# Haven't seen one of these posted before...



## ftk (May 9, 2012)

I have just committed internet fraud by posting a boring old workbench build thread under a vague and misleading title. Well either that or I am being sarcastic, I let history (and the mods) be the judge of that.

Anyway, I have been researching and planning my workbench build for the past couple of months and have finally begun. Ordered the vise and other misc items last week (more on that later) and went shopping for some lumber this weekend. After reading a million forums posts, articles, and the second iteration of Chris Schwarz' workbench book, I have decided to build a modification of what many know as the $175 workbench (even tho the hardware has almost doubled in price since that came out!). Building this out of SYP with a nice solid top, starting with a face vise only and will add a tail vise once funds become available post christmas season.

So I went to the big box store to pick up lumber yesterday. I spent over half an hour picking through their 2x8x12s and picked the ones with the least amount of knots -- jeez, that was not easy to do. There are still plenty of knots in them but I guess that's the price I pay for being a cheap skate and not wanting to shell out the big bucks for Maple.

I picked up 6 2x8x12s for a total of $52 less a $5 ace hardware coupon, so pretty economical. Had them cross cut them down to just above 6' for easy handling.










My neighbor was so kind as to loan me his planer to surface the boards. Saved me many hours of work -- initially I was planning on ripping and jointing on the table saw, which would have worked but would've been a lot harder to get right, I'm sure. Also in the picture is my new (to me) DC that I recently traded my neighbor a few hours of computer work for. After adding a 1 micron bag (super cheap in Amazon) this thing works great and keeps the dust out of the air.


















After surfacing I ripped a rounded edge off of each board and then ripped them down to roughly 3 3/8" width. Forgot to take pictures, I was too busy concentrating on not cutting my fingers off. But thanks to all the great advice here on the forum in regards to table saw safety (especially: eyes on the fence, not the blade) there were zero incidents and things progressed very smoothly.










After all the ripping it was time for glue up. I decided to glue 3 sections so that each section could be run through the planer before being joined into the final slab. Here is a shot of the first few boards being glued up. I am using a piece of threaded rod as a wide glue brush, spreads the glue perfectly.


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## jharris2 (Jul 9, 2012)

Subscribed!

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education"

Mark Twain


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

I spent the rest of the night fussing over board orientation and glueing up the three individual slabs, two 10 1/4" wide and one just under 8". As one was in the clamps I went to work with a chisel on the other to get rid of as much squeeze out as I could to keep the planer blades from dulling unnecessarily.


















The next day my wife -- I am so thankful for her help -- spent over an hour helping me to run the smaller slabs through the planer over an over again, first to get them even, then to get them all to the same thickness (just under 3 1/4"). I should mention at this point that she is 3 months pregnant and was a total trooper while putting up with this (I did all the heavy lifting, of course). She even helped me with the final glue up! Unfortunately we didn't snap any planing pictures, we were too worried about balancing the maybe 30 (or 40?) pounds of lumber on that planer... The second best thing? All the baby sitter wanted in payment was the saw dust we produced for her compost. Win!










Here is the slab after clamping, with the top side up. There are more knots visible than I had wanted, but I think it will work (and look) just fine. I made sure to pick the best, knot free boards for the front side (on the right) where I will be drilling the dog holes. Once the ends are trimmed and the top flattened the slab will end up at 70 1/2" x 28" x 3 1/8".










After getting the slab maneuvered deeper into the shop (aka garage) my big helper couldn't resist posing for a picture. He wanted to pose with a hammer, but instead I handed him the plane. He wanted to get straight to work...maybe I can outsource the flattening...










During the coming week I have to get rid of all the squeeze out on the bottom and I will probably finish the bottom while I have it turned over and there are no legs in the way yet. Then I have to tune up my #7 that I just got done painting and flatten the top. Then attach the vise and drill dog holes, and then get started in building the base. I still have my work cut out for me, but at least I now have a nice surface to build it on! :clap:


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Looking good so far. That little helper of yours is awesome. I love it when another generation gets bitten by the woodworking bug. Teach him right and let him enjoy the craft as well.


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

You're off to a great start. :thumbsup: Are you gluing the boards so that they will be standing on edge or laying flat?


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Already glued up, standing on edge.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

That top looks great. Looking forward to the base build!


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

I've got a top like that for a bench. It's 8ft x 4ft. The thing must weigh in at 200-250lbs. Mine isn't finished down like that but the same concept. we predrilled it and used 5 threaded rod to draw it tight with nuts and washers, and glued the boards. 
I have it down the street if I want it...I don't. I made it for a friend who is now deceased. It's mine for free, but I don't want to move it.

If I was going to make another one, I would do it out of 2"x3"or less. This one is heavy enough it will easily support a full sized complete V8 engine on it.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Nice set of pictures, especially the youngster at the end. :thumbsup:

Good choice for the pose. Anyone can smack something with a hammer - but it takes a woodworker to really use a hand plane well.

You mentioned about using a chisel to remove the squeeze out. This works. I use an alternative which works as good or better than my steel scraper. A $5 OEM gasket scraper from Autozone.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/OEM-Carbon-scraper/_/N-265b?itemIdentifier=607070_0_0_

This will not rust and easier to remove the glue from this than a steel scraper or a chisel.

Looking forward to seeing the base build.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Thanks for the tip Dave Paine, I will pick one of those up, the price is definitely right. In regards to the pose, he actually chose it himself, I figured he would just stand with the plane but I guess he has been paying attention when I use it.

Aardvark, yeah this is heavy but that's what I want -- I want to be able to plane to my heart's content and not have to worry about the bench racking and sliding around. I will likely end up putting on a set of workbench casters I saw on Rockler's site to get it mobile.


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## Fishinbo (Jul 23, 2012)

Interesting build thread! I read your story and captivated by the fact that your family got their 110% support on you. It showed in the pictures! Good luck!


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

My wife wants a lot of projects built -- entertainment center, bed, shelves, cabinets, the list gets longer every day. So she sees helping me with this build as her way of getting her furniture faster  Well that and she is awesome of course


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

I built my bench of the same material. Heavy indeed. Looks good so far. Quick question, because I didn't think far enough ahead, did you try to align all the grain in one direction so when you have to flatten the top you aren't going against the grain on certain boards? I did not and it makes flattening much more....tedious.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

ACP -- I did not think far enough ahead to align the grain. However I got pretty lucky and I think there are only three or four boards in the slab that are out of alignment, so hopefully it won't be too bad.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

That's good news! I hated to bring it up, but I couldn't tell from the photos. They look like they have some pretty straight grain to them though.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Flipped the slab today and got rid of all the squeeze out on the bottom with scraper and chisel. With squeeze out:









Without (its magic)









Now I just need to sharpen the iron of my newly restored #7 and I can begin flattening. Unfortunately I have misplaced the adjustment knob and have no idea where that ended up...I blame the kid! :shifty:


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## critter (Oct 4, 2012)

Wow that looks great!! I am actually getting ready to build a workbench like that. I have one question for you and it might be a stupid one but instead of running the boards through a planer why couldn't you just run it through your table saw to straighten the edges and make them all the same width? The reason I ask is because I currently don't have a planer (on my christmas list for my wife) but I do have a beautiful table saw.

Can't wait to see the rest I have subscribed to this thread!! :smile:


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Hey critter,
The table saw ripping and jointing technique was what I actually wanted to go with first, my neighbor was just kind enough to offer his planer. If you have a 10" table saw you should be able to get the blade extended at least 3 1/4" so that you can joint the boards after ripping them. As long as your fence is aligned well and you feed the boards smoothly it should work pretty good. If you have a hand plane you can always clean up blade marks later. It will definitely take longer than running through a planer but I don't think that it would be impossible to do.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

ftk said:


> Hey critter,
> The table saw ripping and jointing technique was what I actually wanted to go with first, my neighbor was just kind enough to offer his planer. If you have a 10" table saw you should be able to get the blade extended at least 3 1/4" so that you can joint the boards after ripping them. As long as your fence is aligned well and you feed the boards smoothly it should work pretty good. If you have a hand plane you can always clean up blade marks later. It will definitely take longer than running through a planer but I don't think that it would be impossible to do.


Using the table saw can work. It will generate a decent amount of heat. If the wood contains resins or pitch, this will quickly build up on the blade, increasing the heat.

So keep an eye on the blade and be prepared to clean off any gum/resin which builds up.

It is normal for a blade to build up some gum/resin over time. Cleaning this off can make a big improvement to cutting.

There are a lot of products on the market to clean blades, I happen to use this one.

A small amount on the blade, a used tooth brush and it only takes a few minutes. I always inspect the teeth while I have the blade off. Now and again a tooth can be chipped and not easy to notice on the saw.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=30062&cat=1,41080,41165,30062


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

A belt sander or better yet a industrial floor sander with a belt from a rental place will take the surface down flat. They are fun to hang on to, but you get used to them pretty quick. Floor sanders start out at 16grit belts, you change up to 20 grit and then 40 grit...then from there you use conventional methods. In 20-45 minutes you can take off a 1/2" if you want. On pine, they will cut fast.


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## ChiknNutz (Apr 22, 2011)

Maybe everyone else knows this, but why did you start with 2x8s and not just 2x4s?


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

ChiknNutz said:


> Maybe everyone else knows this, but why did you start with 2x8s and not just 2x4s?


My understanding is that 2x12 are easier to come by with straighter grain and fewer knots. I've been wondering why not start w/ 4x4's though. I seldome see those too far out of shape.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

I think it is more economical to use 2x8 or 2x12 because you get more boards out of one board. I may be wrong, but that was my understanding.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

2x4 usually have more twist and knots than larger framing lumber. It is also a bit cheaper to rip 2x8 or larger down, I paid just over $9 per 2x8x12 which yielded 4 six foot boards. The SYP 2x4x12 I saw were almost $6 a piece and more crooked than a dogs hind leg...


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## ChiknNutz (Apr 22, 2011)

What is SYP? I am assuming it is the regional equivalent for our SPF (spruce, pine, fir) which is standard building grade lumber. If that is the case, typical 2x4x8s are like $2 here, so would be far more economical in that case. In any case thanks for sharing the build!

Sent from my iPod touch using Wood Forum


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

ChiknNutz said:


> What is SYP?


SYP = Southern Yellow Pine.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

As Dave Paine stated SYP is Southern Yellow Pine, which at least here in the south is widely available. For pine it is pretty hard and after the resins set up it gets really hard (I can't pound a nail in the rafters in my house).


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## Anthony Vu (Oct 17, 2012)

This workbench thread is pretty awesome. Looking forward to see the bottom!


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Still have to flatten the top -- and that won't get done with my #4 only. I've been restoring a #5 and a #7, and need to get the irons in working order. Spent most of the evening tracking down a neighbor with a bench grinder and then figuring out how to best jig the irons to get a 25 degree bevel on them, or at least fairly close to 25 degrees. Got that finally done, looking forward to putting a 30 degree micro bevel on them tomorrow night to be ready for the weekend and week ahead. Really looking forward to the shavings...any day now...any day...

Some pictures, because pictures always make a thread better.

Irons done grinding:









My current "workbench" that this bench is replacing. Though I think I will keep this bench free standing and convert the space the current bench is into cabinets with some counter space.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Had a very productive day today -- I learned how to flatten a top by hand! This was a really great learning experience and after I got the hang of it practicing on the bottom of the bench top, I made progress on the top side quickly. It was a lot of fun to experiment with different iron depths and skewing vs not skewing, etc. The foreplane did a great job taking big bites out of the top and after I got the hang of it I got the high spots down quick, I was quite surprised at how easy it was. But then again this was pine...

Here is my modest fleet of planes, tuned and honed razor sharp, ready to be put to work (#4, #6, #7):










This is the bottom of the benchtop before I started to work on it. One corner was sagging quite a bit. I use two 3' lengths of angled aluminium bars as winding sticks, work real well and double as handy straight edges.










Here is the bottom after flattening with the fore plane and a couple of passes with the jointer. I left it at this as this is the bottom after all...it doesn't need to win any beauty contests, just be level so I can attach the vises. The bottom was a great practice run.










Before flipping the top I made the first cuts to trim the ends. I really like this simple jig for the circular saw, makes lining up and executing your cuts fool proof.










The cuts almost line up! :thumbsup:


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

After flipping the top and honing the #6's iron again I marked the high spots on the top side. Definitely quite a number of areas to fix 










Good thing that my helper showed up towards the end, he is much better at marking high spots than I am :laughing: He was also a great help sweeping the shavings off of the top for me.










He also loved playing with the shavings. The dust level is really low when hand planing so I am not overly concerned with him playing with them. The (almost) lack of dust is something I immensely enjoy when working with hand planes. Makes all the blisters worth it 










The wife loves "playing" with the shavings as well! I think this is asparagus, tho I don't quite get why it is so thin...










Here is the top where I left it tonight. So far It is level side to side, but I still have to go end to end to get it truly flat. 










The weather was perfect for working on this today. Started out in the 60s, only got in the low 80s around noon, and nice and cool in the evening again. The lack of dust also meant I could leave the garage door to the house open and get a nice cross breeze going.

If I have enough time this week, I will finish flattening the top, then smooth it with the #4. Next I think I will drill the dog holes, then flip it and finish the bottom (danish oil as in oil and varnish which Chris Schwarz seems to recommend in most of his articles for benches), then make sure the edges are nice and straight before laying out and attaching the face vise. Then a vice jaw needs to be made, the top flipped and the top side finished. At that point I will have a fully functional bench to work on the base. Hooray! :smile:


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## jharris2 (Jul 9, 2012)

Nice work brother.

Great idea to practice on the bottom to get a feel for things.

I just got started a on my first plane restoration and I can't wait to try my hand planing. Pun intended.

Unfortunately I have to build a bench suitable for hand tooling.

No more room in the garage so I guess that bench is going to have to go into the den. 

Please keep us posted on your progress.

"The truth is more important than the facts"

Frank Lloyd Wright 


"Facts are the enemy of truth"

Don Quixote


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Great job man!!!


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Great looking bench and an excellent pictorial! Looking forward to seeing it finished.


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## critter (Oct 4, 2012)

:thumbsup:Still looking great!! Keep it up:thumbsup:


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Have a four day weekend starting today, so I was able to get some more work done. I flattened the top end to end for the most part, the top keeps moving way too much on the sawhorses to get it perfect, I think that will have to wait until the base is attached. In order to get some usability out of the bench in its current state I drilled a number of dog holes, 5" centers 2 1/4" from the edge. Built a little jig to make sure I was holding the brace square:










After the first hole a bench dog was used to register the previous hole for even spacing.










I also chamfered the holes in order to avoid the pine tearing when pulling out dogs. I didn't put holes all the way to the end yet as I want to attach the vise first.










Then I began on getting the vise set up. I need to make a front jaw, and was originally planning on making it out of pine but I remembered that I had some maple off cuts somebody gave to me a while ago. Why buy more pine if I already have something better here?










After planing them nice and flat I glued them up, will let them sit over night. Looking forward to getting the vise attached and getting some legs on this bad boy!


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## jharris2 (Jul 9, 2012)

FTK, 

Your bench is looking fantastic! Nice job on the dog holes.

Jeff


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Lo0oking great man!


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

It's been a while since the last update. Unfortunately I was travelling for business and as such I didn't get any shop time in the past two weeks (even though I did get to sample lots of the local beer around Seattle  ), but I managed to squeeze in a little bit of time this weekend.

Using the dog holes and the Veritas Wonder Dog (which I am using as an end vise replacement until funds are available to get a real one) I got the front jaw of the vise ready. The wonder dog really works well, I recommend it!










Next was the rear jaw. Here I hole sawed the recess for the support collets of the guide rods, then pared out the waste with a chisel. Not the prettiest job, but it'll do...










Drilling the mounting holes for the rear jaw to mount it to the bench top. Even more interesting was drilling the holes for the guide rods and screw through the front and rear jaws...drilling through 5+ inches with a tiny drill press that travels 2" max is an exercise in balance.










Here is the rear jaw mounted. It is secured to the benchtop with three 4" lag screws and washers.










The front jaw is ready to be attached.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Next my gracious wife helped me flip the top and I mounted the carriage. Here it is shortly after mounting it.










The taper on the front jaw turned out much, much better than I had hoped! Hooray for getting it right the first time (doesn't happen too often for me) :thumbsup:










Finally mounted.










My planing allowance is a bit more than I had wanted, but could be worse.










After planing the front jaw flush with the benchtop it is time to build the base. I have to take some more measurements and draw up a plan to custom build it for the top, and pick up a bit more lumber, but I think I'll have some time this weekend to get started on it. :smile:


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

That is going to be a fine workbench! I'm liking it atlot.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Two more weekends have passed, and some progress has been made. To start on the base, I had to pick up a bit more lumber. I picked a 2x12x8 to build the legs and a 2x6x12 to make the stringers. For all other misc pieces like the cross supports I am using left over strips I didn't laminate into the top.










After ripping and thickness planing the 2x12, here are the legs ready to be glued up.










Glue up of the legs. Notice that I am cheating and leaving a spacer in the center about the size of a 2x6 -- this will save me from having to chop a mortise for the stringers later. The spaces is a cut off that I planed down a bit on each side and then wrapped in packing tape to keep the glue from sticking. Worked out real well actually.











Trimming the legs to a consistent length. Notice the small center piece that looks off -- I had a brain fart when laying things out and somehow decided to orient the cross support the same way as the stringer, which of course doesn't work, so the off cuts were glued back in place :wallbash: Looks silly, but oh well...


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Next I cut the mortises for the cross supports. I tried to cut the first one on the table saw, but that wasn't just a PITA but also the most minute fence maladjustment was glaringly obvious once cut. Plus I felt like I was about to cut my fingers off, so I went with the handsaw instead -- which was the right decision, it was fast to cut and the cuts ended up nice and straight. The table saw cut leg is still usable thankfully, just needs some shims to be glued in place.










The cross supports were glued in place and then pegged with some 3/8" dowel that I had lying around.











Cross supports were planed flat with the top of the legs. I love this vise already, it's amazing how much easier woodworking is with a proper vise.











Legs are ready for the coming week!











Had a buddy come over to help me get the top off of the saw horses and flipped over to attach the legs. Getting close to having this puppy completed!


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Outstanding!!!


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

I've been following this thread and the bench so far is well done. It looks like it will be heavy and sturdy. One thing I've discovered about construction lumber that you also found out that the bigger they are the better they are. The longer applies also. 









 







.


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## Mecum23 (May 31, 2012)

Looking good. This is a future project for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Wood Forum


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

Ok, two camping trips later I finally was able to finish this puppy up!

Here is the first dry fit of the setup. Had to take a couple of shavings off of the stringers to get them in all the way, but in the end it was a nice snug fit.










I cheated and ended up using metal to attach the legs to the top! I had a bunch of angle brackets sitting around from a previous project and figured waste not want not! :laughing: Plus it saved me an hour or so of trying to fiddle with drilling the right holes for allowing expansion, etc. I did however peg the legs to the stringers with 3/8" dowel, and even used my brace to drill these (my drill batteries are on their last leg), so not all is lost. :shifty:











Then it was time to trim the ends and dowels











Then use the smoother and a bit of sandpaper, then put on two coats of danish oil.


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

After everything was dry and I could get my buddy to help flip the bench (I think it weighs around 350 pounds at this point) it was time for the final stretch. The top definitely needed a bit more flattening -- you can see the lighter areas where its a bit lower than the rest. Spent another hour or so flattening. This picture is prior to that.











After flattening and smoothing I applied two coats of danish oil here as well. Definitely made that grain (and those knots! :thumbdown pop.











And here is the current "finished" product:











The dimension as she sits right now are a 71 1/2" x 27 3/4" x 3" top, with a total bench height of 28 3/4" which is quite low but perfect height for me to use bench planes. I used one of Chris Schwartz' techniques for determining the height (first knuckle of little finger when having your arms relaxed by your side). Haven't weighed it, but it is over 300 pounds easy, and definitely does not move or rack when planing. The jaw of the front vise is about 18" and has a 3 3/4" throat depth and just over 12" capacity. Legs are around 4 1/4" square and their fronts are flush with the front of the top to allow for more clamping opportunities. I didn't log hours spent on this, but I think I have spent somewhere around 30 hours building it (with proper tools/knowledge I could have done it in 20 or less I think). Total cost is around $200 I would say, with the $80 front vise being a large chunk of that.

I gotta get started on some furniture projects for the wife over christmas vacation, but I still have a few things I want to add to the bench, namely a bottom shelf and a sliding deadman. At some point I want to save up for a proper tail vise as well.

This has been a really fun project so far and a great learning experience. I definitely know what tool(s) to buy next :laughing:
I am also thrilled to finally have a work surface with plenty of space, work holding opportunities and most importantly one that doesn't rock and slide every time I use a plane.

Thanks for following along the build thread. I will definitely update once I add on to the bench, but for now I will call this feature complete for version 1.0 :yes:


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## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

That is one burly bench. Excellent work.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Man that is nice!! Hey I'll pay for the shipping to my shop. Just saying. Definitely an heirloom bench.


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

Man that thing is a beast! Job well done. I've enjoyed following the thread, and look forward to following your next project!


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