Replies

1. 
   Troy | Feb 12, 2007 06:36am | #1

   I made mine out of recycled doug fir roof joists. These were from an 80 plus year old house so they were old growth wood. Although most people use hardwoods such as maple you can do just fine with softwoods (the old doug fir is rock hard). Anyway have fun.

   Troy

1. 
   miller | Feb 13, 2007 04:56am | #9

   I have checked the old barns left on my dad's farm that are falling down.  I have never thought of checking the old houses.  Thanks for the suggestion.

2. 
   tuolumne | Feb 12, 2007 03:47pm | #2

   I also recommend making your first bench out of something cheap like leftover douglas fir joists.  I used the forms from the footings of my house.  You will want to make anther bench eventually, and it is good to start affordable.  This lets you decide what you may like to do differeently the next time around.  I dropped a 30" diameter maple last week and I'll be sawing a thick slab out of it with my chainsaw for the next bench.  It should be dry enough to use in about five years!

3. 
   tuolumne | Feb 12, 2007 03:54pm | #3

   Here is a large picture...hard to see, but I ripped the 2x10s down and laminated them together.  This wood has been plenty hard and it's a joy to work on a solid bench.  Dogholes got notched into the 4th and 5th piece before glueup.

   
1. 
   Rich14 | Feb 12, 2007 06:31pm | #5

   Beautiful kids!

   Ugly bench.

   I know, I know. It works! Good enough for me.

   Rich

2. 
   miller | Feb 13, 2007 05:00am | #10

   It looks like you have a lot of help.  If they are anything like my helpers,  they help a little too much sometimes.  Like a few weeks ago my three year old son was trying to make some shavings on the bricks with my block plane.  I finally got it honed out.  Thanks for the reply.

3. 
   AndyE | Feb 21, 2007 06:55pm | #17

   Holy cow!! Don't let OSHA see that. Barefoot in the shop, no hearing protection, not enough goggles to go around... I bet they don't get a break for juice and naps, either. I am guessing she is the fore(wo)man of the shop.Mine like to supervise too.Andy

   
1. 
   tuolumne | Feb 21, 2007 07:32pm | #18

   You've got the supervisor pegged alright!

4. 
   oldusty | Feb 12, 2007 05:49pm | #4

   miller ,

                 One builder I know made a couple of work benches for a customers home garage and he had a glue lam beam made up special at about 2  1/2" thick and said it did not cost much more than the lumber would have . If you check around maybe you could find some shorts left over at the lumber yard or they might know of a builder who may have what you need .

                  good  luck            dusty

1. 
   cscwem | Feb 12, 2007 07:30pm | #6

   i just made a bench for my father-in-law using a glue lam beam I had left over from my house.

   It was 3-1/2" wide by 12" tall...I cut it into 6' sections and glued 2 of them together to make the top...it is made out of yellow pine and is pretty freaking hard and really heavy....

   I imagine you could purchase a glueLam in whatever size you wanted from the lumber yard and save the trouble of gluing it up....they construct them under very precise conditions using thousands of pounds of pressure...

5. 
   Omah | Feb 12, 2007 08:58pm | #7

   By nature wood moves. For my purposes I needed a dead on flat surface so I chose 1/4" melamine over 2x 3/4" mdf secured to a steel subframe which was attached to my old work bench. I chose the melamine as a sacrcrifice top. cheap enough and easily replaceable. the top came out 4'x8' and about as flat and level as I could get it. Haviving a surface thats dependable was crucial in my work.

6. 
   GW52 | Feb 12, 2007 09:27pm | #8

   I made a workbench out of Southern Yellow Pine and the base turned out great. The plans called for SYP on edge for the top which I would have used but the top the old bench was too nice to toss. I live in Copperas Cove so finding some at Lowes or HD should be easy. I got the plan from Woodworking Magazine.

   Greg

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   Edited 2/12/2007 1:28 pm ET by GW52

   
   

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   Edited 2/12/2007 1:29 pm ET by GW52

1. 
   miller | Feb 13, 2007 05:05am | #11

   The thought of yellow pine has crossed my mine.  I have heard others say it is too soft, and I am concerned that it may not be heavy enough.  Perhaps I will give it some more consideration.  Thanks for your reply.

1. 
   brad805 | Feb 13, 2007 08:08am | #12

   I am using a glulam also.  Not quite as heavy as a hardwood (50pcf compared to 70pcf+) and the surface is not as durable nor perfectly flat (hand plane will fix that).  In my case, it was free and if I want the added durability i will add a hardwood surface later.  If you are planning to mill your own stock, be careful selecting it.  I find the big box hardware stores are most interested in purchase price when selecting stock for their stores rather than quality.  If you can, find a wholesaler that specializes in hardwood supply.  Thats where professional woodworkers go and this is not only because of price.  I found a wholesaler willing to sell to my non-woodworking company.

7. 
   jeff100 | Feb 20, 2007 11:17pm | #13

   Miller, I am all most finished with my wood working workbench. Been working on it part time since last fall. I used maple for most of the bench as it is a local hardwood and I can get it cheap at a sawmill. Cheap is $3 a board foot. I wanted hardwood for my bench as I wanted to build a real european style wood working workbench and I want to give this bench to my grandkids someday. The work bench was also an opportunity to practice using my power tools and practice good woodworking practices like squaring up material properly, laminating properly, and cutting well fitting joints properly. I now know where I make mistakes and hopefully will not make same mistakes on my furniture projects. The bench is coming out great and when it's done, I'll have a very valuable tool for my shop. I second what other's have written as far as materials, hardwood was important to me, but it's not critical. Doug Fir is also local wood and would have worked well for my bench. My suggestion is to determine what wood grows locally in your area, it will most likely be the cheapest wood available to you at a local sawyer. Good luck.

   Jeff

1. 
   miller | Feb 21, 2007 05:14am | #14

   I still haven't decided what wood I am going to use.  I spent last Saturday calling around pricing wood.  I want to go with maple, but ash looks like it is going to be much cheaper.  I know I want to do something special for the vices.  Maybe use purpleheart or some other contrasting wood.  I cant decide what type of storage cabinet I want for the base.  I recently bought "The Workbench" book and have been studding it closely.  The funny thing is I was closer to making final decisions before I bought the book.  I would love to see some pics of your bench when it is complete.

1. 
   jeff100 | Feb 21, 2007 10:23am | #16

   I too bought a Workbench book, the one authored by Scott Landis. I also looked at every workbench plan/design I could find on the internet. I carefully tried to analyze exactly what I wanted to do on/with the bench and then fit the bench design to my needs. Lastly I sized the bench to my workshop space and my physical stature. Then came the drawings. All this I did before cutting chip one. I hope to have incorporated the best of all possibilities in my design and it's been a labor of love building it. I started with raw material that I squared up, sized and used. I also incorporated some oak that a old friend gave me after his father passed away. In honor of his father (he was a woodworker), I put the red oak in my bench, as the tool tray sides, and a couple of boards in the bench top lamination. Left to do is bore the bench dog holes and mount the tail vise, trim it out here and there, then flatten the top and apply finish. Note the bench is designed and built to be broken down into the major subassemblies so it can be moved easier (major components are benchtop, left and right leg assys, stretchers, tool tray, vises). Stretchers are mortised and tenoned into the legs, tightened with thru bolts. The tool tray is thru bolted with machine bolts to the benchtop back edge which has threaded inserts installed into the benchtop edge. The benchtop is lagged to the leg assy's with one lag bolt per side, to allow for free expansion/contraction. The breadboard ends are lagged to the benchtop ends with two lag bolts thru one bolt hole (front) and one bolt slot (rear) again, to allow for expansion. I've taken lots of pictures to document the journey and I'll attach a few of the latest one to give you a peek at what I've got so far...Phase II of the bench project will be cabinets, but that's down the road, if ever. I've got more pressing projects to tackle like a router table/cabinet and I have promised some furniture I've got to get to asap.Hope you like it. I've made a few mistakes and a couple of times I've had to tell myself, it's a bench, don't worry about it. But all in all, I love it and couldn't be more proud of my efforts or glad I took this on...Jeff

   
1. 
   miller | Feb 22, 2007 05:51am | #19

   Thanks for the pics I enjoyed them.

1. 
   SARGEgrinder47 | Feb 22, 2007 06:33pm | #20

   My current bench is number 20+. I've made them from almost everything that could be used. Given some away.. others were custom built for friends and acquaintanaces. The current has a base made from Doug Fir from a single beam re-covered from a civil war era warehouse here in Atlanta that was being torn down. General Sherman missed it when flicking his Bic. ha.. ha...

   The top is laminated ply ripped to 3".. stood on edge and face glued. A disposable birch ply insert sits on the crown surrounded by a maple skirt. I will probably replace the top this fall with a solid maple. If.. I get around to it in a busy WW schedule generated by the First Lady.

   From my view the top can be made from almost anything that is stable. Yellow pine is not that light and holds up well. If you do dent it, slap some bondo or wood filler in er' and sand it flat. You are dealing with a work-bench, not a show-room quality dining table. ha.. ha...

   Bottom line to me is the base or foundation is the key. Build it rock solid and made to last. The top on your first is somewhat secondary IMO. Build a Clydesdale to put under-neath and regardless of the grade of the saddle (which you will replace and you can take that to the bank) and you got a work-horse that won't fail under the heaviest of loads. You can up-grade saddles as you get the feel for the ride!

   Regards...

   Sarge.. jt 

    

   
2. 
   miller | Feb 23, 2007 05:02am | #21

   Nice bench thanks for the pics.

3. 
   SARGEgrinder47 | Feb 23, 2007 08:51am | #22

   Thanks.. and you're quite welcome Miller.

   Regards...

   Sarge.. jt

4. 
   brad805 | Mar 05, 2007 08:42pm | #23

   How do you like your front vise?  Looks like the same one I have (large front vise).  I used a 7" skirt (2" birch) and 2" front jaw.  I notice it deflects a little more than I like when in use.  I dont think the attachment between the vise and front jaw is strong enough.

8. 
   DonC | Feb 21, 2007 08:23am | #15

   My bench top was free. I got a huge steel door from the dumpster of a door replacement company. I covered this steel door with replaceable 3/4 russian baltic birch. This is not glued in place so it's easy to replace if needed. I mounted the vises with carriage bolts all the way thru reather than conventionsl lag bolt/screws from below the bench.

   This door is dead flat,heavy,and free.