# Roubo-workbench in Southern Yellow pine with leg vice



## gasman (19 Jun 2013)

I have taken the liberty of starting again with this thread as the old thread http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/26-cubic-feet-of-southern-yellow-pine-t70334.html had got a bit waylaid
So, the plan so far is to make a slab 95 x 650 x 2400 of southern yellow pine for the top - then legs which are 110 x 145 x 900 morticed into it - quite a lot like Chris Schwartz's Roubo bench in his infamous book
So far, I had cut all the SYP up into 15 '4x2s' 2400 long, cut the legs and rails etc separately, bought (and then sent back shortly after) the Veritas twin screw vice and the Veritas inset vice. Instead of these I will have the Veritas tail vice on the right hand side and a Maguire wooden leg vice on the front left.
Then I laminated the legs





Glued up the boards for the top in 4's




Then when they were dry, planed one side of each block by hand with a QS no 6 / Record no7 and then thicknessed them down to 98mm thick. The 4th (front) group of 3 boards will be shorter due to the tail vice going on the right hand side
AFter thicknessing I put them all on my current bench to see how they look:




And here is the tail vice put roughly in place:




This weekend should get the slab complete - then to start cutting leg mortices. So enjoying this job!
Cheers
Mark


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## MickCheese (19 Jun 2013)

Looking forward to this. 

I've liked your other WIPs so keep up the good work. 

Mick


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## gasman (21 Jun 2013)

Thanks Mick
The top is absolutely massive - glued up the third big piece onto the other two yesterday - I can no longer lift it!




Then started thinking about the legs - so first, after scoring a line round all 4 sides of the bottom of each leg, I planed a 45 degree bevel of a few mm, then with a small Veritas BU plane with a PMV3 blade (I couldn't resist buying one to see what all the fuss was about - it really does hold an edge for ages) - planed the bottom flat -




then sealed all 4 with tung oil




Finally last night I cut the tenons on the other ends of the legs. 
I set up with sliding table on the tablesaw with a stop, cut both sides of the cheeks of the tenon on the table saw set at 30mm height and then cut the vertical sides of the cheeks on the bandsaw - easy peasy with a lovely tuffsaw blade




No huge c**kups so far - plenty of time for that still! The bench top will take quite a bit of planing - amazing how despite it looking really flat before glue-up - it is now out by the odd mm here and there.
Next are the mortice / tenon joints of the legs / rails - these will be drawbored
Cheers
Mark


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## the_g_ster (22 Jun 2013)

Looking forward to see more of this.

Though it may save a bit of time, could you not have a word with a friendly local wood company to see if they could flatten your bench through a machine in one pass for you?

Though a nice big LN jointer would help, or....the router method that was touted on here a while ago.


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## No skills (22 Jun 2013)

Mmmm chunky 8) 

How much glue you used so far?


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## gasman (23 Jun 2013)

Thanks for the comments
No skills - I bought a gallon of TB1 and a gallon of TB3 from Axi earlier this year at a ridiculous discount - so far I have used about a third of a gallon with laminating the top and legs
the_g_ster - if the top did not weigh 120 kg (estimated) and there was anyone near who could do that (oh and also carry it 100 yards to the road from my shed) it would be an option - but so far yesterday I flattened the bottom within 1mm all over - and I will leave the top until the whole thing is assembled. I actually rather like flattening it - it is a good workout!
I got some M&T joints cut yesterday for the framework. Here's an end rail - again as for the legs cut to depth on the table saw then the cheek cut away on the bandsaw




Here's the leg being morticed using a 25mm forster bit on my morticer




Then the corner are just tidied up with a mortice chisel before a test fit:




And then a test fit when both ends are finished




Today's instalment starts after 10am when I can start making a noise in the shed!
Also I have finally decided on 2 vices - the Maguire Pinless Leg Vice http://www.theenglishwoodworker.com...page=product_info&cPath=65_71&products_id=264 which will be £245 I think, plus the Veritas tail vice both of which I am looking forward to making immensely.
Thanks for looking
Mark


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## The Wood Butcher (24 Jun 2013)

James over at Deep In Wood at Besselsleigh has a wide belt sander, and has been willing to put bench tops through it for me in the past.


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## gasman (24 Jun 2013)

Thanks for that - didn't realise he was so close - but it is really the problem of getting it out of the shed, down the garden and onto a van which will be my biggest trouble - I am happy to flatten it in the shed on site...
So yesterday I finished morticing all the legs and the bottom of the table to receive the legs:
Here's a leg marked up for the long rail mortice




I had to swivel the morticer round - clamping the back down onto the MFT3 as the legs are 100 x 140 in cross section so too big to go under the morticer in its normal configuration




After drilling out on the morticer:




Another dry test-fit...




It took a couple of hours to do the other 3 and get the whole frame dry-fitted




The front long rail is slightly diffrent - it is thicker - 100mm vs 87 for the others - to allow me to cut a bevelled profile which the sliding deadman will slide on. There is a corresponding profile on the bottom of the deadman and doing it this way means there is no groove for dust to catch on





Then onto the big mortices in the underside of the bench top. They are much bigger and needed quite a bit more chopping out. The depth is 70mm




Two done:




When they were all finished I dry-assembled the whole thing.




I need to sort out the drawboring next - have to decide if to use a contrasting wood or the same stuff
Thanks for looking
Mark


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## MickCheese (24 Jun 2013)

Looking good. Keep it up 

Mick


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## Orcamesh (25 Jun 2013)

Yep, keep up the good work gasman, looking good!
cheers
Steve


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## gasman (26 Jun 2013)

So onto the drawboring - I have never done this properly in the past - only put in a peg for reinforcement. Chris Schwartz is, as ever, very knowledgeable about it - so I decided on 3/8" size - found a couple of old screwdrivers with 8mm and 9.5mm shafts respectively and ground the blades off




The I have ordered a 3/8 veritas dowel cutter as I do have a dowel plate but it's metric
http://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-veritas-dowel-cutters-prod819741/
I'm going to be sad when this is over - such a fun project
Thanks Mark


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## gasman (30 Jun 2013)

Quite good progress this weekend
Drawboring to start with...
So here's the first pair of legs with the short rail




Holes drilled carefully at right angles through both sides of the mortice




M&T joint reassembled 




and the tenons marked with a lip and spur bit for where the hole should be - dissambled again:




The hole is then drilled 2mm closer to the cheek of the tenon (can't find the image sorry)
Meanwhile some spare SYP was cut down to 10mm square and the ends tapered with a knife




This was then mounted in a drill and put through the Veritas 3/8" dowel cutter








Then the dowels were cut to length and the ends tapered gently




I reassembled the joint and used my newly made drawbore pin to squeeze it together




Glued it all up and hammered the pins home




Then repeated this for the other pair of legs - and then did exactly the same for the M&T joints for the long rails - so the whole base is glued up and drawbore-pinned
Some of the pins rotate as you drive them home so I did not bother to try to align the grain - don't think it matters a jot
Finally for this bit, when the pins were all dry I flush-cut and cut them carefully with a sharp chisel
More of this later but can't upload anymore photos for now
Cheers
Mark


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## gasman (3 Jul 2013)

More progress... the sliding deadman was next
I cut a piece 600 x 225 x 40 and planed it square all round




Drilled a series of alternating holes on both sides 75mm in from the sides on the drill press with a 3/4 inch forstner bit




Then cut them to shape on the bandsaw




ONe end had a simple tenon cut on one end to allow it to run in a rebate which I cut with a router on the underside of the table. The other end of the deadman was cut at 45 degrees on the table saw to produce this end which I tidied up with a shoulder plane and chisel. This will run on the top of the front long rail




Sanded the corners off and it was done:




Back to my frame - here is the base all glued up and drawbored:




It needed a very small bit of correction of the cheeks of the big tenons on the front 2 legs - but otherwise fitted well
Here's the rebate in the underside of the front of the top




And here is the first dry assembly of the whole bench - lighting not good sorry




I also cut some spare teak to 19mm square and ran it over a 3/8" roundover bit on all 4 sides to make these 3/4" dowels which will be the bench dogs




and using bullet catches I made the first 2 wooden dogs which fit in the deadman quite well




Cheers
Mark


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## MickCheese (3 Jul 2013)

Still looking good, loving the WIP.

Mick


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## gasman (10 Jul 2013)

Progress is slow as I have been busy at work every day  
However over the weekend, early mornings and occasional evenings I have been working on the tail vice - once I had got my head round the concept it is quite straightforward
Here's the base plate and the screw mounted - the plate needs to be exactly parallel to the top




Now the 2 plates which slide on the base plate are mounted here to see how they slide




Next I cut and planed all round 2 pieces of SYP 525x75x19mm which will be the 'core' of the tail vice. One of them has a recess routed out to take the upper plate. The thickness of my bench (95mm) means that the lower of the two plates will be below the bench




Then it was a question of completing the 'core' of the vice by glueing up a block at either end with the 2 longer pieces either sides. Here is the core of the vice complete with the upper and lower plates. They are fixed in place with a bolt which goes through holes drilled in the core




The distance between the 2 plates is obviously crucial as the base plate runs in the grooves between them. The book talks about putting shims if necessary - like cardboard to make the gap bigger but these seemed to be about right. It slides very smoothly with almost no play




Next I cut the hole in the far end block for the vice screw to run in - this is a 1 1/8" forstner bit running in the morticer




The base plate needed to be recessed so that there was no gap - so I did that carefully with a router and deepned the upper groove with a 1/2" chisel as well




The rest of the tail vice is fairly straightforward - it needs a top piece which will be coplanar with the bench - you can see the slot which the upper plate fits into




And finally for now the end piece which the mounting plate for the vice will screw into. The 1 1/8" hole is drilled here too and two holes for the screws that hold the mounting plate




Hope to get the tail vice all finished very soon but it is looking OK so far
Thanks for looking
Mark


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## Paul Chapman (10 Jul 2013)

All looking very good, Mark.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## gasman (12 Jul 2013)

Thanks Paul
More bits and pieces done this week
I cut some 600mm lengths of full thickness SYP in half, then ran them though the bandsaw in half to make 23mm thick boards - thicknessed them down to 21mm and then rejoined them with dominos and clamped up to make shelves for under the bench








These were tongue and grooved to form a big shelf under the bench - I will leave them to settle for a while then they need fixing




Meanwhile the tail vice continues to be fettled to make it run smoother. I had made the gap between the upper and lower guides a fraction too narrow so used some 1/16" balsa to shim it out a fraction and that worked much better- the balsa can be compressed by pressure from the two bolts squeezing the two guides together.
It now runs very smoothly and just needs planing into line with the top and side of the bench








Finally last night I thought about drawboring the top onto the base. I had decided to use 1/2" drawbore pins but first had to make the tool. SO I found some old 1/2" steel bars which I think were part of an old curtain rail




Ground it down using an old 40G belt sanding belt, then polished up to 400G




Finally found an old piece of olive to make a London pattern octagonal handle for it later today if I get home from work in time




cheers
Mark


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## gasman (13 Jul 2013)

Getting close now - almost time to demolish my old bench
Drilled some holes - alot of them and there's more to go.
I did it using a morticer with a 3/4" forster bit in it to do the first 2 inches or so




Then I used an augur bit in a hand held electric drill to finish the job




The holes are 80mm apart all the way along the table. There are 6 in the tail vice as well




The top and sides of the tail vice were made coplanar as well




And here's clamping some timber on top of the bench




FInally yesterday I cut and machined up the leg vice - waiting for the hardware to arrive from Richard Maguire which I think should be next weekend
Cheers


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## gasman (14 Jul 2013)

Finished off the 1/2" drawbore pin



and drawbored the bench together - dry so I can take it apart if necessary
Demolished the old bench and moved this one into place - all it needs is the leg vice - hardware arriving next week I gather




I also liked the idea of the year carved on the leg vice - as in Chris Schwartz' book - so printed off some labels with the right size on, stuck them to the leg vice piece of wood




and then carefully carved out the initials using a v-groove chisel, a 1/2" straight and a couple of small curved gouges




So that's it until the hardware for the vice arrives
Happy days
Mark


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## Hardwood66 (14 Jul 2013)

She's a pretty one


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## No skills (15 Jul 2013)

Looking very nice, be interesting to see how many hours you have in it at the finish. The date carving is good, beyond my skills tho - I'm going to sink a coin (date relevant) somewhere in the top when I do mine.


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## gasman (16 Jul 2013)

Quite difficult to estimate how long it has taken as machining the timber originally took longer as we did enough wood for two benches. I would guess at about 40 hours in totl for this bench
Cheers
Mark


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## gasman (3 Aug 2013)

Final stages - fitting the leg vice
Here's the kit from Richard Maguire





70mm hole drilled in the leg




The wooden 'nut' with a 2 1/2" female thread tapped in it is then mounted in a recess on the back of this leg




Corresponding hole cut in the leg vice - I actually made this 65mm rather than 70 as the instructions said




A hole drilled lower in the leg with the mounting for the pin - this has small rows of ball bearings so that the pin slides almost frictionless within




The pin itself attached to the back of the leg vice in a recess - and screwed in place - the recess is longer than required and the slots for the screws are elongated so that the pin and the vice screw can be altered minutely so they are not quite parallel - this means that the vice works in terms of the leg vice only being parallel to the leg when it is put under pressure




Here's the back of the leg vice




Garter added to the front




Leg vice finished




And here's the final picture of the bench with an extra row of holes drilled along the back for the holdfasts and a line behind the leg vice - plus I gave it all another coat of linseed




Thanks for looking
Cheers - Mark


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## AndyT (3 Aug 2013)

Congratulations! That is a very classy bench. It sounds like you had a lot of fun making it and I'm sure you will enjoy using it.


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## Hardwood66 (3 Aug 2013)

What a beauty


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## Baldhead (3 Aug 2013)

I was going to put WIP pics of my new bench but not know, yours makes mine look rubbish! 

BH


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## WandrinAndy (3 Aug 2013)

Thanks for the great WIP!


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## Halo Jones (3 Aug 2013)

Very,very nice. But you really need the arty black and white shot to make it truly a Chris Schwarz bench!


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## Paul Chapman (3 Aug 2013)

Cracking job, Mark.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## gasman (3 Aug 2013)

Thanks everyone
It was a really interesting experience.
Things which were good choices:
1. Sending back the Veritas twin screw vice and inset vice and instead getting the leg and tail vices. They are outstanding
2. Making my own dogs - so easy to do with a 3/8" roundover bit in the router table - and I have now added a suede pad to them and they work well
Things I would do differently / mistakes:
1. The front row of dog holes - every 80mm all the way along are great but then there are 2 holes above each of the front legs - so I cannot have them deeper than 50mm to avoid interfering with the drawbore dowels. Not sure how I could have done this differently as the tail vice ifs the same width as the leg - so I could not have the row 'behind' the legs
2. On a similar vein, the row of holes going back from the leg vice is not centred on the vice - plus the dog hole in the leg vice itself is in end grain of a board which is only 48mm thick - so it might not tolerate too much in the way of pressure.
3. When I laminated the SYP for the top, I had some grain running in opposite directions - so it was very difficult to flatten without tearout and there are a couple of areas of tearout
Generally speaking I am thrilled with it - I have completed my first piece of work - making a Moxon vice as a 50th birthday present for a mate - I honestly do not know how I ever made anything on that old heap of junk I used to call a workbench
Cheers
Mark


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## gasman (4 Aug 2013)

As an afterthought yesterday I added the crotchet which Chris Schwartz likes - had ummed and arred about this but I can easily remove it if I dont like it




Cheers
Mark


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## Harbo (4 Aug 2013)

Great bench - well done!

Rod


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## No skills (5 Aug 2013)

This has turned out very well =D> 

Almost makes me want to build a roubo style bench myself - but not quite  

Has your friend finished their one as well?


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## gasman (5 Aug 2013)

No he hasn't started yet. 
His SYP is all thicknessed and cut but I think he wanted me to make all the mistakes first!


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## No skills (5 Aug 2013)




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## Maverick81 (9 Jan 2015)

Love your bench Mark. I have just made one myself. Really enjoyed the build......not so much the moving it around.....but overall very satisfying. Thanks for sharing.


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## tomthumbtom8 (15 Dec 2019)

good read


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