# Byron Black Workbench [Beginner] Final Submission [Complete]



## ByronBlack (5 Jul 2007)

So, I'd thought I would start of this thread as i'm picking the beech up on saturday and starting work.

I'll post back here later with more details of the design/features (still ironing out a few issues on paper).

I have a quick question though: My worktop will be 3" thick and will have 3" square end-caps (breadboards) these will be fixed on via a 20mm tongue and groove - should I also use a couple of dowels to fix the end-cap on or is that overkill?


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## Slim (5 Jul 2007)

Looking forward to the build Byron,

I think you should use dowels. with a slotted hole in the tongue to allow for movement of the bench top.


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## woodbloke (5 Jul 2007)

BB - on my bench I used a couple of 12mm bolts with the bolt head and washer in counterbored holes and the threaded part in a larger hole (say about 15mm) in the end cleat, there was also iIrc a couple of loose fitting 6mm ply tongues as well - Rob


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## Wanlock Dod (5 Jul 2007)

Byron,

My recently completed bench is of similar construction, a thinner top (2 inches) with slightly bigger end caps (a bit over 3 inches?). I joined them to the top with what I consider to be a complete cheat type of "breadboard" end. A slot routed in each and a ply tongue glued into the end cap. The caps are held in place by two massive coach bolts which (hopefully) pass through pieces of big dowel set into the boards of the top to give them some long grain to bite into. The caps are also held at each end by (the worlds most appalling) dovetails at each end. To be honest I'm not sure that the bolts are necessary, what with the dreadful dovetails and all, but having already let the dowels in I figured I might as well.

I made a wagon vice, and was conscious of perhaps needing to modify things in the future, although to be honest I now feel that my fears may have been unfounded  

By the way the top is entirely hardwood and the base is entirely softwood.

There's a pic here

Oh, and I expect that your design will work fine too  

Cheers,

Dod


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## ByronBlack (8 Jul 2007)

Hi Guy's, thanks for the suggestions, I think will go with dowels in an elongated hole in the tongue route..

Here's some pics of the timber and today's progress, followed by some details of the bench:

Some nice 13" wide beech boards, these three will make up the workbench top. All the boards are 2" thick, i'll be cutting them into 3" staves, the top is gonna be a whole lot of woman!






The rest of the stock; also beech - mostly 2" and 1.5" boards of varying widths:






Stock for the trestle feet ripped and cross-cut to over-length:






Face edge and face side jointed:






All stock squared and thicknessed:






Stock cross-cut to just over length, and glued to make a 3" x 3" x 22.5" pair of trestle feet!





So, some good progress today from only a couple of hours in the workshop. I really took my time today to setup my machines for square and make test cuts to ensure I don't make any silly mistakes.

The beech has come out very well from the P/T its a real joy to plane. Also, the new festool ripping blade makes very easy work, even in the 2" thick boards. Crosscutting is not half-bad either from a 12t blade. 

So, the details for the bench:

The worktop is going to be 24" x 48" + 3" breadboard endcaps on each end. The staves that make up the top will be 2" x 3" deep and will be laminated together.

The bench will stand about 36" high and will feature a tool placement area at the back in the form of a series of cutouts and holes in which to place chisels, gauges, mallets etc. I'm opting for that instead of a tool-well.

The entire bench will be made from Beech and i'll be using Black Walnut as a contrasting wood in the joints, the doweling and any other small feature that I feel would add something to the design.

Initially, i'll only be having 1 vice at the front of the bench, although i may eventually have a second at the right hand side end.

There will be two rows of 20mm bench holes running the length of the workbench, I favour round holes over square ones as I feel they are more versatile in terms of work holding accessories available - and this will be compatible with my festool table that also uses 20mm holes.

Another small feature i'll be adding is a workstop that will come through the worktop on the left hand side of the bench - it will be attached to the front left leg and will have a threaded knob to lock in place - this will be used for most planing requirements.

The base will be made up of two trestles and 4 stretchers (2x5). The bottom row of stretchers will have a base added to make it into a handy shelf that will carry my waterstones, shooting board, cutting board, mitre-box etc..

Well, thats about it for a week - i'm off to the norfolk broads to stay on a house-board for 5 days, i'll start work on the legs the following weekend.


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## lurker (12 Jul 2007)

Byron,

Have you seen this:

http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/blo ... lable.aspx


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## White House Workshop (12 Jul 2007)

Just one possibly daft question - why breadboard the ends on a workbench? What's wrong with leaving them squared off as end grain? It's not as if it's going to be in your dining room is it!


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## Paul Chapman (12 Jul 2007)

ByronBlack":2wpe6j3z said:


> although i may eventually have a second at the right hand side end.



If I were you, Byron, I would ensure that the design took into account the likelihood of fitting an end vice. Personally, I would build in an end vice at the outset. Either a Record 52D or a traditional-style wooden one - I don't know how people manage without one. I reckon I use my end vice more than the front one.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Gary (12 Jul 2007)

ByronBlack":2mun587m said:


> I have a quick question though: My worktop will be 3" thick and will have 3" square end-caps (breadboards) these will be fixed on via a 20mm tongue and groove - should I also use a couple of dowels to fix the end-cap on or is that overkill?



Is there such a thing as overkill? :lol: :shock: :lol: :shock: :lol: :shock:


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## Benchwayze (12 Jul 2007)

White House Workshop":29kkc7np said:


> Just one possibly daft question - why breadboard the ends on a workbench? What's wrong with leaving them squared off as end grain? It's not as if it's going to be in your dining room is it!



Well WHW, 

Breadboards should be a part of the 'frame' around a cabinetmaker's bench. The long rails at front and back of the top, are dovetailed into the ends of the 'breadboards', and along with bolts/coach screws/threaded rod, etc. etc, the breadboards help stabilise the bench top and prevent slitting along the joints. (Doesn't always work, but that's the general idea.) 

Oh, and they also look nice, in contrasting timbers. Like your tool box, your workbench, if you make it yourself, is one of the best adverts you can have.

All that said, you can do a lot of perfectly acceptable work on a Black & Decker Workmate! I suppose it's all down to taste and how ambitious you are with your projects.

Stay Lucky WHW. 
John


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## White House Workshop (13 Jul 2007)

I take your point John. Each to their own and I admire the effort people put in on their benches and toolboxes. My toolboxes came from Hechingers (DIY store in Maryland) and my bench is 2 strips of 2x12 pine. It works for me and I'm not worried about marking it badly. One day I'll turn them over if and when the surface gets too gouged! Meantime it gets a good smoothing about once every 5 years (I made it in 1993) and a good clean after working on car parts on it :shock:


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## Scrit (13 Jul 2007)

Gary":2mvrg7pe said:


> Is there such a thing as overkill? :lol: :shock: :lol: :shock: :lol: :shock:


Definitely! I was in a professional workshop yesterday where they make £40k and upwards kitchens. The assembly benches were MDF. Solid, well-made, beautifully fitted, accurate and immaculate with snazzy maple edges and lacquered MDF doors which looked better than a lot of the stuff you can buy in MFI - but nonetheless, MDF. This is a place with an eye-watering selection of equipment (including a hauncher with a special head just for doing mitred inframe middle rails!) and the benches were made from the material "most fit for purpose"...... Still a beech bench looks nice.

Scrit


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## ByronBlack (13 Jul 2007)

This project is equal parts function with equal parts form for me. I've had an 'idea' floating about my brain for sometime and this is why I'm going to a lot more effort than is necessary for a workbench.

I see this as more than just a workbench. It's a learning process, a project I can really sink my teeth into and achieve the best product I can given my abilities or lack thereof.

I could quite as easily knock something up quick smart with cheap softwood and composite material top - but where's the satisfaction? Where's the pride of a job well done, where's the item that will outlast me and be passed on to the next generation?

In this day and age, society is obsessed with short-term and throw-away culture. I want to build a fine piece of working furniture that will last and a be a throwback to how we used to be in this country; resourceful, not just simply consumers and buyers.

And they look bliming gorgeous!!


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## Dave S (13 Jul 2007)

Byron, I think those of us for whom this is a hobby have very different priorities from professionals in many areas. We can afford to. Of course you could make a cheaper, simpler bench, which would be 'fit for purpose'. But as you say, this project is not just a means to an end. Your reasons for wanting to build your bench this way make perfect sense to me! Overkill maybe - in the sense that you don't _need_ something that good in order to do the work you like to do. But I think you'll get great satisfaction not only from making the bench itself, but also from everything you make _on_ that bench. And I think if you make a good job of the bench, it will inspire you to a higher standard in all that you make with it.

Go for it!!  

Dave
Edit: ps - meant to ask - how was your trip to the Broads? Quite nice up here, isn't it?


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## lurker (13 Jul 2007)

Everything us hobbists do is overkill!

I made a hop up stool last week - cost me more for the wood than one from IKEA and to be honest was not as good - but its mine!

Go for it Byron, make a heirloom - "My great grandfather made this back in '07, he was a daft as a brush (kept chuntering about El Rusto), but its a loverly bench to work on!"


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## Sawdust (13 Jul 2007)

Something has always puzzled me about these lovely benches - aren't you scared to use them?

At the end of the day, it's a bench. I quite often nail or screw things to mine but then I don't care what it looks like. If I had one that was built out of expensive timber and to the standards of a piece of furniture, I would be tempted to treat it like a piece of furniture.

Lord Nibbo's is a case in point - don't get me wrong, I think it's absolutely brilliant and one of the best threads there has been on here but I wouldn't dare touch it!

Cheers
Mike


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## White House Workshop (13 Jul 2007)

Byron said it in his last post - he's making a lovely piece of furniture that will be an heirloom. That's great!


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## ByronBlack (13 Jul 2007)

Dave: The broads were lovely. We stayed in a houseboat in Stalham just off Wayford bridge. Each day we would travel down to either Wroxham or Poter heigham. We didn't hire a day boat, but instead went on a boat-tour to wroxham broad, and sailhouse broad down the river Bure - very nice trip!

My dad recently bought a boat and has his mooring up in Stalham, so i'm hoping he'll be generous in letting me up there sometime  Well worth a visit for anyone looking for a UK break!

Mike: There's no worry in using it, all the gouges, slips, marks etc will eventually be a part of the pieces character and patina, besides I have the MFT for particularly messy jobs such as assembly and glue-ups. 

This bench is really solely for handwork, a solid place where I can take my time and perfect the dovetail and mortice & tenon joint amongst others - I get more joy out of handwork than any other form of woodwork, so this will be a little oasis where I can work sans power!


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## ByronBlack (15 Jul 2007)

Day 2 of the workbench project.

Not much to see/say really, other than i've ripped all the material to rough size, and will be leaving for a couple of days to settle. Tuesday should see me planing/thicknessing down to a few mm of final size and laminating the inch and a half boards to give me the 3" board for the legs and trestle components.

Here's a couple of pics of the festool in action doing the ripping using the MFT:

Board to be ripped placed on a sacrificial board:







Rail placed on top and ripping started:






Nice finish of cut:






I went on to cut all the boards using this method except for the wide 13" boards which were ripped using a rippng guide attached directly to the tool (didn't take a picture of this). 

All this work took about 4 hours on and off with a little planning here or there to take out some defects. Here are all the staves for the worktop:






And the boards for the rest of the project:






And while I was at it, I finsihed the deck area in front of the workshop:






So, 6 Hours of total work so far, and I have all the rough sized components ready for jointing and planing. I'm hoping by next weekend I'll have the finished components ready for joint cutting.


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## ByronBlack (17 Jul 2007)

Day 3 of the project.

Todays task was quite a boring one: machining! Yawn, feed, clean, Yawn feed clean. That was about it. Spent 2.5 hours feeding wood through el-rusto, stopping every 5 minutes to clean out the chippings (no extractor) and lather, rinse repeat.

So anyways, I've got to about half-way with the initial prep, all boards today have been face edged and face side(d) and then thicknessed a few mm over final size which i'll bring down with the hand planes.

A couple of the boards that I ripped yesterday were quite banana like, so it took a fair while bringing these back into square, i'll be leaving those for a few days to see if they continue to move.

Some pics:

A nice stack of creamy square buttery loveliness (Beech to everyone else):







The various sized boards: 
The bottom two are the lower stretchers, the middle two are the top stretchers, and the top two will be laminated and cut to length to make the trestle tops.






So, 8.5 hours of total work so far, I still have all the staves for the worktop to machine, aswell as the pieces for the laminated legs - hopefully i'll get those done tomorrow and thursday, ready for a weekend of mostly laminating and smoothing.


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## ByronBlack (18 Jul 2007)

Day 4.

Nothing much to say really. I got more of the machining completed. All the leg components are now square and true. I only have the bench-top staves to joint and thickness, and then i'll be ready for some glue-ups. The machining is very laborious, however I can't even begin to imagine trying to do it all with hand-planes!

Another 1.5 hours today, for a total of: 10 hours so far.


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## motownmartin (18 Jul 2007)

Keepit up Byron, looking good so far, are you working from plans or is it all in your head :?: 

Martin


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## ByronBlack (18 Jul 2007)

Martin - it's mostly from me coconut! But I did go to the trouble to scribble down a few idea's and sizes. Basically, i'm ripping of Lord Nibbo's bench, but with a few additional features and some slightly different sizes.


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## motownmartin (18 Jul 2007)

ByronBlack":2xf6ynvs said:


> Martin - it's mostly from me coconut! But I did go to the trouble to scribble down a few idea's and sizes. Basically, i'm ripping of Lord Nibbo's bench, but with a few additional features and some slightly different sizes.


Yes, Lord Nibbo's Bench is a beauty and he's probably proud that you are using his bench as a benchmark, sorry my attempt at humour :lol: 

Martin


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## lurker (19 Jul 2007)

Byron,

Just a suggestion I saw in a book.

I find square dogs better than round.

Rather than finishing your top & then drilling a row of round holes in it, why not cut a row of square slots (dados)in one of those boards before you laminate then?


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## ByronBlack (19 Jul 2007)

Hi Lurker,

I did consider that approach, but dismissed for a couple of reasons, the first being I'm not confident of getting the staves perfectly lined up to get a good square hole, and secondly, I already have a number of accessories,clamps etc that work in the round-holes in my MFT and I like the idea of being able to use my workbench as an extension to that. I appreciate the idea though, and one I will be using for the back of the bench where I intend to have a row to accommodate tools rather than a tool well, this way it's less critical that the holes are perfectly aligned.


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## Paul Chapman (19 Jul 2007)

Byron, fwiw I think round dogs are much more useful than square section ones. Because they can be swivelled round, they are much better for clamping objects that are not square.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## woodbloke (19 Jul 2007)

BB - the way to get a square hole is to rout them out of the piece of the bench top _before_ it's glued in place with all the others. Doing it this way, you can also angle the holes by about 10 degrees so that when something is tightened up the pressure forces the job onto the bench top - Rob


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## ByronBlack (19 Jul 2007)

Rob - thats why I don't think I could get the holes lined up! Because when gluing the staves together I'm not confident of them not slipping and therefore having a half the hole askew.

I've also got 20mm dowels ready and waiting to be turned into bench dogs


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## motownmartin (19 Jul 2007)

I think what they mean is to make the hole in one side of the stave so you wouldn't have to line it up.

Martin


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## ByronBlack (19 Jul 2007)

Oh I see.. sorry, was being a bit dim there!


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## paulm (19 Jul 2007)

I use round holes on the bench and find them very flexible in use (in a good way !).

They take the Veritas Wonderpups of course and the new hold downs if they ever arrive via surface mail from far away (four weeks and counting !).

I turned my own bench stops to suit, some with a square head, some with round, but quickly found that putting a slight vertical taper on the head parts meant that as work was tightened up against them it pushed the heads towards the vertical and gripped better.

Cheers, Paul.


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## Paul Chapman (19 Jul 2007)

ByronBlack":gjzr24ov said:


> when gluing the staves together I'm not confident of them not slipping



On the question of boards slipping when gluing up, what I sometimes do if I have to ensure that they line up not only across their thickness but also along their length, is to rout stopped slots along the length of the boards (they don't have to be continuous) and insert loose tongues, and then also short stopped slots across the thickness of the board and insert tongues that way also. That way you can be sure that the boards will line up perfectly in both directions. You could, of course, also use biscuits or dowels.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Benchwayze (20 Jul 2007)

Well, I picked up my tops from Hampshire. (Thanks Bob) So now all I have to do is decide where the bench will go. In the workshop, or will I buy a new shed for use as as an extension-handwork area? Some tops I will use for a PC station mind!)

Either way, I will wait for 'The Workbench' to arrive from Amazon on Monday.
See, procrastinating already.

John 
:lol:


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## ByronBlack (21 Jul 2007)

John i'm not sure if your reply is in the wrong thread, because I really have no idea what your post meant - sorry  

Update

Day 5

I got all the primary milling complete, the workbench staves have all come up a treat! I'm hoping not to get too much movement as I want as much weight in this top as possible. 

Here's a pic of all the milled lumber in stick:







I checked the stock that was jointed earlier in the week for the legs - hardly any movement at all which was nice. I gave each mating piece a quick tickle on el-rusto for the glue-joint. 

I then glued up the stock for the legs using Titebond:











So, tomorrow, i'll be cleaning up the legs and planing to final size along with the trestle feet that I laminated last week. I'll also get the trestle tops laminated, so on monday I can cut the mortice and tenons (drawbore) and assemble the two trestles ready to accept the 2 pairs of stretchers!

6 more hours spent yesterday and today taking me up to a total of: 16 Hours so far.

A question:

I wish to put a bit of shape on the feet - I don't know the term, but it's like a bullnose that's flat on the bottom, with the curve going upwards and stopping at a raised profile

So, without a bandsaw, what is the best way to do this?


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## ByronBlack (22 Jul 2007)

Day 6

Today was quite productive. Now that all the tedious primary milling is out of the way, and the legs are complete after lamination; I could get on with crosscutting everything to final length.

I had a small problem. My festool can only cut to a depth of 50mm, and the legs and feet I needed to trim were 70mm, so I had to make a cut, turn over and make another. This left an uneven finish on the end grain. But, I had this tiny little wooden Sorby plane which I sharpened up and with somewhat of a scraping action I managed to square of the ends and take the sharp arris of the corners in a rather smooth manner.

Here's the little plane (sorry for the duff photo):





So, to summarise:

- All timber is current ripped to width, and milled to thickness.
- The trestle legs, and the feet are final sized and cut to final length.
- The trestle tops are currently in the clamps being laminated and will be run through el-rusto for final thicknessinng and cut to length tomorrow. Tuesday & Wednesday so should see me cutting the M&T's and assembling the two trestle ends.

Has anyone got any suggestions for the question above about shaping the feet? At the moment i'm thinking a coping saw and some files - is there a better way?

Time spent today: 4 hours, gives me a total of: 20 hours![/i]


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## woodbloke (22 Jul 2007)

BB - difficult to visualize what you want to do, a quick sketch of some description would help - Rob


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## ByronBlack (23 Jul 2007)

Hi rob, heres a ropey sketch of the kind of profile I would like to add to the feet: It's a side on view:


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## wizer (25 Jul 2007)

or jigsaw? Or just carve them. Whatever way you do it, they will need to be cleaned up with spokeshaves and or scrapers.


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## BigMac (25 Jul 2007)

Template and a router? Or are they going to be too deep / rounded in the other direction as well?


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## ByronBlack (25 Jul 2007)

Hi Wizer/Big Mac.

I've decided to go for a hand-held bowsaw and clean up with rasps/files and paper. My spokeshaves aren't upto it, and it's a little deep for router use (about 3" thick).


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## nickson71 (25 Jul 2007)

couldn't you use a router and template to cut from one side part way ...... then turn over and change to a bottom bearing guided bit to complete the cutting


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## ByronBlack (25 Jul 2007)

Hi nickson - Aye, I could do that, but where's the fun? 

I'm trying to do most of hte work on this bench using hand-tools and traditional techniques as much as possible (barring of course the primary milling).

If I really can't do it by hand, then i'll revert to the router.


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## Benchwayze (27 Jul 2007)

My bench is covered with timber and old shelves at the moment, so it's just 'over-dressed', rather than overkilled! Unless it dies from the weight!

But in truth, I had the underframe given me. It's complete with a sliding door cupboard and has good solid 4 x 4 legs in Douglas Fir. The top at the moment, is made from three 96" x 24" luan jointed boards, screwed together. I got the boards from B&Q. Very soft, but serviceable enough and I don't have to worry too much if I have an accident with a cutting tool. 

Yes, I have a copy of 'The Workbench Book', but in the end, I use what fits in my workshop for now.  

I am looking forward to seeing your finished project Byron.

John


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## ByronBlack (19 Aug 2007)

Update!!

I've finally got round to some more work. After a delayed period of acquiring tools and machinery, and then selling off. I've finally arrived at a satisfactory method for cutting the mortices. I've opted for a sawtooth forstner in a drill press. To aid repeatability, I made a table with a fence and a number of 'stops' set at the beginning and end of the mortices - i'll be editing this post later with photo's.

I tried a couple using a hand-brace and auger, without satisfactory results, it required a lot of cleaning up and I often went over the marking lines with the chisel resulting in quite an un-even mortice. So I resorted to the drill-press method, and have to say that it's a fantastic way of cutting mortices.

Tomorrow should see the chamfering and shaping of the trestle legs and feet, and then on to cutting the tenons to complete the base assembly.


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## ByronBlack (19 Aug 2007)

Photo's of drill press setup:

Drill press fitted with table and fence:






Adjustable stops for start and end of mortice:





Sawtooth forstner in action:





Lovely shavings/chippings:





Nicely cut mortice - ready to be smoothed by hand using rasps:


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## Lord Nibbo (23 Aug 2007)

Byron I think you need to look at this one, I'm gonna copy it. The best bit is the sacrificial round bit offset so you can just turn it when you knacker it up drilling to far. 




Here is the thread


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## Paul Chapman (23 Aug 2007)

Great idea, LN - I think I'll copy that as well  

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## ByronBlack (23 Aug 2007)

Wow, thats a bit posh! I like it - definitly added to my ever-growing long list of workshop projects. I wish I could take 6months of work to spend on building workshop solutions


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## BrianD (26 Aug 2007)

Why isit i cannot see the pics that are in the link.

Any ideas? Perhaps they have been removed?


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## ByronBlack (26 Aug 2007)

None of my photo's have been removed, I can see them - try restarting your browser.


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## tiler99 (26 Aug 2007)

I think he is referring you LNs post


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## BrianD (26 Aug 2007)

Lord Nibbo,

what I did mean was that the referred link to woodnet forum etc. does not show the pictures as referred to. Lord Nibbo any idea where else this can be found by chance?


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## Lord Nibbo (27 Aug 2007)

Looks like the original pics have been removed on the woodnet site  Even I didn't copy them  did anyone else copy them?


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## ByronBlack (3 Sep 2007)

*Update Competition Entry*

Well after what seems to be weeks of torturous malaise and frustration I finally had a breakthrough over the weekend despite my claims that I was going to leave it for a couple of weeks - I just couldn't, it was mocking me!

Change of plans:

I'm not ashamed to admit that my ambitions and plans far outreached my abilities. Hence the knackering up of the trestle feet and tops - I made a real pigs ear of the mortices. After many hours of contemplation and re-reading of 'The Workbench Book' Amazon Link I came across a design by Niall Barrett (Page 136). It used a bolt arrangement to join the rails and stretchers to the legs forgoing the trestle setup. This meant I could scrap the mistakes and use the wood I had for the top pair of rails for the internal stretchers - this was an excellent solution.

I do however have to point out that this bench was supposed to be a traditionally built heirloom piece, alas; I feel I am not yet experienced or good enough to produce such a piece, so this has been a good experience in many ways, mostly that I need to concentrate on the basics before trying to keep up with Nibbo et al 

On to the pics:

Leg arrangments bolted together, and rails cut to size:







Using the MFT to clamp the piece, and a veritas block + chamfer guide, I planed a tapered small chamfer on the rails (I also did the legs)







Sanded to 120grit and smoothed using the veritas block, the legs arrangements are ready to fix to the rails:







MFT coming to some use again: The components are assembled using the flat top of the festool table:







Base Complete (just requires a finish)







Close up of the tapered chamfer. It's only a small detail, but I wanted to try and include at least some hand/craft element.






So there we go, some progress finally! The bolt-recesses in the stretchers and rails were created by using a kitchen worktop straight cutter and a ply template; thanks to the advise from numerous members I managed to do this quite successfully despite some failings in this department earlier in the project (Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far - it really is appreciated a great deal!!)

I shall be starting on the worktop this week with an aim to finish next monday. The top is going ahead as planed except I'm not adding a bread-board end as I'm staying close to the Niall Barrett design. Also like his, I'll only be having one vice at the front of the bench, unlike his however i'll be including a couple of rows of dog-holes and a number of holes for tool placement at the back of the bench. Loose ply tongues will be used to aid alignment as advised, now that I've got the hang of using templates and routers, this should be quite a straight-forward task.


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## Paul Chapman (3 Sep 2007)

That looks fine, Byron. Should provide a very sturdy base for your bench top.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul

PS Even if you are planning on fitting only one vice, I'd be inclined to allow for possibly fitting a tail vice at some time in the future. If you want to do lots of hand work on the bench, I really do feel you would find a tail vice useful, if not essential.


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## Lord Nibbo (3 Sep 2007)

Like I said in the comments on your pics in Flickr BB, It looks pretty good to me. One question though or rather a suggestion, where you have added the blocks to repair the legs, why not turn one end round and have both repaired legs at the back, then when you make the top it would be easy to hide with a board fixed the length of the top.


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## ByronBlack (3 Sep 2007)

nibbo - I know what you mean about the repaired leg tops, that was the plan (to have both at the back) but I made yet another mistake with drilling the bolt holes for the rails, so had no choice but to have the legs this way otherwise the rail would have been twisted (hole alignment was off).


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## Dave S (4 Sep 2007)

Byron,
I can understand the emotions you have been going through lately with this project - I doubt I'm the only one reading this and seeing some of my own experiences. ( I have three different sized drawers in my workshop and none of them fit into the wardobe for which they were destined #-o )

I do think you you have managed to get around the mistakes well, and it looks like you will end up with a great bench at the end of it, even if it's not quite as you intended it to be. Glad you haven't lost heart.

Dave


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## Sawdust (4 Sep 2007)

Byron,

I hope I'm not raking up terrible memories, but what went wrong with the mortices - they looked fine in the pics where you were drilling them out and you thought you had found a great way of making them. What happened after that?

Cheers
Mike


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## ByronBlack (4 Sep 2007)

Dave - I guess at my stage of experience I'll be making many more mistakes, so I've got to cover them as best I can and carry on 

Mike. The mortices as you can see in the legs are fine these weren't the problem, the problem came when I tried to cut the mortices in the trestle feet and tops. Because the mortices where smaller and virtually square I found it a lot harder to accurately drill the holes without deflection of the forstner.

What I should have done, is stopped after the first one and worked out a better solution, but I stubbornly continued, and the errors only really showed when I cut a couple of tenons to fit (hence the repairs you see on the legs) due to the inaccurate mortices in the trestle feet it meant hours of shaping each tenon to the custom hole in each mortice and invariably they weren't square, so they had to be trashed and a new solution found, so I have to put up with the mortices in the legs reminding me of the screw-up


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## Fecn (4 Sep 2007)

Looking good ByronBlack - It is, as you say, an excellent solution... Looks good and provides a nice sturdy base for the workbench. 

It's horrible when things keep going wrong and you end up ruining hours or days of preparation work... the worst part is, when I do it, I'm often thinking "I hope I can get away with doing this without tearing it out"... or 'I should find some better way to guide this, but here goes...". The pros make it look easy, but they're using a vast range of knowledge and experience, so they know what clamps and jigs to use and how to guide things. It's not so easy to decide what techniques you need when you're working on your own stuff.

Good to see you back on form.


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## ByronBlack (10 Sep 2007)

*Update*

I've made some good progress over the weekend and this morning, so thought i'd update the thread.

I've glued up the worktop in three sections (8 Inches each) so that I can pass them through the p/t and get them as flat as possible to reduce the amount of flattening of the top once it's installed. 

Some pics:

Dog holes were drilled on the individual stave before glue-up using a drill press, these are 20mm diameter holes to accept my MFT hold-downs, clamps etc.. I went a little crazy with the glue on this one - won't make that mistake again:







Two of the 8 Inch sections now glued up and partially cleaned/flattened - put on the workbench to get an idea of size; there is one more section to go yet. I also will need to crosscut both ends to final size:







Made some faces for the vice; these are just from the same stock as the stretchers, re-sawn to proper size. I'll add some chamfering or moulding detail to these:







Third worktop section glued-up. As with the second section (not pictured) I used biscuit to aid in alignment. The first secton slipped a bit in the cramps; I didn't use a loose tongue as planned due to my inabilities and inpatience with the router (and the last of my good cutter burned the wood and ruined the blades  ) I did however use the router to cut the slots to use as a basic tool-holder for chisels and rasps during work.






Bench base getting it's first coat of danish oil. I'll give the base and the worktop about 3 or 4 coats:






Thats it for now. Later today the third section of worktop will be removed the clamps, and all three parts will be uniformly sized on the thicknesser and then biscuited and glued to make up the final 24" deep top. Tomorrow should then see the top cut to final size, vice fitted and the start of the flattening/smoothing and finishing process.


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## ByronBlack (13 Sep 2007)

*Update*

After a few days hiatus and a few evenings of beating SWMBO at squash, it was time to tackle the part of the project that I was probably the most concerned about at the beginning - drum roll...... flattening the top!!

There are two main ways to do this i've summised: go to a lot of effort of making a perfectly flat elaborate one-use jig and sled for the router - OR go to a lot of effort and hand plane it.

Can you guess which approach I decided on? Of course the hand plane route, after the shenanigans of using the router over the course of this project, it's firmly tucked away out of sight where it's evil can no longer diminish my mojo.

So, with a lot of help from Paul (Chapman) and some information on how to use back-bevels by a certain Mr. C!! I tackled the flattening!

The top was quite bowed from the glue-up of the three sections, this is down to two things: the edges probably weren't at 90 and the cramps I have are the cheap Axminster Ally sash ones - upon tightening the boards rose in the middle by about 8mm or so.. achk!

Anyways, using a combination of a scrub blade, and a regular blade with a back-bevel in my No.7 I planed at 90 degrees to the top (side to side) and first took out the high edges from the concave side, I then flipped it over and took out the hump of the convex side. All in all this took about 5 hours on and off!

On to the pics:

This is the action of the planing that I took - you can see the pencil marks in the 'valley' of the concave side, I just kept going at the edges until I finally met in the middle, and then took very fine full length shavings until all the pencil marks were uniformly gone:







Wider shot of in-progress on the concave side, you can see i've virtually flattened the middle section, just working on the ends:







I forgot to take more in-progess shots of the convex side, but here it is finished:







All I have to do now is scrape with the grain to get it super smooth, lightly chamfer the edges, install the vice and then attach to the base and add the finish, should be done by the start of next week! (and trim the edges to final size of course)

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me so far.


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## wizer (13 Sep 2007)

well done Byron, it's looking really good mate.


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## wizer (13 Sep 2007)

well done Byron, it's looking really good mate.

EDIT: So good I said it twice


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## Paul Chapman (13 Sep 2007)

It's looking good, Byron 8) 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## ByronBlack (17 Sep 2007)

*Workbench now finished.*

The photos:


I'll get the bad bit out of the way first. I've come to the conclusion that the reason for my lack of Mojo is the result of voodoo curse, but instead of it being applied via a voodoo doll, it's being embodied by the Triton Router - look what it did to my worktop whilest I was trimming the edges with a bearing guided trim bit:






The flesh wound inflicted on the worktop was luckily at the further point away from where i'll be working so I left it there as a reminder, here's a pic of the finished top:






Here the bench is complete (Forgot to add the vice jaws for the final photo, i'll update that before long). Not as grand as I wanted it to be, and many many mistakes, but it's a heavy pipper and looks nicer in the flesh than in the photo, so i'm very happy with it:





*Project Summary*

First off, my desires and expectations far out-weigh my skills and abilities, so this is has been a very important learning oppurtunity and I've learnt more about my approach to woodworking as well as more general things such as techniques.

Things I've learnt from this project:

- Using a rod makes things easier.
- Beech is a puppy.
- A drill press is an essential piece of kit.
- Rasps are incredibly useful hand-tools.
- Glueing up large tops is very tricky - I'll most definitly be revising my techniques for this one.
- Make sure you have the right capacity of tooling before attempting a project (all those cutters, drill bits etc... add up and cause delays when you don't have them at hand).
- Don't be so stubborn towards not using power-tools. In the end looking over the entire project it's been a good combination of both power and hand-tools, and I shouldn't be so stuck in the neanderthal ways if its easier to do with a power-tool.
- Routers are pure evil.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and tips especially Scrit, MarkW, Paul Chapman, Mike.C and anyone else who went out of their way to explain basic things to me over and over and over again


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## Paul Chapman (17 Sep 2007)

That looks very nice, Byron =D> =D> Something to be proud of.

At least you've finished yours - I'm still gluing up the top of my table  

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## promhandicam (17 Sep 2007)

=D> 

Looks very nice to me Byron. Sooner or later a workbench is going to get dinged but I'm sure you must be annoyed that it got a ding in it before it was finished. Although you are obviously upset - it in no way affects the quality of the work you have done or the functionality of the bench. Just one thought - why not add a shelf on the top of the stretchers for tool / wood storage - if only 'cos it gives a bit more weight.

Steve


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## ByronBlack (17 Sep 2007)

Thanks for the kind comments Paul - I have to say, now that it's finished i'm not bothered by the mistakes, I am quite proud and excited about putting it to use on my next couple of projects.

Steve - i'll be adding a shelf as soon as I get some ply, I intend to use the space to hold all the workbench jigs, cutting blocks, shooting boards etc.. and as you say it'll make it even more bottom heavy 

I was annoyed at the time about the 'ding' via the router, but at least it wasn't my hand, and to be honest I'm not overly bothered by it, it adds a little interest


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## TonyW (17 Sep 2007)

Lovely job Byron. The WIP shots and your commentary on progress a great help - inspired me to try and finish my own bench asap (current work for daughter allowing).

Couple of questions if you dont mind

What finish have you applied to the bench?

I notice that you used a lot of F clamps - need more myself. They look similar to the Machine Mart ones I have seen. What do you think of them?

Cheers  
Tony


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## DomValente (17 Sep 2007)

Lovely job BB .

Dom


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## Dave S (17 Sep 2007)

Well Byron, it's been a rocky road, but the end result is a fine bench. I'm sure many fine things will be made on it.  

You've documented the project very well andf have been very candid about mistakes, errors of judgment and things that just plain didn't go to plan. I'm sure the thread will therefore be very useful to others contemplating a similar project (myself included, when I can find some time!). I particularly like your 'lessons learned' section in your final post, where you reflect on the experience and what you have got from it. 

Thanks for sharing your experience, and good luck in the competition!  

Dave


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## wizer (17 Sep 2007)

fantastic mate, looks smashing. =D>


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## Fecn (17 Sep 2007)

Very nice Byron. If I had the space to put it, I'd build myself one the same. Thanks for an interesting thread and good WIP photos.


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## JFC (17 Sep 2007)

Great job mate , may i suggest a sacrificial top to avoid more dings ? My work bench is a work horse but i still use a chuck away top .


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## WellsWood (18 Sep 2007)

Well done Byron. =D> =D> =D> 

So glad you got your "mojo" back and persevered through the hardships of this project. It certainly seems to have been worth all the aggro, it looks stunning. Don't worry about the dink like the router slip, it'll soon pick up a few more of those - it _is_ a workbench after all :wink: .

What's next then?

p.s. how are you getting on with that new bandsaw? are we going to get a review?


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## Philly (18 Sep 2007)

Bravo, Byron!
Now that is a bench that will help your work in leaps and bounds.
Best regards
Philly


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## Lord Nibbo (18 Sep 2007)

ByronBlack":17dg834a said:


> Triton Router - look what it did to my worktop whilest I was trimming the edges with a bearing guided trim bit:


 

Thats not a wound it's a bit of character or if you like a bit of history. :lol: Now all you need is bury it with tools and some saw dust.  It looks really really good. =D>


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## Keith Smith (18 Sep 2007)

Very nice job, I have to agree routers can be pure evil at times.

Like JFC I have a large MDF top that goes on mine primarily to allow me to cramp up doors but it also goes on if I have anything particularly messy to do


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## DarrenW (18 Sep 2007)

Damn that bench looks good! =D> 

Your way ahead of me on the making front! Need to pull my finger out, though doubt my table will look as good as this.

Again.... excellent stuff.

Darren


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## Mike.C (18 Sep 2007)

Nice one Byron, if anyone deserves a medal for pure determination its you =D> =D> It looks really great.

The thing I will remember about your bench is you had the guts to show the world your mistakes and how you put them right. Well done mate

Cheers

Mike.C


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## ByronBlack (18 Sep 2007)

Well, thank you all for your kind comments! It's much appreciated, I'm dreading the judges comments though !

Mark - The bandsaw is excellent, I did a mini-review a few weeks back on the thread where I was trying to decide between the tablesaw and bandsaw, it's identical to the Jet except in the fence setup, everything else is the same, but it's a bit cheaper which is nice ;-)

Jason - I went to the effort of flattening both sides of the worktop, so when it gets too mangled, i'll flip it over and use the side, when that also gets mangled, i'll-replane it back to smooth, although I don't anticpate this happening for many years yet, as all my hand power-tools and assembly/glue up will be done on the MFT where the MDF top is a lot easier and cheaper to replace.

Philly: I think you're right, it's difficult to do anything accurately with handtools without a sturdy bench, so i'm hoping this will improve things.

Mark: As for whats next, I've got a whole bunch of small side tables planned. A couple will be made from Iroko staves, another will be an arts & craft inspired sycamore and oak and I have recently drawn up a plan for a table that will use a nice large piece of spalted maple as the top.

TonyW: The finish was about 4 coats of Colron Antique Pine Danish Oil (It was the palest I could find) and will have a coat of wax on top. As for the F clamps, mine are the cheap ones from Screwfix. I can't recommend them, they often buckle and break, they deflect the wood too much and need a lot of correction. I've started to replace these with the slightly more expensive but still affordable Axminster ones, and these are much better. The sash cramps I've used on this project caused a lot of problems, and these are the real budget ally ones from Axminster, these are heading towards the nearest bin as soon as I can afford decent ones.

Thanks again to everyone for the positive feedback, it's always nice to get that back from your peers.


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## OLD (18 Sep 2007)

I notice you follow the wood wisperer he uses staves (wood lengths with parcel tape on one edge) to align strips for glueing (the kitchen cutting block) this could be worth a try when next doing one of those stressful glue ups.


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## Alf (19 Sep 2007)

Ah, the avatar explained. Good-looking bench, BB, and what a triumph given all the vicissitudes. I concur, routers are definitely evil, but at least you don't have to worry about making the first ding in the top?  

Cheers, Alf


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## ByronBlack (19 Sep 2007)

OLD - thanks for the headsup on the wood whisperer, I re-watched that episode and agree that the method would be useful in the future. As it happens I have an up coming table top that will be made with Iroko strips, so this will come in handy!

ALF - Extra house points to you for the use of the word: 'vicissitudes' !! Well done! Had me running for the dictionary (if you can call googling it running ) Aye, no worries about marking the top, I have to admit that I've never really been worried about damaging the top during use, as I flattened both sides, so I can flip it over eventually, although all the messy/damaging work will be done on the MFT so this puppy is more of a luxurybench than 'work' bench


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## Chris Knight (20 Sep 2007)

Well done Byron - a worthy competitor!


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## Good Surname or what ? (20 Sep 2007)

Byron,

I am very impressed by both your bench and your determination. Glad to see your mojo's working again.

You get my competition vote.
cheers
Phil


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## ByronBlack (20 Sep 2007)

Thanks Phil, that is very kind of you!


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## OPJ (10 Nov 2007)

Fantastic work, Byron! I'm always intrigued to hear why people who build their own benches don't often include a tool well of some sort, even towards the rear of the bench? I find them pretty damn useful - although the one on my bench is dead-centre; but I guess that's another job for the future! :wink: 

How does the combination of Danish Oil and Wax work as a finish? I wouldn't have thought you'd want it too smooth or your work will be sliding off the ends! :wink: Does it help prevent any unnecessary dents or damage?

What exactly happened with the Triton router then?! I had a similar problem trimming some half-lap joints with a Silverline trimming cutter - it wasn't until it was digging in too far that I realised the the bearing on the end of the cutter had dissapeared! :evil: :roll:


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## ByronBlack (10 Nov 2007)

Hi Olly,

The reason for no tool well is because I really dont like them, they take up too much space for my liking and I dont' like having to clean shavings out of it. So, instead of the tool-well I've routed a number of slots towards the back of the bench to hold chisels, rasps, mallets etc..

I didn't use any wax in the end, and I've since sanded the top down to remove some of the danish oil, so I have a smooth but not glossy slippery finish.


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