Workbench project


mdbuilder

Recommended Posts

great job on the bench. I have one of these on my project lists as well. My wife gave me Chris Schwarz's "The Workbench Design Book" for Christmas to help me with my project. I was also admiring your hand tool cabinet. Is that of your own design? Do you have a place for longer jointer planes? Great work!

-Guy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, Ambrosia maple. Basically soft maple with a bug problem <g>, it was cheap @ $3 a BF and by chance it was all curly which annoyed the sawyer a bit when I showed him a pic a few weeks later since it would have been a dollar or two more if he had realized that. The tool cabinet is a Schwarz design, it has been in a couple of his books and probably the magazine as well. The top section is wide enough for a #7, the cabinet is 24" wide. Top section holds a #5, #6 and #7, anything up to a #4 fits in the cubbies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgive me but i have to ask. How much did you spend on materials only? That is a really nice bench. I like the design and the vice layout. How many hours do you have in fab? Nice work!!!

A little less than $500 for the wood I think and about $250 for the 3 screws / skateboard wheels / bearings and a bit of steel plate / angle iron and screws for the vises. The first load of 110 BF of Ambrosia @ 2.95 / BF was enough for the top, the legs and maybe 1/2 the stretchers. I had to go back for more to finish the stretchers and get a 9"*12 foot length of 10/4 ash for the leg and sliding leg vise. I had scraps on the pile for the parallel guides and the shelf boards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh yeah, hours? Dunno exactly, been working on it since a little before Thanksgiving. Maybe 80 hours? I used the heavy machinery in the initial stock prep of course, cabinet saw / 6" jointer and 20" planer. After that everything needed to be hand planed as the curly wood + staright knives on the machines resulted in a lot of tearout to cleanup. I did the flattening by hand, mortises were roughed out on the drill press and bashed square with chisels :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't want to take this topic of course, but I don't suppose that you want to start another thread for that tool cabinet? That is sweet looking and I wouldn't mind getting a closer look at it. Thanks.

That is a Chris Schwarz design. You can find it in one of the Woodworking Magazine issues before it got merged into pop wood. (older one I think)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.