# Roubo bench build



## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

I'm not very happy with the bench I recently made. The apron is in the way too much, and three top is too thin. So I am making another bench. Sigh. This time, it will be a roubo style, made from 2x6 construction lumber from home Depot. The top will be 5" thick. The legs will be 35" tall, the same as the overall height of the bench. They are 5" × 4 1/2" thick. The stretchers are 3" wide and 3" tall.

A few weeks back, I ripped a bunch of boards to 5". 

The first leg ... I have no jointer, so I used my hand plane to straighten it out as best I could. I built in the mortice during the cuts and glue up, so no need to cut these.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Subscribed!!!! This is gonna be good.


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## TreadwayJohnA (Jun 23, 2017)

Look forward to seeing it completed! I have yet to build my first bench, but due to space concerns and its simplicity, I believe I will go with a modified Japanese Sawhorse and slab design.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Oh, I don't know about how great it will be.

I glued the 3rd piece onto leg #2 this morning. The middle layer and the 3rd layer are a little warped in the middle, and I planed them a little, but the edges still didn't come flush. I figured that since it is soft wood, I could crank down on the clamps and it would bend, and I could pull it together like that. So I started cranking on it, and CRACK! Now there is a crack down the center of the piece about 12" long. Ugh.

I didn't take a picture of it as I was in a rush to get to work. I'll post a picture of it this evening after dinner.

Note to self: Make sure the pieces fit together reasonably well before gluing. Soft wood bends a little with the grain, but not so much across the grain. Don't rush and try to force stuff together.

I really don't want to make another leg. I am thinking about maybe trying to plane some wedge-shaped pieces with my hand plane and glue them in there. Or maybe fill it with some wood putty.


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## bargoon (Apr 20, 2016)

Yes - I'm going to stay tuned. Planning on making a cedar garden bench myself in the near future.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Here is the crack. Looks pretty bad, huh?


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

After gluing shavings in


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*that wood needed to "go" ....*

So, it relieved itself. You didn't make the crack, you revealed it. It was gonna crack anyway. Here's what I would have done, and maybe you still can?

I would set my circular saw to as close to the same angle as the crack and make a straight line cut all the way through that piece, and down the entire length. It won't hurt because the sides are still glued onto the bottom piece.

Next, I would rip a thin strip off the edge on a same thickness board and slip it into the saw kerf, glue it and clamp it. No excessive pressure, just minimal. It should be a "snug" slip fit, no pounding it in when dry fitting it. The glue will expand it, and you may have to use a mallet and a block to get it all the way in.

Now, you'll have a clean and solid repair up to the standards that you have started with on this new version. The glued in shavings don't cut it for me .... just sayin' :wink2:


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Cleaned up. Not so great, but it looks better than I expected.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

woodnthings said:


> So, it relieved itself. You didn't make the crack, you revealed it. It was gonna crack anyway.


Had I properly flattened the boards so they fit together better, I doubt this would have happened. There was about 1/16" opening on the edge that I was trying to close. With no jointer or thickness planer, I need to spend more time flattening with my hand planes before the glue up.


woodnthings said:


> Here's what I would have done, and maybe you still can?
> 
> I would set my circular saw to as close to the same angle as the crack and make a straight line cut all the way through that piece, and down the entire length. It won't hurt because the sides are still glued onto the bottom piece.
> 
> ...


This is a good idea. Had I seen it before jamming in the shavings, I would have probably gone this route. It is not too late. I can still do this.


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## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

I don't believe the crack would've influenced the overall strength or usability of the leg. 
I would've just positioned that side of the leg to the inside and left it. Adds character.


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

You know Chris, I don't particularly like wide 2x lumber by itself because it quite often includes the pith so it often cups and bends and so on. What I'll usually do is to cut it into strips, 1.5" x 1.5" or some variation of those dimensions then laminate them together much the same way I make a table top. If there's a split in the pith I just cut around it. You can make a really substantial leg ,4x4 or bigger by laminating several 1x1 or 1x1.5" strips then laminate your laminated panels together. It's a lot of work, but by the time you have a 6x6 (example) made from 1x1.5" strips there's no way it's going to bend, twist, cup, split or come apart as long as you have it glued up right, clamped and planed properly.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

3 done ... #4 1/2 way there


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Legs are done. Front of top going together.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Chris Curl said:


> 3 done ... #4 1/2 way there


The bench is looking great Chris. I noticed that you are using paint stir sticks to pad your bar clamps and you wouldn't be wrong for doing it as those metal jaws can really mess up a project. I don't want to distract or deter from your thread but about 4 years ago on my youtube channel, I posted a video on how to make pads for your bar clamps so that you wouldn't have to use the stir sticks. It makes it so that there is a lot less fussing around during the glue up and gives you the ability to concentrate on what you are doing instead of concentrating on keeping stir sticks aligned under the clamps. Sorry if this is too off topic for you but I thought it might be useful. I'm enjoying your build so far sir.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Fit the first part of the first leg


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

New plan for the joinery of the legs.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

This is really coming along nicely Chris. Well done sir!!!!


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Got all 4 legs morticed


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

You could have done what I did and endlessly annoy the neighbors by pounding forever and a day with a chisel and mallet to cut out those big fat mortises.. Just think..you could have missed the chisel 83 times and permanently damaged your thumb like I did.. Actually I only missed about 6 times with no real damage except one fingertip that's somewhat misshapened.. That was fun for everyone else except me.. 
It's starting to look pretty nifty..
Have you invested in a forklift to move this beast around when it's finished?


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Lol. For what it's worth, it was all done with hand tools. I used a one and a half inch auger bit to remove most of the material. And a chisel for the rest. It is sized to hold a 2 x 4. I will cut a notch into each one of the pieces of the top to sit down on top of that. The top is 16 boards wide, and 8 feet long. At 20 lb per board, that puts it at about 320 lb.

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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I doubt that at the end of the day when all is said and done and we've all died of old age your tombstone will read, "Didn't cut every mortise by hand every time ESPECIALLY that bench underneath all the other junk in the garage." lol
Then again we don't actually know exactly what others might carve into our tombstones.. 
I want mine to read, "Never did pay that fine for his dog running away." I actually went to jail over that once.. I still haven't paid the fine.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Got the back side glued up. Now for the center boards.









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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

Looking good!
Just curious, what's your plan for making sure your center boards exactly fit between the two outer ones?


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

Love the bench @Chris Curl. 

I've been reading and re-reading Christopher Schwarz's workbench book for a few years now. Hopefully I'll take the plunge someday. My two hang-ups are, space--I don't really have enough for a full size bench--and I tend to do most of my work outside on our deck, which makes moving a 320 pound Rubio up from the basement and back down to the basement somewhat impractical. 
And on the other hand, our deck provides a variety of immovable clamping surfaces. 

But not as much fun as building a bench.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

WesTex said:


> Looking good!
> Just curious, what's your plan for making sure your center boards exactly fit between the two outer ones?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The target width for the bench is 24", so that will be 16 boards total. The outer boards that I have in place are each 2 boards thick. So I need 12 center boards between the two outer edges that I have in place currently. The cross pieces hold up the 12 center boards. That means the cross pieces should be pretty close to 18" long. They are 2x4s, just sitting in the notches, not glued or anything.

The plan is to cut and prepare all center 12 boards and lay them in place dry. Then I will clamp the whole thing together, including the outer boards, using pipe clamps. If the cross pieces are too long, then the center boards should not be able to be pulled together. If so, I can shorten them as needed before gluing everything up. It should be OK if they don't extend exactly all they way into the notch. The notch is 1 1/2" wide and 1 1/2" deep, so if the cross piece is 1/8" short, I doubt that would be a problem. 

After verifying that the pipe clamps can pull everything together nicely, then I feel like it will be ready for glue.


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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

Got it. I thought you had glued up the crosspieces, too. You've got my interest. 


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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

gj13us said:


> Love the bench @Chris Curl.
> 
> I've been reading and re-reading Christopher Schwarz's workbench book for a few years now. Hopefully I'll take the plunge someday. My two hang-ups are, space--I don't really have enough for a full size bench--and I tend to do most of my work outside on our deck, which makes moving a 320 pound Rubio up from the basement and back down to the basement somewhat impractical.
> And on the other hand, our deck provides a variety of immovable clamping surfaces.
> ...




Build the bench. When you want to move it upstairs, just hitch the cat to it & use a whip. 


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

5 more boards to go. It is raining here today so I can't rip them.









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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Milled and notched the last 5 boards. Getting closer ...









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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

*How to proceed?*

The picture in my last post is the current state ... all the boards are dry-fit in place. As you can see, there are some gaps. Of course, this is without clamps pulling it all together, which will certainly close many of the gaps.

If I had a jointer and planer, then I could glue up 3 at a time and run them through those to straighten them up, and life would be easier, and I would have a better idea how to proceed. But I don't, so I'm unsure how to proceed.

Right now, 6 of the boards are glued together: the outsides that attach to the legs, and 2 of the boards of the center part of the top. I have confidence that the 2 in the center section are pretty straight. as I planed them and used winding sticks on them.

So ... how to proceed? 

Should I: (1) glue 2 or 3 together at a time, and then do the plane/winding sticks thing to straighten them like I did with the first two, and then glue all those components together? Or should I: (2) glue them all together at once, pulling them straight with pipe clamps.

My guess is that option (1) is probably the more correct way to go. For option (2), I am thinking that polyurethane glue might be better, as it would expand and fill any gaps.

For what it's worth, in the video series Paul Sellers did on making a workbench, he used option (2), after doing a quick planing to smooth out some of the machining marks on the boards.

Thoughts? How would YOU proceed?


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*unless you've done this, it won't carry any "weight"*

Anyone can say ...Oh just clamp them all up at once, but unless you've done that, you have no idea how things can go wrong and how fast. When my buddy and I glued up various pieces of Maple 24" long all thickness planed to the same height, we used his 10 ft X 5 ft cast iron shaper table as a gluing surface. This was for a bench top about 7ft X 40" wide. He had done this same thing hundreds of times for the solid core doors he builds, and he used West Systems epoxy, rather than yellow glue. He also had about 30 bar clamps ready to go. It all went smoothly.... :wink2:

Your pieces are longer, so that will help. You shoud have a cool headed helper ..... preferably a non-relative or family member. :surprise2:
If you can lay down a large, flat piece of MDF or particle board as a gluing surface, then cover it with Visqueen, to avoid the pieces sticking to the MDF. Then start laying out your pieces, gluing them with a roller for speed. Tape your pipe clamps also to avoid sticking. Set them up with the approximate length between jaws at the finish width. Start in the center and work outward. This will squeeze the glue towards the ends. Have a dead blow hammer handy to drive down the boards that work their way up. Once you have about 8 clamps on one side, flip it over and wipe the squeeze out glue away and wet sponge it...... Easier said than done, it will be very heavy.

Stay calm and it should all go well. Me, I start panicking during glue ups and then start swearing, and then more panicking .... > Since this one is all flat, you should be OK.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

I only have 8 bar clamps. And my other clamps are not even close to being long enough.

Time to make another trip to harbor freight. Their clamp HW is less than 1/2 the next cheapest guy.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Started the glue up of the center boards. The plan is to glue up 2 at a time. Then I will flatten them with my jack and #7 planes, and glue them all together when there are no gaps under light clamping.

These 2 1/2" spax construction screws are really good for pulling the boards together. I remove them after he glue has dried.










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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

And cereal boxers are good for the squeeze out.









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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

Looks like you eat a lot of bran. :laugh2:


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Chopped the mortices for the bottom cross pieces










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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Getting closer. Got the long side stretchers fit. They will use a type of tusk tenon joinery. I also planed the center pieces flat and now have a good fit with no large gaps. Some of the boards were proud in the middle. Next: cut the holes for the in the tenons for the wedges. Then it will finally be time to assemble the thing and start working on flattening the top.


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

Looks like you're really cramped for space. Are you working on it there or did you move it there to keep it out of the way?


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

gj13us said:


> Looks like you're really cramped for space. Are you working on it there or did you move it there to keep it out of the way?


It will go where the other one is (on the left in the picture) currently. Not sure what I'll do with that bench.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Dry fit done. .. ready for glue!









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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Finally got started on the final glue up









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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

Just out of curiosity just how many trucks do you plan to park on top of this behemoth? 
I'm thinking of redoing my bench eventually with yellow pine instead of the cheapo eastern white and maybe toughening up the aprons with some maple .
I've managed to pretty much mangle the inside jaw/apron clamping things in there I probably shouldn't have. I keep thinking about just flipping it around to use the other side, but it's not square to the top.
So...since yellow pine is much harder than white pine and cost roughly the same with fewer knots in most cases that's my next big build, but I'm keeping the legs and the basic Paul Sellers design except I'll probably leave out the wide tool well. It's definitely a junk catcher..
Right now I'm at a bit over 5 feet long and 31 1/2 inches wide. Aprons are 10, but I'm thinking I can live with 7-8" and some shelving and/or drawers underneath and maybe a shallow full length pull out drawer to catch anything that might fall through the dog holes.. That last part may never happen, but it's a thought..

Sorry for hijacking your thread Chris.. I'm just textually thinking out loud.. lol


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

LOL ... it's totally fine. I don't know about trucks, but I hear there is a family of elephants that need something to stand on for a photo shoot.

This will end up being about 7'6" long. It is 24" wide, and 36" tall.

I didn't like the apron on my Paul Sellers inspired bench; it got in the way too much. That is why I did this one without it.

If my local HD or Lowes stocked yellow pine, I have no question that I would have gone with that.


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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

I believe Chris does a lot of handtool work. A heavy bench is a real asset. Plus you never know when you'll want to photograph a herd of elephants. 


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

Maybe this has already been asked and answered up thread--what are you planning to do for holddowns?


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

gj13us said:


> Maybe this has already been asked and answered up thread--what are you planning to do for holddowns?


Not sure if it was or not ...

My current thinking is 3/4" dog holes for stops and holdfasts primarily. In lieu of holdfasts, I can modify a F clamp.


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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

Noooooo, Chris! No modified clamps to futz around with! Holdfasts are the way to go. Good forged holdfasts are quick & easy to use. Whop one on the top & it's fast. A lick on the back & it's free. And we all know how much fun it is to beat on things. 


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

WesTex said:


> Noooooo, Chris! No modified clamps to futz around with! Holdfasts are the way to go. Good forged holdfasts are quick & easy to use. Whop one on the top & it's fast. A lick on the back & it's free. And we all know how much fun it is to beat on things.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Seriously, go for the Gramercy holdfasts... at 2 for $40ish they're not cheap, but they work really well.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

I'm good with holdfasts ... I can handle $40 for 2. 

Question though ... this page talks about benches that are 1 1/2 - 2" thick ... my bench is upwards of 5" thick ... will these be long enough, or do I need longer ones?

https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/MS-HOLDFAST.XX


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I keep planning to get some holdfasts, but then some new shiney object on ebay or Amazon will jump up in the way screaming BUY ME! BUY ME INSTEAD! I'm a sucker for shiney new objects.. The Mrs is even worse. If it has a blue light anywhere on it she'll buy it. She'd buy a turd if it had a blue light connected to it.. lol


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Chris Curl said:


> I'm good with holdfasts ... I can handle $40 for 2.
> 
> Question though ... this page talks about benches that are 1 1/2 - 2" thick ... my bench is upwards of 5" thick ... will these be long enough, or do I need longer ones?
> 
> https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/MS-HOLDFAST.XX


So I came across a video on their site that says if your bench is thick, enlarge the bottom part of the hole a little such that there is about 3" of 3/4" wide hole.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Chris Curl said:


> I'm good with holdfasts ... I can handle $40 for 2.
> 
> Question though ... this page talks about benches that are 1 1/2 - 2" thick ... my bench is upwards of 5" thick ... will these be long enough, or do I need longer ones?
> 
> https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/MS-HOLDFAST.XX


They work fine with my 3" bench, but 5" might be a little much, yeah. I don't think it has anything to do with the length of the holdfast: I think it's to do with the physics of how they work. When you tap them down, you're angling the post across the dog hole. The difference in angle between a 3" hole and a 5" hole may be enough to keep them from wedging. Though having a thicker bench does probably limit the thickness of the stock you can hold down...


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

amckenzie4 said:


> They work fine with my 3" bench, but 5" might be a little much, yeah. I don't think it has anything to do with the length of the holdfast: I think it's to do with the physics of how they work. When you tap them down, you're angling the post across the dog hole. The difference in angle between a 3" hole and a 5" hole may be enough to keep them from wedging. Though having a thicker bench does probably limit the thickness of the stock you can hold down...


Yeah ... so long as the end of the holdfast isn't against the sidewall of the hole, it should be fine. Otherwise, it could catch on the sidewall and bind. Makes sense.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Well ... 2 weeks later ... still not done :frown2:. I have one last joint to glue.

For the cross pieces, since they are loose fitting, I decided to use PL-Premium construction adhesive.

This thing is not designed to be able to come apart.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

finally finished gluing it all together ... it is drying now ...


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I dunno Chris. I won't be convinced you've actually finished this bench until you include pictures of all manner of clutter piled up on it to the point of rendering it more or less useless. THEN and only then will I be convinced.. 

Jk.. Congratulations on finally getting there.. 

I've been kind of stuck on drilling dowel holes for my auxiliary table. Lately about 5 holes per day seems to be my limit before I sit down and start fiddling around with my cell phone or something else that grabs my short attention span.. I didn't realize that drilling 1/2" holes is so much more attention intensive than drilling 3/8" holes. I couldn't begin to explain how that can possibly be, but it is. Just take my word for it. Could be the drill's battery died once I finally got ambitious enough to finally get around to drilling them all which in turn created yet another excuse to find something other than drilling holes to fill my exciting time up..say like watching the battery charge. And just think. I could've spent all that time watching cop webs collect dust instead!


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Chris Curl said:


> Dry fit done. .. ready for glue!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hey, are those bar clamp pads I see on those bar clamps? Awesome stuff!!!!!! Hope they worked for you.


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## saplingamongwoodmen (Sep 17, 2017)

gj13us said:


> Love the bench @*Chris Curl*.
> 
> I've been reading and re-reading Christopher Schwarz's workbench book for a few years now. Hopefully I'll take the plunge someday. My two hang-ups are, space--I don't really have enough for a full size bench--and I tend to do most of my work outside on our deck, which makes moving a 320 pound Rubio up from the basement and back down to the basement somewhat impractical.
> And on the other hand, our deck provides a variety of immovable clamping surfaces.
> ...


Nice to hear i am not the only one without a proper workplace or bench. I also have to work in the back yard. No patio though. I did scrounge up eight used heavy duty flat top plastic pallets, that i was able to level up and bolt together. Placed them under a cheap Chinese Harbor Freight canvas garage. I feel like a real wood worker, till i remember where i am...lol:sad:


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

allpurpose said:


> I dunno Chris. I won't be convinced you've actually finished this bench until you include pictures of all manner of clutter piled up on it to the point of rendering it more or less useless. THEN and only then will I be convinced..
> ...


LOL. Of course, I still need to flatten it and install the vices. That will take another 6 months, I'm sure ... 


Kenbo said:


> Hey, are those bar clamp pads I see on those bar clamps? Awesome stuff!!!!!! Hope they worked for you.


Yes, they are! I watched your video, and made some from stuff I had lying around. They fell apart though ... I blame the fact that I used my big, free paint stirrers (they are 1 1/2" wide and 1/4" thick), and the fact that I cranked down so hard on them to pull the gaps closed. The ones I made out of hardboard and lauan were fine.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Started flattening...









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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Did some more ...









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## Cowboy18 (Aug 21, 2017)

I would put a 4"x4" block on both sides of crack. Fill the crack with glue. Then use a Ratchet Strap around the blocks to close the gap.
Let it be for 72 hours. 90% chance you will never have a problem.


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

So.....it's been three weeks since the last update....


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Sorry. The wheels of progress turn very slowly at my house. I finished flattening it, and cut the ends off flat. And I have installed the vises, but screwed up on the angle of the hole for the leg vise. Pics a little later when I get home.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Here it is currently. I didn't get the hole right for the leg vise. 









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## Julio8985 (Dec 30, 2017)

I've wondered how I was going to construct my work bench as well...I plan to install casters for mobility. I also thought I would use 2x4's mounted on edge and cover the top with 3/4" plywood secured from beneath with screws that would penetrate about 1/2". This would require leaving openings in the 2/4's for access to fasten plywood. The plywood would give a good surface to work on and would be easily replaced if damaged over time.

Julio...


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## faith michel (Sep 10, 2017)

ı like it...well done Chris Curl....


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