# Workbench



## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Entering the Design Phase*

I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.

My current workbench is a folding table from costco. Its wobbly, almost impossible to clamp things to, and its not very stiff. Mostly it ends up covered with tools while I work on the concrete floor of the garage or on my table saw top. The only problem with that is I find the stamped steel extensions on the table saw difficult to clamp to and then I can't use the saw when it's covered with stuff.

So, I consider finishing this book as step 1 in my quest for a workbench. This will be my 1st workbench so I have been looking all over for ideas, plans, designs, tips, tricks, etc. I really like the design and simplicity of the french bench in his book, based on a design from Roubo. I mostly use power tools at the moment but I really want to start learning how to do some things by hand. What I like about this bench is how open it is and how solid it seems, plus the simple looking joinery. I don't think I like the idea of a leg vise (even though I have never tried one) so I have a feeling I am going to put a more standard face vise on the front. I am probably going to build one on my own, rather than buy one. I havent decided if I will have an end vise yet. Most likely I will design one in but not install it unless I find myself wishing I had one. I really like the way the Veritas twin screw vise looks, so I might check that one out, or I might just make my own.

Why make my own vises? I like to make my own stuff and McMaster Carr is a short drive away. I'm an engineer by trade and I really can't help thinking that for a lot of items, I can do something just as good for less money and get something that is perfectly customized the way I want it to be. I also tend to think I can tweak things to get a better design and sometimes I am right and sometimes I am not, but all this tinkering makes me a better engineer at work so why not. Besides, I don't mind spending the time on that sort of thing and if I can save some money I can buy better wood for the next project, or a new tool.

I plan to make the whole bench out of Douglas Fir or possibly the top out of Douglas Fir and the base out of Hem Fir. The only question I have to settle on there is whether I am going to make do with the green construction stuff at Home Depot, which looks full of knots and other problems but is really cheap, or do I go with the nice clear kiln dried stuff at the lumber yard. The wood at the lumberyard looks great and would be easy to use because its so clear but it costs 4 times as much. We'll see. I am still a ways away from having to buy any lumber.

Step 2 for this project will be to fire up the CAD software and start playing around with some designs…


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## Maveric777 (Dec 23, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Entering the Design Phase*
> 
> I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.
> 
> ...


Wish I had sat down and planed as well as you are when it comes to my work bench. I just had it one day with my old cheap wobbly kitchen table and drove my happy (actually not happy ) butt down to the big box store and started buying lumber. Now I am having to back track… and as you stated "Reinvent The Wheel" so to speak.

I do like your thinking on building your own vice. I want a big one at the end of my bench but they are pretty steep (at least the ones I was looking at). I will need to look into that…

Goos luck in your workbench quest…


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *Entering the Design Phase*
> 
> I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.
> 
> ...


sounds like a great start. the roubo is indeed a great design, and very practical. and my choice of workbench these days.

making your own vises is very doable esp. if you have mcmaster around the corner. from my experience a leg vise provides much much better holding power and support for work pieces compared to "regular" vises - I've had both, and I find the leg vise superb.

good luck, and looking forward to seeing some designs and progress.

for the base, you could use the lumber from HD, but for the top you might be better off getting it from the lumberyard as you won't have to deal with knots and sap, especially since you'll be dealing with large laminations.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Entering the Design Phase*
> 
> I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.
> 
> ...


Thats to both of you for the positive comments.

Using wood from both places makes some sense. I could build the top while the green wood dries out a bit and then I could put the top on some saw horses so I can build the base.

The leg vise does look interesting and I can see how it would hold very well. Maybe I will reserve judgement for a while since the reason I don't think I would like it is because it looks "strange" since I had never seen one before.


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## Ecocandle (Jan 2, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Entering the Design Phase*
> 
> I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.
> 
> ...


I built my own workbench from plans designed by Asa Christiana of Fine Woodworking magazine. I altered them slightly, making it a bit wider than the original design. I love my workbench and I think I am going to build my own router table. The satisfactin I get from using it is incredible. I have my own design ideas for the router table, we will see how it turns out. I hope you will share you workbench building stories as they unfold.

I look forward to seeing it. I am sure you will love your workbench too.


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## hunter71 (Sep 4, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Entering the Design Phase*
> 
> I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.
> 
> ...


I picked up the cherry for my new bench from the saw mill on Monday. They should be dry by late summer for a bench. I use almost all rough cut lumber due to the mill being 2 miles from my house. Of course the downside is drying time, but the ability to look through my lumber and pick my needs out for pennies on the dollar work for me. Besides I always have more than I need cut. Example. This cherry bench 18×60" needed 9 full cut 2×4's and leg material, that might be white Oak. I got all I needed plus 10+ 1×10x10,1×6x10's, and 1×4x10's to make several other projects for $50. I also traded out some electrical work at the mill, but even figuring that in the price would only be $100 or so. I will be watching your progress , send pictures.


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## Eagle1 (Jan 4, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Entering the Design Phase*
> 
> I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.
> 
> ...


I built my own workbench. I also built my own router table, I didn't build the top I purchased it from Woodcraft, it's a Pinnacle top. I think doing it yourself for workbenches you can build it to your needs at that time. And as your needs change so can your bench..


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## DoctorDan (Feb 22, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Entering the Design Phase*
> 
> I just finished "Workbenches" by Chris Schwarz. I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a boost of motivation to get started on my workbench project. I enjoyed his writing style, his humor, as well as the little bit of history that was sprinkled in. I saw the quote somewhere years ago that "A man that does not know the history of his trade is continually forced to reinvent the wheel". I tend to believe that.
> 
> ...


I'll keep an eye on this thread. McMaster Carr seems like a good resource, I wish I had something similar local. 
Looking forward to your progress.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*The internet is great*

Let's see, I haven't really written any blog posts lately because I have been bogged down with work and grad school part deux. However, since I spend almost every waking minute not spent on those other things thinking about my workbench project as well as many countless hours on the CAD system, I thought it might be time to update some of my thinking on the design features I am thinking about as well as mention something I thought was really cool.

Internet is cool moment #1. This isn't really a big deal but it made be happy today so what the heck. I've been reading Chris Schwarz' blog lately as a result of reading his books and deciding I really enjoy his writing style as well as feel that I could learn a thing or two from him. I also check out his podcasts from Popular Woodworking. Well, I left a comment on his blog yesterday about the new workbench he is building. Today in my email I found a reply! It was a brief comment on my comment that proved that what I had been thinking about for my own bench wasn't as crazy as I thought it might seem, and that Chris seems to be every bit as nice as his writing would imply.

Internet is cool moment #2. There is a rediculous amount of information on the internet on building Roubo style workbenches. I have found a few in particular to be extremely helpful and I think without them that my bench design would not be as nice as it seems to be. I really enjoy the blog at the Khalaf Oud Luthiery (KOL) and think I learned a great deal about some of the joinery by reading his blog. That along with some of the project blogs on this site have helped immensely.

One annoyance I have come across is that it really seems like it takes a bench to make a bench. I almost wish I had a bench so I could go build a bench. Every blog or video or book I have seen shows the subject workbench being built on a finished workbench. I plan to build mine either on the floor or on some saw horses, but I am not sure how easy it will be to plane boards down on a pair of saw horses. I suppose that depends on how sturdy the horses are.

I don't have any images prepared yet (I will have them in my next post) but here is a list of things I have settled on or am thinking about settling on for the workbench:


I am going to go with a leg vise and I also plan to add roller wheels and some bearings similar to the benchcrafted glide leg vise. I was already thinking of something along those lines when I saw the blog at the KOL and loved his design. I have already purchased a vise screw from Lee Valley that seems like it will work nicely.


I decided to include a tail vise (wagon vise) similar to the design in Tim Landis' book. I apologize but I do not remember who was credited with the design in the book. It will be some sort of hybrid between that one and what the folks at benchcrafted did with their tail vise. I have my design almost complete and I think all the hardware can be found rather cheaply. With the design I have laid out I can clamp anything flat to the top from 4 inches to 90 inches long and I can clamp up to a 2×10 vertically in the hole.


I am going to make the legs out of 6×6 Douglas Fir posts.


I am very close to deciding to make the top out of 2 pieces of 6×14 Douglas Fir so I only have 1 glue line and don't have to laminate the top. It will be very similar to what Chris S. is doing with his new bench. I don't mind the extra thickness and the lumber isn't that much more expensive but it will save me a lot of grief since I don't have a planer or jointer or any friends who have one.


I purchased the grammercy holdfasts and so I plan to have lots of 3/4" round holes in the top so I can place them everywhere.


As a result of wanting to use holdfasts anywhere and also partly because I don't think I am going to laminate the top, my bench dogs will live in round holes. I bought a 3/4" auger bit to drill the holes which should work well in the Douglas Fir because it will be a little green.


I am thinking about putting a dog hole in the top of the chop on the leg vise as well as a row of holes between the left legs. I havent seen anyone do that so I don't know if it is a good or bad idea but I have seen people do it with other styles of vises.


I am working on what will hopefully be a clever idea on how to make the bench mobil. I don't want it sitting on wheels full time but I need to be able to move it around the garage so we can still part in it.


I am investigating putting rollers and a track on the bench so the sliding deadman can be a rolling deadman.


I am going to add a crotchet just to see what I think. If I don't like it I can always take it off.


I am going to add the planing stop. If I don' like it I can figure out something to put in the hole.


The bench will be built with bolts on the legs so I can take it apart. I only rent my apartment now and will need to move it at least once. I am going to probably use a through tenon dovetail on the top.

I think that is about it. I am almost done with my CAD model and can then start making some drawings and taking some pictures and procuring the rest of the hardware. I am going to try to buy all the hardware I need before starting so I have everything planned out. I am going to be trying some joinery I have never done before so I want to have step by step plans laid out.

Oh yeah, at some point I will need to buy some wood too.


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## DerekL (Aug 18, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *The internet is great*
> 
> Let's see, I haven't really written any blog posts lately because I have been bogged down with work and grad school part deux. However, since I spend almost every waking minute not spent on those other things thinking about my workbench project as well as many countless hours on the CAD system, I thought it might be time to update some of my thinking on the design features I am thinking about as well as mention something I thought was really cool.
> 
> ...


Check out Marc Spagnuolo's video on prepping sawhorse for building an assembly table - might give you an idea or two.

Clicky Linky.


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## JohnnyW (Feb 7, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The internet is great*
> 
> Let's see, I haven't really written any blog posts lately because I have been bogged down with work and grad school part deux. However, since I spend almost every waking minute not spent on those other things thinking about my workbench project as well as many countless hours on the CAD system, I thought it might be time to update some of my thinking on the design features I am thinking about as well as mention something I thought was really cool.
> 
> ...


You've put an impressive amount of thought and planning into this bench. I look forward to seeing your progress.

Have you read brklnguy's blog on builing his roubo in his apartment? He planed his top on the floor in his living room, so he might have some useful advice for you.


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## DoctorDan (Feb 22, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The internet is great*
> 
> Let's see, I haven't really written any blog posts lately because I have been bogged down with work and grad school part deux. However, since I spend almost every waking minute not spent on those other things thinking about my workbench project as well as many countless hours on the CAD system, I thought it might be time to update some of my thinking on the design features I am thinking about as well as mention something I thought was really cool.
> 
> ...


If it helps benchcrafted uses these wheels: http://www.mcmaster.com/#8369t15/=5vcv42 
I tried to get my hands on them without success.


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## DoctorDan (Feb 22, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The internet is great*
> 
> Let's see, I haven't really written any blog posts lately because I have been bogged down with work and grad school part deux. However, since I spend almost every waking minute not spent on those other things thinking about my workbench project as well as many countless hours on the CAD system, I thought it might be time to update some of my thinking on the design features I am thinking about as well as mention something I thought was really cool.
> 
> ...


when are we going to see some pics


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## mtkate (Apr 18, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *The internet is great*
> 
> Let's see, I haven't really written any blog posts lately because I have been bogged down with work and grad school part deux. However, since I spend almost every waking minute not spent on those other things thinking about my workbench project as well as many countless hours on the CAD system, I thought it might be time to update some of my thinking on the design features I am thinking about as well as mention something I thought was really cool.
> 
> ...


I know what you mean by "it takes a bench to build a bench". When you have little time, it makes the process really long.

I bought a router table so that, some day, I can make a nice router table. At my pace I would have waited years…


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Tail Vise Mockup*

Well, after a VERY long break from actually working on my new bench (and some other projects) I have finished my second Masters degree and can now get back to more important things. Even though I wasn't able to work on anything it didn't keep me from thinking, and dreaming, about my date with Monsieur Roubo. I have had the 6"x6" wood for the legs in the garage for about 6 months so it should be dry enough for me to start on some of the joinery and I purchased 4"x6" wood for the stretchers a couple of weeks ago. I still don't have the wood for the top but I will buy that pretty soon now that my new thickness planer is in the mail and I will be able to process the wood for a laminated top.
I built a prototype for the tail vise today using about $50 in parts from McMaster Carr. It doesn't have a handle yet so the price might go up a little more but so far it works about as well as I thought it would. As all good prototypes do, it taught me a lot of interesting things about the design as well as how difficult making the overall bench might be. Let's just say I am not used to working with 4"x6" pieces of lumber and very few of my tools are really set up to work with it properly. I processed all the individual pieces of the prototype using only hand tools, most of which were unpowered. Some lessons I learned: I probably need to find a mortise chisel somewhere and I am a craptacular sawyer.
The design is loosely based off the vise in Scott Landis' book with some major modifications to account for the fact that I do not have a machine shop in my garage. I would love to just buy a wagon vise from Benchcrafted but I do not have the $300+ to throw down for one so I am trying to go the DIY route and save money. One of the main limitations I have is that I can't really machine steel well, other than drilling it and whatever I can do with a jigsaw or hacksaw. Also, I don't have a drill press, so drilling accurate holes in other materials can be dicey. One of the main reasons for building a mockup was to see if I could perform some of the necessary cuts in steel and if the overall concept was valid.
I looked around for a small machine shop that would do one-off orders but I found none near me so I wasn't able to get a custom ACME rod made the way I wanted. Therefore, I needed to find a way to hold the rod in place and create a garter for the vise without machining the rod. I started with a 3 foot section of left handed 1"-5 ACME rod from McMaster Carr as well as the nut that goes along with it. They are both plain steel so I should be able to work them with the tools I have. I haven't tried to cut the rod yet but I should be able to cut it either using my jig saw or at the very least a hacksaw is my fallback plan. I was able to drill the nut so I could put some #8 wood screws through it and into the moving block. I just used some old pilot point bits I had around and kept everything nicely coated with WD-40 and it went quickly with no broken bits. I was also able to countersink the holes easily enough using an old cheap (~$8) set of countersink drills I have had for years.
SAE 863 Bronze sleeve bushings support the threaded rod in the bench and provide some lubrication as well since they are impregnated with oil. Two-piece clamp-on shaft collars are what hold the ACME rod in place while the rod is turned. I was worried that the collars would not have enough holding power since there is not a lot of surface left after ACME threads are made but they hold great.
The main difference between this vise and the Benchcrafted vise is that I do not have any rails or guides and I rely only on the threaded rod to keep everything in place. In order to keep the vise from drooping when not in use and from lifting up when it is being tightened, I run the ACME rod all the way into a sleeve bushing at the end of the vise cutout. This did a good job supporting everything but it was very difficult to drill the right sized hole in the right place so I ended up resorting to gluing in a separate piece to hold the bushing. This let me adjust the location of the bushing until the rod turned nice and easy. I tried to get away with only drilling a 1 inch hole in the moving block, thinking that the tight clearance to the ACME rod would help keep the block from twisting when you try to tighten the vise but it didn't really work out as well as I had hoped. I will add another bronze bushing to the block since the clearance from the ACME rod to the bushings is almost nothing and I think that will fix that problem.
Probably the most difficult part of this mini-project was drilling the holes. I don't have a drill press nor do I have forstner bits long enough to drill through 3.5 inches of wood so I had to drill from both sides. I also didn't bother to get the wood four-square before I started so it was impossible to drill from opposite sides and get the holes to meet up correctly. The hole-alignment problem should go away when I properly process the lumber for the real bench and have good square edges to measure from. As far as drilling holes perpendicular, I cut the proper sized hole into some MDF for use as a template. Then I drilled a 1" hole with a spade bit while using a try square to keep it as perpendicular as possible. I then broke out my router with a ¾" flush trim bit and used that to route the hole to the proper size. I did that on both faces and then held a forstner bit freehand to connect the two holes. The holes only need to be perfect at the faces so the bushings seat properly. The 1.25" hole is oversize for the rod so if it is off a little in the middle of the board it's ok.
As far as a handle goes, I haven't tried anything yet although I have purchased 3 things I think will all work provided I can cut and drill the ACME rod well enough. I have a schedule 40 PVC Tee fitting, a schedule 80 PVC tee fitting, and an aluminum speed rail connection. It will probably come down to which one looks better painted and will take a larger diameter handle through it. I could also purchase a hand wheel for another $25 from McMaster Carr but I think one of the tee fittings will give me the look and feel I am going for. As nice as I think the hand wheels look, the only one that already had a 1" hole in it was made from zinc and I am not sure it will look nice. If I had a drill press I would probably buy one of the nice satin finish steel wheels but at the moment I don't have a way to drill a 1 inch hole in steel in the correct location so the wheel would spin without a wobble. I think the tee fittings painted a dark gray or black color with a nice maple dowel through it will look and work great and will match the leg vise (once I repaint the leg vise hardware). It will sure beat the pair of vise grips I have been using so far! 
I can always swap out hardware later if I want to. Since I am burying some of the ACME rod in the main body of the top I can leave a little extra length in case I choose to add a hand wheel in the future. In fact, this vise will be very easy to uninstall so I can pretty much change any of the hardware later if I choose to do so. I could even change to a coarser or finer thread on the ACME rod if I wanted to by swapping out the rod and nut. Once I start using everything I would get a feel for how I like it. For now, 5 tpi seems to be about standard for vise screws that are in the 1" diameter range.
I have attached a bunch of photos showing the bits and pieces of the vise as well as the vise holding a board flat for planning and vertical so I can learn to dovetail. It should hold a vertical piece of wood ~1.75 thick by 8 or 10 inches wide when the real bench is built.

Holding Stock Flat









Holding Stock Vertical









Shaft Collar holding the rod in place (The flange from the sleeve bushing is between the wood and the shaft collar)









ACME Nut drilled and screwed to moving block









Side piece removed









Looking up from the "bottom" 









Schedulle 80 PVC Tee Fitting for possible handle









Aluminum Speed Rail Tee Fitting for possible handle


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## Ampeater (Feb 21, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *Tail Vise Mockup*
> 
> Well, after a VERY long break from actually working on my new bench (and some other projects) I have finished my second Masters degree and can now get back to more important things. Even though I wasn't able to work on anything it didn't keep me from thinking, and dreaming, about my date with Monsieur Roubo. I have had the 6"x6" wood for the legs in the garage for about 6 months so it should be dry enough for me to start on some of the joinery and I purchased 4"x6" wood for the stretchers a couple of weeks ago. I still don't have the wood for the top but I will buy that pretty soon now that my new thickness planer is in the mail and I will be able to process the wood for a laminated top.
> I built a prototype for the tail vise today using about $50 in parts from McMaster Carr. It doesn't have a handle yet so the price might go up a little more but so far it works about as well as I thought it would. As all good prototypes do, it taught me a lot of interesting things about the design as well as how difficult making the overall bench might be. Let's just say I am not used to working with 4"x6" pieces of lumber and very few of my tools are really set up to work with it properly. I processed all the individual pieces of the prototype using only hand tools, most of which were unpowered. Some lessons I learned: I probably need to find a mortise chisel somewhere and I am a craptacular sawyer.
> ...


Thanks for posting this blog. I have been wanting to build a tail vise for my bench. I enjoy making my own accessories whenever possible. Do you plan to do a sketchup drawing, or will you be posting the plans for the vise?


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Tail Vise Mockup*
> 
> Well, after a VERY long break from actually working on my new bench (and some other projects) I have finished my second Masters degree and can now get back to more important things. Even though I wasn't able to work on anything it didn't keep me from thinking, and dreaming, about my date with Monsieur Roubo. I have had the 6"x6" wood for the legs in the garage for about 6 months so it should be dry enough for me to start on some of the joinery and I purchased 4"x6" wood for the stretchers a couple of weeks ago. I still don't have the wood for the top but I will buy that pretty soon now that my new thickness planer is in the mail and I will be able to process the wood for a laminated top.
> I built a prototype for the tail vise today using about $50 in parts from McMaster Carr. It doesn't have a handle yet so the price might go up a little more but so far it works about as well as I thought it would. As all good prototypes do, it taught me a lot of interesting things about the design as well as how difficult making the overall bench might be. Let's just say I am not used to working with 4"x6" pieces of lumber and very few of my tools are really set up to work with it properly. I processed all the individual pieces of the prototype using only hand tools, most of which were unpowered. Some lessons I learned: I probably need to find a mortise chisel somewhere and I am a craptacular sawyer.
> ...


Thanks… I do plan on posting CAD images soon once I finalize the design and get everything finished and then posting photos of the finished vise (and bench) as I go along through the build, although that will take me a while to finish. I could probably generate some drawings too if someone wanted them. I think this vise design would scale very well to different size bench tops (mine will be about 5 inches thick). I think once I post my CAD images it would be clear enough to not require a drawing since I can show cross sections.


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## bigike (May 25, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Tail Vise Mockup*
> 
> Well, after a VERY long break from actually working on my new bench (and some other projects) I have finished my second Masters degree and can now get back to more important things. Even though I wasn't able to work on anything it didn't keep me from thinking, and dreaming, about my date with Monsieur Roubo. I have had the 6"x6" wood for the legs in the garage for about 6 months so it should be dry enough for me to start on some of the joinery and I purchased 4"x6" wood for the stretchers a couple of weeks ago. I still don't have the wood for the top but I will buy that pretty soon now that my new thickness planer is in the mail and I will be able to process the wood for a laminated top.
> I built a prototype for the tail vise today using about $50 in parts from McMaster Carr. It doesn't have a handle yet so the price might go up a little more but so far it works about as well as I thought it would. As all good prototypes do, it taught me a lot of interesting things about the design as well as how difficult making the overall bench might be. Let's just say I am not used to working with 4"x6" pieces of lumber and very few of my tools are really set up to work with it properly. I processed all the individual pieces of the prototype using only hand tools, most of which were unpowered. Some lessons I learned: I probably need to find a mortise chisel somewhere and I am a craptacular sawyer.
> ...


Thats a cool looken vise, the aluminum speed tee would look good on it i think


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Tail Vise Mockup*
> 
> Well, after a VERY long break from actually working on my new bench (and some other projects) I have finished my second Masters degree and can now get back to more important things. Even though I wasn't able to work on anything it didn't keep me from thinking, and dreaming, about my date with Monsieur Roubo. I have had the 6"x6" wood for the legs in the garage for about 6 months so it should be dry enough for me to start on some of the joinery and I purchased 4"x6" wood for the stretchers a couple of weeks ago. I still don't have the wood for the top but I will buy that pretty soon now that my new thickness planer is in the mail and I will be able to process the wood for a laminated top.
> I built a prototype for the tail vise today using about $50 in parts from McMaster Carr. It doesn't have a handle yet so the price might go up a little more but so far it works about as well as I thought it would. As all good prototypes do, it taught me a lot of interesting things about the design as well as how difficult making the overall bench might be. Let's just say I am not used to working with 4"x6" pieces of lumber and very few of my tools are really set up to work with it properly. I processed all the individual pieces of the prototype using only hand tools, most of which were unpowered. Some lessons I learned: I probably need to find a mortise chisel somewhere and I am a craptacular sawyer.
> ...


Thanks bigike. I was thinking the same thing. I could probably use the threaded hole that is already in the speed tee to bolt it to the threaded rod if I drilled the hole in the rod carefully.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*The Final Design*

Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.



















As I stated in previous posts this is a Roubo bench and I used a lot of information from a lot of places. I have purchased all the wood and a good deal of the hardware. The top is going to be made from 10 foot long 4"x6" douglas fir. It should finish out at somewhere around 5 inches thick. The stretchers are also made from 4"x6". The legs are made from 6"x6" douglas fir and they are finishing out about 5"x5". Everything was purchased at the home center and I think the total for all the wood was about $175. The legs have been drying in my garage for about 7 months and the wood for the stretchers and top has been going for about 2 months now.

The bench features a leg vise on the front left leg and a wagon vise on the right side. The leg vise shown uses a metal bench screw that I have but I have ordered a large wooden screw from Lake Erie Toolworks that hasn't arrived yet.










The wagon vise is a refinement of the design I tested in an earlier post. I decided to suck it up and spring for a hand wheel to operate the vise since I feel it will go a lot quicker to be able to turn a hand wheel then if I had to spin a bar. The leg vise screw from Lake Erie is supposed to move pretty fast at only 2 threads per inch so I don't see a need for a wheel there, plus I like the traditional look of a wooden screw.










I tried to get a decent angle on this view showing the guts of the wagon vise. I don't think I described it very well in my other post. I think this will work just fine. If there is still too much slop in the movement my fall back plan is to add a spline between the moviing dog block and the bench top. I figure I should be able to use a router with a slot cutter to add the slot for the spline. You can also see the bolts holding on the breadboard end cap which will make the vise installation easier.










The legs will be drawbored in the short direction and I will use bolts in the long direction so I can knock down the bench for transport when I move out of my rental. I am not sure this is really necessary as it seems just as easy to move the bench in 1 piece but why not.










It's a pretty standard bench from what I have seen. I am a little worried that the fir might be too soft as a bench top. It seems to get scratched and gouged pretty easily but t was so inexpensive I don't think I care. As awesome as a maple top would be I just can't see spending the money for 150 board feet of maple just to make a bench top. I am sure I will decide that was a foolish notion in a few years but by then maybe I will be in a position to buy some maple.

I've got the jointer and planer fired up and the new drill press will be here Friday… it's time to let the chips fly.


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## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

HungryTermite said:


> *The Final Design*
> 
> Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.
> 
> ...


a great test for the apprentice

sooner or later we are all humbled.


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## Maveric777 (Dec 23, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *The Final Design*
> 
> Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.
> 
> ...


I am definitely going to keep a closer eye on this project (hope to see some blogs on the progress). I too have been wrestling with what to do about my work bench. Keeping up with this should help out immensely in my decision making.

Thanks for posting this up and can't wait to see how it develops….


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## Pawky (Sep 22, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The Final Design*
> 
> Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.
> 
> ...


The hook thing (does it have a specific name?) on the left front face of the bench, I've seen it on other benches posted here, but it seems that the vise/clamp is too close to it making it so it wouldn't be as useful. I'm sure I'm wrong as I have no experience with any of it, but would love it if you could explain the reasoning for it's location/uses. Thank you!


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The Final Design*
> 
> Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.
> 
> ...


The hook thing is a crochet. My reason for locating it there is because that is where Chris Schwarz located it on the bench in his book. He put it there because that is where he saw it in old texts and drawings. I've never used one but in his book he says it works quite weill in this setup. The crochet is just bolted onto the front face of the bench so it's one of thos things where if I don't like it I will unbolt it but it intrigues me enough to add it to see if I like it.

In theory I wouldn't need to tighten the leg vise in order to hold a board on its long edge for planing. I could just rest it on the vise screw and push it forward into the crochet and that should lock it in place (as long as it is supported by the sliding deadman also). I like the sound of that since there is less fussing with the vise. Then the vise would mainly get used for vertical pieces.


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## dbray45 (Oct 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The Final Design*
> 
> Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.
> 
> ...


Just an idea, I keep a number of pieces of scrap plywood, hard board, and a painters drop cloth on hand at all times. If I am going to chisel something like dovetails, chiseling the plywood is a lot better than screwing up the benchtop. Hardboard and drop cloth for the glue and paint - you get the idea.

A good top, what ever it is, once you get it the way you want is priceless.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The Final Design*
> 
> Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.
> 
> ...


I'm with you dbray45. I have already envisioned a piece of hardboard with some dowels in it that will sit in the dog holes so I can so some work on that if necessary.

The one benefit to just abusing my bench top without care is that I would get to build a new one in a few years  By then I would probably be able to afford some harder wood and also by then I would really figure out what I like and dislike about this design.

Anything will be better than the plastic costco table I use now!


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## dbray45 (Oct 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *The Final Design*
> 
> Ok, enough procrastinating! It's time to get on with the workbench. I have a design that I am happy with and while I haven't quite finished the CAD model I think I can safely start cutting some wood.
> 
> ...


It funny that you say that. My first work bench that I made had a 3/4" cheap pine B/C plywood top, now it has two 3/4 maple and birch pieces of plywood with a 1/2" piece of cheap pine plywood in the middle. I just added the second piece of the 3/4 the other day. Put 3 coats of polyurethane and polished it up. Its not as pretty as a solid maple top but its every bit as strong and its a full 2' thich throughout. If something happens to the top, a replacement 2'x4' piece of plywood is a whole lot less in cost than maple.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Check Please*

I now have essentially all the wood for the bench, at least the major pieces. I still lack a chop for the leg vise and I am not sure what I want to use for that. The legs have been hanging out for over 6 months and everything else has been around for about 2 months so far.









Everything is construction grade Douglas Fir from Home Depot and Lowes. It actually took me a while to gather up all the wood and I feel like I visited just about every store in the Los Angeles area. 1st of all, most places don't carry 6×6 in stock and I wanted a place with stock that I could pick and choose. I found the legs and after about 5 months I realized I chose "poorly". The wood is probably fine but… I thought I was doing good by finding pieces that were quartersawn. While these will be nice and stable and probably remain pretty square I wasn't paying too much attention to the grain pattern. I kind of wish I had gotten some rift sawn boards instead so I had a consistent grain pattern on all 4 sides of the legs.









The main reason it took so long to find boards for the top is that by that time I had started to pay more attention to the grain pattern. At 1st I thought I was going to have to live with a flatsawn looking top, which I don't particularly care for, but then I saw a great piece of rift sawn wood with nice straight grain along the side that would end up being the top/bottom. I also noticed a huge difference in how tight the growth rings were from board to board. Once I realized that some great looking boards were possible I then made it my mission to search the area even if it meant buying 1 piece of wood from each store I went to until I had enough. You can see how tight the grain is in these pieces compared to the 6×6 above. 









I went with 4×6 boards for the top to minimize on the glue joints as well as the jointing and planing. At 1st I was going to try to find two 6×12 or 6×14 boards so there would only be 1 glue joint. This sounded good and there were lumber yards in the area that stocked them but the price was a little higher and I figured it would be darn near impossible to sort through the pieces to find what I wanted.









The biggest drawback I saw in using large construction grade boards is they had a tendency to check as they dried out. I decided to fill the checks and cracks as well as the knots with epoxy similar to how Chris Schwarz did his last bench. I used some cheap "Lamp Black" oil paint that came in a set of oil colors from Michaels to tint the epoxy black. This is a batch I just let cure in the cup to see if the oil paint would cause any curing problems. It seemed to work just fine. 









I masked off different areas and some of it made sense and some of it didn't. It didn't do anything to mask off on the top surface of the boards but it made a huge different along the edges. For example, when filling knots near the edge, the epoxy just ran down the inside of the knot and would have just leaked out the side and all over everything if I hadn't built up some dams on the sides. In the photo, the epoxy is not all black. I started off thinking I could color match to the wood and when that didn't look like it would work I just turned it black and stuck with that for all 4 sides.









I just kept adding more epoxy to the knots until they were full and also poured some along the checks in the faces. The checks ended up drawing in the epoxy into the wood and really sealed it up.

It will be nice to see what the boards look like after I plane them down. I used a carbide paint scraper on some dried epoxy to see how it might plane, fearing that it would be really hard and dull the knives on my jointer and planer, and it was fine. The epoxy didn't cure super hard like I am used, instead, it still felt a tiny bit flexible and scraped off really well. I am not sure if the softness was due to the type of epoxy I used (West Systems with slow hardener) or the fact that I added oil paint to it but it was perfect. It was the 1st time I have used West Systems epoxy in about 10 years so I don't remember how it cured back then.

Stay tuned to see what the jointed and planed legs look like…


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## dub560 (Jun 4, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Check Please*
> 
> I now have essentially all the wood for the bench, at least the major pieces. I still lack a chop for the leg vise and I am not sure what I want to use for that. The legs have been hanging out for over 6 months and everything else has been around for about 2 months so far.
> 
> ...


Looks like It's going to be a beast…you have the nicest pieces though


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Check Please*
> 
> I now have essentially all the wood for the bench, at least the major pieces. I still lack a chop for the leg vise and I am not sure what I want to use for that. The legs have been hanging out for over 6 months and everything else has been around for about 2 months so far.
> 
> ...


I like the weight. great job.


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## JasonD (Jul 26, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Check Please*
> 
> I now have essentially all the wood for the bench, at least the major pieces. I still lack a chop for the leg vise and I am not sure what I want to use for that. The legs have been hanging out for over 6 months and everything else has been around for about 2 months so far.
> 
> ...


Definitely looks like it's going to be a mammoth bench. Can't wait to see it come together!


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## ratchet (Jan 12, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *Check Please*
> 
> I now have essentially all the wood for the bench, at least the major pieces. I still lack a chop for the leg vise and I am not sure what I want to use for that. The legs have been hanging out for over 6 months and everything else has been around for about 2 months so far.
> 
> ...


Looking good! I am also interested to see how the blackened epoxy looks when smoothed.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Hello Tearout My Old Friend*

I don't know why but I have S&G stuck in my head, hence the title for this entry.

I started milling the legs! After putting some epoxy on all 4 sides of each leg and then scraping most of it off with a carbide paint scraper, I started jointing the blanks for the legs. Here you can see one of the longer blanks with my two Home Depot push blocks (a.k.a. grout trowels) and my Harbor Freight infeed and Rigid outfeed set up. The Harbor Freight roller stand was only $14 but I have my doubts about whether I like it. It is hard to get tight enough that the weight of these boards doesn't cause it to drop. It really worries me when I get to the 10 foot pieces for the top. And, as you can see, I need to get some darn dust collection!









Aside from some test pieces this will be my 1st experience jointing and planing boards to a specific size for use in a project. In reality, it doesn't matter if my legs are exactly 5"x5" or even if they are all the same size but I am taking the time to try to get them perfect as practice for more important projects. At the jointer, the hardest part so far has been jointing a second side square to the 1st. The wood is so big and heavy and takes up so much space on the jointer that it is very hard to maintain pressure against the fence when there is a slight gap at the bottom. If the gap between the face and the fence is at the top that's easy but due to the grain orientation I can't always choose. All-in-all, I was pretty happy with my jointing effort. I got the sides to come out flat and 3 of the 4 legs are just about perfectly square and the 4th is only off by a hair. I really like my Harbor Frieght jointer so far. I had no problem jointing the epoxy and everything came out nice and smooth.

On that note, if you don't read Chris Schwarz's blog you should check out this entry where he apparently got tired of people asking if the epoxy he used would dull his plane irons. I thought it was hilarious:
Oh Crap! I Guess the Epoxy Was Too Hard

Next, it was on to the planer. Over the holidays I got a Makita 12" planer which I absolutely love so far. However, planing these legs taught some lessons. The 1st one was, unfortunately, what tearout sounds like. I have read it in magazines but until you hear it in person you really don't know what they mean. On the flatsawn faces the grain is really wild and there are also knots in the boards where the grain is wild. I thought I had the depth of cut set for a very slight cut but apparently even that was too much for the wood and I got tearout in places. I am not sure how much I really care if it's there so I don't know what I am going to do about it. In some spots around the knots the tearout is over 1/8" deep so it's not likely I am going to scrape it. I might throw some more epoxy in there and plane it flat by hand or I might just leave it.

The second lesson was what a projectile looks like being ejected from the back end of a planer. I was pretty scared of that happening around some of the knots so when I put the epoxy on I took care to glue in even the knots I knew were going to be cut off later. However, I didn't realize there were other things that the knives could catch and eject. I cut these boards to rough length by hand and so the cuts were very rough. In some places there were sections where the saw started going offline so I backed up, corrected, and kept going. This left an overhanging piece with a kerf cut into it. It's hard to describe and I didn't photograph it beforehand because I didn't think it was an issue. Luckily I wasn't still behind the planer at that point (I was already walking around to get the outfeed) or I would probably have a bruise around my midsection.

Here is an example of what one face looks like where I filled in all the checks with as much epoxy as I could before surfacing the boards. It didn't photograph all that well because I used the flash on my little P&S digital but I love the way it came out:









Here is an example of one of the knots. I was really scared this would rip out during planing and I knew this was going to actually be part of a leg so I tried to glue it in as best I could. It wasn't a loose knot before I added epoxy and everything seems to have gone fine:









This was pretty good practice with the epoxy and I am pretty sure I will do this to sections of the top. Some of the pieces of the top have bretty bad checks in the faces that will be laminated and I am not sure if I will bother there, I might just fill that with yellow glue before laminating.

When I 1st got these boards home there was a lot of sap running out of them but by the time I started milling these that had stopped. I don't have a moisture meter but after 8 months I figured the wood would be dry enough. Even still I only planed it down to about 5 1/4" in case there was any movement after the initial milling. I am not sure if there is yet but I do know that I watched the end grain check right before my eyes and the day after I did all this there was some sap running on the faces again. If this sort of thing happens on the top I am going to worry a bit about the lamination process.

I got all 4 legs cut to length on the table saw and started to figure out where I wanted them based on how they look.









This weekend I will be taking them down to final thickness and start marking off for the mortises for the stretchers and the tenon/dovetail at the top.


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## ratchet (Jan 12, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *Hello Tearout My Old Friend*
> 
> I don't know why but I have S&G stuck in my head, hence the title for this entry.
> 
> ...


Nice set of legs there. Thanks for posting.


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Hello Tearout My Old Friend*
> 
> I don't know why but I have S&G stuck in my head, hence the title for this entry.
> 
> ...


Good stuff !

"Beneath the halo of a-a street lamp,
I turn my collar to the cold and damp…."


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Hello Tearout My Old Friend*
> 
> I don't know why but I have S&G stuck in my head, hence the title for this entry.
> 
> ...


Nice NBeener!

I don't know why but as soon as I thought of the phrase "The sound of tearout" I couldn't get that song out of my head. I haven't even heard it in years!


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## JasonD (Jul 26, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Hello Tearout My Old Friend*
> 
> I don't know why but I have S&G stuck in my head, hence the title for this entry.
> 
> ...


"The second lesson was what a projectile looks like being ejected from the back end of a planer."

Ouch! Reading that really made me thankful that I was forced to mill all my bench stock with hand planes. lol


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Laying out the legs*










Yesterday I took the leg blanks back to the jointer and the planer and got them down to a hair over 5" x 5". One of them ended up a hair under. I found out during this process that the depth stop on the Makita planer does not handle anything 5 inches thick so it was a little tricky to try to get all 4 pieces exact. All that will be left to do on these is to hit them with a smooth plane to take off the plane tracks, which are barely even visible. It will also fix the "line" sticking up due to a nick in my planer knives.

This morning I measured out all the features on all four legs. It's almost impossible to see in a photo but, trust me, the lines are there. It was the 1st time I used my Veritas marking gauge, which I love. It made the process go much faster and since I needed to make sure that lines on opposite sides of the legs were the same distance from an edge I am guessing it increased my accuracy significantly. After measuring all the legs I stood them up and put them in their place and then mentally placed all the stretchers and the top in place to make sure all the joints were pointed in the right direction. I managed to get through this process with only 1 error, which would have even been correctable had I not caught it before cutting some wood. At this point I was too chicken to start cutting the legs so I decided to break out the pieces that would be the long stretchers and see if I could start on them. My plan is to get all four legs and the two long stretchers made and then move on to the top. Once the top is done I can make the two short stretchers. The reason is that the length of the short stretchers is going to be determined by the final width of the top. The length of the long stretchers isn't based on anything but the mortise and dovetails in the top are based on the length of the long stretcher.

I have had the 4"x6" wood for the stretchers drying for about 2 months, maybe a little longer. They seem pretty dry and when I looked at them one had twisted quite a bit. So much so that I was convinced I wouldn't be able to fix it without the board coming out thinner than I wanted it to so I went to Home Depot to see if I could find a replacement. I swear that there must be someone with a full time job at HD who makes sure that the wood is as wet as humanly possible. Not only are these pieces very heavy and clearly not dry but you can actually feel the moisture in the wood with your hands! In some cases you can see it as different colored areas on the surface of the wood. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get anything that would let me continue so I headed back home to see what I could do with the twisted piece.

I crosscut the pieces to rough length by hand to practice a little and I was actually quite happy with how I did. I really need to get some decent saws but I was able to hold the line on 2 of the 4 sides and was close on the other two. It was the 1st time I tried sawing on something lower to the ground and I liked it. I think I just might have to build a saw bench and try it out.

Anyway, I tried the twisty wood on my Harbor Freight jointer and was amazed how well it flattened out. I continue to enjoy that jointer although all the wood I use has so much resin in it that I think it's time to wax the table and clean the kinves again. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and the thickness was fine. I jointed both pieces and then planed them down to about 1/4" thicker than I wanted. I will let them sit like that for a week in case they still have some moving around to do. There were also some extremely large checks on 1 side of each board so I filled them up with epoxy the same way I did to the legs. I probably could have just left the epoxy clear since the sides I filled will be on the inside of the bench but oh well.

I also have to say that as I jointed and planed these boards it revealed some grain and beauty that I wasn't expecting at all. The rough dinged up and cracked surface of the wood betrayed what lay underneath. I am excited to see how some of this looks with some finish on it and I am excited to see how the top looks once I start working on those boards.


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## Maveric777 (Dec 23, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laying out the legs*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looks like you are definitely moving in the right direction. Enjoying following along on this….


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*New leg vise hardware and a design revision*

I decided in January that I really wanted a wooden screw for my leg vise. I jut like the way they look and they seem to work just the same. So, I placed an order for a screw and nut from Lake Erie Toolworks and they finally arrived yesterday! The screw is beautiful. I assumed there would be some chipping or tearout on the threads but they are perfect. It basically arrived in a condition ready to be finished and installed. I am thinking just some BLO and wax will be the finsih.









It's perfect timing since I really wanted to start cutting the legs this weekend. I needed to get the screw and nut so I could update the design and update the layout on the leg blank. I updated the design of the bench to remove the old metal screw (that I already own unfortunately) and added the wooden screw:









I plan to make my own handle and garter out of a contrasting wood. I am thinking that the vise chop will be maple to match the screw and nut. I like the way the nut looks horizontal and I think it will just have some chamfers on the ends to give it a finished look.









The nut will sit in a recess in the leg that is half the nut thickness. I will counterdrill holes to screw it to the leg. This will let me easily remove the vise someday when I build a new bench.


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## MyChipCarving (Nov 4, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *New leg vise hardware and a design revision*
> 
> I decided in January that I really wanted a wooden screw for my leg vise. I jut like the way they look and they seem to work just the same. So, I placed an order for a screw and nut from Lake Erie Toolworks and they finally arrived yesterday! The screw is beautiful. I assumed there would be some chipping or tearout on the threads but they are perfect. It basically arrived in a condition ready to be finished and installed. I am thinking just some BLO and wax will be the finsih.
> 
> ...


Perfect timing with your post, as I'm getting ready to build a new workbench and make a leg vise like you show here. I'll have to order a larger thread cutter as I only have a 1/2" on hand.
Do you have any details on the adjustable part on the bottom of this leg vise?


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## MyChipCarving (Nov 4, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *New leg vise hardware and a design revision*
> 
> I decided in January that I really wanted a wooden screw for my leg vise. I jut like the way they look and they seem to work just the same. So, I placed an order for a screw and nut from Lake Erie Toolworks and they finally arrived yesterday! The screw is beautiful. I assumed there would be some chipping or tearout on the threads but they are perfect. It basically arrived in a condition ready to be finished and installed. I am thinking just some BLO and wax will be the finsih.
> 
> ...


...and what size threads are cut on this leg vise you ordered?


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *New leg vise hardware and a design revision*
> 
> I decided in January that I really wanted a wooden screw for my leg vise. I jut like the way they look and they seem to work just the same. So, I placed an order for a screw and nut from Lake Erie Toolworks and they finally arrived yesterday! The screw is beautiful. I assumed there would be some chipping or tearout on the threads but they are perfect. It basically arrived in a condition ready to be finished and installed. I am thinking just some BLO and wax will be the finsih.
> 
> ...


These are monster threads. I've never seen a thread cutter available in this size. They are just under 2.5 inches in diameter and are 2 threads per inch.


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## jeffbranch (Feb 20, 2011)

HungryTermite said:


> *New leg vise hardware and a design revision*
> 
> I decided in January that I really wanted a wooden screw for my leg vise. I jut like the way they look and they seem to work just the same. So, I placed an order for a screw and nut from Lake Erie Toolworks and they finally arrived yesterday! The screw is beautiful. I assumed there would be some chipping or tearout on the threads but they are perfect. It basically arrived in a condition ready to be finished and installed. I am thinking just some BLO and wax will be the finsih.
> 
> ...


Cool. I'll be watching for future posts - like your illustrations.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

HungryTermite said:


> *New leg vise hardware and a design revision*
> 
> I decided in January that I really wanted a wooden screw for my leg vise. I jut like the way they look and they seem to work just the same. So, I placed an order for a screw and nut from Lake Erie Toolworks and they finally arrived yesterday! The screw is beautiful. I assumed there would be some chipping or tearout on the threads but they are perfect. It basically arrived in a condition ready to be finished and installed. I am thinking just some BLO and wax will be the finsih.
> 
> ...


That's a beautiful thread. Your Sketchup is about my dream bench. Good luck!


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Roubo needs some legs*

Today was a fun day! 1st up today was to put the holdfast holes in the legs. This started on the back side of the legs buy counterboring a 1-3/8 hole using a forstner bit. The depth of the counterbore is 1-1/2 inches and this leaves 3-1/2 inches of leg left for the holdfast to grab on to. The Grammercy holdfasts I have supposedly do not work well in pieces thicker than 4 inches.









One of the holes lined up with a large knot that was filled with epoxy. You can see here just how far down that slow set epoxy got before it cured. I was a bit surprised how deep the checks in the knot were and I wonder if I would have gotten such a clean hole if I hadn't filled it with epoxy first.









After drilling the counterbore on all the legs that get them (the leg with the leg vise in it doesn't get any holes) I flipped them over and used a 3/4" forstner to try to drill a through hole. This is where I discovered that my bits are too short for such thick pieces! I had already purchased a 3/4" auger bit to use in my cordless drill to drill the dog holes in the top so I used that to finish up the rest of the hole that the forstner bit couldn't get to.









The through holes don't really line up perfectly with the counterbores. I used the same fence setup on the drill press, however, I didn't reference the same side of the legs and since the holes were slightly off center they ended up misaligned. I don't think it really matters.









To make sure that I could move on to the next step I took out one of the Grammercy holdfasts and used it to hold down some walnut I happened to have laying around. It held really well. It marred the surface of the walnut a little actually so I think I am going to have to get some leather to bond to the faces of the holdfasts. I didn't do anything to the holdfasts like sand the shanks like I've seen recommended and they hold great. My only worry is that the Douglas Fir is so soft that the holes are going to increase in size over time as I use them and eventually the holdfasts won't hold anymore. We'll see. This was a good test since the top will have the same size and type of holes for the dog holes. Now I know that the holdfasts will work anywhere on the top.









With that finished I moved on to working on the mortises for the stretchers. The mortises for the long stretchers are 1-1/4 inches wide, 2 inches deep, and 4 inches long. The mortises for the short stretchers are the same except they are 2-1/2 inches deep. Since there are bolts holding the long stretchers in I didn't think having a long tenon would really do much but on the short stretchers I wanted a lot of glue area and room for the drawbore pegs to keep them locked in place.









After overlapping enough holes I was left with a nice looking slot. With some chisel work (maybe tomorrow) this will be a nice looking mortise.









Here are the legs with all their new holes and slots. Things are really moving along now…









And here is a shot of the mess I made today. It sure seems like there should be something to do with all the chips instead of just throwing them out. These are nice size chips that look like I sharpened 1,000 pencils. Too bad I don't know anyone with any pet hamsters or something like that. I've had this new Delta drill press for a few weeks now and so far I love it. I am glad I procrastinated working on this bench long enough to be able to purchase one because I can't imaging trying to do all this by hand. I probably would have tried the more traditional approach to making mortises which means I probably wouldn't have joints that will fit as tight and they will now.









After I finish up the mortises the next step will be to cut the joints to the top and attach the leg vise. In order to do this I need to wait for my tenon saw to arrive and I need to figure out how to drill a 2-3/4" hole through a 5 inch thick leg. I am not sure a hole saw will be able to do it and a forstner bit will be too short and expensive for 1 hole. Any suggestions?


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## badmac (Jul 11, 2011)

HungryTermite said:


> *Roubo needs some legs*
> 
> Today was a fun day! 1st up today was to put the holdfast holes in the legs. This started on the back side of the legs buy counterboring a 1-3/8 hole using a forstner bit. The depth of the counterbore is 1-1/2 inches and this leaves 3-1/2 inches of leg left for the holdfast to grab on to. The Grammercy holdfasts I have supposedly do not work well in pieces thicker than 4 inches.
> 
> ...


Hi Termite:

This is about 127 days late, but I just wanted to say that I learned a couple of very important things from your blog entry. Actually I just signed up to this site today because I need some advice on Roubo legs. You helped me tremendously. Have you completed your workbench and if so do you have any pics?

Thanks for the help.

badmac


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Roubo needs some legs*
> 
> Today was a fun day! 1st up today was to put the holdfast holes in the legs. This started on the back side of the legs buy counterboring a 1-3/8 hole using a forstner bit. The depth of the counterbore is 1-1/2 inches and this leaves 3-1/2 inches of leg left for the holdfast to grab on to. The Grammercy holdfasts I have supposedly do not work well in pieces thicker than 4 inches.
> 
> ...


Hi badmac,

I am glad I could help. Unfortunately I have not made any further progress on my bench. I bought a house and have not set up the new workshop yet since I have been getting the house finished up a bit. I can't believe it's already been 127 days since this post! How embarrassing. I have so much hardware sitting around just waiting. The good thing is that my wood gets another 6 months dryer than it would have been otherwise. Hopefully that will help with the top and hopefully the legs don't twist all over the place. I hope to get back on track in the next month or two though and finish up because now that I have a house I need to build some furniture to put into it!

Just out of curiosity, what are you trying to figure out on your legs?


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Custom brass dowel nuts for my bench bolts*

I took a short break from wood today since I will quickly run out of things to do until my new Tenon Saw arrives. One thing that needs to get done is to make some dowel nuts for the bolts that will hold the long stretchers to the leg.









There are a couple of reasons I wanted/needed them to be custom. 1st was that I couldn't find any that were sold separately from the bolts. Most of the "bench bolts" I have seen for sale are only 6 inches long and I needed 8 inch bolts since they have to go through a 5 inch leg. Next, none of the nuts I saw had fine threads on them. Fine threads have a better grip on them and are less likely to unthread themselves but you don't see them very often because most people use coarse threads. Lastly, I needed 7 nuts in total. 4 nuts will hold the stretchers to the legs and 3 will hold the right end cap on the top of the bench.

So, I purchased a 12" long rod of 1" diameter Ultra Machinable Brass (Alloy 360) from McMaster Carr to make my own. With a 12" rod I could make each nut approximately 1-5/8 long after subtracting the kerf on my tablesaw blade which I planned to use to cut the rod to length.









Now I needed a way to hold the rod in place while I drilled it. I don't have any metalworking drill press vises and I didn't want to get one either. My 1st attempt was to quickly chisel out a v-groove in a block of scrap. This would have worked fine if I had used my tablesaw to make two 45° cuts to make a v-groove but I am not good enough with a chisel, so the rod rocked a bit. This would have been the proper way to do it and I shouldnt have been so lazy. I think my holes would have been more perpendicular with this approach as opposed to what I actually used, which proved a little too flexible.









I ended up finding some scrap which had a 3/8" groove cut near one edge and I clamped the rod to that. I also removed the MDF insert in my press table so it wouldn't get soaked with oil and that gave me another convenient place to run a clamp through.









I marked off the length of each of the 7 nuts with a pencil and then punched the locations of the holes with a spring loaded center punch. The pencil ended up being a bad idea because with all the WD-40 I used to drill the holes there was no pencil lines left. It was a good thing I center punched the hole locations or I would never have known where they went.

The pilot drill size for a 1/2-20 thread in brass is 29/64 so I chucked the bit and started drilling. I only had WD-40 to use as a lubricant and I brushed that on the bit and sprayed some into the hole periodically and also kept raising the bit to clear chips once I started getting in deep. Something kept happening that I don't really understand and I am not sure what the cause was. Each time the bit started to break through on the far side of the rod this happened:









Notice anything wrong? The bit kept grabbing and getting stuck as it tried to break through and the chuck came off its taper. Once I put the chuck back on each time there was no problem finishing the hole but I have no idea why that happened. I was using split point bits and my only guess is that 29/64 was too large a hole to drill without drilling a smaller pilot hole 1st.

After drilling all 7 holes I had a rather warm piece of brass that now needed to be tapped. Unfortunately, I don't own a countersink so the start and finish of the threads is not as clean as it could be. I also did not focus enough on getting the tap perfectly normal to the rod when tapping. In one hole the threads are not really parallel with the axis of the hole. It should still work, it just looks odd.









And to make sure that I actually used the right tap I tested out a bolt:









7 tapped holes and 2 sore arms later I had some modern art:









I think a metal working vise, or any vise for that matter, would have really helped on these things. Holding the piece with 1 hand and tapping with the other is tiring and I scraped myself on sharp brass more than a few times. I did all this work before cutting the rod into sections because I figured it would be a lot easier to drill and tap all 7 holes with a nice long rod to hold onto. I think it worked out great.

Next it was time to figure out how to safely cut the rod to length. I found the aluminum angle that used to be the rear fence on my tablesaw and clamped the rod to that. This not only stabilized the rod well but let me support the rod with a clamp so nothing could move around during the cut. I used an 80 tooth carbide tipped blade and it cut beautifully through the brass.









Now I had 7 nuts that didn't look too bad:









I thought they would look nicer with a chamfer on each end even though this serves no real purpose. In theory I guess it could make it a little easier to insert the nuts into their holes but since I plan to drill the holes 1/16" oversize it's more for looks, which is silly since the nuts will be completely hidden but the shelves once everything is built. I don't have a grinder to I grabbed a double-cut file and put the chamfers on by hand. Now they look more like store bought nuts:









The threads ran a little tighter than I was expecting. It could be that the source I found for the tap drill size was off a little bit or it could be that the threads on the bolts are a little rough in places but I was able to get the nuts on with not too much effort. They certainly were not free spinning. I actually don't mind that they are a little on the tight side because it means they won't be loosening themselves up during use. Here is the complete set on their bolts… The long bolts are 8 inches long for the legs and the shorter ones are 6 inches long for the end cap:









With a little light left outside I decided at this point to finish up the drill press work on the legs. I drilled the 1/2" through hole for the bench bolts as well as the 3/8" holes that will get the drawbore pegs. The drawbore holes are a 4" deep blind holes and will leave a bit of glue space for the pegs which will probably be about 3-3/4" long.









Here you can see the drill going through the mortise (that I still need to clean up with a chisel). I didn't get any tearout on the inside of the mortise so I guess I could have done the chisel work 1st and not worried about the walls of the mortise.









I think that is enough for 1 day. As expected, the long stretchers moved around a bit after I did the rough jointing and planing. After another week or so I will try to take them down to final size and then start cutting the tenons on the ends and see how well these bolts hold everything together.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *Custom brass dowel nuts for my bench bolts*
> 
> I took a short break from wood today since I will quickly run out of things to do until my new Tenon Saw arrives. One thing that needs to get done is to make some dowel nuts for the bolts that will hold the long stretchers to the leg.
> 
> ...


nice work. I personally just used a regular bold and washer on the rails and mortised a rectangular hole to house it, but your method looks nicer.

As for the chuck coming loose issue, trying to cut this wide of a hole in metal in one pass is definitely pushing it, you usually want to sneak up on those holes just like you would sneak up on cuts in woodworking. more than that - brass is notorious for it's characteristic of grabbing on cutting tools more than other metals.

That said - I'd also make sure you seat that chuck firmly in the taper, it may have been too loose in there. is the taper/chuck clean ? how do you seat it in?


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Custom brass dowel nuts for my bench bolts*
> 
> I took a short break from wood today since I will quickly run out of things to do until my new Tenon Saw arrives. One thing that needs to get done is to make some dowel nuts for the bolts that will hold the long stretchers to the leg.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I jumped the gun a little and purchased the brass rod quite a while ago. I since realized there were other cheaper and easier ways of accomplishing the same thing, including your method or even using a wooden dowel and a regular nut.

I am new to drill presses. If I were to drill this by hand I would have done it in 5 or 6 steps for a hole that size. I was surprised how easy it was to cut most of the hole so I didn't think there was a problem doing it in 1 step. Like you said though, next time I will sneak up on it.

The taper was clean and smooth. There was no dirt or anything else in there. I seated it by using my hand to put it on and then retracting the chuck most of the way and hit it from below with a rubber mallet a few times. After I did this I was not able to pull it off by hand so needless to say I was really surprised when it came off.


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## botanist (Sep 17, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *Custom brass dowel nuts for my bench bolts*
> 
> I took a short break from wood today since I will quickly run out of things to do until my new Tenon Saw arrives. One thing that needs to get done is to make some dowel nuts for the bolts that will hold the long stretchers to the leg.
> 
> ...


I made my own for my workbench for the same reasons, only I used aluminum. I used aluminum because it was cheaper than brass and I got a great deal of some stock on ebay (two 12 inch 1 inch bars for less than $10 including shipping). I was lucky because my father in law has plenty of experience working with metal so he has a milling machine and lathe.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Custom brass dowel nuts for my bench bolts*
> 
> I took a short break from wood today since I will quickly run out of things to do until my new Tenon Saw arrives. One thing that needs to get done is to make some dowel nuts for the bolts that will hold the long stretchers to the leg.
> 
> ...


I find aluminum is tricky to use with threads. Aluminum threads can be easy to strip and tend to gall when used with steel bolts if you use them too many times, especially if you use a fine thread over a coarse thread. I thought about using aluminum with a helical insert to strengthen the threads. Aluminum sure is cheap.


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## n1k86 (Mar 22, 2011)

HungryTermite said:


> *Custom brass dowel nuts for my bench bolts*
> 
> I took a short break from wood today since I will quickly run out of things to do until my new Tenon Saw arrives. One thing that needs to get done is to make some dowel nuts for the bolts that will hold the long stretchers to the leg.
> 
> ...


Brass can be funny to work with, it likes to "grab" cutting edges like drill bits, metal lathe tools, etc. That is why metalworkers often have drills for cutting brass that have a low clearance angle to limit how much of a bite can be taken in one rev if it does start to grab. Lathe tool bits for brass have zero top rake angle as well, like scraping wood at 90 degrees across the surface rather than using a handplane. This "grabbing" property of brass probably had a lot to do with the taper coming loose, its happened to me before.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Moving right along... finally.*

So… after almost 300 days and some major life changes since my last post (including moving and having to set up the "shop" all over again) I finally got back to my Roubo. I've hit the point in this project where it is starting to test the limits of my tools, my skills, my strength, and my patience. When I first started this project I tended to let the design drift to the heavier side thinking that the extra mass would be good. While this is probably true, once the bench is actually finished, it sure is making life interesting in the interim.

When I left off I had only finished 3 of the 4 legs so the first thing I did was break out the hand saws and finish the joinery for the top of the 4th leg:









The leg that I hadn't finished yet was the front left leg which will support the leg vise. I've had the hardware from Lake Erie Toolworks for a really long time now so it's finally time to get it installed. I drilled a 2-9/16" hole using a forstner bit I got from Lee Valley. I am not sure a forstner bit was really necessary but I wasn't able to find anything else that would drill that size hole through 5" of wood:









I planned to put the vise nut into a mortise in the leg so it was recessed a little. I used the vise screw to locate the nut. In order to get the screw as close to centered in the hole as I could I wrapped the screw with masking tape until it was snug:









Then I threaded the nut onto the screw and aligned it with the leg so I could mark the leg for the mortise:









Now, I started cutting the mortise out by hand but I think I am ready to give up on trying to use my little saws to cut across 5" of wood. Not to mention I am still not very good at using them. So I hit the tablesaw and removed the waste for the mortise:









Since I don't plan for this bench to last forever (since I am making it out of a wood that is probably too soft) I decided I would screw the vise nut on so I could remove it from this bench if I needed to in the future. I counter drilled for #10 wood screws so that the screws only had to go through about 1/2" of wood in the nut rather than the whole 4 inch thickness of the nut:









And Voila! Now I just need to find a nice piece for the vise chop:









Next, I jointed and planed the pieces for the long stretchers and went back to the tablesaw to cut the tenons on the ends. I left the tenons intentionally thicker so I could fine tune the fit into the mortise later:









I think I left the tenon a tad too thick because it took a lot of cleanup on both the mortise and the tenon. A shoulder plane would really have been a good tool to have for this but since I don't own one I just used sand paper. After a long while I got the first tenon in! It was a bit of a tight fit but I managed to get it fit up. I'm not quite sure how to get it out by myself.









And then… There were two:









So far, I only have the two back legs done and there is still some cleanup needed to get the shoulders to sit flush against the legs but it's really nice to see thing taking some kind of shape. While I had the stretcher installed I took the opportunity to start the hole in the end of the tenon for the bench bolts:









It's been a fairly productive few days. I have also started preparing some of the pieces for the top and got a few pieces glued up but I will save that for another post.

It's really good to be working on it again. I missed the smell of sawdust.


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## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Moving right along... finally.*
> 
> So… after almost 300 days and some major life changes since my last post (including moving and having to set up the "shop" all over again) I finally got back to my Roubo. I've hit the point in this project where it is starting to test the limits of my tools, my skills, my strength, and my patience. When I first started this project I tended to let the design drift to the heavier side thinking that the extra mass would be good. While this is probably true, once the bench is actually finished, it sure is making life interesting in the interim.
> 
> ...


Nice work on the mortise's. i'm about at the same stage you're at. i started this past july, and i gave up on a completion date. now i just do a little as time comes up. i couldn't find a 2-9/16 bit had to buy a 2- 5/8 bit. maybe this weekend i'll be able to drill the leg chop. smell the saw dust and enjoy.
Oh i forgot, are you going to glue your legs into the bench top? and run some 3/8" dowels to lock in place?


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Laminating the Top*

The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!

My plan for the top was to glue up all 8 pieces for the top into groups of two, then glue up those 4 groups into groups of 4, and then glue those 2 groups of 4 into a single top. After going through all the pieces and trying to select which faces would become the top and which piece I wanted to be the front, it was time to start the task of jointing and planing the pieces and starting the laminations.










Jointing pieces this big and heavy was an interesting experience. I tried a few different methods and I just wasn't able to get the pieces straight. I came very close, however, there was always some bow in the pieces. I was able to do a decent job of getting the 4 faces square and the pieces were a constant width and thickness but I could not get them straight. When I glued the pieces together I arranged them so the gap caused by the bowing was in the middle. This will tend to keep the ends of the top in close contact as the top ages.










The glue up was rather straightforward although I did have to go get some more clamps. The boards are 10 feet long and I wanted to make sure I had a clamp at least every foot and closer than that if possible.










I eventually ended up with 4 groups of 2 pieces laminated together:









I jointed and planed these since it was the last time I would be able to fit them on my 6" jointer. I was trying to minimize the amount of hand work I was going to have to do later, which worked, except I think I ended up taking off more thickness than I really needed to. The pieces started off at about 5.5" and my final top looks like it is going to be about 4.75" thick. Now, some of the boards bowed quite a bit and that is part of the reason for the top being thinner than desired but part of it was that I did a poor job of keeping the pieces aligned when doing the glue up. Needless to say that running the boards that are now twice as heavy across the jointer was even more challenging than before and I had the same problem getting the pieces straight. There was a slight bow left over when I was done.

Now I could glue up the smaller sections into 2 groups of 4:









Now, at this point the two halves of the top would still fit through my thickness planer but not across my jointer so I needed to do some cleanup of the bottom face by hand so I could have the planer clean up the top face:









Before running the top through the planer I decided to try to fill in some of the checks that developed at the boards dried out and I also wanted to fill in the knots so they would be more stable. This is the same thing I did for the legs and the stretchers:









The 4 piece subassemblies were just about the limit of what I could safely lift by myself. I am going to have to find some help when I finally glue the two pieces into a single top:









All in all the laminating went as good as I could have hoped and my final thickness, while not as thick as the design called for, is still plenty thick enough to be both thick and heavy. One reason I was shooting for 5 inches thick was to ensure that there would be enough mass that the bench wouldn't scoot around while planing. I don't think I am going to have problems with that even at "only" 4.75 inches. I also didn't lose as much length to checking as I thought I might so I am going to adjust the design slightly to add another foot or so to the length of the bench. This will get it up around 9 feet long!

The next step is to make the short stretchers, now that I know how wide the top will be, and to start marking the top for the leg mortises. I think I am going to peg the two halves of the top so I can mark everything but then still have the two halves separate to cut the mortises and probably install the tail vise. I think having the pieces separate will make handling them a lot easier in order to do all the work on them. I won't really be able to move the top around once it is a single piece. This is still a theory so I might decide that the risk of the two halves not going together in exactly the right spot won't be worth making it easier to work with.

Here is a closeup of the top of the front piece:









up next…. finishing the leg subassemblies:


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## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


nice milling. looks like your on your way. what kind of vises did you decide to go with?


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## widdle (Mar 10, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


right on looks good' keep pushin..


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## bigfish_95008 (Nov 26, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


ISO need to do the above steps!


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## Maveric777 (Dec 23, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


Good stuff and well done! Can't wait to see more of this…


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


@doordude: i am going to use a tail vise (i created a mockup of a design in episode 3) and a leg vise (installed the screw in episode 11).


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## BerBer5985 (Oct 10, 2011)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


It's def looking good. I'm anxious to see the end result.


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## Ken90712 (Sep 2, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


Looking great! Look fwd to seeing more.


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## jcwalleye (Dec 26, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Laminating the Top*
> 
> The time has come to start making this thing look like a bench. In order to make the short stretchers I need to know what the final width of the bench is going to be. I am mostly playing the length, width, and thickness of the top by ear since I didn't know how much I was going to have to remove from the construction grade wood I used. I purchased the pieces for the top 1 year ago so they have had quite a bit of time to dry out as well as bend and twist and warp. There are also some very large resin pockets in the wood and they make a mess of all my tools. I really can't wait until this project is finished so I can clean all my tools!
> 
> ...


Great write-up and pictures. That's going to be a great bench that will serve well for years.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

*Leg Assemblies Complete*

Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:









I decided to try to drawbore the legs with 3/8" pegs since the short stretchers will be attached permanently. I had already drilled the holes in the legs so all that was left to do was to mark the location on the tenon so the holes could be drilled. 









I couldn't get the stretcher all the way into the mortise for some reason so I measured the gap at the shoulder and took that into account when I shifted the holes before drilling. The total shift was just over 1/8 inch. This seems excessive but the wood is soft and there was a gap that needed to be pulled out.

Next step is to make some pegs using a dowel plate. This was an interesting task and wasn't quite as easy (for me) as everyone makes it look in the videos I tracked down on iTunes and youtube. Quartersawn white oak seems to be the peg material of choice and the conventional wisdom is to riv the wood along the grain to make the strongest pegs. Well, I apparently have no idea what that means because when I tried to do it I ended up with a mess:









I started off completely wrong. When I finally did manage to get a piece big enough for a peg I thought that by starting off with the largest hole in the plate and working my way down to 3/8 inch that I would be fine. This doesn't work at all and it wasn't even really possible to get the raw stock through the final hole. At this point I changed tactics to something a little less silly. I ripped the quartersawn oak to a hair over 3/8 inch wide. The stock was 1/2 inch thick so I planed it down to just over 3/8 inch thick. Now I had a square that was about 3/8×3/8. With my block plane I took the corners off until I had an octagon shape that was only slightly larger than the dowel I wanted:









I sharpened the end using a pencil sharpener for a carpenters pencil so it would start easily through the dowel plate:









The other thing I was doing wrong was that I was just trying to hold the dowel plate over a hole in one of the legs. This proved to be very difficult. The plate moved around a lot and it was hard to hold the peg material vertically. The obvious solution was to stop being lazy and come up with a mounting block for the plate and to drill a hole in the block that was just over 3/8 inch:









Now it was easy to load up a peg blank and whack at it with a hammer. The hole in the mounting block supported the pegs very well as they went through:









Since they were well supported I ended up with some very straight pegs:









I didn't select the piece of oak I used very well. I think it was probably more rift sawn than quartersawn and the grain wasn't all that straight. I knew when I was trying to make a dowel from the wrong section of the wood when the grain orientation caused the dowel to splinter while I was trying to drive it through the dowel plate. This happened on a few attempts:









Next it was time to throw some glue on the tenons and insert them in the legs and then glue and drive the dowels in. I was getting excited at this point and I actually forgot to put some glue on two of the dowels but I really don't think the pegs are ever going to come out:









One leg assembly complete!









And two leg assemblies complete!









The dowels really did a good job of pulling the joints tight:









I probably should have picked up a flush cut saw before I got to this point but I will trim the dowels and plane them flush.

Somehow on one of the leg assemblies I ended up with either a crooked mortise or a crooked tenon because the back leg and the front leg are not quite parallel. The difference is slight and I can pull it into square when I mark the top and install the legs so I am not too worried about it, yet.

Next step is to adjust the fit of the long stretchers and complete the entire base assembly. Then I can mark the locations of the mortises on the top and figure out how the heck I am going to cut those out. I have to admit that at this point in the project I am really intimidated by the through dovetail/mortise joints. I have a few fallback plans in case things don't go according to plan but I am hoping not to have to put them into action.


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## Maveric777 (Dec 23, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


Very cool! Nice to see projects like this coming to be and the ups & downs with their construction. I can see where certain parts can become a little intimidating, but that seems to be the parts I learn the most from personally. I got a feeling you are going to look back at this beauty with tons of fond memories for many… many years to come.

Remind me once again about the material you are using. It is all construction grade lumber right? Think that is what has impressed me the most about your handy work here. You are shaping this into one fine bench and giving me a ton of inspiration to get off my butt and try one myself… Thank you for that…

Look forward to seeing more down the line.


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


Fantastic build! Great job documenting ALL the steps. It is very motivating. I need to make a work table, I don't have the confidence, or the time to make a proper "Woodworking Bench". But this gives me the "Kick in the A$$" that I so desperately need, perhaps I need to "slow down" and at least build a suitable bench.

Thanks, for taking the time to photograph & document your progress.


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## Ken90712 (Sep 2, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


Great job on the progress and overcoming the challenage's in any project. I wish i had room for a proper work bench inmy shop. Keep up the great work bud!


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## willmego (Mar 27, 2008)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


nice. I've had some difficulty in making oak pegs off of the same dowel plate as you. Sometimes Oak isn't exactly the grain you were expecting.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

@Maveric777: It's all 4×6 and 6×6 Douglas Fir from Lowes or Home Depot (See Part 5 of the series)


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## DrPain (Sep 2, 2009)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


Very interesting. Is it typical to glue drawbore pegs? My (possibly incorrect) understanding was that the mechanical tension was sufficient.


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


I'm not sure what is typical Scott. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. On the two that I didnt put glue on, I doubt I could ever get them out unless I drilled them out.


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## JerseyEngineer (Apr 8, 2015)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


This is unbelievable. I wanted to see if you would be kind enough to share your CAD model with those of us who don't want to "reinvent the wheel"!


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## HungryTermite (Jan 19, 2010)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


Ugh… This reminds me that I am still not finished with it! Life has interrupted this project for a while but I am working on a garage remodel that will hopefully let me get up and running.

JerseyEngineer, if you PM me your email address or a drop box location I can send you a STEP file of my model.


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## JerseyEngineer (Apr 8, 2015)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


HungryTermite - I cannot actually send a private message in this board unless I post five times… This is number two.


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## JerseyEngineer (Apr 8, 2015)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


hungryTermite - Number three - I am not sure if I've ever used a step file… I had a laser scan done of an existing building once and I vaguely recall it being done in Katia (SP) and potentially being a step file. I have auto cad /014, sketch up make 2015 and navisworks manage 2015.


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## JerseyEngineer (Apr 8, 2015)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


HungryTermite - number four - my intent is to take your model, slightly modify dimensions for my use and make fab drawings that I can build from


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## JerseyEngineer (Apr 8, 2015)

HungryTermite said:


> *Leg Assemblies Complete*
> 
> Now that I know what the actual width of the top will be (23 1/2 inches by the way) I was able to cut the short stretchers that connect the front and back legs:
> 
> ...


HungryTermite - number five - I will PM you my email address now…. Sorry for trolling your page


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