Replies

1. 
   BenM | Apr 28, 2003 08:02pm | #1

   Issue 69, Mar/Apr 1988.

1. 
   tkumpf | Apr 29, 2003 02:48am | #3

   Ben,

   Thanks a lot, I built a bunch of them about 10 years ago but couldn't find the article again!

2. 
   SoCalDon | Apr 29, 2003 02:27am | #2

   I built the new-fangled workbench and would highly recommend it. After using it for awhile I added two rows of bench dog holes on the wide side and a single row on the narrow side and use the Veritas bench pups for stops. I also just recently added a Wilton bench vice to the left side of the wide side. I loved the bench as designed but I do a lot of work with hand tools so I needed the stops.

1. 
   tkumpf | Apr 29, 2003 02:53am | #4

   Thanks for the info. If I may just ask one more question: how did you attach the top to the frame? the author doesn't specify any method, but he is quite specific about other aspects of fastening things together.  Thanks again for your help

1. 
   SoCalDon | Apr 29, 2003 05:34pm | #6

   I am at work right now so I can't check but as best I recall I used lag bolts from the bottom through each layer in the build up on the legs.

   Also wanted to comment on Thom1's comments. I concur with his conclusion that the bar clamps on the narrow side in place of a vice are inadequate. They definitely do not work on smaller pieces. It was for this reason that I added the Wilton vice on the left end of the wide side. On the other hand, I have used the bar clamps in the center section quite often for clamping and they work well as do the clamps which operate the planing beam on the narrow side of the bench. I use them all the time. The removable panels also make it possible to clamp through the center of the bench which is a very useful feature. I also sized a plexiglass top so that it could be held to the bench and made a router table top which allows me to drop my PC 690 router through the cavity. With the addition of a movable T-fence I can use my bench as an ultra-large router table!

   I think the bench is both new-fangled and is, in some ways, new and improved. I highly recommend it as a cheaper alternative for anyone building a first bench who doesn't want to spend a lot of money before determining what is really needed for a bench. My total cost including my modifications was under $400 and I built it in a weekend.

1. 
   Tall_Pete | May 26, 2007 05:56am | #8

   Don,

   Would you be willing/able to post or send me pictures of your New Fangled Workbench?  I would like to see the improvements in the design that you made before I try to build it myself.

   ~Peter

3. 
   Thom1 | Apr 29, 2003 03:46am | #5

   I think it is newfangled, but not new and improved.  I don't think the originator necesarily would disagree.  It looks as though it would work, but I thinK a regular workbench works better, and can incorporate all the advantages of the NF.

   1) softwood.  Why not, just use 2x4 glue up, either all the way accross, or for the beam dog area.  Most trad benches are just 12 to 16" inches wide of solid material, with either some thinner stuff out of the main impact areas, or the a tool tray.  So a beam of about 4x5, with thinner stuff out to max beam width is all you need.

   2) Joinery, a bit hard to make recomendations, but you could use his joinery, or a bunch of alternatives, if you don't want to make a mortise and tenon structure, though I find it fun.  Also you can just bolt the bench to cabinets, or metal pre-made legs.

   3)  This is where the NF really falls down, it is clever VS a bunch of alternatives, but I don't see people with "real" vises converting them to the NF.  IN particular, bar clamps are no reall replacement for a vise.  They might not be too bad for a drawer side, but one is constantly putting all sorts of little workpieces into one's vise, and may could hardly be secured by a bar clamp.  Heck many of us don't use those any longer for clamping.

   There are a lot of alternatives here.  The cheap one, with fullish functionality  seems to me to be a woodworker's vise from HK with a quick release, Grizzly has one modeled on the Record, which may not be bad.  I handled it, and liked it, but I don't know how good it is.  For the tail vise, I would use either a second HK vise on the end, or one made out of a veneer clamp, as on the Seth Janofsky bench in Woodworker 55 (Seth used a softwood top also).  To make this vise, you leave a gap between the on edge 2x4s in the top, and rig a block to work back and forth in slots on either side.  The block is drilled for a dog.  The veneer clamp is mounted in the bench end to operate the dog.  You can use LV dogs in 1/2" holes instead of mortises, if you find that easier.

   A "real" bench is justa beam on a base with two vises.  Maple was the wood of choice, but is now quite expensive.  Beech remains reasonable, and good softwood is in some ways better than hardwood.  Make an NF bench by all means, but I think you could do better.  Anyway any bench is better than none at all.  So have fun.  If your bench is too pretty, you may put off planing the surfacae to keep it true, so a practical inexpensive bench is in some ways a gift.

1. 
   tkumpf | Apr 30, 2003 02:57am | #7

   Thom1,

   Thanks for all of your help. I will incorporate your ideas into the bench

   tom