cherringshaw Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 Hey Guildies, I finally finished construction on my own split top roubo workbench. Fairly long build for me - about 75 hours total; I think it could have been a little shorter, but with two toddlers, my shop time is limited to 1-2 hours late at night during the week, and 2-3 hours during naptime on the weekend. The stop-and-go really affected my productivity. All that is left is to finish it, and I haven't yet decided which way to go yet. The bench is made mostly from White Ash, sourced from Bell Forest Products - kudos to Boone and team for sending me some very choice lumber. Their prices, including truck shipping to Illinois, were less than our local sawyers, and way less than local hardwood dealers. I got about 200 bd feet of clear Ash for the major parts of the bench, and have about 35 bd feet left over. For an accent / contrast, I used Walnut from a neighborhood tree I saved, that was knocked over in a storm a few years ago. (I also used it for the Moxon vice, which you can see in one of the photos). Dimensions on the bench were pretty close to the plans - I am on the tall side, so the bench is about an inch higher than standard, and about 25" deep - the Ash was very clear and straight, so I couldn't bring myself to shave off and waste all that extra wood just to shrink the slab down. As it was, the project generated seven full dust collection bins (40 gal) of sawdust. An extra inch wide doesn't sound like much to me, but I guess we'll see over time. The top is pretty standard, I used Festool Dominos to align the top pieces. Kept the square dogs, and am happy with the decision. I used Walnut for the dog strip, with a Festool MFS to route the dog holes (and slab mortises, and the leg mortises). The jig was easy to flip around to route the dog hole in the moveable block, too, so the grain of the backing strip matches the entire length of the piece. I capped both the front and back slabs on the tail vice side, and I have the blanks left to put end caps on the opposite end of the bench, if I feel so inspired in the future. No real technical reason to use end-caps on both slabs, but I think the design looks nice, and the extra work for them was pretty minimal once the tools were setup. My wife calls it OCD. The leg vice chop was a solid slab of Walnut, and I also used Walnut on the parallel guide, roller brackets, deadman, runner, and gap stop. I love the contrast of the Ash and Walnut, especially when I get some oil on it. The bottoms of the legs have 1/2" UHMW plastic pads on them, to reduce any moisture absorption from the concrete floor, and to make it easier to slide when I needed to change locations. The bench doesn't move at all while planing, even on a heavy cut with the #7. The base was left in portable configuration, using the knockdown bolts came that came with the workbench kit. The shelf boards came from a ridiculous 11" wide piece of clear, straight Ash, that I resawed and sized for the opening. The Benchcrafted hardware was top flight - fairly easy to install and tune, rock solid to work with, and silky smooth to operate. Plus Jameel was always available to offer encouragement and answers any questions I had. I took a lot of inspiration from the Jim Kirkpatrick Roubo build over in Talk Festool - many-o-Festool was used/abused in making the bench. Some of the decorative choices were inspired by Vic Hubbard's creativity at the Tumblewood blog - great work, looks amazing! The location of Walnut accents were inspired by a couple of uncredited photographs I found on Google images, of a beautiful maple / bubinga workbench. And here I sit typing this, just amazed that I was able to pull off a project like this. Now I have a workbench that I was dreaming about from pictures on the Internet. Thanks for the inspiration fellow Guildies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 Great job! Beautiful piece. I'm glad you liked my design. It looks good in your wood choices. (null) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barron Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 Really nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Seganti Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 Congrats on a great looking workbench. I really like the idea of using UHMW pads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 A great job. I like the walnut moxon too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamAronson Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Really nice bench! I too like the walnut Moxon! I may be biased - my choices for the end cap, leg vise and deadman are also walnut. I'm curious about the UHMW pads and you may have inspired me. I'm similarly concerned about moisture wicking problems. For instance - I notice that when I lift my basement shop's rubber floor mats there are occasionally patches of moisture. I wonder if I shouldn't do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherringshaw Posted July 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 Really nice bench! I too like the walnut Moxon! I may be biased - my choices for the end cap, leg vise and deadman are also walnut. I'm curious about the UHMW pads and you may have inspired me. I'm similarly concerned about moisture wicking problems. For instance - I notice that when I lift my basement shop's rubber floor mats there are occasionally patches of moisture. I wonder if I shouldn't do the same. The UHMW pads have been great so far. Besides protection against moisture wicking, they make the bench easier to slide when I need to, but not so much that the bench moves when doing heavy planing, so it's a good balance. My concrete is not super smooth, though, so I can imagine a concrete floor that has been worked really well, will slide a lot more - in which case I would just put some of the suede scraps under the pads. That'll keep it from moving at all 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fransikaner Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 Congratulations and thanks for sharing. I know you will get years of enjoyment from an outstanding effort. Love the moxon setup - I've got an oversized bench with mine. Also, shout-out to your bucket buddy. A very-much under-appreciated must-have shop accessory!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allencrane Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 Terrific work, cherringsaw! The moxon is an excellent addition, and you must post a few more pics when you get the finish on it, as I'm sure the contrast and grain patterns are spectacular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 Terrific work, cherringsaw! The moxon is an excellent addition, and you must post a few more pics when you get the finish on it, as I'm sure the contrast and grain patterns are spectacular. Agreed! I've really loved the ash people have been using. It's not a wood I can easily get in my area, but I'm impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamAronson Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 This project is the first time I've used Ash and I must say I've become a fan. It's dense, stable and works well. My only gripe is that it doesn't have very exciting grain or coloring so I can't see using it for anything on the more "artistic" side. I was very fortunate to end up with one 8/4 x 12 x 96 board that is nicely curled. I plan on using that for the front lamination and (maybe) the Moxon. A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_bernhardt Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Very nice. I also used walnut for the endcap and guides and like the contrast with the Doug Fir I used for the rest of my bench. One concern about the pads on the bottom of the legs - I would expect that would cause the table to slide when you lean into a plane or do anything else that exerts some force against wood you have held in place with those great vises. But I note you wrote that it doesn't ... so, rock on! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasmithee Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Beautifully executed. I really like your bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allencrane Posted July 22, 2012 Report Share Posted July 22, 2012 Ash is no longer available in my area (Texas) though I absolutely love the grain - due to the beetle issue. Folks would complain that the beetles would pop out of the wood and make their countertops dusty. In that case, I can't think of a more appropriate use of ash - what's a little dust anyway on a workbench? :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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