My Bench
Cheap and easy (Hey! Like me!) but it works...
If you're a
newer woodworker and thinking of building a workbench: JUST BUILD IT! It
seems we basement/garage weekend woodworkers/tool tinkerers spend more time
agonizing over things than actually building them. When it comes to a
bench, just build it, then use it, then wonder why in the hell you didn't do
it sooner, then after several years you can decide if it doesn't still serve
your needs, and if not, build another one!
The Base
I built the base first, with standard Home Despot materials (side note - the idiot in the building materials dept, who claimed he'd been in the business for 26 years, had never heard of "tempered" hardboard, and acted like I was some kind of idiot for even suggesting that such a thing existed. In his words, "What do you mean "tempered"? Hardboard is hardboard!" Thank you Home Depot for your wonderful customer service.).
The main members are 2X6 douglas fir, ripped down both sides to an actual size of 1.5" x 5". This gives a much nicer appearance with a crisp square edge, and provides a square edge to use for joining frame members. I have enclosed the base on three sides (with ¾” birch plywood), which completely eliminates any wracking and also provides storage space underneath.
The legs are each two tuba-sixes, attached along their long edges to make an "L"-shape (as seen end-on). I ripped the tuba-sixes down a bit to get nice, square, finished edges (better for gluing and nicer-looking). The horizontal members are attached with 3/8" lag screws and glue.
The base took me one weekend to assemble and weighs about 130 lbs.
The Top
The top is made of four layers of sheet goods. One layer of 3/4" pine plywood on the bottom, two layers of 3/4" particleboard subfloor in the middle, one more layer of 3/4" pine plywood on the top. Total thickness is 3".
I laminated the layers by laying them down on the basement floor, shmearing yellow glue all over, then laying the next layer on top, and so forth. I then drove 2-3/4" decking screws about every foot to hold it all in place. Once the glue was dry, I pulled the screws back out.
When I plopped it on to the base, I discovered it had a very slight, but measurable "dish." However, the top lamination of the top layer of plywood was thick enough that I managed to plane it out.
I topped it off with 1/4" tempered Masonite hardboard, and then wrapped the whole thing in an oak skirt, 4-1/2" tall.
The top is held onto the base by gravity. Two 5/8" dowels, one in each end of the base, align with holes in the underside of the top, to keep it from moving around under heavy planing. The top weighs about 180 lbs, if I remember correctly (I actually weighed it once).
The Hardware
Next I had to figure out what I was going to mount for vises. At the 1999 NJ CRAFTS fall picnic, I picked up two large shop-fabricated vises for a grand total of $30.
In 2000, I took a blacksmithing class and made myself a holdfast. I've discovered that it actually works just great in the square dog-holes along the front of the bench.
The honorable Scott Grandstaff of Happy Camp, CA was nice enough to manufacture two steel bench dogs for me, which I received just a bit before Christmas 2000 - a nice unexpected present!
The Finished Product
I applied two coats of linseed oil to the whole thing and that was that.
I
later cut a row of square dog holes in the top, just inside of the apron,
sized to fit the Scott Grandstaff metal bench dogs.
I'm pretty happy with the bench. I think it meets my original criteria:
- It's heavy and solid. It simply does NOT shimmy, squeak, wrack or move AT ALL, even under the most strenuous planing. (Overengineering is my middle name)
- It's somewhat attractive - no master work of art in wood, but not an ugly assortment of whacked-together scrap lumber.
- It could be built in a weekend (I took a bit longer, what with life's little interruptions)
- And, quite importantly, the entire assemblage cost something slightly over $100, including vises.
More
Recent Developments
We moved
from New Jersey to Virginia in July 2002, and without a doubt the most difficult
piece of my shop to move was that bench - the top almost killed me!
In 2003 I bored a row of round
3/4" holes down the middle of the bench, parallel to the square dog holes,
for my holdfasts or round dogs.
