# Roubo



## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Wherein our protagonist drinks the crazy juice, and decides to use 4/4 lumber.*

So brief background is that about a 18 months ago, I bought a load of lumber off ebay. While there, I ended up also buying 350 BF of flatsawn white ash for $100. I figured, even if it ends up being 'test' pieces and shop projects, it would still be worth it. Fast forward to recently, and I've been planning to build a new bench, and I've pretty much decided on a Roubo.

I picked up the lovely Benchcrafted tail/wagon vise, a german bench screw, and some holdfasts.

My local attempts to find SYP failed miserably. Then I considered 8/4 ash. Both places I went to had suboptimal supplies, and by my calculations, I'd end up wasting something like 70% of the raw board footage, and at ~$3.00/bf, thats a lot of change.

Then I considered the 4/4 stock that I had. It was cut pretty generously…. A couple of beers later, it seemed like a real genius idea.










Aside from picking through some of the ash for the weird grain patterns, and saving for later..










I did manage to grab the stock closest to 5" and get it cut to a workable size, jointed and planed.

I've got all my leg stock cut and glued up, and it only took me 5 layers to get a hair shy of 5" square legs. They're about 33" long, to leave some extra room for trimming later.

I think this is doable.










Lets see if I can survive the top though!


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## logndog (Feb 7, 2009)

Jon3 said:


> *Wherein our protagonist drinks the crazy juice, and decides to use 4/4 lumber.*
> 
> So brief background is that about a 18 months ago, I bought a load of lumber off ebay. While there, I ended up also buying 350 BF of flatsawn white ash for $100. I figured, even if it ends up being 'test' pieces and shop projects, it would still be worth it. Fast forward to recently, and I've been planning to build a new bench, and I've pretty much decided on a Roubo.
> 
> ...


Ill be following the progress,so please keep it up. Now i know where to get my screw too


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## gizmodyne (Mar 15, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Wherein our protagonist drinks the crazy juice, and decides to use 4/4 lumber.*
> 
> So brief background is that about a 18 months ago, I bought a load of lumber off ebay. While there, I ended up also buying 350 BF of flatsawn white ash for $100. I figured, even if it ends up being 'test' pieces and shop projects, it would still be worth it. Fast forward to recently, and I've been planning to build a new bench, and I've pretty much decided on a Roubo.
> 
> ...


Good idea. It will be fine. Where do you think they got the 4/4 stuff?


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Jon3 said:


> *Wherein our protagonist drinks the crazy juice, and decides to use 4/4 lumber.*
> 
> So brief background is that about a 18 months ago, I bought a load of lumber off ebay. While there, I ended up also buying 350 BF of flatsawn white ash for $100. I figured, even if it ends up being 'test' pieces and shop projects, it would still be worth it. Fast forward to recently, and I've been planning to build a new bench, and I've pretty much decided on a Roubo.
> 
> ...


Looking great.


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## JerrySats (Jul 7, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Wherein our protagonist drinks the crazy juice, and decides to use 4/4 lumber.*
> 
> So brief background is that about a 18 months ago, I bought a load of lumber off ebay. While there, I ended up also buying 350 BF of flatsawn white ash for $100. I figured, even if it ends up being 'test' pieces and shop projects, it would still be worth it. Fast forward to recently, and I've been planning to build a new bench, and I've pretty much decided on a Roubo.
> 
> ...


So far so good , look forward to following the progress .


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Dressing up those big legs*

Not much progress. LOML ok'd a grand on a jointer, so I sold my 6" delta and ordered a G0490X.

So I finished dressing up the legs.










A hair under 5", but the ash finished nice and clean. Ends still rough, and weighing in around 33-34 inches each.










Here they are on the old bench that the roubo is replacing.
The old bench will take on duty as a stand for a 500lb milling machine and a small metal lathe (in the future).


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*A Slight Diversion*

I had a fun time jointing up the legs of my Roubo on my older 6" Delta jointer. But my experience with the first 8 footer soon showed me the difficulty I would have with 26+ 8 footer laminations on it.

I've been eyeing the G0490X, and I finally noticed that the following conditions combined for the perfect storm:
8% cash back via ebay/paypal.
Grizzly's Free Shipping offer.
$600 in the 'tool fund'
~$350 value in the used jointer.

Between those, the numbers were only shy a hundred fifty or so, and the wife convinced me to go ahead and get it. Actually she said to get it before she know how little it would cost. (Stealth wife gloat)










I have tomorrow off, and I hope to be able to at least joint up the first batch of boards for lamination.

I've been thinking it through, and with an 8" jointer and a 13" planer, I'll probably aim just to come up with 3-4 big blocks that can be planed, then slowly work my way up until I reach final thickness.


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *A Slight Diversion*
> 
> I had a fun time jointing up the legs of my Roubo on my older 6" Delta jointer. But my experience with the first 8 footer soon showed me the difficulty I would have with 26+ 8 footer laminations on it.
> 
> ...


Man that is SWEEET!


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## GuyK (Mar 26, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *A Slight Diversion*
> 
> I had a fun time jointing up the legs of my Roubo on my older 6" Delta jointer. But my experience with the first 8 footer soon showed me the difficulty I would have with 26+ 8 footer laminations on it.
> 
> ...


I am sure I want one of those. If a machine can be beautifull, that certainly is. Good luck with it. Let us know about its performance.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *A Slight Diversion*
> 
> I had a fun time jointing up the legs of my Roubo on my older 6" Delta jointer. But my experience with the first 8 footer soon showed me the difficulty I would have with 26+ 8 footer laminations on it.
> 
> ...


This is a nice tool. I am sure you are going to enjoy playing with it.


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*3 bags of chips later...*

I started yesterday grabbing all of the appropriate width and length stock out of my stash. I used up nearly every 8 foot piece I had. I could have easily done it with 7 footers, but I decided, if this is the 'Last bench I'm going to make.' (until I find a better one) then I ought not to short-change myself.

Here I am midway through the process. 









I didn't take a great deal of photos, because, by the time you're on LJ, you've probably already surfaced rough lumber. My process is this:

1.) Set up jointer, set up infeed/outfeed rollers. Set jointer for a thick shaving, 1/8" or so.
2.) Joint the 'cleaner' edge of each board.
3.) Set jointer back to fine shaving, 1/32.
4.) Run the flattest boards through it, stop when you've got a clean index face (enough smooth surface that the board can't twist in the planer).
5.) Set jointer back a big rougher, 1/16
6.) Joint the worst of the lost for an index face.
7.) Push jointer aside, fire up tablesaw (yup, you heard me)
8.) Using TS, rip everything > 4.5-5" wide down to a more reasonable size. (twice this left me with another piece to joint up again.)
9.) Plane just enough to get 2 clean smooth sides.
10.) make pretty stack on top of the jointer, and temporarily clamp them all to keep warpage to a minimum, as I am dog tired and won't be able to glue up tonight.

So why do it this way? Shop size. Turning an 8+ foot board around in my shop, which is only about 11 feet wide wall to wall, can be a production.










Note that what you see is only about 22.5" wide, when clamped. I still have to pick up the one piece of 8/4 ash I have to buy, for the doghole strip. I knew I could probably get by using multiple pieces of 4/4, but I've nearly exhausted my 8 footers, and I think it will be easier to get a single 8/4 board, even if I have to take a little drive for it. (I priced out the local woodcraft and rockler, and nearly peed my pants. They price out 8/4 ash at something like $20/bf. Who on earth would ever buy lumber there?)

I also set aside some thicker 7 foot stock for the stretchers.










Next, I start gluing up workbench chunks. I think I'm looking at around 4 chunks. 3 ~7footers, and one shorter one with the dog holes in it.

Hopefully, I'll move on to gluing in the evenings this week!


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## TheCaver (Nov 21, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *3 bags of chips later...*
> 
> I started yesterday grabbing all of the appropriate width and length stock out of my stash. I used up nearly every 8 foot piece I had. I could have easily done it with 7 footers, but I decided, if this is the 'Last bench I'm going to make.' (until I find a better one) then I ought not to short-change myself.
> 
> ...


Is it wise to stack all of that lumber on your jointer tables like that?

JC


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## croessler (Jun 22, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *3 bags of chips later...*
> 
> I started yesterday grabbing all of the appropriate width and length stock out of my stash. I used up nearly every 8 foot piece I had. I could have easily done it with 7 footers, but I decided, if this is the 'Last bench I'm going to make.' (until I find a better one) then I ought not to short-change myself.
> 
> ...


I promise I will never complain about the space I have for my shop again!!!!


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *3 bags of chips later...*
> 
> I started yesterday grabbing all of the appropriate width and length stock out of my stash. I used up nearly every 8 foot piece I had. I could have easily done it with 7 footers, but I decided, if this is the 'Last bench I'm going to make.' (until I find a better one) then I ought not to short-change myself.
> 
> ...


Wise? Well, its a pretty hefty jointer, but thankfully I moved it off after that.


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## ShannonRogers (Jan 11, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *3 bags of chips later...*
> 
> I started yesterday grabbing all of the appropriate width and length stock out of my stash. I used up nearly every 8 foot piece I had. I could have easily done it with 7 footers, but I decided, if this is the 'Last bench I'm going to make.' (until I find a better one) then I ought not to short-change myself.
> 
> ...


I just finished the glue up for my top and I highly recommend adding one board at a time (or however many your clamps will span) so you can clamp across the joint and maintain a relatively flat surface throughout the glue up. This made it so much easier to flatten the top once I had it together.


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Testing my Glueup capabilities, and a fun vise handle discovery.*

I began breaking down my boards into bunches based on their rough width, thickness, and general flatness. I tried not to put 2 boards with any kind of imperfection in their flatness together, preferring to separate them by at least 2 straight boards. There was some very very mild curvature after the planing work, but nothing that was not easily pinched out using just the strength in my hands.










Since I have no assembly table, I prepared my old bench with some rollers for extension (its only about 58" long!) and gave it a nice non-stick surface via the cheapest economy size wax paper in the supermarket.










I decided to test out my clamping capabilities on the 7 foot stretchers (each will be cut down for 1 long stretcher 61" , and one short 19" stretcher.)










Looks good so far, but I did realize I'd probably like at least 2 more of those jet parallel clamps before I do the 8 footers. Since I didn't go buy a bunch of lumber, I think I can probably justify 2 or 4 of them.

I think I'm probably going to glue up most of the sections 1 day at a time. This will both remind me to go slow, and also allow me to use every short clamp in sight. I do have 2 footers, but I've discovered that trying to use clamps that are too long can sometimes backfire.

That first glueup went fast, and I had some extra 'loud time' before I hit the quiet hour (8PM). Quiet hour is when I commit to stop making noise, as I live in a converted to condos 2 family house, and I live on the 2nd floor, but my shop is in the basement, right under my neighbor.

I decided there was maybe too much power tooling going on so far, so I decided to make my vise handle by hand. And no, I'm leaving the lathe out of it.

Since my bench is currently acting as my assembly table, I laid the board that will eventually get doubled up and turned into my bench vise flat, and clamped a stop block on it. Then I grabbed a roughly 4/4 square oversized offcut, rough cut 18 inches off with a handsaw, and went neander.










One or two passes with the jack both jointed it flat enough, and gave me a semi-smooth side to work with. I switched over to a low angle block, tight mouth, and smoothed out anything that didn't feel good.










Then I just started chamfering all over. My theory on this is, I want something I can grab, that feels comfortable, but still has enough imperfections I can get a good grip. I have a turned handle on my rockler face vise on my old bench, and I don't really get anything out of it. Sometimes its too smooth to grip when I've been sweating it out on the hand tools.










I just went at it until it felt comfortable, and then I stopped. Since I didn't feel like donning the sanding gear, I just rubbed it on the rough board's side until it got all burnished up.

Once I get the vise installed, I'll probably drill a small hole, put a little dowel through, and sand the dowel ends smooth. I may not even glue them in!

And since you love the photos, a gratituitous handplane money shot!










I may not bother to post daily progress on the big-chunk-glue-ups. So it may be a few days before you see anything else!


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Getting near the end of the glue-up phase of the top.*

I finished prepping the boards for the last of the 6" chunks










You can see the glued up chunks on the floor here, one mid-glue on table.










I put the big chunks on the bench, and began fitting them together, The clamps are just enough pressure to keep the boards together so I can locate the high spots and the gaps for fine tuning.










And the first "chunk" glueup! Yes, thats a domino hole. I was toying with the idea of using them to line up the top, but bailed on it. It just doesn't seem necessary, with so much surface area for the glue to reach.










While things were setting, I made the dog hole strip jig.










Once I had the top complete, sans the dog hole strip section, I decided to flip the bench to the bottom side up (not an easy task) and began to practice my jack and jointer plane skills for eventual use on the top.

Some nice curly shavings out of that jack. I did get some tearout, but I'm not surprised. There were a lot of cathedrals in this ash, leaving to gran direction changes mid-board on many, so no matter how much I wanted to make all the grain line up perfectly, it just was not going to happen. But this is a user bench, not a dining room table. The fact this is a low angle jack is probably not helping either, but I don't have a #6, so I make do.










I switched to the jointer once I got the worst of the high spots somewhat levelled off. I was aiming for perfection, this is the bottom fo the bench. I was just trying to get a feel for the jacking (is that a word?) and jointing. The #7 was definitly easier going. Still, my arms are TIRED! And the bottom isn't even done. The top is going to be far more work. I will make sure to tackle parts of the top each day, so I don't end up killing myself or giving up and going to power tools to level the top.










Last thing I did for the night was cut my dog hole strip to length. Lets see you stop your tablesaw mid crosscut for a beverage break!










Tomorrow, I hope to cut the dog holes, and get the dog hole strip glued into place.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Getting near the end of the glue-up phase of the top.*
> 
> I finished prepping the boards for the last of the 6" chunks
> 
> ...


This is looking like you are beginning to have fun with this build. The top is coming along nicely.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Getting near the end of the glue-up phase of the top.*
> 
> I finished prepping the boards for the last of the 6" chunks
> 
> ...


I have been enjoying following your progress, especially since I have my own Roubo bench inprocess. Hand planing the bottom of the top took me about 2 hours over 2 days, fulfilling work, neat result, lots of sweat. Yours looks great. BTW I like and will steal your vise handle idea/technique.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Getting near the end of the glue-up phase of the top.*
> 
> I finished prepping the boards for the last of the 6" chunks
> 
> ...


This looks like one-heavy-duty top…. and you flipped it over by yourself?!? [email protected]


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Woof Woof!*

I didn't think to get a good set of photos of my dog hole jig, and the cutting process. I simply made a small template out of scrap ply, and routed out the dog holes with a big honking pattern bit.










While things were setting up, I got out my templates, and began to mark out the cavity for the Benchcrafted Tail Vise

Some circular saw cutting, hammering, chiseling, and gouging later, and I've got a rough cavity started. From here on it was mostly worth with the gouge. I made a small counter-template out of 1/4" ply to make sure there were no high spots that would interfere with the action of the vise.










Finally, I applied the outer strip. I wanted my dog holes a few inches in, so I could cleanly grab a board of decent width, 8" or so. The dog holes are about 4" in.










(What you see sticking up in the back is the cutoff from the dog hole strip where the vise block will go. I didn't want to pinch that area, so I saved the cutoff so the spacer would be the same size.

While that set up, i switched to the base, and cut my legs and short stretchers to size, and roughed out the cheeks.

Before I left the shop, I set up the first cheek cut. I find leaving something 'ready to go' is a good way to get back up to speed when you re-enter the shop, and also keeps your momentum going, so you want to head back to the shop the next day.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Woof Woof!*
> 
> I didn't think to get a good set of photos of my dog hole jig, and the cutting process. I simply made a small template out of scrap ply, and routed out the dog holes with a big honking pattern bit.
> 
> ...


Jon, this is looking good. This is going to be a really nice tool when you get finished with it.


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## ShannonRogers (Jan 11, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Woof Woof!*
> 
> I didn't think to get a good set of photos of my dog hole jig, and the cutting process. I simply made a small template out of scrap ply, and routed out the dog holes with a big honking pattern bit.
> 
> ...


Jon, nice work. I like the counter template idea to check for high spots in the vise cavity. I just laid out all the marks on my bench last night for the vise so I'll be doing some excavating today. I was thinking of just using my router cause my circular saw is almost kaputt.


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*End Caps, Vise fitting*

Been a while since the photos hit. I didn't take photos of everything, once I really got moving along.

I roughed out the end cap tenons with my TS55.










Whacked the waste with a hammer, made a pass with the chisel, then went to town with LN 60.5R










Began to rough out waste from my vise end end-cap.










I probably won't bother with the other end cap until the bench is built. I need to finish this end cap to complete the tail vise, which I want to do while the bench is flipped over.

Looking good so far.










Fitted out the vise hardware, mortised the runners a bit.










Started in on the legs. Cut out the hole for the vise screw, and mortised in the nut a bit.










Drilled the holdfast holes and tested them out. I ended up counterboring a 1" deep hole before I got any traction, even after sanding the holdfast.


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## BigBard (Jan 19, 2009)

Jon3 said:


> *End Caps, Vise fitting*
> 
> Been a while since the photos hit. I didn't take photos of everything, once I really got moving along.
> 
> ...


You guys do great work!!


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Mortise City*

Managed to squeeze out some time after work the last few nights to get the mortises for the short stretchers out of the way.

I measured up my tenons, and trimmed them very square. My theory on M&T joinery is the only time you're allowed to touch your tenons is BEFORE you even mark your mortises. So far, this rule has served me very well.

Once they're all square, I mic'd them out to the nearest large forstner bit I have.










Then rough out the waste.










Then I grab my 3/8ths LN mortise chisel, and a nice wide 3/4 bevel edge chisel, and true up the corners.

First joint, nice and snug!










And with a second joint, the first mockup.










And the most important part, nice and square!



















Long stretcher mortises later this week, time allowing.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Mortise City*
> 
> Managed to squeeze out some time after work the last few nights to get the mortises for the short stretchers out of the way.
> 
> ...


Nice Fitting Joints!!!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Mortise City*
> 
> Managed to squeeze out some time after work the last few nights to get the mortises for the short stretchers out of the way.
> 
> ...


Those do look good.


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## Mario (Apr 23, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Mortise City*
> 
> Managed to squeeze out some time after work the last few nights to get the mortises for the short stretchers out of the way.
> 
> ...


Nice work, should be very stable and strong.


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Mortise City*
> 
> Managed to squeeze out some time after work the last few nights to get the mortises for the short stretchers out of the way.
> 
> ...


Truly inspiring! I have told you I really want to build one of these for my shop?


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## lgfskua (Mar 7, 2009)

Jon3 said:


> *Mortise City*
> 
> Managed to squeeze out some time after work the last few nights to get the mortises for the short stretchers out of the way.
> 
> ...


nicely done……....


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Fitting and preparing to drawbore!*

Really starts to look like a bench tonight.

I did the dry fit on the long stretchers










Then I drilled out the drawboring holes.










Did my initial marking out.










I also twisted a pencil in the dot, to make sure I could see it well later.










I caught one shoulder not as tight as it should be! Time to pare a little bit.










And a final full dry fit to check everything is square. Since I had the top flipped over, I lined it up to see what i might look like. Upside down anyway.










Whoo hoo!


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## woodworm (Jul 27, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Fitting and preparing to drawbore!*
> 
> Really starts to look like a bench tonight.
> 
> ...


Very nice. Looks like you're getting there soon.
Keep it up!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Fitting and preparing to drawbore!*
> 
> Really starts to look like a bench tonight.
> 
> ...


I have to agree that I have enjoyed every one of these so far. This is looking pretty good.


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Drawboring Day!*

This is the true test of the legs. To make sure they're really going be as sturdy as I need them to be.

I purchased a top of the line manual drawbore dowel manufactory.










Glued up my tenons and mortises, and pounded in my first set of pins.










A perfect 90 degrees!

A second one, and I've got 2 perfectly coplanar legs.










While the glue dried (enough to flush cut the dowels anyway), I switched to the leg vice, which I shaped and planed it smooth.










Some careful heaving later, I had the base flipped, and I marked out the mortises from the tenons. This part can be tricky, if you didn't pay too much attention, (like me) to where your dog holes were going.










Since the tenons were the same size, I made a template so I could route myself some perfectly true sides for most of the mortises.










I'll be away tomorrow, so I'll probably have to hold off on preparing the drawboring holes and the dry fit for this coming week. So very close!


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## spanky46 (Feb 12, 2009)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring Day!*
> 
> This is the true test of the legs. To make sure they're really going be as sturdy as I need them to be.
> 
> ...


Looks like its coming along just fine!


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Drawboring the Top*

I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.










The dry fit was tricky. I did the dry fit, but it was going in tight. I also noticed I had two nice long wedges from the tombstone shape of the leg vice. They made excellent tools for forcing getting those tenons out of the too-tight mortises.










Another round of trimming, and I've got a nice tight dry fit!










And here is what it'll look like when I finally get it flipped over!










Those legs ended up perfectly flush. I can't even register a chisel between the top and the leg.

Dry fitting done, the long wedges helped me disassemble.










And with the tenons marked, I drilled out the drawbore holes.










Now I've only got 2 small things left. I have to route out the mortise for the sliding deadman, and install the end caps and vise hardware.


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


This is coming along nicely. Where did you get the anti gravity mallet?


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


Lookin g great. Nice job on the Bench.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


Jon, this is looking really good. After all the dry fitting and disassembly I am sure you are getting a nice workout with this bench.


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


Not just anti-gravity mallet, all the tools are zero-G!

Let me tell you, trying to pound a few hundred pounds up in the air… not fun. The wedges were the only thing that made disassembly possible!


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


Man this is looking good, (whistfully said of course). I am just so envious!


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


Don't just be whistful sIKE, go ahead and build one. The wood is relatively cheap, and you're only talking 12 joints =)

I'm a (2 year) beginner, and I have no formal training.


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


One day Jon one day…...


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


What are your plans for the sliding Deadman? Have you seen this one?

http://oudluthier.blogspot.com/search/label/Workbenches%20%2F%20Roubo%20Bench

I am so gonna make e one of these ….one of these days….


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


You should see the sliding deadman showing up in the next post (or one after that) .

It is in progress.

Jameel's is fabulous. I got my tail vise from him. Definitely an inspiration in my build!


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Drawboring the Top*
> 
> I'm nervous about trying to keep my hand drill perpendicular, so I made a little jig to drill the holes. Worked out quite well. Just put some thick scrap in the drill press and drilled out the holes, then clamped it to the top.
> 
> ...


You got a BenchCrafted Vise too?


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*How I got this far...*

Here's how I managed to get this far, without a major setback (and I think I can fix the dog hole alignment issue without too much pain.)

My Procedure List

I try to break it down into manageable steps, then order them to make sure they're done in the right order.

Would love comments AND Critiques!


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## damianpenney (Jun 22, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *How I got this far...*
> 
> Here's how I managed to get this far, without a major setback (and I think I can fix the dog hole alignment issue without too much pain.)
> 
> ...


I always mean to do something like this (but never do), cool.


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *How I got this far...*
> 
> Here's how I managed to get this far, without a major setback (and I think I can fix the dog hole alignment issue without too much pain.)
> 
> ...


Great list! Check!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *How I got this far...*
> 
> Here's how I managed to get this far, without a major setback (and I think I can fix the dog hole alignment issue without too much pain.)
> 
> ...


That is a wonderful way to detail a project. This is something that most of us simply do not do but it is a nice idea to summarize the critical steps in a project. This is an especially good idea for complex builds like your bench but I can see benefit from even simple projects.

Nice idea.


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Moving Day!*

So [Friday] was moving day, and I had to re-arrange a bunch of things in the shop to make room for a much longer bench. My old bench (soon to be milling machine table) was 64" long, and my new one is a full 8 footer, give or take a few.

Just a few last things on the bench. Had to re-fit and try out the tail vise. Worked great, even upside down!










Then I moved my old bench to the back corner.










... and hoisted up the milling machine. Oy, that was a production. You can see 3 separate moving straps, then I lowered it down to the legs of my 2ton engine hoist while I rolled it around.










I had to roll a LOT of stuff around to make room to swing that engine hoist around. The base of the new bench, and nearly anything not nailed down was moved out of the shop.










After much effort, the machine made it to it's new home!










Then, we moved on to…. ASSEMBLY!


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## Nebraskaland (Mar 18, 2012)

Jon3 said:


> *Moving Day!*
> 
> So [Friday] was moving day, and I had to re-arrange a bunch of things in the shop to make room for a much longer bench. My old bench (soon to be milling machine table) was 64" long, and my new one is a full 8 footer, give or take a few.
> 
> ...


Good job on being able to move your tolls, equipment and materials in good shape. Moving can definitely be very stressful and it is hard work. Being a part of moving companies Lincoln NE, transferring things like these needs time and effort. Glad you we're able to do it without much hassle.


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Hey, want to see a BENCH?*

After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.










I put in the drawbore pins, unglued, to make it easier to move it out of my crazy basement in the future. Then, I hauled out all of the supporting accessories, and went to work on the finishing.

I fit the leg vise, made the sliding deadman, and fine tuned everything.










Yours truly, posing with a NEARLY completed project. I still need to finish the other end cap, finish up the sliding deadman, and finish out the holdfast holes (you can see them pre-bored out to 3/8s, I'm going to plunge them out with a router bit and a jig to ensure I get them perfectly perpendicular to the top.

I also started out on the rails that will support the bottom shelf under the bench. I intend to store all my planes and saws down there. The goal is to have all of my hand tools and hand tool accessories/jigs within a few footsteps of my workbench.

I had some indirect light in these photos, so they ended up overexposed. I'll fiddle with the lighting and get some better pictures in the future.

I also have some high res photos on my website, (including a couple that I didn't bother posting) if anybody mid-build is interested.


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Hey, want to see a BENCH?*
> 
> After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.
> 
> ...


Like the Leg Vise and Sliding Deadman. Your bench looks so nice! Can't wait to see the completed bench!


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## ShawnAllen (Dec 11, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Hey, want to see a BENCH?*
> 
> After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.
> 
> ...


Very, very nice bench!


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Hey, want to see a BENCH?*
> 
> After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.
> 
> ...


Nice looking bench. A great moment in the history of your shop!


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Hey, want to see a BENCH?*
> 
> After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.
> 
> ...


That thing is fantastic. You are gonna love it.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Hey, want to see a BENCH?*
> 
> After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.
> 
> ...


Looks great, nice progress, I've been enjoying your progress, now I've got to catch up to you!


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## majeagle1 (Oct 29, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Hey, want to see a BENCH?*
> 
> After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.
> 
> ...


Looks like the bench of my dreams!!!!! Great Job!!!! Thanks for sharing


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## lgfskua (Mar 7, 2009)

Jon3 said:


> *Hey, want to see a BENCH?*
> 
> After much effort, and many tantalizaing blog posts, I finally got the bench assembled. I laid out the base, levelled it off (very little shimming was needed, just one leg about 1/32), and moved the top over to it from its temporary home on top of my cabinet saw.
> 
> ...


nicely done……....


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## Jon3 (Feb 28, 2007)

*Roubo Completed!*

So that I don't have to update woodnet, lumberjocks, and other sites, I started a standalone blog, which I'll link back to.

You can find the final workbench update here


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## Mario (Apr 23, 2007)

Jon3 said:


> *Roubo Completed!*
> 
> So that I don't have to update woodnet, lumberjocks, and other sites, I started a standalone blog, which I'll link back to.
> 
> You can find the final workbench update here


Great looking Bench. Thank you for letting us be part of the process.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Jon3 said:


> *Roubo Completed!*
> 
> So that I don't have to update woodnet, lumberjocks, and other sites, I started a standalone blog, which I'll link back to.
> 
> You can find the final workbench update here


great job Jon


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