# 26 cubic feet of southern yellow pine



## gasman (7 May 2013)

Being delivered this morning to my house - 10 boards each 12" x 2" x 4.9m ... to make a roubo bench for me and a mate - should be plenty. £430 inc VAT delivered - I thought that was an amazing price. Will let you know how I get on
Best regards
Mark


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## Baldhead (7 May 2013)

Mark

Are you doing WIP pics?   

BH


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## PeterBassett (7 May 2013)

Blimey! I also would like to read a WIP for this...


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## gasman (8 May 2013)

10 SYP boards stacked in the drive yesterday





At 4 am it started raining so I had to get up and carry each one into the garage! Silly
I have the Schwartz book, have the basics of the design sorted, need to get a whole day with my mate to cut and machine all the boards. 
One question I had is how much movement to expect with SYP when I cut the board longitudinally? As each board is 300 mm wide, I am hoping to cut each into 3 and, after flattening, end up with 90 mm thick bench top. However if as I cut each board it curves due to internal stresses then I wont get as much out. How much deviation should I expect with SYP?
THanks
Mark


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## MickCheese (8 May 2013)

This looks like an interesting thread. Looking forward to it. 

I too am going to build a new workbench when I get the time. 

I am not too far from you. Can I ask where you got the boards as that seems a good price. I will understand if you cannot reveal your source. 

Regards 

Mick


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## gasman (8 May 2013)

Hi Mick I got it from Clarkswood who have outlets in Bristol and Uxbdidge.. ON line the price was £18 a cube + VTA but when I called the Bristol branch they quoted me £14 +VAT - which is where I got the £430 for 26 cubic feet.... however they only had 4.9 m lengths at Uxbridge (and I wanted that so I can get 2 full 8 foot lengths out of each piece). I am pretty sure I got that price for it.
MIck you are more than welcome to come over and see it / chat about benches etc etc if you want.
Regards
Mark


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## carlb40 (8 May 2013)

Not sure on how much movement to expect. However i would rough cut it to length. Put it in the place where it will be used to acclimatise. Then machine up to almost final sizes. Leave it again for a few days or more to settle, then finish to final size and start the build. 

Looking forward to this as i will be doing my roubo bench this year.


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## MickCheese (8 May 2013)

gasman":25qfkj6j said:


> Hi Mick I got it from Clarkswood who have outlets in Bristol and Uxbdidge.. ON line the price was £18 a cube + VTA but when I called the Bristol branch they quoted me £14 +VAT - which is where I got the £430 for 26 cubic feet.... however they only had 4.9 m lengths at Uxbridge (and I wanted that so I can get 2 full 8 foot lengths out of each piece). I am pretty sure I got that price for it.
> MIck you are more than welcome to come over and see it / chat about benches etc etc if you want.
> Regards
> Mark



Thanks for the info. I don't work far from Uxbridge so may pop in to see what price they can do. Just need to find the time to do all the things I want without my wife stealing all my free time.  

Mick


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## Tierney (8 May 2013)

Hi,

SYP has good stability and shouldn't move much once dry, according to a book that I have. No personal experience.

Another book talks about shrinkage rates in workshop of up to 3.2% tangentially for Beech, which is recognised as moving a lot. So that should give you a worst case scenario.

If you could check the moisture content, that might give you a better idea of likely movement.

Regards,

DT


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## fluffflinger (8 May 2013)

OK purists look away now.

I laminated up a bench top for a work colleague out of 8x2's off a building site, not exactly SYP I know but they were "free". I was worried that although they were reasonable straight and required little machining that they would twist horribly the moment I ripped them. So having cut them to just over length, I simply cleaned them up roughly with an electric planer (bit scared of foreign objects lurking), popped them on sled to pass through my thicknesser (too wide for planer) alternated the grain in each board and glued them up as 8x2's (actually I glued them three at a time). Then ripped them down the centre on the bandsaw, glued these up immediately and at the end I was amazed at how flat the whole structure ended up and still is!!!

See I told you you'd be appalled.


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## Halo Jones (9 May 2013)

I did the same. My bench is construction timber that had already been used. A nearby college was being stripped and they recycled all the studwork. Got all the wood for my workbench for £17! Once I machined it all it looked surprisingly good.
Half way through the build now. After the initial machining I am doing everything by hand.


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## dannykaye (9 May 2013)

Mine was a load of 2*2.5 timber that had ben temporary windows on a restoration project. A friend saw them going in a skip and grabbed them for me. I have ebbn using it for about ten years now, cost £0


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## wabbitpoo (11 May 2013)

OOI, what would the cost of the thing you are building be if you went out and purchased one? Or can't they be bought?

£430 for a pile of timber might be good value but it seems like a lot of dosh to me! lol


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## Andy RV (11 May 2013)

You can buy a nice bench from Richard Maguire, however for a heavy sturdy model you're looking at 2-3K. 

Heavy robust benches require large amounts of material, and good quality material isn't cheap, gasman paid £14 +VAT per cubic foot which is cheap, imagine building it in a hardwood paying £30 - £40+ per cube. 

I'm looking forward to more pictures!


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## gasman (11 May 2013)

26 cubic feet of SYP will make 2 x roubo woodworking benches - I reckon 11 cubic feet each will be plenty. So it will actually be £215 each bench - as Andy RV says to buy one would be £2-3K plus I already know this is gong to be one of the most rewarding jobs I ever did in my workshop. Wood is now stacked and 'acclimatizing' before the real work begins
Regards
Mark


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## Phil Pascoe (11 May 2013)

I've never understood why anyone would pay a small fortune for a bench. If you need one, presumably you have the ability to make one - so pay for decent materials, take time and make something that makes you feel good and gives you a little pride when you use it. I am, of course, thinking of a one off job, not commercial or educational purchases.


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## No skills (12 May 2013)

@ Phil - Same reason people pay for expensive cars, because they can.

I always like a bench build, regardless of cost or materials. Hope Gasman has the time to do some pics while he works.


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## gasman (13 May 2013)

OK I will do a WIP for this - first we have to find a day for my mate and I to do the basic machining - ie cut up these big planks into usable sized timber - might be a couple of weeks
Cheers
Mark


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## gasman (14 May 2013)

So far the plans are as follows:
- a roubo-style bench similar to the one in Chris Schwartz's book. The top will be about 2400 x 650 x 90mm (but I need to get 3 widths out of the 300 mm SYP boards - I think it will be OK. Legs will be 125 x 125, height 900mm. I am going to put in a Veritas twin-screw vice instead of the leg-vice
- at the moment probably a Veritas tail vice which `i will make either a shoulder vice or more likely wagon vie from.
I can't find the PDF of how to install the Veritas tail vice - does anyone have a copy?
Was toying with a Moxon but actually am more tempted by a little bench on a bench - to do my inlaying etc on
Best regards
Mark


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## gasman (28 May 2013)

10 June is set as the day my mate is coming up to start machining the timber - sorry about the delay I am as keen as anyone to get on with it. I have given a lot of thought to the vices - think I said I have got the veritas twin screw vice which will be on the front. I have really splashed out and bought the veritas tail vice too - but it did not appear to come with any instructions or diagrams how to construct the tail / shoulder. Can anyone help?
Thanks
Mark


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## MickCheese (28 May 2013)

Mark

Looking forward to this, was only looking at your display cabinet yesterday, need some inspiration for a future project myself. I really liked that!

I am sure you have the necessary skills but just remember this is a workbench, so this time no making the stand several times to improve the 'grain direction'.  

Mick


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## gasman (28 May 2013)

ha [email protected]@dy ha Mick!


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## Roughcut (28 May 2013)

gasman":2k82d2q6 said:


> So far the plans are as follows:
> - a roubo-style bench similar to the one in Chris Schwartz's book. The top will be about 2400 x 650 x 90mm (but I need to get 3 widths out of the 300 mm SYP boards - I think it will be OK. Legs will be 125 x 125, height 900mm. I am going to put in a Veritas twin-screw vice instead of the leg-vice
> - at the moment probably a Veritas tail vice which `i will make either a shoulder vice or more likely wagon vie from.
> I can't find the PDF of how to install the Veritas tail vice - does anyone have a copy?
> ...




Not sure if this is the Veritas pdf you require?: http://www.axminster.co.uk/downloads/950966_manual.pdf


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## gasman (12 Jun 2013)

Two developments - first I have completed my bench on a bench... 2 photos attached here









I am basically delighted with this. It has 2 wooden threads on the vice with a little bit of slack to allow for some uneven clamping. The threads were made using the Axi thread cutter which, once I had a sharp cutter worked beautifully to cut the threads to an inch and a half. 
3/4 inch holes for the dogs and I got some veritas pups which work well after waxing the holes. The handles are cut-offs from some 60mm turned teak I have just made 2 lamp standards out of. If anyone is interested I can post details of the 'garters' I made for each thread to hold the outer jaw captive.
Then, a long days work on Monday where we chopped up half the 26 feet of SYP into 30 boards each 2440x100x50, then thicknessed each down to about 45 mm - this has been amazingly efficient on the wood - because the original board were 4890 long (16 feet!) I got 2 lengths out of each so just of the original 5 boards will make both tops which will be 2440 x 100 x 650 or thereabouts
Also chopped up 3 of the remaining boards to the rest of then bench - so actually I bought 2 whole boards too many as it was all so efficient. How rarely does that happen?
Photos of progress shortly
Cheers
Mark


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## Tierney (12 Jun 2013)

Looking good. Personally, I'm not convinced about the benefits of a bench on a bench; but, your workmanship is excellent!

DT


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## marcros (12 Jun 2013)

I like the bench on bench idea- like a Nixon but with the added benefit of support for the dovetail tail board when marking pins. It brings the work much closer to the eyes and probably at a position where you can stand much more upright


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## gasman (12 Jun 2013)

With a bad back i think this bench is going to be invaluable for doing dovetails etc on wide boards - I love it already
Regards
Mark


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## morfa (13 Jun 2013)

Do you have plans for the benchtop bench?

Looks very handy.


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## gasman (13 Jun 2013)

It's kind of like this one I found then I just made it up. It measures 600 x 350 x 250 high




Also over the last couple of days I have laminated the legs... 900 x 48 x 100 glued together in 3's then run over the planer and through the thicknesser to get these 4 which are 140 x 98 x 900 each - chunky!




Cheers
Mark


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## gasman (17 Jun 2013)

Laminating the top - these are some serious chunks of wood. 4 of the '4x2s' laminated together with titebond 3 placing the flattest smoothest sides together for the top
I have now done 3 of these so far:









I bought some more Bessey K clamps from this place http://www.toolsandtimber.co.uk - best price I could find by far - £125 for 4x300mm K clamps. The front 3 boards will be shortened as the tail vice will form the right hand 450mm or so
No idea how I will be able to manhandle the top when it is all jointed - it is going to weigh about 100 kg I think
Cheers
Mark


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## gasman (17 Jun 2013)

Sorry checked it was £115 for the 4 pack of Bessey's - doing them a disservice


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