# Woodwork Benches



## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi All

I have recently acquired a stash of alder 1x4, 2x4, 1x6, and 2x6 rough sawn lumber from my brother, who has a woodmiser band saw mill.

I have enough to build a substantial woodworking bench, about 10 feet long, by 3 to 4 feet wide, by 4 inches thick. I know that maple is probably a little better for the purpose, but the alder is free, gratis [I have a great Bro]

I also have two British built 12 inch woodworking vises which I plan to incorporate into the bench. 

If anyone out there has any ideas, plans, suggestions, or can put me onto a good source of the above, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Have a great day everybody.

:smile: 
Gerry


----------



## solidwoods (Apr 26, 2007)

Thick legs and stretchers.
Lots of drawers.
Tool Trough is your choice.
Any wood is fine for a bench.
jim


----------



## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

*Woodwork benches*

Thanks for the advice Solid Woods.

I hadn't thought of drawers, as I was looking at pictures of traditional woodworking benches, but you are right on there. I am thinking of 6x6 timber for the legs, and 2x6 for the stretchers. This thing is going to weigh a ton, so I am going to put industrial 6 inch casters under it so I can move it around. I really want to build heavy so I can do some serious pounding and chiselling on it without any bouncing around.

I had wondered what the trough in the middle was for. Now I know.

I was looking at your gallery. I see you are a cat person too. We have four ourselves, and they are family. Also, I think they actually own us, and just allow us to live here too because they like us.

PS: Has anyone out there ordered the CD from Wood Plans.com? If so, what did you think of it?

Have a great day everybody.:smile: 

Gerry


----------



## MyBad (Aug 7, 2007)

I wouldn't go over 3' wide unless you're gonna build some big honkin' cabinets. My 2' wide workbench has proven to be plenty versital. :smile:


----------



## MyBad (Aug 7, 2007)

Unless, of course, you're gonna use it as a layout table as well. Then you'll want to go bigger.


----------



## Nancy Laird (May 7, 2007)

*A home-designed and built workbench*

Gerry, here's a picture of the workbench that LOML designed and built. It's unique in that the drawers can be opened from either side of the bench so two people can work there. There's a tool trough under the benchtop.

This one is built from doubled-up pine 2x4s- the top is 2 sheets of MDF with a piece of hardboard, edged with hard rock maple. The hardboard is held down by nylon screws, so it will be easy to replace when necessary.









That's a Jorgenson bench vise on the right end, and there are bench dog holes on the opposite end (under all that pen-turning mess).

Nancy (137 days)


----------



## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

*work bench*

You guys are so lucky in USA with large spaces available. I have to make do with two old chests of drawers screwed together end to end and a hinged flap on the back of one to give extra working area when move wife's car out of the way. Put a piece of MDF on top when chiseling etc.

However, for most jobs use my trusty workmate which I have had for 35 years.

best bench ever had was a two inch x 6 foot thick offcut slab of some hardwood which I found at a local saw mill. This was rock steady when mounted in my dad's shed.

johnep


----------



## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi All;

Thank you for your input.

My Bad: I was kind of thinking that anything over three feet wide would be a bit of overkill, but as I have the material, and space I am still considering the possibilities. Right now I am still drying the wood, in my shop, and I have it weighted down, on edge, to see if I can reduce some of the bowing, in the process. It seems to be straightening out considerably. I probably won't start actually putting the top together for a couple of months yet.

Nancy: Thanks for the picture. That is a solid looking bench. The two vises I have are Record, I think they are 10 inch, that I bought many years ago, at a very reasonable price. I have also recently bought two vice screws, from Busy Bee, and I was thinking of putting them in tandem, on one end.The two Record vises will go along one side, for doing long items. I was looking at plans, on another site, which had the workbench along traditional lines, but also showed a set of plans for tool chests which could be rolled right under the bench, for storage. The idea has merit. Also, you mentioned holes for bench dogs. Lee Valley has some very nice looking dogs, which are constructed from brass, and are for 3/4" round holes. Seems to me this would be the easiest to build into a bench. What do you think? Are there advantages to the rectangular dogs, as opposed to the round ones? By the way, Nancy, I added your word, "toyls" to the new age woodworking dictionary, on the router forum. I gave you full credit for coining the new word.

JohnEp:
I know it must pain you to consider the amount of room we have for our hobbies on the other side of the ditch. We do take a lot for granted. However, it doesn't mean we turn out any better work, it just means we have more room to put all our "toyls". How is the pocket hole project going?

Best Regards to all:

Gerry


----------



## ecologito (Jan 27, 2008)

Nancy Laird said:


> Gerry, here's a picture of the workbench that LOML designed and built. It's unique in that the drawers can be opened from either side of the bench so two people can work there. There's a tool trough under the benchtop.
> 
> This one is built from doubled-up pine 2x4s- the top is 2 sheets of MDF with a piece of hardboard, edged with hard rock maple. The hardboard is held down by nylon screws, so it will be easy to replace when necessary.
> 
> ...


Are there any plans for it? It looks cool:yes:


----------



## Nancy Laird (May 7, 2007)

ecologito said:


> Are there any plans for it? It looks cool:yes:


No, unfortunately, when hubby builds things like this, particularly for the shop, he just starts chopping up wood and moves on from there. I can take some measurements and put them on here and that may help, but as far as plans, they were in his head -- 3 or 4 years ago!!!:laughing: :laughing: 

Nancy


----------



## ecologito (Jan 27, 2008)

Thanks a lot for the quick response Nancy, since this is my very first project I might need detailed plans for this. I will look for a "cooking recipe" style. With Ingredients and procedure since I am new to this sport, I mean hobby 

Cheers,
Pepe


----------



## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

ecologito said:


> Thanks a lot for the quick response Nancy, since this is my very first project I might need detailed plans for this. I will look for a "cooking recipe" style. With Ingredients and procedure since I am new to this sport, I mean hobby
> 
> Cheers,
> Pepe


Have a look at www.bobsplans.com. There is a combination woodwork and router bench called "Garage Workbench Plans" that is pretty nice, comes with detailed instructions/plans, and can be downloaded free. I am thinking of building this one. If you don't want the router capability you could delete it. americanfurnituredesign.com. also has some plans, that they would like to sell you, but good ideas just the same. http://home.cast.net. also has some designs for workbenches.

Gerry:thumbsup:


----------



## ecologito (Jan 27, 2008)

Thanks a lot, I am looking at the plans so as soon as the wife gets distracted I will start working on it 

It might be a little longer than that.


----------



## dbhost (Jan 28, 2008)

Well, my workbench was not originally designed as a woodworking bench, but more of an automotive repair bench, so it has the grinder, heavy jaw 6" vise and all. My construction was very straight forward. Lumber cut to size via circular saw, joinery done with Simpson Strong Tie connectors. (VERY unfancy, just strong which is what I wanted at the time.), the lumber on mine is 2x4 southern yellow pine, and 4x8 B/C plywood that is ripped lengthwise and notched to fit around the legs on the bottom. The top deck height is 30 inches FROM THE LOWER GARAGE FLOOR. I have a 2" step down in my garage floor, and the legs of my bench are shortened accordingly.

I am wanting to build myself something nice, but I figure kitchen storage upgrades will be on the project list first. (The wife you know...)


----------

