A workbench for a total beginner

[Keefaz]

Hi, all.

I've recently got the woodworking bug. Ideally, one day I'd like to start doing some real box-making and perhaps some simple furniture. At the moment, however I'm still honing my very basic skills (cutting a board straight, planing and the like). I'm working on a very small, lightweight Workmate-type table and it's really not up to even the smallest jobs. The few books I have recommend building your own workbench, but I'm not sure I'm at the stage where I would make a decent job of it especially as I would have to rely almost exclusively on hand-tools.

Is it still usual to build your own bench or would I be better off looking at buying a ready-made solution?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi K,

Most of us who are long in the tooth have outgrown several generations of bench. Every bench has its good points, and every one that I have ever had also had its weaknesses.

My first bench (other than the one Dad made for me as a kid) was a pine-and-ply construction from a book by Alf Martenssen IIRC. It served me well for several years, even though it was not a very good design, from a stress point of view.

Then I built the Nelson-Fortune bench from Scott Landis' book. I'm now looking to build another, a variation on the one I have. But it's a tuit job right now, not high on my list of priorities.

Different benches suit different people in different ways, depending on what sort of stuff they make, and any bench you have now is unlikely to satisfy you for ever.

My advice would be to build a simple bench first, then in a couple of years, when you are a bit more familiar with your options and have a better idea of what you want, build your Roller.

HTH
Steve

 

[Rural Platypus]

There's a very nice basic bench design in Fine Woodworking issue 181 (the last 'Tools & Shops' issue). Before you run away & hide, this is a very clever design built entirely from 2.5 sheets of 3/4 inch ply, plus a sheet of MDF for the top. Given that you don't need a planer thicknesser nor many manchines other than a circular saw to build this I think it looks like an ideal beginners bench. Anyway, the plans are here:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignPDF.aspx?id=25186

Cheers

RP

 

[Scrums]

I built a fabulous bench about ten years ago, solid beech - laminated 3" x 1" top - about 4' long and 2' deep, with a tool well at the back. Hugest great vice I could find from Record and a Marples holdfast with a couple of collars in the top and one in the leg - it was great !

Nowadays....I have a bench 30" deep x 16' long, it still carries that big Record vice, but also accomodates a sliding pullover Makita saw, a Record morticer and a router table insert.

Underneath is wood storage. There is ample room for assembly of most jobs.

The moral of my story is.....don't get too carried away with hjaving to have or building/buying a 'traditional' carpenters bench - it won't make you a better woodworker.

You sound like you need something more substantial than you've got now, but don't get too excited - better to spend the money saved on better tools & equipment.

Regards,

Chris

 

[woodbloke]

In my view, you first bench is quite important - it is the main tool from which all your other work is derived and will serve to give much better results as confidence improves. A steady, secure, solid flat surface on a framework which will not 'rack' or move, when planing takes place is highly desirable and will enable you to produce work, with a little practice, with which you will be proud - we might even see some pics on here! Having said that, benches are expensive things; the bigger and heavier the more dosh needs to be parted with, however APTC do a quite good starter bench, complete with two vices for about £80 with a tool well at the back. It looks to me to be fairly good value- worth a look - Rob

 

[syntec4]

Keefaz,
The first thing I did was build a bench. I had a few books out from my local library. Mostly the books were saying that anything will get you started as long as its sturdy. So I built this

Its made of Pine Scant from B&Q. It cost roughly £35 to make. Including the first vice from Toolstation that was I think about £8.00 of that.

I only had handtools to make it with at the time and I borrowed a couple of clamps. I planed all the scant edges with my Stanley#4 1/2 and glued the 10 pieces that make the top together with PVA. The legs were made from 4 pieces each of the same scant laminated together to make thick legs.

It's 8' long 30" deep and 33" to the top surface.
I've since added a second (bigger) vice from axminster. I would like to one day make a new top from Hardwood but so far the top is holding up very well. In fact I quite like the fact that the wood is a bit soft as its a bit more forgiving of my poor technique.

I also made another bench for the Workshop that is made from Sheets of OSB also from B&Q. It has a piece of hardboard on the top so that it can be replaced when it gets scruffy. I think I managed to finish that one for about £20. Although by then I had a circular saw so I could cut the big sheets a bit easier.

If you look at my website (link below) you will see some more pictures of them.

I reckon you should build youre own bench, If I can do it I'll bet you can. When you know what features you like in a few years, you'll have a bench to build another (better) bench on.

 

[Shady]

This is about the best beginner's bench link I ever found, and it contains the following excellent advice:

Key’s First Law of Bench Building states: Any woodworker who builds a bench will want to build a second one. I suspect this is true because a woodworker can only learn what he really wants by spending a lot of time working with his first bench.

That happened to me. I didn’t really know what I wanted until I used my first bench for a few years. That would have been okay except that I tried to build the ultimate bench from the start and it was too much for my skills - it took eight years to complete. I could have been doing some good work in that time and developed my skills faster - if I had built a simpler bench first.

So you can make the best of Key’s Law by making your first bench as fast, as good, and as inexpensive to build as possible. That way you have something reasonable to work with while you are pondering your ultimate bench. Don’t make the same mistake I did - avoid the temptation to get it perfect the first time - build this bench instead.

http://web.archive.org/web/20041126023648/http://www.terraclavis.com/bws/beginners.htm

here's a link to another guy who built from their advice with some tips...

http://tomecat.com/jeffy/ww/bench/

 

[Keefaz]

Keefaz,
The first thing I did was build a bench. I had a few books out from my local library. Mostly the books were saying that anything will get you started as long as its sturdy. So I built this

Its made of Pine Scant from B&Q. It cost roughly £35 to make. Including the first vice from Toolstation that was I think about £8.00 of that.

I only had handtools to make it with at the time and I borrowed a couple of clamps. I planed all the scant edges with my Stanley#4 1/2 and glued the 10 pieces that make the top together with PVA. The legs were made from 4 pieces each of the same scant laminated together to make thick legs.

It's 8' long 30" deep and 33" to the top surface.
I've since added a second (bigger) vice from axminster. I would like to one day make a new top from Hardwood but so far the top is holding up very well. In fact I quite like the fact that the wood is a bit soft as its a bit more forgiving of my poor technique.

I also made another bench for the Workshop that is made from Sheets of OSB also from B&Q. It has a piece of hardboard on the top so that it can be replaced when it gets scruffy. I think I managed to finish that one for about £20. Although by then I had a circular saw so I could cut the big sheets a bit easier.

If you look at my website (link below) you will see some more pictures of them.

I reckon you should build youre own bench, If I can do it I'll bet you can. When you know what features you like in a few years, you'll have a bench to build another (better) bench on.

That's great. It looks like a lot of hard work! How long did it take you to complete? And how difficult was it to joint the boards with just your hand-tools?

I've decided I am going to build a bench. It'll give me a good project to work on and I'll be fully justified when I take this workmate-thing and chuck it in the skip.

 

[Colin C]

Hi Keefaz
What ever you do with your workmate dont bin it as there are still very usefull, just not that great as the only bench.
It will come in handy

 

[Keefaz]

Hi Keefaz
What ever you do with your workmate dont bin it as there are still very usefull, just not that great as the only bench.
It will come in handy

I'm sure you're right, but I can barely stand to look at it at the moment!

 

[syntec4]

Joining the boards was not too bad, it was quite a bit of work with the #4 1/2 stanley to get flat faces. I found the trickiest bit was the gluing up, the boards would slide about relative to each other, of course I didn't have a bench to work on-just the garage floor. I ended up gluing 3 at a time then gluing the 3 large pieces together. This also meant that I could use more clamps as I had
a few short ones. The legs are 'Lap' jointed to the cross rails, this was good practice with the only chisel I had at the time (1"). I don't know if you can see it in the pictures but the back of the bench is actually a 4 panel pine door. It was an old one that I had replaced at home, so I used that instead of a diagonal brace at the back.

I've added the ply base since I built the bench so that I can put all the power tools/ cases that I've started to accumulate since getting into woodwork. I will warn you now that you are on a VERY Slippery slope and there ant no goin' back

I took me around 3 enjoyable weekends to build the bench, I reckon you will enjoy it too.

If you want some more detailed pictures just let me know.

Regards
Lee.

PS don't chuck the Workmate, you will still find it useful as an outfeed table when you start buying table saws, bandsaws, thicknessers........

 

[Colin C]

I'm sure you're right, but I can barely stand to look at it at the moment!

I know how you feel as I had to do it my self when I dont have a bench and to stop the boards sliding when gluing up, try putting a small pin in one side and cutting off the head.
This will stop the sliding and you can use band clamp for the glue up ( the ones you use on the car ), this way you can glue up more at one time .
I hope that is clear

 

[Keefaz]

Joining the boards was not too bad, it was quite a bit of work with the #4 1/2 stanley to get flat faces. I found the trickiest bit was the gluing up, the boards would slide about relative to each other, of course I didn't have a bench to work on-just the garage floor. I ended up gluing 3 at a time then gluing the 3 large pieces together.

SNIP!

I'm having similar trouble with some donated boards. What technique did you use, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[syntec4]

I had the boards on some of them cheap plastic saw horses from B&Q. I used a Rule that was removed from an old A0 drawing board as a straight edge to use as a reference. I number all the pieces so that they went back together in the same order. Than I just kept working at 2 pieces at a time. With a light behind I just looked for gaps with light coming through and kept trying to take off the high spots. It did take a while as the 4 1/2 is obviously not long enough for this kind of job, but its all I have. I got there in the end. I would not try this with hardwood though, the pine was very soft; it would have taken months with hardwood

Also after the gluing up, I borrowed a belt sander to flatten the top a bit more. I have since bought one (Only a cheap one) as I found it worked very well and would be useful for all sorts of things.

I could suggest that you ask a nearby forum member if they could run the boards through a jointer for you. But that wouldn't be as much fun now would it :shock:

Lee.