Workbench - Start to Finish

beaudex · Jul 7, 2008

Design

I started woodworking in my early 20s (many year ago). Prior to this the only real exposure to woodworking I had was building remote controlled model aircroft out of balsa. I started by taking a year long rough carpentry course at a local community college. What does this have to do with workbenchs you wonder.. I believe a well designed workbench starts with your experience with workbenches. Thinking back I have had the oppourtunity to use a few workbenches and there are a few things I discovered before starting my design.

1. Workbenches need to be rigid - the more rigid the better. when you are planing a peice of wood by hand or cutting dovetails by hand if the bench moves (even slightly) it will make throw off the accuracy of what you are doing.

2. Workbenches need to deaden blows - when you are chopping a mortise or cutting dovetails you don't want your work to jump or move which will happen if your bench cannot 'cushion' the blow of the mallet. Generally this is done by adding weight in the form of a slab top.(I would love to hear other opinions regarding this)

3. Workbenches should be flat - After finishing the bench I would argue that almost flat should be close enough.

So armed with these basics I started looking at other peoples benches, I am partial to shaker design so thats where I started. I quickly realized that most (if not all) shaker benches(the originals at least) were FAR to big for my tiny shop (by tiny I mean less than 200 square feet). So I began collecting all the articles I could about benches and started picking out smaller ones and elements of the larger ones that I felt could translate into a smaller space. The one article that I felt really helped came out of FWW about an extra small bench being as good as a larger one. (if you are really interested let me know and I'll see if I can dig it out). For those people out there who are thinking about a bench a 6ft top (length) would be more then sufficient.

Once I decided on the elements I wanted included based on the pictures and articles I had seen I needed to decide on size. To be honest I decided the size of the base by planning it around a full sheet of plywood (48").

Before I go on let me say that if I were to do this again the best way to approach the design is to treat the top and the base as 2 seperate projects. Starting with the base; decide on what you want it look like in terms of storage and height. Then think about what needs to go into the top: this may include vises, bench dogs, chip clearing and any other item that may project into the area of the base.

Here are a few things which I would highly recommend thinking about while designing your own bench:

1. bench dogs - use the round ones they are superior. (and way easier to install)
2. bench dogs must be accessible from the bottom, don't place them in the middle of the bench otherwise clearing sawdust from them is nigh on impossible.
3. top drawer/ bench top clearance. Be sure you have at least 3.5 inches of clearance between them.
4. Often things hang below the top level of the bench whether that be clamps or wood or bench dogs, these things all get in the way of drawer/door opening - think about it.
5. Purchase all the hardware first understand completely how it works before you start building.(e.g. tail vise harware)
6. think of the bench as a way to improve your skills, don't try anything completely new (i.e. don't try handcut dovetails for the first time on your bench, you will either have to waste alot of lumber or look at a poorly made joint for a long time.

So thats the basics, of how I started and finished the design, I must admit the design is the best and hardest part of this project. There is lots I left out like bench height, backsplash, wood selection and lighting. Anyone with questions is welcome to email me directly and I will try to answer them as best I can.

Cheers for now,

Up next building:step 1

sIKE · Jul 7, 2008

Have you looked at Workbenches: from Design & Theory to Construction & Use by Chris Schwarz? It is a great book that provides a lot of useful information. Here is a link.

Hugheser · Jul 7, 2008

I saw the finished project and it looked great. I'm looking forward to following this series. I currently have 2 workbenches in my shop but both are geared more towards power tools and a generic work surface. Neither are setup well for handtools which I've recently become more interested in. You've already given me some ideas.

Texasgaloot · Jul 7, 2008

Very thoughtful block, Derek. And thought provoking. I'm looking forward to subsequent posts!

beaudex · Jul 8, 2008

Building the Base

Well on to the building:

As I mentioned in my first post I would recommend that you complete the workbench as though it were 2 projects, the base and the top. Both portions of this project demand exacting results so it pays to put the effort into each one individually. Spreaking from experience I thought 'how hard is it to glue a bunch of lumber together to make a slab top'. Trust me its hard enough.

So the base, I did not mention lumber selection in the design post so let me touch on it here. I chose red oak for the base mainly because I had a bunch of stock that I lucked into from an old neighbour that I had no use for it. Had I had to buy it I may well have ended up buying the same species as red oak is fairly cheap and plentiful locally running about 2.50-3.00 a board foot if you know where to look. I chose the ash simply because I thought I should try playing around with the stuff.

So I started with the legs, I decided on 2 1/4" square legs because it was a multiple of 3/4". I laminated 3 peices of 3/4" stock together to form the legs. had I bought the stock for this project I would have bought solid legs if only for the nicer look. The legs were by far the most complicated part of the base, they had to have 4 mortises in each as well as a rabbet for the plywood. I had thought when gluing up the laminated legs I would leave a gap for the mortices but I gave up on that as its faster to layout and cut the mortises then planning out the gaps prior to lamination.

I had a hard time trying to decide on the joints I would use for the mortises, I am still unsure about whether I made the right choice. Please find a clipped sketch-up image below detailing the rough joint design(please note I have never used sketch-up before today so please bear with my learning curve).

Internal mortise joint

So cutting the parts went fairly routinely and it came time for assembly. You defintely want to dry fit these parts prior to assembly. As well you want to be sure you have plan about assembing them. I ended up with three steps, the sides, the front and back and finally the center post(plywood) I left this part until the end to hand fit it in case of things being slightly out of square (heaven forbid).

I mentioned using brass pins on the joints (see photo below) I chose brass only because I love the look. I have never seen it done before so my thought was that it does not work that well but it has held up for 3 years on the bench. In the end I think it would look loads better if I had used it on a darker wood. Another thing to note about this image is that I failed to flatten the bottom of the top, in retrospect I should have done both sides of the top (someeday I will take it apart and flatten the bottom)

At the time I had read that the PVA gllue (gorilla glue) was the best you could buy so I used it. Now having read more about the glue I would not use it again, Having to wet each joint prior to assembly and with the short open time I will never use it again. Plus the literature now says that yellow glue is stronger.

Well that the base in a nutshell. I had planned on removing my old bench once the base was done but as you can see from the photo below I ended up keeping the top of my old bench and put it on the new base while I worked on the top.(I actually ended up building a project out of walnut between the 2 projects you can see parts of it on the top in the photo) The next post building the top (minus the tail vise).

SPalm · Jul 8, 2008

Good Stuff. I see that you also use your bench for a drafting/thinking table. This was a big dilema for me (too much thinking about it). I opted to make a heavy bench with two vises and lots of dog holes for clamping/banging. I then place a smaller sheet of hardboard on top for drawing and finishing.

Another concern I had was being able to pull up a stool and rest my feet a bit. This negated under the bench storage, at least for now.

You do fine work. I don't know if any bench solves all the problems.

Thanks for the blog,
Steve

beaudex · Jul 14, 2008

The Top

Ok, Lets talk about the bench top. I chose brown maple for the top purely because its was the cheapest wood available. Also you will notice that it is 3/4" think prior to laminating.

I would choose the same lumber again if I were to redo this project. The maple holds up very well and has a nice patina.

I planned the slab to have a final thickness of 3 inches. Why 3 inches? well from the literature I have read 3 inches is generally the ideal thickness for bench dogs. In retrospect I may have gone with a little thinner top if money was an issue and I could get my hands on lumber that divided equally by 2.5 to save on waste.

So after dimensioning the lumber and ripping it to 3 inches I then proceed to plan the glue up. I knew I would be running the glue ups through my thickness planer so I had to split the top into 3 portions that were not over 13 inches wide. So I glued each section individually, which turned out good because you are going to be using alot of glue and your open time becomes a crital factor. You definitely want to use a paint roller here if you were to use the glue bottle, your hand will likely cramp up and you will not have enough time to spread it.

Once I had all three sections glued up and roughly hand planed I had to figure out how I would get them through the planer. I ended up building a 2×4 support for my planer which I screwed into the floor of the shop otherwise my planer would have tipped over (it is on a wheeled cart). I toyed with the idea of having another person help me out and leave the wood stationary and have the planer move along the wood but I decided against it.

Once I had the final sections complete I then had to do the final glue up. This was a critical step for several reasons, this step would decide how flat the final top would be, it was very heavy and therefore akward, and if the joint failed there could be serious consequences. I used biquits to align the peices and reinforce the glue and thing could have went better. As it turn out the egdes were slightly out of square which after the glue up cuase a bow shape in the top. I highly recommend if you use this technique yourself that you ensure the edges are square (as well I recommend that you evenly distribute the clamps on both sides of the glue up to avoid uneven clamping which can also cause misalignment.

Well , let me tell you that was quite a massive chunk of wood when I was done. I needed a couple of friends to move it but once on the base I was getting pretty excited. One thing I will note: I only roughly planed the bottom of the bench. I thought "why Bother I will never see it and as long as it is mostly flat that should suffice". The reality is that for the most part that was true however the more contact the top has with the base the more evenly it distributes the chopping vibration.

I planed the top flat by hand trying to remove the cup I had put in with the glue up. This turned out to be quite the upper body work out. I also would have made sure during the glueup that the laminations all had the grain in the same direction for planing purposes.

Once the top was close to flat I had to add my vise (not the tail vise) this was a fairly simple job. Once it was monunted I was able to add the skirt board, this was a dovetailed board which went around the outside of the bench primarily the hide the end grain. I ended up dovetailing the board only for decoration, the dovetails serve no function.

Finally I had to drill the holes for the bench dogs, as it turns out this was a truly difficult task. first of all I had to do the layout for the holes, this turned out to be a little more diffcult than it seems and to be honest I am not sure why. The real tricky part was that Thet had to be drilled with a drill press, I would never trust a hand drill to be square to the top. So, the question became how do I raise the 1000 lb + bench to match the height of the drill press so I can drill the bench dog holes? Well, one car jack, loads of very stable shims and few frayed nerves later we were ready to go. The drilling turned out to be fairly simple once I had the thing in the air but getting it there was quite a feat.

So that was the top, fairly simple stuff but took awhile. I would not change a whole lot about the build aside from the points I mentioned regarding the glue up. Also since I have finshed the thing I have heard of a much better way to flatten the top using a couple a guides and a router jig. I can elaborate on the technique if anyone is interested, just email and I will describe the whole thing. Next up the Tail Vise.

offseid · Jul 14, 2008

Very nice! But I wonder (now I'm a total newbie so cut me a little slack) how necessary it is to have perfect 90-degree holes for the dogs? I mean, I'll be doing mine with a bit brace. While it may not be perfectly perpendicular, I'm sure it'll be within a few degrees.

So your end caps are just dovetailed on to the outermost boards, is that right?

beaudex · Jul 18, 2008

Finish

This will be a short and sweet entry. I finished the base of the bench using 3 coats of high gloss poly. Why high gloss? not sure, I guess in my pea brain I think that glossier = easier to dust. My technique fo poly is pretty simple:

1. first coat I try to use a thinned version of the finish for better penetration.
2. I either sand between each coat with either 220 grit sandpaper or steel wool. (any drips I take off with a chisel to save on both my arm and the sandpaper)
3. the second and third coats are done the same way except I use full strength finish.
4. I do the final coat by steel wool, then dusting, then paste wax, then polish

The top is pure tung oil, I use pure tung oil only because I like the smell and it takes a long while for it to dry. I finish it with paste wax. I always recoat the top of the bench whenever I am doing the same finish on another piece which tends to be quite often.

Cheers,

Derek

Workbench - Start to Finish

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