Evere since I discovered John White’s bench, I’ve really wanted to build one. This spring/summer I finally had the chance to do it. It’s about 65″ long and 29″ wide. I generally followed the plan in the original FWW article, plus a few good ideas I read in Knots, and added a few of my own.
The first photo shows the top of the bench. I used quarter-sawn sections of 2×10 pine framing lumber for most of the top, which is about 3″ thick. Hard maple end caps keep the top in line. I did have some trouble with this aspect and even though the glue-ups of the top went very well, assembling the sections of the top led to a less than perfectly flat top. It is flat enough though after some work with a jointer plane. The trestle and the main legs are 2×12’s. The secondary legs are 2×6’s as are the feet.
The second photo shows the end vise. I noticed that in the originbal design, the pipe clamps weere captured and the wooden jaw on the crank end was screwed to the table. I wanted to be able to remove the pipe clamps if needed, so I mounted them loosely in cut-outs rather than thru-holes. I have 2 types of jaws on the crank end. The one in the photo shows the doweled one, which fixes it in place like John’s original. The other one floats.
The 3rd photo shows how I counter-bored the Pony clamp into the maple end cap. This solved the problem of having the clamps flop down all the time as they are top heavy.
One of the biggest challenges for me was how to deal with the 3/4″ pipes criss-crossing, supporting the MDF inserts and still keeping the top from getting too thick. The added problem was that I wanted to use the fixed ends of the pipe clamps as a rough adjustment on the front vise instead of the pins through the pipe method that John White used. I didn’t want to have the pipes supporting the MDF, nor did I want the front vise too get too low. The 4th and 5th photos show that the fixed end of the pipe clamp has been located in the center of the 2 long end vise pipes with a spacer. The fixed jaw of the end vise just barely clears the pipe of the front vise. The spacer is also shaped to allow it it pass over without hitting. The 6th photo shows the MDF inserts are resting on 1/4″ hardboard strips nailed to the inside of the center well. The inserts sit just barely over the pipes. To adjust the front vise, I can easily reach under the bench to operate the spring on the fixed end.
The front vise also had the annoying problem of the top heavy clamps rotating into an upside-down position. The 7th photo shows the hoods that I attached to the jaw face to capture the Pony clamps. This also solved the problem that I found when loosening the front vise. Without the hoods to capture the clamps, the moveable jaw of the clamp retracted, but the wooden face plate stayed put. With the hoods in place, the face plate is pulled along with it.
I love my new bench and appreciate all the advice I’ve gotten from everyone here.
Replies
Welcome to the newfangled club.
I sure love mine. Use it every day. An old dresser that belonged to my son 40 years ago fits perfectly under one end and provides drawers. In the pix you can see the back of it painted blue under the left side of the NFWB.
Nice bench, I wish I had the space to make mine that long. I like how you stored the front vise pipes by clipping them to the trestle.
Here is the trick.
I've got a thousand sq feet, and more than one bench. Here is how I worked it. I tied up the garage for years with a workshop until, 20 some odd years ago, when we built this house, my wife said "we are going to start parking our cars in the garage. Put your shop in the basement. We won't build a finished basement. Take the whole damn thing." OK, if you insist I said.
You did a beautiful job on your bench. I built mine with no glue ups I just used John's screw method and I can see some advantages to that, but a glue up would have been much faster and easier I think. Once in a while I see if I can tighten anything. At first I got a few turns of a screw or bolt here and there, but not lately. I use the beam a lot. Don't know how I ever got along without one in the past.
I used the sketchup on - line plans. Had never used sketchup before and found it very interesting. Because some of the black pipe in the original article were 1/2 inch and some were 3/4, and some confusion on their interpetation of 3/4 being outside diameter instead of inside diameter, I think the sketchup measurements made it harder to jam all that cross pipe and long pipe and 3/4 mdf into the plan's height of the well. I was finally able to do it but it was close and the MDF sits right on the pipes with no room to spare.
I liked the bench so much, I moved the hand tools that I use the most, off the wall by the other benches and hung pannels on french cleats within reach of the NFWB . Had a lot of fun making new tool holders and it looks better than pegboard.
I didn't have any help building this thing and I was surprised at how heavy it started to become as I was putting it together. Had to use some creative ways to lift a hunk of it off my assembly table without straining something.
It's hard to start using something as beautiful as that for fear of dinging it up but I'ts a workbench. Start banging away !"
And enjoy.
small request
"I've got a thousand sq feet"
Could you e-mail be a few hundred square feet to add to my shop? Pretty please? ;-)
Love the size of the bench, though.
I get my exercise walking from one end to the other. I would say this though, no matter what ammount of room you have, I wouldn't make the NFWB any wider than it is. I know some folks think it's too narrow but it works right at that width.
As for more room, try the old garage ploy, it worked for me. It's very effective on snow days with groceries to be brought in.
Added vise.
I like a small vise up high for working on small parts. Just thought of hiding the small Woodcraft Universal 2 position vise under the NFWB top in the well. When it slides up it is held in place by the end vise or you can put it on the planing beam and raise it up or down locking it with the side vise. This is a work in progress. I have designed a way to capture the end of the bottom in a raceway attached to the stretcher that locks it in place at the bottom as well as at the top in the end vise. More pix in days to come. The jaw faces are maple with magnets to hold them to the jaws.
nifty
Looks like a convenient set-up. A person can never have too many vises (or, clamps), they say. One just has to be carefull with the spelling.
Why?
What's wrong with too many vices? I'll tell ya, at 70 I don't have many left.
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