A Guide to Building your own Bench for Noobies?

[Chems]

I've been working on my first project since the summer which has included buying all the tools required. The whole way through I have been plagued with no decent work surface, un-able to clamp things. Its a nightmare. So now that I'm finished the project I'm ready to make my own bench. Ive been looking up a lot of pictures in the Axminster cat' and on here. I now need some advice.

Tool Wells; Are they really a good idea?

Beech top with Pine legs is that an ok make up?

Work top thickness; around 2 1/2 to 3 inches seems to be the recommended?

Front leg dog holes; I can't see how you would use these, any examples?

Pro's and con's of having draws/cupboards underneath.

And my final question, if I wanted to procure some beech second hand were should I look?

 

[OLD]

They are personal things to fit you the space available and type of work to be done.
Here is a list of books.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEB...h+woodwork&by=title&Button1.x=25&Button1.y=10
The Christopher Schwarz book answers all questions. other book have more design ideas.

 

[devonwoody]

Chems if you do a search, Tony here did a super bench, you could proceed to what depth you desired without do the whole thing.

 

[OPJ]

I find tool wells are very handy as they give you somewhere to lay your hand tools without interfering with your work on top of the bench. If you stash them away in a drawer each time then, you have to open the draw and dig them out again. With a well, they're always ready for you. I've used benches with tool wells positioned on-centre but, I personally prefer to have them situated towards the rear. This gives you more space to work on. If you do find Tony's bench, you'll see he made the tool well removable - another great idea and, ideal for cramping from behind. :wink:

If at any time you decide you don't like it, you could always drop a sheet of MDF or ply on top - it's not easy to do it the other way round and create a well in a solid bench top!! :wink:

Beech is a great choice for a top. Though, that's not to say that some people aren't happy with layers of MDF - look for Paul Chapman's bench, if you want to save some money. I think that with the legs, it's more a question of size and construction than what species you use. For instance, I know Tommy has just built a bench (softwood frame) with splayed legs, which will greatly reduce any racking or movement while planing. If you intend to do a lot of hand-planing, you may want to consider a similar design.

I don't think you want a top any thicker than 3" unless you plan on chopping a lot of large mortises by hand...!

Not sure about dog holes but, drawers give you somewhere to store your tools while shelves can house jigs and maybe small machinery and power tools. Either way, as you fill it up, it will add more weight to the bench. Again, if you look at Tony's bench, I think you'll find that he left it entirely 'open' so he could wheel stuff underneath at the end of a day.

 

[Chris Knight]

On my bench I used an MDF top and pine legs. It has served me well for over 10 years although I do want to build another.

The pine legs shrank quite a bit (across their section) after construction and I was glad I had used threaded rods (studding) to assemble the base. I was able to tighten these to make up for the shrinkage.

 

[RodN]

Front leg dog holes; I can't see how you would use these, any examples?

Long timber in the vice at the left, supported the other end on a dog on the right hand leg.

Pro's and con's of having draws/cupboards underneath.

Great for gathering shavings and sawdust. Even better if there is a dog hole or two above the drawer.:roll:

Rod

 

[Paul Chapman]

Front leg dog holes; I can't see how you would use these, any examples?

Here's one example http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... at=1,43838

You can never have too many dog holes :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Steve Maskery]

I think that Glen D Huey's bench on the Pop Wood site is as good a design as I've come across.

Mine is a version of the Nelson Fortune bench from the Landis book.

S

 

[Chems]

Thanks Old, I will order that book, can't go wrong with free delivery!

I just read Tonys thread, very good bench it is too, quite decorative in places as well. I also read Lord Nibbo's again today, and Sean's the lad who did one as part of his college course.

I see what your saying OPJ about the tool well, I suppose it makes sense. No deeper than 3 inches, I wont be doing any big mortises by hand, just your usual sort of woodwork, I hope to become more proficient in hand tools so it will be mostly used for things like that.

If I leave the pine for a good while in the place the bench is going to be that should help me avoid most of the shrinkage?

Rod and Paul, I see now! I'd seen the vertias clamp in the Axminster cat' but I thought that perhaps the dog holes had some other use.

One other concern is I really want to be able to sit at the desk for doing carving work or the like, so if I have the ends over hanging for clamping it should give me that option as well?

Many thanks to all the replies.

 

[beech1948]

http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/z_pdf/shopImprov/BobAndDavesGoodFastAndCheapBench-ne.pdf

The link above is to a web site which is now resurrected by the Wayback Machine from the defunct Bob Key site.

Bob Key provided a design for a bench made from 2x4 pine for both the top and undercarrige. I built one as have many others. It is an excellent first bench. Its good to learn on and certainly tough enough to cope with anything you throw at it. Whilst it is attractive it lacks the fashionable timbers for benches but is all the better for that as it is closer to that used by many pro's over the years.

3 inch beech or other hardwood should be saved until you know what you want and build a second bench...as you will.

regards

Alan

 

[OPJ]

If I leave the pine for a good while in the place the bench is going to be that should help me avoid most of the shrinkage?

Yes, that's quite possible. Although, if your workshop is unheated and lacking in insulation then the timber may well expand and contract in future anyway! :roll: Still, I always like to leave timber to settle instead of machining it immediately.

You'll also need to find your ideal working bench height. There are lots of different tips for calculating this - some contradicting each other!! :shock: I reckon it should be at a height that's comfortable for you to plane timber and cut dovetails in the vice.

If you make it too tall, you could always trim the leg off. If it's too short though, you'll have to pack it up with blocks from underneath.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Don't discount MDF. Very flat, very stable, very heavy and very inexpensive - and if it's good enough for Robert Ingham, it's good enough for me :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Shrubby]

Chems , for secondhand beech (and record vices) why not a used school bench. Leg the bench up to a comfortable height, buy the Scott Landis book and tackle some projects with an insight to how the benches in the book work for their owners
Have a look at "holz-cnc-epple" website their hobelbanke(benches) are as state of the art as I can find currently
Matt

 

[filsgreen]

I've just made my version of this:

http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/page.asp?p=461
Here is a pic

Not a great picture but it gives you an idea, it is 5ft x 2ft. The top is made out of two layers of 32mm MDF, with a 12 mm plywood top and the carcase is Pine. It also has a lower shelf of 32mm MDF, so all in all it is heavy!

Phil

 

[HandyTim]

3 inch beech or other hardwood should be saved until you know what you want and build a second bench...as you will.

This is good advice. I'm just starting to build a bench using some old industrial chipboard flooring a mate gave me. I've got some beech, but I've no idea what features I will really need until I start making some furniture, so I'll wait and see how it goes.

Have fun

 

[OPJ]

Yeah, I'm now thinking along similar lines. I was planning on building my bench once from solid beech and hoping that it would see me through the next forty-odd years. But, I may make a softwood and MDF "mock up" first and see how that goes for a few years...

 

[thejhw]

I think that Glen D Huey's bench on the Pop Wood site is as good a design as I've come across.

Mine is a version of the Nelson Fortune bench from the Landis book.

S

Hi Steve. Can you give a link to that bench please? I've searched the site and Huey has pages and pages of benches! I'd like to see the one you are talking about.
Thanks
Jim

 

[Steve Maskery]

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/magaz ... ?mid=10203

21st century Workbench. Plans in the Oct 08 PW and available on DVD I believe (although my guess is that the DVD is in NTSC format and won't play on one of our PAL machines - you'll have to watch it on your PC).

Cheers
Steve

 

[mahking51]

Here's mine:

Martin

 

[Chems]

Thanks again for all the replies. I'm actually already on my second bench, by first was a Pine and MDF affair which has served me well. I'm fairly sure what I want from my second bench and I will make it out of beech that I'm sure of.

I'm going to start drawing up some designs over the next few days and see what you all think.