My workbench

[cerdeira]

Hi all,

Just found these pictures I took of my workbench about 1 and half years ago when I finished it.

It's made out of softwood. Not a very wise choice for a bench but I just felt using hardwood would be a waste and would increase the cost threefold or more.

The top is made of laminated boards and has an uniform thickness of 120 mm. I've done that to add mass to the bench since softwood is pretty lightweight.

I've opted for the traditional continental design: tail vice with shoulder, tool tray, breadboard contruction with dovetails, etc.
It was an opportunity for practicing making large dovetails, almost sliding ones.

Here's a pic of the tail vice (well spotted: I'm left handed):

And one of the front vice holding a drawer front I was making at the time:

An overall look at the bench front. I've used tusk tenons with hardwood edges for holding the stretchers to the base legs.
You can also notice that I have a problem with my off cuts collection.

Well that's all.Just decided to share.

regards.

 

[thomvic]

Nice job!

Did the softwood work out ok? How about a pic to show how it looks today?

 

[p111dom]

Very nice. Theres nothing wrong with using softwood for the majority of it and using hardwood on the areas required. I'm designing a bench at the moment which will have pine legs and a central core but with hardwood all the way around the top. And a thicker section at the front to include holes for bench dogs. I'll also be using hardwood for the vice jaws. I will no doubt look a little odd but I should get all the usability with the benefit of reduced cost.

 

[OPJ]

I like the look of that, even if it is "backwards"...! :wink: Nothing wrong with using softwood at all.

 

[cerdeira]

Did the softwood work out ok? How about a pic to show how it looks today?

It's very prone to scratches and dents, so one has to be carefull and avoid dropping things on the bench top. Otherwise, and regarding stability it's been ok.
Actually I've found that the use of softwood for the vice jaws is an advantage because I can tighten them very liberally when working with hardwood pieces without the risk of marring them.

Regards,

Cerdeira

 

[StevieB]

Very nice! I am intrigued - did you work from a plan or is it your own design? I have never seen a left handed bench before. I too am left handed but have never had a problem with bench layout, do you find it much easier with the vices the other way round?

Steve.

 

[cerdeira]

Very nice! I am intrigued - did you work from a plan or is it your own design?

hardly my design, it has been around for ages.
I've used http://pages.friendlycity.net/~krucker/Bench/index.htm
as a start but then made my modifications here and there. My bench is shorter (about 1600mm) but wider.

do you find it much easier with the vices the other way round?

the "mirrored" layout is mostly useful for left-handed planing. since I'm very tight on space i cannot affort working all around the bench. this way i can get my work done while standing in front of the bench all the time and without the need for changing hands.

fortunately I don't use moulding planes very often.


regards,

Cerdeira