When we started this series I don’t think anyone realised it could possibly be so popular. It’s taken a lot to pull it all together but now I am so glad we chose to do what we did. The results are staggering in terms of how many people have watched the series, that’s great, but …
I have all three vises fitted to my bench, two at opposite corners and to my right that is to perform tail-vise operations combining the poor man’s dog in the vise with dowel dogs in the benchtop. I will say up front that bench dogs and dogging systems are for me none essentials. Some may …
The final stage of the bench make is to install the helping hands that grip the work of a lifetime. It’s so good to get to this stage and though I do not need any more benches (wherever I am I have a dozen or more to choose from), I want to know that you …
I realise that these posts are long, but we are invading the worlds of make believe benches, stepping off of the conveyor belt to fantasyland and getting into real woodworking again. To do that we have to have a real working bench that no one can really criticise as being useless, amateurish, fanciful, indulgent or …
Assembly begins Yesterday we locked the aprons to the bench with clamps and bolts and screws and lifted the main laminated benchtops in place to dry fit before gluing them to the aprons. This process takes some thinking through to ensure all of the components are together; clamps, hammers, wedges, screws, bolts, lag screws and …
Cutting the housings I have seen many (and even had to work on) low-grade benches without aprons. Admittedly they were assembly products shabbily made by workers who knew nothing about much beyond earning a living, and so I didn’t expect much at all. Aprons are critical to a good bench in many ways not the …
Preparing the aprons Your aprons are glued up into 12″ wide panels and now they must be planed and sized to correspond with the benchtops. By now your benchtop sections should be cut and planed dead square and to finished length. Whatever length you make your bench is up to you but the two …
Leg frame assembly and glue-up Gluing up the leg frames comes next. If the joints are good and tight then they must be glued and left to dry for an hour or so, but even so, I prefer and suggest that you leave them overnight to completely glue-cure. With tight and large joints you must …
Shaping the two tenon types. Rounded over protruding tenons The bottom tenon has a roundover you often see on Craftsman-style pieces that can be furniture as well as functional workbenches and tables. The methods I use work perfectly and they are doable by anyone. Remember what I have said about the #4 and 4 ½ …
Keep a journal. I have posted on this before. Keep a journal on your work, especially those of you new to woodworking (less than ten years in it). It’s amazing how your drawing skills will improve, but more than that, you have a record of your work, measurements you would otherwise lose and so on. …
