Workbench Build

[RJsumthn]

Well I thought I would share my workbench build with everyone. This will be my first time doing anything like this. I hope that this will be an amazing learning experience for me. I hope that people will share their honest opinions with me even if they are highly critical. First I would like to share a little about my background with woodworking.

 

I made my "first" piece of furniture when I was a junior in high school in shop class. It was a waist high bookshelf with a drawer on the front. But I do not really count this toward my actual project total since the plans were all laid out and it was supervised every step of the way. The first project that I really count is a desk I made with a $20 hand saw and a $60 Ryobi Router.

 

 

 

The next project I made was a garden bench that was based on Steve Ramsey's video.

 

 

The last project that I just completed a couple weeks ago was a corner cabinet/entertainment center. This was my first time making paneled doors and to make it even harder the doors had angles in them but unfortunately I don't have a good picture of the doors.

 

 

That is all of the real woodworking experience I have. I did make my old bench but that is just some 2x4's and mdf that is screwed together. 

 

 

Okay, enough of all that. Now lets start with the new workbench. After making the first couple projects I realized that I would like a bench that is longer and one that has a face vise. With that in mind, I decided that I wanted to have a set of plans for the first time (I didn't make any plans for previous projects other than a few, and I mean a few, dimensions on a piece of paper). So I downloaded sketch up, watched a couple quick videos, and came up with the following:

 

 

I went to my hardwood store and picked up some 12/4" Poplar for the legs. I wish I could afford better hard wood to do the entire bench but money is extremely tight. 

 

 

Next, I went to Home Depot and bought some 14' 2x4's for the top. 

 

 

Then I rough cut the parts for the legs and then started to square up the parts with my jack plane. This was the first time that I had actually took the time to really square up a piece of wood. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I think it was a little easier since they were pretty narrow pieces. 

 

Then I took some time to cut the 14' 2x4's in half with my circular saw and then rip them down to take off those rounded corners. Following that I took 2 of those, now 7', 2x4's and planed the faces with my jack plane to get them ready to be glued together. Since my current bench is only 4' long I could only plane half of one side then I would have to spin it around to plane the other end. I know that would be nearly impossible to get those pieces perfectly flat and square so I didn't really try. I just planed enough so that the entire face had been touch. When I had those first two pieces planed I glued them together then when the glued tried I would plane another piece and glue it to the previous pieces. 

 

 

I don't have enough clamps to do multiple glue ups at once so it took me a while to get the top glued together. I also had to glue up 2 groups of the 2x4's because I only had three clamps that would reach the entire width. My clamps are the cheap clamps from Harbor Freight and they don't put out enough clamping pressure as I needed when glueing the two sections together. 

 

 

This previous picture is of the top in its current stage. Once it was glued up I started to plane the top with my Jack plane. I made 15-20 passes on the top and had I thought it was getting flat. However, that was not the case. I realized that the top was bowed up in the middle with the apex being where the 2 halves were glued together. It was probably a result of not planing correctly, not have enough clamps, and not having clamps that give proper pressure. The top was bowed up about 1/16" so i made even more passes with my jack plane in just the center of the top and I got it to the point where I am happy.

 

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that I found some staples in the top but only after I started seeing tracks being made by my Jack plane. At first I thought that a corner was digging in but no adjusting fixed it. Then I took a close look at the edge of the blade and found some nicks. At first I thought the knots in the wood had done it then I saw the staple legs (it appeared that the top of the staples had been cut off in the making of the board. So I spent about an hour at the stones getting the nicks out. 

 

While I was waiting for the glue to dry for the tops I started to cut the leg pieces to final dimensions and once that was done I marked placement for the mortises. This is my first time using mortise and tenon joinery. I don't have a plunge router so I went out and bought a 1.5" forstner bit and drill out a good chuck of the material with my cordless drill. I chopped the rest of the material with my WoodRiver bench chisels. The first mortise took me over an hour to cut but each mortise got quicker as I went. The last one took me about 20 minutes. 

[RJsumthn]

Once the mortises were chopped I moved on to cut the tenons. I did this with my $20 dozuki style saw I picked up from Lowe's. It took a lot of chisel work to get the tenons to fit but I was able to manage it. I don't have a should plane or rabbit plane so I am finding it hard to get them to sit perfectly or even close for that matter. 

 

 

I got all the tenons cut and fit.

 

 

And that is all that I have done so far. 

 

As you might have noticed, the top has one less 2x4 than the drawing does (If you did notice that you have amazing attention to detail). This is because I went to the hardwood store I picked up some hard maple.

 

 

I got some 8/4" stock for the vise jaws and some 4/4" to put around the edge of the bench. However after thinking about it some more I am not sure if it is a good idea because of the expansion of the top. Originally I was thinking of dovetailing the corners of the hard maple, mainly just for practice cutting dovetails. Will that interfere with wood expansion and cause problems? I could just put a strip of the hard maple on the front?

 

I am also throwing around the idea of adding drawers underneath. I might not do it right away but should I make the stretcher a little narrower and maybe even add another stretcher toward the top of the legs? I haven't cut the mortises or anything in the legs but I would like to start that soon.

 

I look forward to hearing the feedback from all of you!!

 

[JerrySats]

Looks good so far , whats up with the el camino in the back ground ?

[RJsumthn]

My parents bought me the El Camino when I was 15 and the plan was for me to restore/modify it to my liking. I slowly started to do some body work to it then when I turned 16 and got my license my parents got me a newer car to drive (my mom didn't think the El Camino was safe enough for me to drive everyday). After I got the new car that is where I spent my money get a sound system and all that stuff that makes you cool in high school. Then I really just lost the drive to fix it up when I had a nicer car to drive. So it has just sat there for the last 5 years. But I am insured under that car and it has saved my parents a lot of money. To be insured on the car I do drive everyday would probably be over $1000 a year but under the El Camino it is around $250. So for that reason my parents won't let me get rid of it until I start paying for my own insurance. But now that I have started woodworking I would like to get it running again so that I can pick up lumber and full sheets of plywood with it (now I have to get all my stuff from the hardwood store cut down to fit safely in my car). It use to run and to get it running again it should only need a new battery, the gas changed out, and the oil changed.

[RJsumthn]

Well I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday. I just couldn't seem to get my brain working.

 

I rough cut the vise jaws out of 8/4+ hard maple and started to surface them. I plan on having them be 18" long and 6.5" tall and once they are squared up they will probably be just under two inches thick. Is that thick enough for a front vise?

 

I also finally opened up the WoodRiver Large Front Vise I got a couple weeks ago. I was a little disappointed that there was no mounting hardware but for the price of the vise I should have expected it. There were also no instructions with it and the instructions found on the Woodcraft site are not that great. But it is pretty obvious how it goes on. There is one thing that I was having a little trouble figuring out and that is the 2 metal pieces that are on the guide rods. I looked at it for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out what they are for. The best that I could come up with is that they need to be flipped around and they get attached to the back of the jaw that is fixed to the bench. I am not 100% positive on that though so if anyone can has any idea that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tpt life]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0035YF4V8 Promo picture from a sales add. Still trying to find a better pic.

[Tpt life]

http://www.veritastools.com/products/Page.aspx?p=132 Better picture, was hoping to find pics of installation of the larger but am only seeing the smaller installed. I realize the pictures show you what you already have in hand but this proves that the pieces are part of the kit and not extraneous. I would assume that due to the long throw that these would be attached to the inside of a bench apron to help support when the vise is wide?

[Tpt life]

http://www.veritastools.com/Content/Assets/ProductInfo/EN/70G0801AI.pdf Veritas installation drawings. Proof that even Google has a learning curve. I finally typed "front vise installation"

[RJsumthn]

Thanks Shaffer! That answers my question about it. I thought a vise would be pretty easy to install, a couple holes and a couple bolts and done. But at least I will get some good experience from it.

[G S Haydon]

Good work so far RJ.

 

Don't worry about using poplar for the legs. I personally see no advantage to making benches from hard timber like maple (unless your work requires a very hard bench). Softwoods and poplar should be fine. I want my bench to come of worse when it and the work collide. I also like the way benches age with all the dents and damage built up over making lot's of projects. Look forward to seeing the next stage soon.

[RJsumthn]

I finished milling up the stretchers yesterday. I made the stretchers my glueing together 2 pieces of 4/4 poplar. One of the stretchers had some pretty significant twist in it. I had to remove at least 1/4" more material on that one. I thought about removing more material on the other stretcher so they would be the same but decided to leave it. Nobody will notice and after all it is just a bench. 

 

 

Today I got the mortises for the stretchers chopped out. I laid the mortises on the legs using my marking knives. Then I drilled some 3/4" holes to remove a good chunk of the waste. Next, I got my router out and free hand routed close to the lines with a 1/4" straight bit. Since my router couldn't reach the whole 2" depth, I chopped out the rest with my bench chisels. 

 

The I cut the tenons on the stretchers. I did most of the work on the table saw and just fine tuned the fit using my low angle block plane and some chisels. 

 

Now with all the leg parts done and the top glued up, I couldn't resist putting it all together to see what it looks like. 

 

 

I still have to attach the top and I want to do some shaping on the base of the legs (so it won't hurt so bad when I accidentally kick it). Once that is done I will attach the vise. After the vise is one, I will use the bench to help me mill up the maple trim that I will put around the top. 

[G S Haydon]

Good work RJ, it should be a good sturdy bench.

[RJsumthn]

I just wanted to give a quick update on this project but there isn't one. 

 

I started to mill the hard maple side pieces by hand and i began to notice some pain in my right elbow. So I stopped planing until the pain went away then I would start again. I went through this cycle a couple times then I decided to stop for the day and go in and rest. The next day I felt fine so I went back to milling the pieces. It was only after making about 20 strokes with the plane that I started to feel a very sharp pain in my elbow and I could not extend my arm out straight without excruciating pain. So I went inside and just let my arm rest and I put a heating pad on it. I went to bed and I still could not extend my arm without pain. The next morning it was better but I still had some pain in the elbow when I tried to extend it. That afternoon I was able to extend it without much pain. That was about 2 weeks ago and I have not worked in the garage since. While I no longer have much any real pain in my elbow, I can still tell that it is not quite like it should be. I believe that I have developed tendinitis from all the hand planing. Hopefully that my elbow will go back to normal sometime in the next week. 

 

But good news is that I got a job at Home Depot. That means that I should have a jointer and planer within the next 3 months. Hopefully I can talk my parents into upgrading the electrical panel and running 220v out to the garage.

[G S Haydon]

Which jointers are you considering RJ

[RJsumthn]

Probably a Grizzly. I would like a 8in but idk if i will be able to get 220v out in the garage so I might be stuck with a 6in. I want to keep the price as low as possible but I still want quality equipment.

[Vic]

Probably a Grizzly. I would like a 8in but idk if i will be able to get 220v out in the garage so I might be stuck with a 6in. I want to keep the price as low as possible but I still want quality equipment.

Do you have an electric water heater in the garage?.  I believe Paul-Marcel St. Onge has a thread on it in the forum.

[G S Haydon]

Grizzly are not a brand I am familiar with. Just had a quick look at the website. It seems quite reasonable and not too expensive. Have you considered second hand or do they fetch to much?

[Pwalter5110]

RJ. If your not comfortable running 220v yourself, usually electricians will do it for you pretty cheap. Especially if the breaker panel is in the same room you want the 220v in. IMO its probably better to save up a little more and get the 8". I just bought the G0490, and am pretty happy I saved up my pennies for it. 

[pghmyn]

RJ, how long of a run would it be from the breaker panel to the approximate location of the jointer?

 

Also, if you wanted to, you can do what I did. Plan for your future, and assume you will be getting a better table saw. One that happens to be 220v as well. You can add a second outlet on that same line for the jointer and the table saw. You will not have to worry about popping the breaker because when will you simultaneously run the jointer and table saw?

 

Like I said, a new table saw might not be immediate to you, but with the 220 line for the jointer, you will be set when you do buy one.

 

As for jointer advice, if you are looking into the 8" market, I would really recommend my G0656P jointer. Amazing piece of machinery for the price.

[RJsumthn]

Yes if I run 220 I would put multiple outlets. The panel is in the basement but it is the wires would only have to run up and over about 10 feet to get to the garage.

[bobcrosley]

You do very nice work. Your bench is coming along great.

 

I'm jealous. My current bench is the same as your current bench, and I think you're really going to like working on something with a solid top. I'll be watching this thread. I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

[RJsumthn]

Thanks Bob. I've been taking a break from it but I will be getting back into the swing of things here shortly. I joined my local woodworkers guild and am taking the safety orientation this saturday so I can use their shop. As soon as I can i will mill up the rest of the pieces at that shop.