doing something wrong. Next blog will have tons of photos so please come back for the eye candy.


I settled in on the plan to cut the mortices. I am going with a router and a big corner chisel I will do the first leg this way. I made an extra leg and want to cut a test board before I dig in to the finished leg stock. I am confident this is the best way to do this as it doesn't involve a lot of beating the wood into submission. my chisels are razor sharp like all the tools in my shop. I am OCD about sharp chisels well sharp everything. I cant tolerate working dull tools this is why i love the tormek. It is simply the best way to put a keen edge on tools. The template was prepared today I will make the cutouts in the morning. I cant wait to get this project done and this is the last hurdle. The dovetail is a half lap dovetail and should be straight forward I wont say easy but it is a big basic joint, The only other hurdle I foresee at this time is that I need to finish the restore on my Delta Radial arm saw as I want to use it to do the dado's on the legs. and to make the tenons on the stretchers. as well as hogging out the material for the half lap dovetails I like the RAS for this because the blade moves and the wood just sits there less chance of an error . so tomorrow I will begin working on the RAS.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *

Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.

First we made the leg assembly this is a through mortice that is back cut and wedged together for a tight fit 


























Next we cut the mortice for the half lap dovetail the edges were cut with a hand saw and then the waste was removed with a router. Using the CRB7 from M-power and an extra wide base to bridge the mortice. 









After Routing close to the boundary cut I cleaned up with a sharp bench chisel. 









Now the Half Lap Dovetail Mortices are ready to go there are two per leg the upper and the lower

Next it was time for the dry fit no bolts just to make sure every thing is going to fit.


















After the dry fit I glued the outer legs to the Leg assembly. No room for error on this so hurry up because when its 120 in the shop the glue is a fast set up less than 4 minutes and it wont budge.










The next step was letting it settle I have it set up in the shop and am letting it sit clamped flat for a couple of weeks to insure it is done moving for a while. The Old timers call this step resting the piece. I believe it helps and so I am doing it. After a week I will cut the tops to their finished length of 90 inches. I don't have a 12 inch Sliding compound miter saw so I will make the cut with my Bora wide body clamp and my Circular saw. Then I will finish the cut with My trusty D7 Hand Saw. After that I will be time to make the tool trays they are 4 boxes that are make to sit on cleats in the gap between the tops they have a dual purpose. They are tool trays or if you flip them over they widen the flat top of the bench. I will be making mine out of Black walnut. As that is the accent wood I chose. The plan calls for locking mortice joints I feel that is a big understatement and am leaning towards dovetailed boxes. I think the Dovetails will be done on the Woodrat. I have too many to do by hand and feel the Woodrat is second best. I will be doing a prototype box first and I hope it looks as good as I see it in my plan. The next Blog entry will be on the Tool Box build so stay tuned for the next issue Cheers.

The Dude


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


You're making progress!

Looking good!

Thank you.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


Thanks Joe I am shooting for the end of the month Once they are both done I will re visit my trip to the Maloof museum


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


Lance,

That is shaping up to be one 'Heavy Duty Beauty'. I'd be proud to have that in my shop, but with the degenerating discs in my lower back the heavy work, to my remorse, is now a thing of the past.

We are enjoying your Blog on the build.

Work Safely and have Fun. - Len


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## JN1C3™ (Jul 29, 2012)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


Lance Man,

Looks Good Bud!!! Really like the bench so far. Looks really big and a nice solid powerhouse of a bench compared to my setup… LoL. I don't feel so awkward about having a messy shop now since you showed us your workshop/season storage/man cave. I like the messiness though! When someone enters at least they know you are busy and have a ton of things on your plate!!

Keep up with the bad work my friend. Imma hold you to that deadline btw.


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


Big, solid, heavy and pretty…. Yup, it ticks all the boxes.

Nice one.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


Len Thanks I too have a bad back so I have help on the heavier stuff but such is getting older and with a bad back it is time to pass stuff along.

Jason I am sure you will get a big bench built soon I know you can do It. I guess I should select less busy camera angles for my shots. I call the shop structured chaos.

Paul Thanks so much a compliment from a great craftsman means a lot to me. And I do consider your work to be great.


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


Thanks Lance. 
I call my mess "my beloved chaos" and I work best in it. 
I do a very fussy clean-up at the end of each job but by that time sometimes it's hard to find the shop for the litter.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


Lance,
I am late to the game on this build, however all things look great!

A suggestion: If you are going to use Walnut and dovetails for your trays, then why not mix some Maple into each tray? Make the sides in Maple and the ends in Walnut, or vice versa. Do this to show off those dovetails. Maybe laminate alternating pieces of Maple and Walnut for the bottoms as well..

Just a couple of ideas… ;-)


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## handystanley (Jun 4, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


I am waiting for my M-Power CRB7 to be delivered.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *The First dry fit this will give you an Idea of how big these benches really are. *
> 
> Well my Friends I have been at if for some time now and felt it was time to get busy I worked on the legs first after a critical error the leg assembly had to be broken down which was a big job and then the legs were taken back one step the outer legs were re worked and the bench was put together for a test fit and to let the tops lye flat for a while to get them as flat as can be.
> 
> ...


It is something i use at least once a week it does so many things I hope you like it


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*Back at it at last *

Well guys this project stalled when I went into the spa business. So now that that chapter is on hold I am back to working on my benches. I spent a couple hours with my son planing down the tops of my bench I have also got my uncles bench almost done I made all the slate and the bottom for the shelves this is really a nice bench and I have used his to help me make mine and the whole thing is coming together. I just got the wood to build the boxes for his bench and will get mine soon too. the boxes go between the tops and level it out so you can have one big flat top or have the boxes open in the middle for tool trays. I will be back at this tomorrow and hopefully have my bench assembled tomorrow The top is over 4 inches thick which made me really happy If I were to do this all over again I may have chose a bench with dogs oh well you just cant have it all I guess.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

thedude50 said:


> *Back at it at last *
> 
> Well guys this project stalled when I went into the spa business. So now that that chapter is on hold I am back to working on my benches. I spent a couple hours with my son planing down the tops of my bench I have also got my uncles bench almost done I made all the slate and the bottom for the shelves this is really a nice bench and I have used his to help me make mine and the whole thing is coming together. I just got the wood to build the boxes for his bench and will get mine soon too. the boxes go between the tops and level it out so you can have one big flat top or have the boxes open in the middle for tool trays. I will be back at this tomorrow and hopefully have my bench assembled tomorrow The top is over 4 inches thick which made me really happy If I were to do this all over again I may have chose a bench with dogs oh well you just cant have it all I guess.


Lance, I cannot wait to see your bench finished.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *Back at it at last *
> 
> Well guys this project stalled when I went into the spa business. So now that that chapter is on hold I am back to working on my benches. I spent a couple hours with my son planing down the tops of my bench I have also got my uncles bench almost done I made all the slate and the bottom for the shelves this is really a nice bench and I have used his to help me make mine and the whole thing is coming together. I just got the wood to build the boxes for his bench and will get mine soon too. the boxes go between the tops and level it out so you can have one big flat top or have the boxes open in the middle for tool trays. I will be back at this tomorrow and hopefully have my bench assembled tomorrow The top is over 4 inches thick which made me really happy If I were to do this all over again I may have chose a bench with dogs oh well you just cant have it all I guess.


that makes two of us Bert


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

thedude50 said:


> *Back at it at last *
> 
> Well guys this project stalled when I went into the spa business. So now that that chapter is on hold I am back to working on my benches. I spent a couple hours with my son planing down the tops of my bench I have also got my uncles bench almost done I made all the slate and the bottom for the shelves this is really a nice bench and I have used his to help me make mine and the whole thing is coming together. I just got the wood to build the boxes for his bench and will get mine soon too. the boxes go between the tops and level it out so you can have one big flat top or have the boxes open in the middle for tool trays. I will be back at this tomorrow and hopefully have my bench assembled tomorrow The top is over 4 inches thick which made me really happy If I were to do this all over again I may have chose a bench with dogs oh well you just cant have it all I guess.


Major progress on bench one today we are defiantly in the home stretch on this one mounted the rails for the bottom shelf installed the shelf installed the rails for the tool trays installed the back chops and sized the front chops for the twin screw vise. major progress on this bench may be close to done by Friday if the vise comes back from the powder coater photos tomorrow then the tool trays then on to my personal bench


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

*no8 starting on the tool boxes*

Spent Saturday at Newton Woods In Fresno we picked out some 6 quarter stock to plane into 4.4chalked out the rough boards over sized and then ripped them on his 23 inch bandsaw home cut the tips off the board to square up the ends then jointed and planed all day till the blades got dull time to sharpen the blades a great chance to use the Tormek Wide blade jig and writer a review of the tool. I will be dovetailing the tool tray boxes have not chosen a method to use I am leaning towards the WoodRat going to be a blast to do fun playing with the new WoodRat 900

Ill add to this entry this weekend when the boxes start going together


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